Coming to Cambodia

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Well the bus journey was actually very good. We got to the Cambodian border and had to lug our bags off and on the bus several times (becka-by now people my bag is no longer light but the weight of a small hippo!). Initial impressions of Cambodia were that it looked a lot greener and the people a lot darker than in Vietnam, there was a lot less traffic and a lot less beeping horns. We had to do a very short boat crossing and saw this as an opportunity to quickly get off the bus and get some fresh air; however we were greeted by loads of people trying to sell us smelly old prawns and delicous crunchy crickets! Although we were quite hungry we refrained from endulging in their local cuisine. Clammering to get back on the bus to cross the river we were soon in the countys capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodia is completely different from Vietnam. The people are very very poor and over 50% of the population consists of children under the age of 18. We don't want to depress you as I know you all enjoy reading about our shenanigans but we have to fill you in on what we saw. We were provided a childsafe leaflet which advised us not to buy from the street kids as it encourages them to carry on like this rather than go to school and it is normally their parents who send them out to earn money as everyone knows people feel sorry for kids rather than adults. There are sooooo many kids on the streets selling books and begging for money and a large percent normally end up in prostitution. Si and I saw quite a few westerners walking down the street who were with YOUNG cambodians! We even saw a fat old westerner come out of our hotel with a young pretty cambodian girl. After feeling compelely ashamed to be a westerner we were offered the chance to go to the local orphanage to help interact with some of the street kids which have been given another chance to make a life for themselves. The charity which supports the orphanage also runs a restaurant which is non profit and quite a few of the children get the opportunity to train and work there too.

Things didn't get much better about how we felt about the place as the next day we went to the Tuol Sleng, the former S21 prison used by the Khmer Rouge to torture and imprision thousands of innocent men, women and children (just because they thought they were educated and would therefore be likely to uprise against Pol Pot in the future) before taking them to the Killing Fields to be executed. Our tour guide was very emotional as he was taken to the fields to work (seperated from his family because of the Khmer Rouge) as a peasant and fed on one bowl of porridge a day. He said that he and many other children were so hungry they used to desperatly try and find bugs in the soil to eat.

After seeing all the pictures of ex prisoners and the torturing devices used on them we then travelled to the killing fields. The Khmer Rouge slaughtered 1.7 million people in some very barbaric ways (I won't go into as it was too horrific but what really hit home was how recent it was 1975-1979 and what little the outside world did to help. It was the Vietnamese Communist army, the Viet Cong who finally ended their reign and the peoples misery) and a further million people from malutrition and malaria. What was disgusting to us all was that quite a few of the Khmer Rouge now work in the Tuol Sleng and make money from tours and selling their stories about the killing fields. They openly admit what they did and apparently aren't even that remorseful for it.

Feeling depleted our group guide arranged for us to have a nice dinner out in another restaurant which supported the street kids. I (becka)didn't really like what was on the menu but when I saw mango salad (which I had had before and was very nice) I thought that would be a safe option. Si and I went for a few deserved drinks after dinner and headed back for our hotel. Unfortunately when I went to bed I had a big urge to vomit. I ran to the toilet, tripped on the step and skidded towards my porceline friend and chundered everywhere! This course of action was repeated three times. Si and I pondered on why I was sick when really the title of my food on the menu should have gave it away Mango salad and DRIED SHRIMP. A thrid world country is not going to dry their shrimp in an oven when they have 30 degree heat outside now are they!!!! I was very poorly the next day indeed.

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