Vietnam/Cambodia Day 6: Phnom Penh

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

After a relatively leisurely day yesterday, we were warned that today would be long and intense.

After breakfast, we began with on-ship immigration formalities and a short briefing in the lounge, during which the expedition leader held up my daypack! It turns out that one of the other guests had picked it up for me, and I was much relieved.

We began the day’s touring by boarding “cyclos” for a short tour of Phnom Penh. Cyclos are like the rickshaws we rode yesterday, except that they are a single unit, rather than being towed as we were in the rickshaws. They were also more comfortable, having seats with backs. The ride was very pleasant, being early in the day with very moderate temperatures.

We ended our cyclo ride at the Royal Palace for a tour led by our guides, describing the Cambodian monarchy and various buildings on the site. This was followed by a visit to the National Museum that was led by a museum guide. The Museum contains many ancient sculptures that had been looted and have recently been repatriated from other museums and collections around the world.

For lunch, we stopped at Topaz, an elegant fine dining restaurant. Very much in contrast with this, our next stop was at the S-21 Genocide Museum. S-21 is a former high school that was repurposed by the Khmer Rouge as a prison. Some of the cells (brick subdivisions of classrooms) were on display along with many pictures of people who were imprisoned and tortured there. There were also many skulls on display.

Following the Genocide Museum, we had the option of either going shopping or traveling by bus to the killing field at Choueng Ek. We took the much harsher option. Choueng Ek was one of hundreds of killing fields where the Khmer Rouge killed prisoners in the late 1970s. We walked on a boardwalk through the field, protecting the many areas with buried human remains. Many of the executed prisoners were also tortured before being killed or were killed in particularly brutal ways. The prisoners were transported from the city during the night and were executed during the day. It is hard to overstate what a disturbing place this is.

After returning to the Jahan, we were treated to a BBQ buffet dinner and a performance by Cambodian Apsara dancers, which helped to break the mood from the afternoon.

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.