We took a night bus from Siem Reap to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. It was the craziest 7 hours of transportation of my life. I though the overnight, rocky boat ride in the grim basement of a small crusier of Thailand was the craziest…until I got on this bus. It was a sleeper bus, so there were beds on top and bottom lining up and down both sides of the isle that wasn’t even wide enough for my shoulders. Each bed was for TWO people, even if you didn’t know the person next to you. Luckily I know Maggie, because we had less than a twin size bed that was made for two tiny Asian’s for us to share. My head touched the wall, my feet touched the other wall, my arm was up against the window, and my other arm was half on Marge. The bus zoomed along as if we were in the movie Speed along the roughest road imaginable. I felt as if we were in a space capsule reentering the earth’s atmosphere for 7 hours. I don’t really get nervous about many things, but I can honestly say after my head slammed the window after driving over what seemed like cows in the road at 60mph, I began to get a little weary. If I had a nickel for every time I thought the bus was going to tip over, my pockets would be chiming full of about $32.65 right now. All in all, it was a bus ride I won’t soon forget and made for a night of no sleep but full of laughter.

After surviving the bus ride, we checked into our hostel before meeting up with my friend Rob’s cousin, Katie. Can you believe Rob traveled all the way to Cambodia with us and didn’t even visit his cousin!? Luckily, Marge and I got to meet her. Our first night she treated us to some dinner and drinks before wandering around the night market and riverfront.

On our first full day in Phnom Penh we rented a tuk tuk driver for the day. It was a somber tourist day as we visited two of Cambodia’s memorial museums for the roughly 2 million Cambodian’s that were killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. To think that this genocide claimed 1 out of every 4 Cambodians over a 4 year span is unbelievable. Nearly every Cambodian to this day has some tie to this period. It’s crazy to imagine if I was a 24 year old Cambodian today, 1/4 of all my aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, and great grandparents would have lost their lives. As we wandered around the Killing Fields we listened to an audio tour detailing the dozens of mass graves surrounding the memorial Choeung Ek. Choeung Ek is the main memorial filled with many of the skulls and bones exhumed from the graves. Some of the graves are underwater and some were left undisturbed. The most unnerving sigh was to see random human remains, teeth, and cloths, still surfacing in some graves. As rain water and earth’s natural processes continue, these bones and articles of clothing slowly surface and are visible to tourists until they are collected and added to the memorial.

Following the Killing Fields, we visited the prison, named S21, where many individuals were held, tortured, and interrogated before being sent to the Killing Fields. Here we learned even more about the regime and politics that lead to such a dreadful genocide. Though this is considered history to most, I have a hard time fathoming how recent all these events occurred. It still astonishes me that several of the higher ranking regime leaders are still alive and under trial in recent years.

The remainder of our time in the capital was spend grabbing drinks with new friends and wandering around markets. The first market we visited was the Russian Market. Dimly lit, with shops around all corners, the Russian market was quite interesting. The deeper and deeper you went into it, the more “departments” you could find. Though each vender sold something different, venders were grouped by the items they sold. Clothes, mechanics, food, you could get everything you needed here or just spend the day getting lost around the hundreds of turns and stores. The next day we visited the central market. With high ceilings, natural light, and a lot cleaner atmosphere, the central market was the nicer of the two markets we visited.

Each night in the Capital we went out for drinks. Our new Irish friend John, Marge, Katie and I had a blast at several of the local bars. One of my favorites was Reggae bar. Situated on the roof at a building, it’s a cool, breezy, lively bar with a view of the city. Since Katie and John live in Phnom Pen, they knew all the places to take us. One of the streets they said we needed to experience was the hooker bar street. Before getting to the street, it was described to me as “They aren’t your typical hookers, you can meet one at the bar and hang out all night and if you take one home, you just have to pay them”. So, to be more politically correct, hooker street is more of an escort street. When I opened the door to the first bar, we were simultaneously greeted with a “Hiiiiiiiiiiii” (in the most Asian accent you can imagine) by nearly 20 young women all dressed in matching red. It was strange, uncomfortable, but an experience to say the least. While grabbing a few drinks, the women tried to join us. They practice connect 4 and when they get really good, they play guests for free drinks. As the evening got a little later, several older men began entering the bar. The second they sat down, one, two, or three women would flock over to their table for a chance to be taken home to make some cash. It was disturbing to see a man with his arm around a girl whom he was twice or three times the age. It’s very common to see an older western man to be walking down the street with a very young girl, and I guess we finally experienced one of the escort bars where they meet.

Next stop, the Cambodian coast!