By the time we decided to leave Vang Vieng and leave Laos, we were faced with another travel decision for getting to Cambodia. Our choices were: retrace our steps on the overnight train back to Bangkok and catch a bus from there to Siem Reap in Cambodia; take a 36 hour bus from Laos to Siem Reap or take a short flight to Phnom Penh. All of these options also required us to take the 4 hour bus ride back to Vientiane first. The train/bus is the usual backpacker route but it is filled with challenges from suspect bus companies to visa hagglers when crossing the Thai/Cambodia border to more bus problems on the other side of the border. The 36 hour bus is, well, a 36 hour bus ride. So we copped out and opted for the flight. Though not cheap, it was interesting that it was cheaper to book the flight with one of the local travel agents than to buy the ticket online. The flight also had the major advantage of giving us an extra day in Cambodia which was very welcome.

Arriving in Cambodia via airport passport control was fairly easy but we could easily see how the bus route could be a disaster. There was no real system here and pretty much all tourists need to get a USD 20 visa on arrival. There were three forms to fill out and a further fourth one for customs control.

A much better choice is to rather get the e-visa before you arrive - you can find it on the google machine and it takes up to three business days to process and is even more recommended if you take the bus into Cambodia.

We were finally out of the airport and on the streets of Phnom Penh. It was immediately apparent that this place is much more developed than Laos. And nearly as developed as Vietnam. In fact, when we finally got around to walking the streets we realized that the city centre is really nice. Its recently been redeveloped with nice buildings and clean, well kept open spaces and gardens. It really was a pleasure walking around. The reason for its redevelopment, though, isn't pleasant and it is a direct result of the place being near leveled during the Khmer Rouge rule and genocide in the country - more on this further down.

We didn't stay in the main tourist and expat centre which runs along the river close to the palace. Instead we stayed in a great hostel a bit further out in a more suburban area. The area still had decent bars and restaurants and was only a USD 2 tuk-tuk ride to the river, so it was a very good trade off. One of the most interesting observations about Phnom Penh is that it is very, very westernized. So much so, that everything is paid for is USD - though we're sure there is a more economical explanation for this. ATMs even dispense dollars. Pretty much all of the restaurants and bars that we went to were westernized to the point that it was difficult to fill a sweet n sour chicken craving. About the only local thing that is easy to find in these places is a good, cold Anchor Beer. Unfortunately, prices were also comparable to those that we were paying in most of the USA, so it's not so cheap here.

The main reason for visiting Phnom Penh is not for admiring its redevelopment and its westernized culinary delights. Instead, you come here to understand the recent and horrific past that the country has been through. The country, under Khmer Rouge leadership, suffered serious genocide where 3 million people were killed. It was so recent, that the leaders of the Khmer Rouge are still being tried today. The UN even recognized the Khmer Rouge leader and mastermind of the genocide, Pol Pot, as the leader of Cambodia for 14 years, until 1993, after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown. The main places to gain an understanding of this and see the harsh reality of what happened here are the Killing Fields and S21 prison. This is not a fun day out but it is necessary for anyone visiting Cambodia. The third piece of the tourist triangle is to also go to a shooting range which we never got to as we ran out of time.

Phnom Penh offers one of the most interesting mixes of difficult history and redevelopment that we've seen. It is difficult to pull yourself to explore the history of the country but it really does complete the picture and understanding of what happened here and should be done by every tourist. And once you've done that then you can take in the rest of the new westernized side that the city offers.

Trek on…Brett and Darren

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P.S. here is some more detailed info on the Killing Fields, S21 and shooting ranges.

The Killing Fields are about 40 minutes out of the city centre and you'll need at least 1.5 hours here to gain a full perspective and complete the brilliant audio guide. There is a USD 5 entrance fee but this includes the audio guide. You don't need a personal guide as the audio one is really good. A tuk-tuk to the Killing Fields will cost about USD 15 and provides a very interesting ride on the way out as you can see the undeveloped areas around the city centre that are probably what the city centre used to look like.

On the way back from the fields, you can go past the S21 prison which is in the city centre. On its own, it would be a short tuk-tuk ride from anywhere in the city centre but it is usually done as part of the Killing Fields visit. Entrance here is USD 2. There is no audio guide but we found the sign posting and information provided to be perfectly sufficient to understand what happened here and, again, there is no real need for a personal guide. About an hour should be enough time here to get a good understanding and see all the buildings. There is a 40 minute video that is screened at 10am and 3pm that you should try include in your visit - this is not really advertised by the tuk-tuk drivers and didn't come up in most of our research about the museum.

The last main tourist attractions are the shooting ranges. Here, similar to Vietnam, you can shoot AK-47s and a whole range of automatic machine guns. It is supposed to be cheaper here than in 'nam. You can apparently even shoot a bazooka for around USD 200. And if it's your thing, and if you ask around (probably the tuk-tuk drivers), you can shoot a bazooka at a cow for USD 300. We're not judging.