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Published: July 19th 2010
We had a rough start to our trip to Cambodia trying to leave Ho Chi Minh City. We had booked an 8:30am bus to Phneom Penh and arrived at the travel agency around 8:10-8:15am, the lady we had booked the bus with lead us down the street towards a group of buses and checked us in with another travel company outside and told us to sit down as they would tell us to get on the bus in 5 or 6 minutes. She then wished us a good trip and walked back to the agency from which she worked. We waited outside this other agency for a while before someone asked to see our ticket, when I gave it to her she right away asked where I had bought it, telling us there is no 8:30am bus - that the bus left at 8am. We showed her that the ticket said 8:30am right on it and that the lady had told someone we were here so there must be something. After they made a few phone calls it was discovered that the lady we booked through had made an error in writing the ticket, meanwhile Binnson was on the phone trying
to get things figured out with her about how we could get on the road asap, as we had already checked out of our hotel and had nowhere to go for the time being. I could hear him getting frustrated with her as she told us we would have to wait until 1:30pm and pay extra fees per person for a late charge. We were pretty outraged - there was no effen way a late fee, no matter how small, would be coming out of our pockets. Hell no. Binns was persistent and told her that she would be paying the fee as it is her fault until we finally won. They told us they would get us on a bus at 10am and the travel agency lady agreed to pay the extra fee. About 10 minutes later they found 2 spots for us on a 9am bus (it’s like 8:58am at this point), the company sent some motorcycles over that whisked us away down a few blocks, we hopped off the bikes and into the bus and we were finally off!
Cambodia has tons of farm land with a bunch of houses on stilts in the rural areas.
You see people out working in the fields all day, anorexic cows and ox grazing and pulling ploughs while other people walk barefoot with scarves on their head to hide from the sun, watering the crops manually and using hand tools to do their work. I often try to picture my Uncle Don out in the field without any sort of machinery. I think he’d pick a different occupation.
Phnom Penh wasn’t my most favourite city. It is very beautiful down by the river in the touristy areas, and the constant appearance of temples and streams of orange clothed monks makes it a very intriguing place. However, we didn’t spend much time in these areas so perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if we had.
After a little bargaining, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us around for the day. We started off at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Here “prisoners” were taken to be brutally murdered during the genocide. We walked past tons of excavation pits where thousands of people have been unearthed from the mass graves. A giant monument greets you at the front entrance containing thousands of skulls of the people found in
these graves. Clothes of the victims found in the pits have been cleaned and deodorized and places on the bottom level of the tower. You read the signs of where the people came in off trucks and were taken to be murdered. A pit reserved for woman and children, most women raped first, killed and discarded. Beside this pit is a tree that was used for smashing the babies on. A tree for hanging a loud speaker to drown out the screams of the victims so that the other prisoners wouldn’t know what was coming as they were being led blindfolded in ankle shackles out to the pits was next on display. The Khmer Rouge used mostly blunt force trauma, bludgeoning their victims with blows to the back of their head and then cutting their throats before throwing them in the pits. They threw dioxin on the bodies afterwards to keep away the smell and to kill any people that may be still alive. It was a gruesome and creepy place to be.
Cambodia has also given us our first encounters with children who are begging for money. Outside of the tourist areas they run along the fences saying,
“monnnayy” and holding out their hands. “Money for food, money for school, money for food, money for school, can I have your water?” It’s hard to keep walking past them but you know you can’t possibly give money to all of them. I wish I would have brought a bottle of chewable Flintstone vitamins along with me that I could hand out to them instead.
We decided to take a break and go for a bite by the river. Prices of food in Cambodia are shockingly high. We were expecting things to be cheaper here than in Vietnam but we were completely wrong. Prices are just as expensive as home! It was really hard to justify spending $10 USD on a meal .... in Cambodia.
Our tuk-tuk driver came and picked us up and took us to our next destination of the S-21 (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum). The S-21 use to be a high school, during Pol Pot’s rule it was turned into Security Office 21 and was used for detention, interrogation, torture, and killing after confessions were received. Classrooms turned into tiny cells and the outside of the building covered in dense barbed wire to keep the
desperate victims from trying to commit suicide by jumping off the building. Another building was filled with relative’s accounts of their missing loved ones and other happenings during the Khmer Rouge period. Rooms filled with pictures of everyone imprisoned here for some of the most absurd things- if you were smart, had glasses, spoke a foreign language, knew foreign people, were a doctor or lawyer or teacher, etc, or even spoke when you weren’t supposed to, etc, you were brought to S-21 suspected of being able to have the resources to overthrow the Khmer Rouge. Most of the people here were sent on trucks to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Over 2 million Cambodians died and most of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge have gotten away with no consequences.
After consuming as much information as we could, we decided to call it a day. Our tuk-tuk took us back home and after dinner we got ready to leave to Siem Reap the following morning. Currently, I am writing this while on the bus to Siem Reap as we didn’t have enough time to update yesterday. Binns is sleeping away while I am constantly enjoying the scenery. Villages of
stilt houses interspersed with grand temple archways, people out in their fields, people sleeping in the middle of nowhere on hammocks, all the while listening to a couple of young Cambodian girls sing along to the karaoke on the TV screen in front of me and eating some sort of custard filled bun that we bought at a steal-of-a-deal from a lady selling them on the street.
Tomorrow we will visit the Angkor Wat!
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Sandra Toner
non-member comment
YUK
okay.. I had to ask... did you eat one of the fried spiders? I am thinking that scotland is really bad with them deep frying everything.. but I can't say that I have seen the fried spiders... Come to think of it.. are you not EXTREMELY afraid of spiders??? I am thinking that I should go there and myabe I could lost 40 or 50 pounds.. but then I know not all the food is insects !! lol !! I saw a few travel shows ( lonely plant stuff)..on Cambodia and the S-21.It must be even more haunting to be there in person. You sure are learning alot from going to these places. Plus the extreme poverty must be bad to handle at first. I think that would drive me crazy as I am sure I would want to give every kid money .. but I know that if you give one kid some money, then there are 200 more that would come running. Really enjoying your blogs.. I end up reading them once a week or so. Keep on having fun as you aren't missing much here.. well... maybe your own bed... and your families !! Love the sunset and sunrise shots too!! take care !!