RTW Trip Day #35: From the Killing Fields to Phnom Penh’s Bustling Night Market

andrewsco3
Nov 4
5 min read

Updated: Nov 4

2 November 2025

Steps: 13,402

This morning we started the day at Pu Cafe Rock for breakfast again, as we all enjoyed it so much yesterday.. The guy who runs it is such a friendly guy and he remembered us from the day before and was joking with the girls.

Wat Phnom Daun Penh

From there we went to Wat Phnom Daun Penh, which is a famous temple located on top of a small hill in the city. There are some steps to climb, but nothing like the Batu Caves or the Big Buddha!

Inside the temple, a man handed us all an incense stick to pay our respects with. Jess really enjoys visiting temples and is always so respectful to local customs - she looks around and does what the locals do.

On the opposite side of the grounds from the entrance, there is the famous clock that lies on the hillside below the temple. There is a courtyard here where locals play Sei, which is basically ‘keepy uppy’ with a large shuttlecock! I asked if I could give it a try and they were more than happy to show me how to do it.

I had a go and it’s a lot harder than it looks! I could just about manage the regular kicks, but the ‘round the back’ ones were so difficult! Some of the locals were even flicking it over their heads - it was incredible to see.

There is a children’s playground just across the street where the girls had a quick play while we waited for our 4-seater Tuk Tuk to the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace

We got dropped off at the Royal Palace Park, before walking over to the entrance to the Royal Palace. The tickets are quite expensive at $10 USD per person, but we only paid for 3 tickets as they obviously thought that Evelyn was 6 or under (the age where entry is free).

Inside the grounds everything was pristine. There are two main buildings (the Royal palace and the one next to the Silver Pagoda) but there are quite a few smaller ones as well.

You can’t go inside the Royal Palace, but you can look inside, but most of the others you can go in to (note: no photos are allowed inside the buildings).

If you are visiting with kids, note that it is quite exposed with very little shade. We went in every room we could to get out of the heat and sought out fans wherever we could!

Lunch at David’s Restaurant Homemade Noodles

A fairly short walk for lunch over to David’s Restaurant Homemade Noodles, as they make their noodles fresh right at the front of the shop! It was incredible to see how he does it all by hand, without any cutting equipment.

Me and Susie had the noodles which were great, and the girls had mango sticky rice, which is soon becoming one of Jessica’s favourite things to eat in Asia.

The Killing Fields (Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre)

This afternoon, while the kids worked on their homeschooling, I went off on my own to visit the Killing Fields. Like yesterday with the S21 Prison, we weren’t sure if it would be suitable for the girls.

I talked to Jess about my visit to S21, and I plan to do the same today since she seems genuinely interested in learning about it. I listened to the audio tour, which is included in the entry fee, and it was excellent - really well done and deeply moving.

Without the audio tour, it would be hard to imagine the horrors that happened here. Today the fields are a peaceful place, with beautiful ponds covered in lotus leaves, which is a complete contrast to the S21 Prison, where it was very clear what had taken place.

The mass graves are now just gentle mounds and indentations in the ground, but even today, fragments of bones and clothing continue to surface as the earth shifts after heavy rain.

The killing tree which is where guards would kill babies and young children by smashing their heads against the tree was particularly moving, and it was hard not to think about what it would be like as a parent in those times - truly horrific.

The final stop on the tour is both iconic and very difficult to look at. It’s a glass-walled stupa filled with the skulls of thousands of people who died here. The skulls are arranged by age, and it was heartbreaking to see those that were clearly children or babies, many of them badly damaged.

I feel like I learned a lot. I had no idea how widespread the killings were, and the tour explained that up to three million people were killed, which was almost a third of Cambodia’s population at the time. It’s hard to imagine anyone in the country who wasn’t affected in some way.

I left with a deep sense of sadness, but also of admiration for how Cambodia continues to move forward in the face of such unimaginable atrocities.

Chaktomuk Walking Street and the Phnom Penh Night Market

For dinner we had intended to go to the Phnom Penh Night Market, but a mix up with our grab took us to the south end of the Chaktomuk Walking Street, so we walked in that direction as it was only 20 minutes.

The walking street was absolutely packed with people, and there were street vendors selling food, markets stalls, live music and dance performances, as well as plenty of restaurants and coffee shops lining the road side.

There were also plenty of boats offering night tours along the river for anyone who wanted to see the city lights from the water. Sunset cruises are quite popular.

It was so busy that we wondered if this was a special occasion, but apparently the pedestrian street only happens on a Saturday and Sunday night, so we were lucky to be able to experience it.

At the Phnom Penh Night Market we had a quick look around some of the stalls and the food area, which is basically made up of lots of food stalls around large mats on the floor where people eat.

The menus all seemed to be very similar and most were noodle based. Jess was desperate for a Khmer curry, so we decided to head back to Kabbas Restaurant as it had been so good yesterday. Jess absolutely destroyed her curry and was a very happy girl!