Escape the Bleak Midwinter Part 3: 24 hours in Phnom Penh

My curiosity about Phnom Penh had been ripening ever since 2011 when I began researching transitional justice in Cambodia for my graduate thesis. So although my coworker and I only had 24 hours in the city - really, a layover of sorts on the way to Angkor Wat - I was incredibly excited about this third leg in our journey. And Phnom Penh did not disappoint!

The capital of Cambodia was full of contrasts and felt humble and regal at the same time. Broad avenues with stately gates and lampposts crisscrossed the city center, while the surrounding streets were filled with motorcycles and commerce spilling out from tiny shops felt more like Jinghong. In the morning of our second day, we visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, built in the mid-1800s. I was so taken with the subtle French elements that blended so well with traditional Southeast Asian design!

(On returning to tropical lands with no parasol, I discovered the necessity of a big hat)

The leafy lanes outside the palace are filled with artsy shops owned by NGOs and creative types, and we made the joyful discovery a little multilingual library with donated books from all over the world. But Phnom Penh also contains the shadows of a time when the Khmer Rouge killed over 20% of their own countrymen. A few kilometers away from those pleasant shops and libraries is Tuol Sleng, a school that the Khmer Rouge converted into a prison and place of torture during their reign.

Many of the rooms remain much as they were found when the Vietnamese intervened and put a stop to the horrors that the Western powers did not want to face in the late 1970s.

Every face, a soul. Created in the image of God.

Only a handful of people made it out of Tuol Sleng alive. One of them sat under an umbrella at a book stand quietly offering to talk to the visitors. We were rather absorbed in our own thoughts, processing what we'd seen, and also under a tight schedule to catch our bus out of the city. I didn't realize who was speaking to me until I'd passed him by. I wish so achingly that I'd stopped to listen.

(An exhibit at Tuol Sleng by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an excellent organization working for transitional justice by recording the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge)

One of the unplanned benefits of taking this trip through two new countries was getting a better idea of "Would I be willing to serve here in the future?" To live here for two to four years, learn the language, eat the food every day, and try to achieve the most good for our two nations? The answer for Phnom Penh is most definitely yes.