Sihanoukville

"...Where the pedophiles go when they get kicked out of Thailand."

We spent a day diving, aboard the Aqua Age.

Windy and cold in the morning.

This is a hotel, in the bay off of Sihanoukville.  What you see here is the WHOLE ISLAND.  When it's open (rarely) it costs $2000 per night.

So much for Sihanoukville.

Phnom Penh

At the end of our trip, we had a few days to tour around the capital.  Compared to Ho Chi Minh city, Phnom Penh is sleepy and laid-back.

The National Museum is much worth a visit.

Sadly, pictures were verboten inside, so you'll just have to trust that it's chock-full of amazing stuff.

Plus, it has a cool roofline.

In the grounds outside the museum, a topiary elephant.  Oddly, from the shape of the back and shoulders, I think it's an African.

Big fly.

Ganesha is by far my favorite Hindu god.

From an outside window, I managed to peek my camera in and get a shot of the Ganesha figurines.

Here, Sarah pretends to be "just sitting around," to provide cover for my covert ops.

Another contraband through-the-window shot.

This Reclining Buddha statue is BIG.  Maybe four feet tall and six feet wide.

The Royal Palace

This is the Throne Hall, another really cool building whose interior you may not photograph.

Banquet Hall (left) and Royal Treasury (right).

View from the front terrace of the Throne Hall, looking onto the same buildings.

Apsara Valkyries hold up the roof of the Throne Hall.

Napoleon III gave this wrought iron house to King Norodom  Thanks, Napoleon III.

Behind and to the left looms the Silver Pagoda.

The courtyard around the Silver Pagoda has a formal statue-garden feel to it.

Like Angkor Wat, like the Wat Pho in Bangkok, this palace also has a huge long mythico-historical mural stretching along the outer walls.  I like the episode where the army uses a giant as a bridge.

Shrine of King Norodom.

King Norodom on his horse.

Okay, so I don't have any pictures of the Silver Pagoda.  Again, you can't take photos inside  The floor of the pagoda is made up of over a thousand silver tiles, each weighing 1 kilogram.  Yep.

Tuol Seng Genocide Museum.

This is the infamous S-21, a high school turned by the Khmer Rouge into the country's largest torture center.

These days it looks mostly like an abandoned school again.

Dunno if this means No Smiling, No Laughing, or No Talking.  The general idea comes through though, that it's not a laughing matter.

When Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh in 1979, the guards quickly murdered the remaining prisoners, before running.

Sarah is standing in one of the many, many cells where dead, tortured bodies were discovered when the Vietnamese arrived.

The Vietnamese documented what they found when they arrived.

So as not to end on a down note, here's one more shot of the National Museum.

It's pretty amazing how much stuff was not looted, erased, or destroyed in the years of hell.