Wat Penh - the temple on the hill where the city gets its name from. Hill in Cambodian is phnom + Wat Penh = Phnom Penh
Wat Penh - the temple on the hill where the city gets its name from
This family maintains their own small temple
National Museum
Inner courtyard National Museum
Display in National Museum
Local market - not one of the tourist markets but a market for locals - fascinating
Street scene
Cambodians love to pose
French bread is a hold-over from the French colonial period
Hair salon alley in the local market - the market is a maze of small and often dark alleyways
I love the BBQ chicken you get in many places. But you wont recognize the taste or color of the meat if you are used to industrial scale chicken that is hormon-ized, anti-bacteria-ized and given all kinds of high-tech turbo feed
Mall at the Indpendence Monument
Independence Monument - during the day just a busy roundabout, but at night the large grassy grounds here form the vibrant heart of the city for the locals.
At night the area around Independence Monument buzzes with the vibe of city residents coming out to stroll, eat, romanticize, play and fly kites.
Young kite flyers near the Independence Monument
Memorial to the Vietnam Cambodian war
Riverfront view from FCC - storm clouds roll in
The courtyard of the heinous Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison. A former high school, the Khmer Rouge turned it into their most barbaric prison for political prisoners and their families.
The rules of behavior for the prisoners of Tuol Sleng
A torture cell in Tuol Sleng. Prisoners could expect to be subjected to burning or skinning alive, electrocution, gasoline being poured into the deep wounds they were given, etc.
Each prisoner that arrived at Tuol Sleng was photographed
A female prisoner of Tuol Sleng with her baby. Most of the prisoners were guilty of being intellectuals - students, professionals, writers, etc. Not only was the 'subversive enemy of the state' imprisoned, tortured and killed, but their entire family as well.
The son of a prisoner, also imprisoned, tortured and killed.
This painting, depicting waterboarding, was made by Cambodian artist Vann Nath. He was one of only 14 people, out of tens of thousands, who came out of the prison alive. He was kept alive to use his artistic talents to paint and sculpture the leaders of the Khmer Rouge. His art has been devoted to picturing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge period. Waterboarding... yes the same torture, oh sorry, enhanced interrogation method, sanctioned by G Bush's administration.
Main monument at the 'killing fields' outside of Phnom Penh. Killing Fields were all over the country. This one was chosen to be the official memorial location.
Victims of the killing fields, these skulls are part of the display inside the monument.
King's palace and grounds - throne hall
King's palace and grounds
Wat Preah Keo Morokat - Also know as the ' Silver Pagoda ' (for the 5329 silver tiles that cover the floor) stands next to the throne hall and is the King's official temple.
In the square surrounding the Silver Pagoda is 2,000 sq meters of wall mural paintings depicting the entire Reamker legend - the Khmer version of the ancient Ramayana morality tale of kings and queens, virgins and villains, revenge and murder.
The murals were painted between 1903-04 by 40 Khmer artists under the direction of Neak Okhna Tep Nimit Mak, the architect and builder of the Royal Palace. The fresco, which is three meters high, runs for 642 meters and is believed to be the largest depiction of the Ramayana in Asia.
Reamker legend - the Khmer version of the ancient Ramayana morality tale of kings and queens, virgins and villains, revenge and murder.
