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Published: August 6th 2011
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Thursday 26th May
We took a tuk tuk to the killing fields memorial and saw some victims of the regime outside who were clearly still in poverty. We went inside to see the good old tourist taking photos of skulls. The horror of Pol Pot's regime is so obvious and living on the streets outside the memorial that I find it sick that people would take photographs of someone's someone. It is hardly going to make the holiday album.
It is crazy to think that this genocide only finished 30 odd years ago and the UN let the Khmer Rouge act as advocates for the victims in the initial investigation.
Unbelievably there is a tourist camp down the road from this mass grave where you are able to hire a machine gun and shoot a cow. You also have the option to upgrade to a bazooka. How you hold a gun after visiting the devastation that is the Killing Fields is beyond me. The bazooka cost 400 times more than the cow.
SICK. Feeling rather low we walked back to our tuk tuk and I saw one of the gents from last night...he yelled "Loverly Jubberly" at me and
the same phrase he'd yelled last night....I didn't understand it then and still didn't quite get it this time. As you do, I politely giggled and said Yes....he looked even more confused. It turns out he wanted us to explain a phrase that had been said to him by an English girl as he didn't understand it. Grabbing paper and a pen he wrote
"Get Your Rat Out!" WHO taught him that!?!?!
After an explanation of this delightful phrase, he got all embarrassed and giggled his head off! Even our driver chuckled like crazy! It was sooooo funny and definitely lightened our mood. Gotta love the brits for spreading such wonderful phrases. NOT. Loverly Jubberly he screamed as we drove away.
Back in Phnom Penh we walked to a cafe and were harassed by a kid to buy books. We were exchanging pleasantries when our waitress walked by and this kid says "You know her...is she a boy or girl? You think boy or girl?"
The poor waitress was being outed by an 8 year old boy! He said he knew her before as they both live down by the river. No point being a nearly
convincing girl if the local kids are going to out you at every opportunity!
Bus to Sihanoukville.
Friday 27th May
Took a boat out to monkey island. No monkeys just lots of stoned people. Met one girl who had been "stuck" on the island for five days as she kept forgetting where the boat left from. She had been sleeping in a hammock. Interesting crowd.
After the very choppy return journey we went for a 3$ BBQ on the beach with some girls we'd met.
We were being surrounded by children asking for us to buy their bracelets, fireworks, pedicures etc but firmly told them no. The more money you give, the more the parents will make the children stay out on the beach instead of going to the school which is available to all children in Sihanoukville.
There was also a fire performance at 11pm. The boy couldn't have been older than five. Extremely hard to watch as there were british tourists handing over money, not realising that they are doing harm.
We also got to see men who know they are doing harm by taking home girls who are clearly still children. As the
sex trade is shutting down in Thailand it is spilling over into Cambodia. 😞
Saturday 28th May
Spent the day chilling on the beach and learning about the charity art project Cambodia's Children's Project which is near the beach. Tourists buy artwork completed by the school children and all but 1$ goes directly to the child. The rest goes towards drinking water and daily meals made at the school. Be expecting children's artwork as Christmas presents!
Michelle and I shared a double bed on a sleeper bus to Siem Reap. That was definitely an experience...sharing a bed at 120mph proved most painful!
Sunday 29th May
Hired bicycles for 1$ and cycled to Angkor Wat. We didn't go into the temple as we weren't suitably dressed and just walked around exploring the phenomena that is Angkor Wat.
There are wild monkeys running around and for the most part it was just us and the monkeys. The ruins are simply astonishing and we were walking around for hours. Definitely one of the world's wonders!
Lots of children selling books, postcards and bracelets; they can all count in English trying to sell you 10 bracelets for 1$. They also have
the same script:
"What is your name?"
"Where you from?"
"Capital London" they reply "Population 6 million people. Other major cities Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle."
Once questioned on whether they go to school they shut down as they don't know any other English. I'm pretty sure the same script is available in French and Spanish.
Obviously we didn't buy anything but gave our food and drinks and they looked delighted. Makes me very sad.
Toured the night Market and bought a lovely painting. Not sure how I'll carry it or where I'll put it...considering I don't even have any walls to hang it on!
A little girl followed us home and asked us if we could buy her some food, we went to the shop and told her to go get some food and she came back with baby powdered milk. I burst into tears on the spot and will definitely be coming back. Something is seriously wrong when a 7 year old girl has to be out late at night looking for baby food. Heartbreaking.
Monday 30th May
Should have been up before sunrise for the ride to Angkor Wat but turned the alarm off and just
about made it to Elephant Hill to see the sun coming up. The steps were so steep I could barely position half my foot on it and thoroughly enjoyed climbing up and down and taking far too many photographs.
These 2 malnourished boys handed us a leaflet for a fake orphanage asking us for money. They had cigarette burns, were covered in bruises and I could not convince them to come for breakfast. So we had to walk away.😞
During breakfast we sat surrounded by monkeys. Some play fighting, some carrying their babies, some picking nits and one even chased away a dog! Utterly hilarious! The dog was petrified! Clearly they were on the wrong turf.
We went into the Tomb Raider ruin and a young lad said to me "You buy me? Lady you buy me?" I couldn't believe it. He must have only been 15. Somebody must have previously said yes for him to be there. 😞
Went inside the Angkor Wat temple after adding our crazy pants and covering up and the view is sensational. Definitely worth the climb up!
Tuesday 31st May
Popped to the Kantha Bapha Foundation and gave blood. They
have an incentive bag for tourists who donate and the doctor asked me if I could go out and spread the word as they NEED blood. The inventory read as
27 A+
16 B
56 O
2 AB
That was it.
That's all they had and a street full of children with dengue fever lined up outside. Not good.
SO: it was the cleanest hospital I've been in (yes mum cleaner than yours) and a doctor took my blood. A doctor! She also tested me for all sorts of diseases, which I don't have as the results were sent via email a week later.
Give blood in Cambodia!
We went to the ruins for sunset but got distracted by a little boy raiding the bins. He found some left over crickets and went and hid behind a tree to eat them. I gave him the biscuits I'd got from the blood bank and also some milk and he danced, clapped his hands and blew kisses to say thank you. Bless. He ran away and went to share them with another boy. They were so thin and totally oblivious to the tourist consuming Moet in champagne flutes sitting less than
10 feet from them. How the couple couldn't see them I do not know. Michelle bought them a chicken dinner with rice and it literally disappeared in seconds. I honestly did not know Cambodia was still in such a bad way.
Try not to write too much as I can't really do it justice but Cambodia is a truly wonderful country with beautiful people and I wish we had stayed a lot longer. I will definitely be back.
Much love x x
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