Cambodia

Phnom Penh

April 2010 • There's no getting around the debasement of Cambodia at the hands of Khmer and outsider alike. Arrived on the 35th anniversary of Phnom Penh's surrender to Khmer Rouge troops and learned all about it from a documentary screening at a foreigner bar. Also learned that the Tuol Sleng torture HQ is a bigger tourist draw than the National Museum, which houses some of the finest artifacts of ancient Angkor. If that isn't depressing enough, there's a district of bars and restaurants where creepy old westerners hang out with their vacant-eyed Cambodian girlfriends. Phony orphanages are a tourist scam, corruption is rampant, and not a single Khmer Rouge leader has been held accountable for past atrocities (one of them is actually prime minister). Cambodia has a long way to go.

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