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Published: March 12th 2007
Phnom Penh
Cambodian roads - even more crazy than Vietnam!Well people, Cambodia has turned out to be a bit of a toughie to write about. It's not easy trying to put into words the horror of the 'killing fields' or the S21 camp in Phnom Penh, or just some of the sheer poverty I witnessed at the border. But Cambodia is also a country of survivors and despite it's economic problems and it's recent bloody past, Cambodians are warm, positive people simply hoping for a better future.
The bus journey into Cambodia was my first wake up call that I had now entered one of the poorest countries in Asia. As soon as we arrived at a border town to catch a ferry over the river our bus was mobbed by lots of young street kids. They were banging on the windows and pleading with us for money or food. They all seemed to be homeless and if not then they were certainly desperatley poor, several were blind and many had missing limbs, possibly from landmines (still a major problem in Cambodia). As our bus was just about to leave a little boy of no more than 6 years old banged on the window next to me. He was
Phnom Penh
School kids getting a lift to school holding up a very small, very thin crying baby as he pleaded with us for food. Not a nice thing to see, but not a nice way for him to live either.
I was pleased to leave that place and as we continued our journey we saw that many people lived in rural areas and thankfully didn't look as poor or desperate as those in the place we'd just come from. We were heading for the capital Phnom Penh but unfortunately our accomodation plans had gone a little bit pear shaped as Tina and Lucy had arrived in Cambodia the day before Emily and I and had already sorted a room for all 4 of us. Unfortunately we hadn't received their emails telling us where they staying so we had no idea where they were, uh oh!! After a pretty long bus journey (no change there then!) we arrived in Phnom Penh late in the evening with nowhere to hang our hats. Luckily one of the other passengers who had been on our bus (a very nice Cambodian man and his wife) said that his brother ran a guest house and he would check if they had any room
there. He told us to wait in a cafe whilst he and his wife went to collect their car. So Emily and I went off to the cafe to try and decide whether this very affable couple could actually be knife weilding maniacs who would rob and kill us whilst we slept, OR, just pleasant, helpful people lining us up with a place to stay for the night?!?! Decisions, decisions......... Anyway before we had a chance to run away the man turned up, in a massive 4 wheel drive, with his wife, his brother, his sister in law and their 6 month old baby, and we decided to risk it! It turned out his brother didn't have any room at his place so they drove us around looking for other guest houses for us and making sure we didn't get ripped off by the locals. So not pshycopathic murderers in the end then but kind and lovely people!!!
After settling into our 'interesting' room (the sink was about 4ft up the wall and the bathroom was cosy to say the least!) we went out for some food. We had some major problems getting home as we couldn't find the
street our guesthouse was on and after wandering around some scarey Cambodian streets late at night we finally found our place, but not before disturbing a gang of huge rats scavenging through some rubbish bags. Obviously Emily and I screamed like lunatics and ran all the way back to our place in a most hysterical manner, but really people, I kid you not, these rats were BIG!!!
Next morning we set off to meet Lucy and Tina as by now we knew where they were staying and checked into our new guesthouse. As you all know it wouldn't be a true blog if I didn't include some riveting information about the toilet facilities available, so here you are..................the bathroom had partition walls which ended about 2ft before they reached the ceiling. The toilet was a scooper and for those of you who don't remember me telling you about the scoopers I encountered in Thailand, here's a helpful description! A bucket is filled with water and there's a small bowl you use to scoop the water out with and then throw it into the toilet and flush your 'deposits' away!! And when you turned the taps on all the water
came out underneath the sink and drenched your feet. Well folks, I ain't gonna lie to you, it certainly wasn't the Ritz, but it was only 1 pound per night and it was in a nice location right on the river and best of all right in the middle of the main backpacker area of the town so I was able to cope......just!
After dumping our stuff we all went out for some breakfast to an ace cafe opposite our guesthouse and were promptly set upon by some young kids selling the usual Asian fare; books, cards, postcards.
I think at first we were all a little wary of them, being cynical Westerners and assuming they would immediatley steal our cameras / diamond encrusted backpacks! But it soon became apparent that they were just harmless kids trying to survive. They all spoke excellent English despite the fact that none of them went to school and despite the hardships in their life they were bright and bubbly. We had heard that it was best not to give street kids money as it rarely goes into their own pockets, but rather give them food and drink, so with this in mind
we bought them some cokes and spent the rest of the morning basically playing and messing around with them (a perfect day for me as I got to indulge all my childish traits!!). We met them everytime we ate and made sure they ate with us and I think we became good mates despite the language / age / cultural barrier!
We spent our second day in Phnom Penh visiting the killing fields and the S21 prison camp and this is where it becomes hard for me to describe what it was like visiting these places. I hope the photographs give you some idea. For those of you who don't know the history of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge were an extremist Communist party who ruled the country from 1975 to 1979 under the (pshycopathic) leader Pol Pot. They managed to kill a third of the countrys population through execution, forced labour and displacement. The Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, confiscating all private property and relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labor was
widespread. They erradicated anyone they considered to be intelligent as a means of preventing any resistance to their new regime, and executed most of the former government, civil servants, doctors, teachers, professors, police, etc, etc, and quite often most or all of the victims family. Their regime was so insane that they executed anyone who wore glasses as they deemed spectacle wearers to be intelligent.
They basically ravaged the country until the Vietnamese stepped in and overthrew the Khmer Rouge at the end of the 70's. It is amazing to think what this country has been through as recently as thirty years ago. I wish them the best of luck in putting their troubles behind them.
After Phnom Penh it was time to move on to Siem Reap, where the ancient city of Angkor Wat stands. Angkor is one of the best preserved ancient cities in the world and dates back to the 12th centuruy. If you've seen the first Tomb Raider movie then you've seen the temples as a large part of it was filmed there. We spent 2 days looking around the site and watched sunrise come up behind the main temple and sunset go down
over the city, pretty awesome!!
After seeing Angkor Wat it was sadly time to leave Cambodia and head back to Thailand for the part of the trip I had been most looking forward to, the Thai islands!!!!!!!!! Getting out of Cambodia proved to be no easy task however as of course it involved a bus journey, but a bus journey like no other I've ever been on!
The bus reminded me of an ice cream van which had been refurbished to accomodate 60 people, in other words it was the most basic and uncomfortable thing I have EVER seen! We had heard that the roads in Cambodia were very poor and they had indeed become progressively worse the more we had travelled through the country but the journey to the Thai border was by far the worst. The 'road' was nothing more than a dirt track which a 4 wheel drive would have had trouble on! We were bumped, jolted and generally thrown around non stop for 5 hours and the bus left the ground so much at one point that I was thrown into the air and hit my head on the ceiling!!!! It definitley wasn't comfortable
but it's certainly a ride I won't ever forget!
Tune in again soon for the next installment - the Thai islands.................
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Jenny
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Hiya Kel, im so wishing i was there with you. please send me the email address you are using at the mo. email me at jennybabies@gmail.com or jenny.uzell@dmpaper.ie.