Phnom Pehn

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We took the coach from Saigon to Phnom Pehn at 8am to avoid any delays at the border crossing (they tend to do a ‘go slow’ on a weekend and if you arrive at the border by the afternoon it can take hours to get a visa sorted). We did have a bit of a scare on the Vietnamese side as there was some kind of commotion with a people carrier that was being attacked by a big group of men. They were throwing things and trying to open the doors and drag the people out of the car, and we also heard gunshots, but didn’t actually see what happened. Our plan of going early did work and we got our visas and were on Cambodia soil around 11am.



We arrived in Phnom Pehn about 3pm and took a tuk tuk to our accommodation ‘Circuit Hotel’ which was nice, but a little far from the riverside. We had a wander around town for the rest of the day and got a feel for the place. Our first impressions were good, a really busy city with nice riverfront and amazing buildings. That evening we found an Irish pub and watched the big game, United v Liverpool, while Darren enjoyed a savannah cider (its been over a month since he’s had one so he was very pleased!) then we hit the sack early as we had another 8am bus to catch the following morning to our home stay in Kampong Cham.



We had arranged to meet our host at 11am in Kampong Cham however the bus was over an hour late (no change there). We took a 20 minute tuk tuk journey to the village we were staying in and were both really excited about ’roughing it’ for the next couple of days with the locals.



On arrival, we met Don, his wife Keung and their two children Ra and Na and got shown to our hut. It was a basic bamboo hut with just a bed and mozzie net, it seemed fine and what we’d expected. We had some lunch and chatted to Don about how he ended up living here (he is American but moved to Cambodia to teach English 20 years ago). Keung then took us out to the rice fields and the farm that her family own and we met her cousin and some of the villagers. It was so interesting to see how they live, it really is a different world. The villagers go through phases of actually living in the fields depending on the season, and just sleep in a hammock and eat anything they can catch. Keung said the easiest thing usually is rats (this made me feel violently ill for the rest of the day) fish or snakes, pretty much whatever they can get their hands on. We met two boys who we thought were about 16 - turns out they were 11 and 12, who were climbing the trees to collect sap from the palm sugar cane trees. We spoke to them about what they wanted to do when they’re older, one wanted to be a lawyer, the other an architect, but they explained that in Cambodia the only way you can leave the village is if you have money to pay for further education (which they’re families obviously do not have). They finish school when they’re 13 and will be expected to work on the farm full time, which is 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was such an eye opener into the culture and the country as a whole, it sounds corny but it really makes you realise how lucky we are to live in a country with so many opportunities and choices.



In the evening Keung’s mother came over to speak to us about her life and about the Pol Pot regime which she experienced first hand. She explained that the Khmer Rouge had already taken control of their village before the fall of Phnom Pehn in 1975 and that the villagers were treated better than the people in the cities. This was due to the fact that they were uneducated and believed what the Khmer Rouge were telling them, and were considered part of the revolution, whereas the city dwellers posed a threat to the regime as they were intellectuals. She explained that they had everything taken away from them and were given just a spoon and a rice bowl. The currency was abolished completely (the main reason now that Cambodia uses US dollars - in case if ever happens again, at least dollars have value elsewhere in the world), schools were closed, communication lines removed and towns and cities evacuated. She hid jewellery and valuables in a pit in the garden, an went back years later to collect it. They still do this now, she explained she has a little bit of gold and US dollars hidden away underground, in case anything like this were to happen again, proof that they are still living in fear. It was fascinating to hear her stories, it seemed to hit home more actually speaking to someone who was there that just than reading an article about it.



Later we spoke to Don about the current situation in the country and he didn’t paint a good picture. Corruption and crime is everywhere and there is no escaping it. He explained that their was a funeral last year of one of the villagers and the cash donations were being kept at his neighbours house. Word must have spread and two young lads with guns walked into the house and asked for the money. His neighbour gave them the cash and they shot and killed him anyway, really very sad, but it just seems to be a way of life here.



The village had no electricity so we went to our hut armed with our head torches to bunk down for the night. When we got to the room, the first thing I saw was a spider the size of my hand (see pic) and a couple of geckos.. No problem, it’ll be fine! We tucked our mozzie net under the mattress and tried to sleep.. Emphasis on the word tried! We lay there sweltering, listening to the constant truck horns of the nearby road, crapping ourselves at every little sound! Just as Darren was dozing off at 10pm we were awoken by the loudest strangest noise ever which came from right next to my head. We jumped up and got the torch and it turned out to be a frog. Don had warned us that the snakes eat the frogs so to be careful going to the bathroom in the night as you may see one, but that was it for me, when I knew there was snake bait on my bed I freaked!! I lay awake the entire night convinced that we were going to die, either by a cobra bite, gun weilding teenager (our door had no lock on so that didn’t help my paranoia) or purely from heat exhaustion.. It was horrendous! To add to the drama, the rock hard bed brought back my reoccurring hip problem so I woke up walking like an old lady! We quickly decided that it was not a good idea to stay any longer and headed back to the civilization of Phnom Pehn. It was a great experience though and we are so glad we did it, its given us a real insight into how 70% of the population live.



