Day 3 and 4
A busy but fun two days since our last post.
Monday started with cooking school at The Paper Tiger in Siem Reap. A trip through the markets buying what we needed for our spring rolls and chicken Amok opened the eyes and nostrils of everyone. Busy, noisy, flapping fish and the biggest prawns I’ve ever seen. Then the cooking school ladies – tiny Cambodian ladies martialed the boys to work. Three hours went by so fast and the end result went down very well.
After that it was a quick walk back to hotel, piling everything on the bus and off to Phnom Penh. We had allowed for 8 hours but got there in a bit under 7 in the end. A lot of the roads were corrugated and really dusty slowing us down, but all the usual crazy overtaking moves and 5 people plus a pig on a motorcycle thing. I’m glad we were the biggest thing on the road.
Yesterday was a serious day going to the Choeng Ek Genocide Museum and memorial then after lunch to the Tuol Sleng torture centre. These are very confronting places where the boys cannot escape the reality of past evil. Tuol Sleng in particular hit hard as the equipment, cells and bolo stains are all still there. It was a somber bus ride back to the hotel and provoked some interesting conversations.
Dinner was at the Foreign Correspondents club – a staff favourite. Then instead of walking we all piled into tuk tuks for a night tour of the sights of Phnom Penh – Diamond Island, Independence Monument, Prime Ministers residence, Wat Phnom. This was a lovely way to see the city from a different angle and rest our weary legs. We ended the evening with a foot massage before bed.
Today we are having a cultural morning – the National Museum and the Royal Palace, then hitting the markets. Tomorrow it’s off to Sunshine House and off to work.
