Not a motorcycle trip this time, so no “official” blog. But on this page I will add some pictures and some text about my 2,5 day visit to Cambodia. Going to Asia for business, but I will take two days off before to pay a visit to Phnom Penh. More updates to come!

8-9/3

After four flights, and 30 hours I finally arrived in Phnom Penh. Through the hotel and on recommendations from Anders & Eva I had ordered a tuktuk to take me from the airport to the hotel. And it’s definitely worth it. It might be slightly warmer, and it’s definitely dustier, but it gives you a feeling for the city. In many ways Phnom Penh reminds me of places in the Philippines, the only difference is that there is more “flow” in the traffic here. However, the number of mopeds and scooters are far more. They use the horn a lot here as well, but nothing in comparison to Manila.

I got to the hotel, Billabong Hotel & Hostel. Just the place for me to stay at. Not fancy, but welcoming and friendly. I got a really nice room (I guess I need to thank Anders & Eva for that) with a balcony overlooking the pool. Had a dinner at the hotel last night, and stayed awake until midnight. Woke up at 05.00 and that’s pretty good according to my standards. Now breakfast is done, and my first day here will soon get going. Plan is to hire a tuktuk for the whole day and visit Killing fields and S-21. Below are some pictures, not very good ones but still pictures. More to come after this day I guess.

10/3

Time for me to head off to find out more about the genocide during the Khmer Rouge regime.  I took a Tuktuk for the whole day and took off towards Toul Sleng (S-21). It used to be a school before the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975. They soon turned it into a prison and a place to interrogate enemies of the state (foreigners, intellectuals, teachers, officers and even people just wearing glasses). Once they had confessed to something they were executed. For most of them, they ended up in the mass graves in Choueng Ek (Killing fields). Since bullets were expensive they were killed by using gardening tools like shovels, axes, sticks etc. and thrown into mass graves.

I won’t go into more details about this, but it was totally new to me that Khmer Rouge long after they were thrown out of power (by Vietnam) still was regarded by UN and most countries as the legal government of Cambodia. It was also news to me that they had strong support from people and organizations in Sweden, including Jan Myrdal.

It’s estimated that 3million people out of a population of 8 million were killed during their four years at power(1975-1979).

S-21

Killing fields

Some pictures from the city

10-11/3

Took some time to recover from the visits during the day. But eventually I took a Tuk tuk to Raffles hotel and the Elephante Bar. Great place, great Dry Martini. After a drink there i continued to the FCC (Foreign Correspondent Club) and had really good and really hot dish. As expected, most of the guest were Europeans/Americans. Continued to have a drink in a bar disctrict and ended up watching (just watching) a huge outdoor dancefloor with a truly devoted DJ. Felt really different standing there with a beer and experience this happening.

After breakfast I took some time by the poolside before I took of to the Central Market (walking distance:-)). Great place with everything you could ever need. Especially the food market was something to see.

Now relaxing in the bar at the hotel, haven’t decided yet what to do on my last night in Phnom Pehn.

11-12/3

Final hours of my stay in Cambodia. The Saturday evening started with a San Miguel light at the Cloud 9 Skybar overlooking Phnom Pehn and ended with a dinner at the Long After Dark restaurant, located close to the Russian market. Both places worth recommending. Now I’m sitting in the lounge at the airport waiting for my flight to Kuala Lumpor. Managed to give an offer for an upgrade to Business that was accepted. Lucky me:-) So now my private part of this trip will end, and business will begin. Quite a busy schedule all week before I fly back to Stockholm Friday night from Singapore. Not sure what will be my next trip, but there are some members of the family planning for a motorcycle trip to Spain in the beginning of August. Otherwise I need to consider my long and maybe more epic trip for 2018