Phnom Penh

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We arrived in Cambodia easily and safely at the small city of Kratie. This was an enroute stop to Phnom Penh to make the long bus ride to Phenom Penh bearable. The small city of Kratie was a good transition to Cambodia which is far more fast moving than Lao. Our second day in Kratie, we rented a motorcycle and rode to temple ruins which we never found. We were not disappointed though because the motorcycle allowed us to explore the surrounding areas of a city that is not a big tourist attraction. During our few hours on the moto, we saw the rural living accommodation of the local Cambodians and were encountered by smiling faces and the waving of all the children playing off to the sides of the street. We also stopped at a riverside attration where we saw some Irrawaddy dolphins swimming.

Unfortunately, this was around the time that our camera became problematic so my picture output was much less than in previous countries.

From Kratie, we bused it to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is another southeast asian bustling, lively city which many travellers do not enjoy; but, as usual, Jill and I enjoyed our time here. Strolling around the riverfront area and riding on the back of a motorcycle. Cambodians fit a whole family onto one motorcycle. The main mode of transportation here is a moto (a taxi motorcycle) where you can fit two adults behind the driver. It wasn't that comfortable but it did the job.

We jumped on a moto for the ride to Tuol Sleng (S-21); this was a elementary school turned into a prison where many were tortured and killed under the Khmer Rouge. The classrooms were used as holding cells and/or torturing rooms. It's called a prison but virtually all prisoners were killed (17000 killed, 5 survivors). The prisoners included Cambodians (some foreigners) who represented a contradictory view to Pol Pot's regime. Not only were the opponents killed but also those who served in the Khmer Rouge; if you were disliked, another could accuse you of "wrongful" actions and thoughts, and you would be picked up by the police for "re-education". There was no safety from being killed. For example, Cambodians who wore spectacles or spoke a foreign language were deemed intellectuals and, consequently, imprisoned, tortured and killed. The prison, now a museum, has hardly changed from its prison days (it wasn't that long ago as the killing ended in 1979) - there was one room where a bloody handprint is still visible.

S-21 is within Phenom Penh but outside the city is the Choeung-Ek Killing Fields. This is the location of one of the Khmer's mass graves; most of you should be familer with this if you have seen the movie - The Killing Fields. Now, there is a tower of skulls built as a memorial for all the people that were killed here. As we walked through the fields, we noticed that there were human bones and clothing in the ground below us; it was probably made visible by the recent rains which cleared some dirt and exposed the bones below.

These two sights were very moving and saddening. Although the Khmer Rough regime only lasted from 1975 - 1979, the Khmer Rouge continued a guerrilla war througout the 1980s. Only in the late 1990s were the Khmer Rouge finally dismantled. Pol Pot's vision of a Khmer society is still unclear to me. He wanted Cambodians as uneducated peasants who did not have stray thoughts while farming in the country-side to feed the country. If one did not conform with his vision, they were killed.

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Photos

On the Back of a Moto
The driver, Jill and me on a muddy road.