We hadn’t organised accommodation in Phnom Pehn so we just walked from the bus station along Street 136 towards the river in hope of finding somewhere. We stumbled upon a guesthouse called ‘Europe Guesthouse’ which seemed fine, and after a while of unsuccessful bartering we decided to just go for it and pay the huge sum of $17 a night (its so funny how you end up squabbling here for the smallest amount of money!) Anyway, the hotel ended up being wonderful and the staff were so lovely, a Khmer/French family from Paris who came back to Cambodia a couple of years ago - its somewhere we’d definitely recommend and worth paying the extra few dollars for. We had a quiet night in as I was suffering from a serious lack of sleep and took full advantage of the air con, comfy bed, hot shower and wifi - maybe we are more materialistic that we thought, oh well!



Our first Valentines Day as a married couple - how exciting! We went for breakfast by the river then hired a tuk tuk driver to take us out for the day. Our first stop was the infamous Choeung Ek Killing Fields site about 15km south of the city. The site was where around 20,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The majority of the dead were intellectuals who had been held at the S21 Prison in the city and brought here for their final days. We were given an audio guide upon arrival which we played as we walked around the various mass graves which included accounts from people who had spent time there, either working for the Khmer Rouge or in some cases, people who’d managed to get out alive (although I think there were only a handful in the whole time who were so lucky). As there had been some recent rainfall, there were actual bone fragments and teeth visible as we walked around which had surfaced from the shallow graves. It was very upsetting, especially hearing about how they killed the babies, by taking their ankles and swinging them into a tree trunk (now called the ’Killing Tree’). It was hard to take and the end of the guided tour took us to the memorial Stupa which housed around 5000 human skulls which were recovered in 1980. They have still only unearthed 86 from 127 graves too. The whole site is such a quiet, still place it is hard to believe the horror that occurred here only 33 years ago.



Our second stop was the Russian Market, which we visited only briefly as the S21 Prison was closed over lunchtime. We had a nosey around and purchased our obligatory cheapo t shirt that we are buying from each country, but neither of us felt like eating, no surprise really.



We arrived at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) at 2pm and were initially really shocked by a large group of teenagers on a school outing who were just totally hyperactive and appeared to be having a ball! Proves that no matter where you are in the world, kids always arse around on school trips!



The museum used to be a high school, and was used during Pol Pot’s regime as a detention and torture camp. The classrooms were converted into prison cells and interrogation chambers, and although the Khmer Rouge actually discouraged murder here (as they wanted to keep the prisoners alive to gain information from them) there were many people killed within the grounds. Now, the walls are lined with photos of the prisoners, both mug shots when they were first sent there and ones of murdered prisoners, and various other exhibits. The couple of hours we spent there were again, completely horrifying and we both left feeling pretty distressed and struggling to comprehend that 2 million people out of a population of just over 7 million were executed - its just completely unthinkable.



So after our not so romantic Valentines Day we decided to hit the town and unwind. We visited a lovely rooftop bar overlooking the river for sunset, where I had my first glass of vino since last year (oh my god it tasted SO good!) and then went to a restaurant on the Quay called, inventively, Le Quay, where I had goats cheese and asparagus salad, oh my god best Valentines prezzie ever! I know we’ve been criticised before for mentioning food so much whilst blogging but just imagine 5 months without your favourite food and you too would be raving about it! We then went to a bar which was absolutely rocking and packed with people dancing by 8pm (really wish Manchester bars were this busy early on!) and were both fast asleep by 10pm after our hardcore day of ‘sightseeing’ I suppose you’d call it.



Wow I cant actually believe we’ve only been in Cambodia for 4 days and have managed to rabbit on for two thousand and something words! We’re loving it so far although it has been pretty intense…….



Next stop Sihanoukville for some beach time and chillaxing 😊



TTFN Folks xxxxx

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Comments

[Pauline Bass]

Think this is the best by far!
Hi there, reading this made us realise how lucky we are in England. the stories and pictures really do tell the tale, very sad but, very interesting too! beautiful people but, can't believe the things you were told (swinging the babies), thats sooo bad. Hope you have moved on and enjoying the rest of your travels!!!! Love mum & dad xxx