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Published: June 11th 2008
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022 - Cambodia - Phnom Penh
06/04/08 - 06/07/08
Beautiful Chaos
(written by Hannah)
Cambodia is far and wide the most chaotic place we've been to date. Though all traffic in SE Asia seems to lack standards, we came up with our own interpretation of 'rules':
- The Law of mass tonnage - not to be confused with the seamen term - this literally means the biggest vehicle has the right of way, no matter how wide or narrow the road is.
- There is always room for one more - one more person, child, pig, chicken, luggage, etc.
- Always honk - even if there is no one around expect pedestrians sleeping on the side of the road... but especially if you are coming into an intersection. It doesn't mean someone else will stop... just that the collision is imminent.
- And finally... a scooter is the preferred method of transportation (no wonder with gas prices!)
It's not just the traffic that makes this such a hectic country, it's also the drive of the citizens. Maybe I can liken it to the buzz of New York City, a place where the air is pulsing and awake. Perhaps this is my projection,
but on more than one occasion we were asked to help someone with their English and/or told of their future dreams. Phnom Penh is the capital of this emerging country and our 4 day stop afforded us comfortable time for exploration.
We had taken a bus from Battambang to Phnom Pehn. Our #1 goal when we arrived was to get Nico extra pages for his passport (his passport was full!). As prepared as my 'boyscout boyfriend' is, he did overlook this one small detail. ;-) In his defense, quite a few countries take up a page an half with visa and stamps... so we were bound to run out eventually. So we hopped off the bus before arriving at the station, flagged down two scooters, and headed to the US Embassy.
Honestly, it did my heart good to see the 14 ft high fence surrounding a gorgeous manicured lawn and brand new building... with a huge American flag lazily flowing in the breeze . A certain sense of security I suppose, knowing at least something could protect us if anther Khmer Rouge happened while we were there. We dropped our backpacks at the guard tower and
went inside. Nico had already filled out the form but I was told I had too many blank pages left for them to add more. If you recall, we had dealt with the Embassy when in Siem Reap helping Leslie, and I wanted to put a face to the name. The woman who had helped us was out sick but another woman, Anne Simon, who picked up the paperwork in Siem Reap beckoned us over. We talked for a bit about the whole circumstance and what we were doing there. She told me to fill out the paperwork for the extra pages anyways, she could get them for me! Anne also mentioned that Julia, a Raffles staff member we had dealt with in Siem Reap, works at the Raffles hotel in Phnom Penh. So it was off to Raffles once again! Different city, same extraordinary hotel, same skyrocket prices.
Walking in to Raffles has its own list of faux pas and rukking up with a dusty backpack is quite high on that list! Nico and I gladly gave the porter our bags and asked for Julia - of course we had an appointment! The three of us sat in
the Elephant Bar for over an hour talking about many things and set a date for Friday night to get together for drinks and dinner away from Raffles.
As we found our way to a guest house, the tuk-tuk driver offered his services for a tour the next day. We agreed on a price to visit the killing fields and S-21 museum the next morning.
Upon arriving at the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek we ran into 2 friends (Cat and Hayden) we had met in Luang Prabang, Laos! Quite a happy coincidence, which was tempered by the gravity of the meeting place. There have been over 10,000 bodies found in this particular site, hundreds smashed into pits of varying sizes. A large tiered stupa holds the skulls of many, divided by age and gender. On some you can see the marks where the death blow hit. What I have a hard time comprehending is how horrific this is... genocide I mean... the world is still ashamed of the Nazi concentration camps, SE Asia of the Khemer Rouge, but what about Darfur? This same deliberate and systematic extermination is happening
today in 2008 and we seem to be
powerless against it. Perhaps ignorance
is bliss sometimes...better than feeling helpless with the knowledge. Many of the people who were brought to Choeng Ek were first interrogated at S-21, 15K back in town.
Toul Sleng Museum was a school Pol Pot's regime turned into a detention and torture center (known during the regime as a re-education camp) called Security Prison 21 (S-21). There are four buildings used for various phases at the camp, many of the 'class rooms' still hold the torture devices and pictures documenting all of the detainees. There is an interesting exhibit on the second floor of one building that has short stories from soldiers who worked there. Many of these people did not express guilt, the common statement repeated over and over was “I had no choice, either I did what they asked or they would kill me.” What would I do if in a similar situation? What would you do?
Enough heavy emotions for one day, we retired to our air-conditioned room to shower and relax a bit. When the sun set and it was cooler we walked to the river front and had a delicious local meal. The next day we walked
to the National Museum which has many of the relics collected from Angkor Wat. We may have seen these in reverse order, but none the less, it was interesting. Nico even snuck some very artsy shots of a huge bronze reclining buddha, at which a guard glared us out of the museum. That night we met Julia (and her friend Dana) at a fancy bar (note the changed picture on the main page - the first martini in almost 4 months!) for a drink. Afterwards, they took us to a great Cambodian-Chinese fish restaurant where you choose the fish from tanks that line the wall! It was a wonderful experience and fantastic company, a perfect end to our time in Cambodia.
Next stop, Bangkok (again) to get a 60 day visa for Indonesia and take care of some other errands before making our way to Gili Air for our 5 week divemaster internship!!!
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