From Jakarta, we went to Kuala Lumpur for an overnight layover: 

So when we got to Phnom Penh to finally eat some brunch (yes, it ended up being french bread with ice cream), this is how I ate it: 

In Cambodia, everybody kept telling me to be careful with my purse and phone because of snatchers out there. Also beer was as cheap as 50 cents and no more than 1 usd. The currency there is USD unless they’re in denominations of under a dollar, in which case they use the riel which is 4000 riels=1 usd.

One of the first things we did in Phnom Penh was go to the S21 Museum, which is one of the places where the Khmer Rouge questioned and tortured people in the 70s. (We did not go to the killing fields because this was more than enough to rattle the soul.) 

The museum itself was super well-organized, informative, and heartbreakingly sad. If you’re ever in Phnom Penh, go just to see what people are capable of. :( 

On a lighter note, we also went to a central market, which was HUGE and had mostly jewelry in the middle, and everything else you could imagine surrounding this building. 

You could tell that the infrastructure here is lacking compared to, say Thailand. Sidewalks are falling apart, and even this large central market was dated. 

The tuk tuks here were of a different style, and the drivers were not scammers, so we ended up riding them a lot :)

Also, can I repeat that beer was 50 cents to a dollar? At our hotel there was a all you can drink deal of 3 hours for $5 so we took a day off of going anywhere to do that and play cards. 

We also visited the Russian Market. There wasn’t anything Russian about it that we could see (apparently many Russians used to go there...?), but they sold motors and metal things aside from the usual souvenirs. 

Unlike Bangkok’s $30+ entrance fee to the Royal Palace (which we didn’t go to because we got on a scammy boat ride instead, if you recall), Phnom Penh’s royal palace was only $10, so we went. 

It was still a ripoff because why are we giving money to the Cambodian king, who already has this huge palace in which I can’t even take pictures of the inside because they’re scared to let the world know they have so much shiny gold?

There were lots of these gray bell structures like this all around the palace. 

And a whole room dedicated to showing different means of transport for the kings. 

We went back in this super flowery tuk tuk. :)

And before we knew it 7 whole days had gone by and we zipped off to Siem Reap, but not as stylishly as these people: