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Phnom Penh, the Khmer Capital

It was about time we started writing something about Cambodia as we are leaving tomorrow! (spoiler: we are heading to Thailand next)

At first, we only heard about the famous Angkor Wat area and we weren’t sure where to go next, so we considered starting by Phnom Penh, even if we are usually not fans of big capital cities. It turns out it was a good starting point as we learned much about the recent history (Red Khmers) of the country by visiting the S-21 prison. This visit probably changed a few things in our understanding of the country. Basically, Cambodia is changing pretty fast and is quite dynamic, far away from the post-war poverty stereotypes we had in mind.

Besides the historical stuff, Phnom Penh is indeed another big asian city (more breathable than Hanoi though) with numerous temples, many skyscrapers, several museums (which we did not visit :-/), countless restaurants and a nice riverside.

Note: we stopped again in Phnom Penh on our way back from Kampot to enjoy two things we had missed in the first place: the ninth episode of Star Wars and a traditional Apsara dance show, named “Earth and Sky”, at Cambodian Living Arts. The latest, that was founded by a khmer with an impressive resume, was way better than the first!

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