Tuk Tuk. Another country, another world.

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Tuk Tuks & Hotels

Arrived in Phnom Penh to find an army of tuk tuk drivers crowding around the entrance to the airport, soliciting fares. I bought a ticket for a tuk tuk at 9US$ -- taxi was $12 so it was a deal! The driver was delighted until after he had put my suitcase in the rear and I had hopped into the back passenger side! Then he discovered that my hotel was near the central part of the city, near Independence Monument at the the Mekong Dragon -- about 8k from the airport. It's a long hot traffic-congested trip, a lot of work for the $9 fare. But things worked out for him...he managed to get me to sign up for an all-day tuk-tuk gig with him the next day -- didn't get his asking price of $40 but he got a deal at $30 when most all-day tuk tuks get around $24-25. In addition, he sent his son Ravy while he continued to work his own tuk tuk. I think everyone made out in the end on that deal.

Mekong Dragon

The Mekong Dragon hotel is not however what I had hoped. I booked it on Agoda,com, which I have had pretty good luck using in the past few years. I've managed to get some really good hotels through agoda, 3 summers ago in Siem Reap -- a fabulous luxury hotel for $36/night, the Hanoi Imperial in Hanoi 4 summers ago, -- amazing staff and great breakfast and right in center of the old City, the Lavender Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City 2 summers ago, and last week a really nice hotel in Hue the Moonlight Hotel... but this time and also now come to think of it 2 summers ago in KL in Malaysia, I wasn't a happy camper, as they say. This hotel is apparently new. Breakfast is average, room is big enough after I insisted on an upgrade, and now my balcony faces the street rather than an AC ventilation system in a wall of the next building. The bathroom drain actually empties the water now instead of letting the water from the last shower accumulate, which was the case in the first room they placed me in. I tried to get the hotel changes through Agoda but the agency didn't respond in a timely manner to my emails and the photos that I sent so I had to negotiate the upgrade. I may not use Agoda anymore as a result. The problem with agoda -- just like with a site like orbitz or kayak is that if you make the reservations through a 3rd party, it's next to impossible to get any satisfactory resolution if there is a problem with your flight or hotel.

Cambodia

Anyway, on a more positive note, Cambodia is amazing. There is something very special about this country and this culture. I felt it when I was in Siem Reap 3 summers ago but thought that that was particular to that area -- the ruins of the Angkor Wat empire -- but here in Phnom Penh, I feel that same energy. Amidst the extreme poverty there is a vibrancy here that feeds life. It's different from Thailand, from Malaysia and certainly different from Singapore. One can live from moment to moment in the present.

Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

Once a longan orchard, the extermination camp at Choeung Ek was the site of the murder of about 17000 women, children, and men from 1975-1978. The victims were not mercifully executed with a bullet in the back of the head but beat to death or killed with farming tools, like machetes or hoes or their skulls were smashed against the side of a tree. Bullets were expensive. The remains of 8,985 people bound and blindfolded were exhumed in 1980 from mass graves at this site but there remain 43 of the 129 communal graves that have not been disturbed. You can see bone fragments on the pathway in some places. More than 8000 skulls marked by sex and age are displayed in the Memorial Stupa (1988).

The museum provides an audio tour with admission and this moving account of this era, Pol Pot and his regime, the suffering of the victims, the atrocities that were committed, the testimony of executioners and those of guards, create a surreal experience. Tourists -- groups and individuals alike -- walk from one spot to another listening to the gruesome and moving accounts in silence. There is not much reason to speak to anyone else, not much of a desire to speak, but the instinctive urge to bow our heads in memory of the innocent victims. The particularly gripping testimony of Him Huy, a guard and executioner, is introduced by a description of his reaction at his trial when he is brought to Choeung Ek and stands in front of the tree where they smashed the heads of infants and children against the trunk of the tree. He fell to his knees and cried as he accepted responsibility for their deaths. As in Tuol Sleng and as in the Son My Museum in Vietnam, there is an attempt to document the atrocities of war, to make sure that no one forgets, to remember the dead and to remember the horror. We must not forget.

Tuol Sleng Museum, St. 113 & 350).

This is the site of the infamous Security Prison 21 (S-21) under Pol Pot's regime. It had been a high school, Tuol Svay Prey High School but was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces in 1975. It was the largest center of detention and torture in Cambodia with more than 17000 people detained there before being transported to the killing fields of Choeung Ek between 1975 and 1978. The Tuol Sleng Museum at S21 now serves as a testament to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge -- this museum and the killing fields remind people of the atrocities committed under a brutal inhuman regime. The madness of that regime is evident as we consider the methodical approach to torture and genocide. The Khmer Rouge kept meticulous records and photographed every prisoner either before or after torture. The museum -- which is a former high school of 4 buildings with 3-4 floors of classrooms -- displays row after row of photographs. The prisoners wear a number board around their necks. Among the photos are those of some foreigners from Australia, New Zealand and the US who were imprisoned at S21 and later killed. The torture and killings escalated so that by 1977 it was reported that an average of 100 victims were killed each day. Only 7 prisoners survived to be liberated in early 1979 when the Vietnamese army arrived. These 7 had survived by virtue of their skills like painting or photography and 14 others were killed as the Vietnamese army approached.

This school was the site of a horrific prison and barbarous torture of human beings who were stretched out on metal frames of beds and hooked onto the metal with iron bars. There are batteries in every room that were used to shock the prisoners shackled to the metal bed frames. The floors are still stained with the blood and I'm sure feces or other human remains. One building where prisoners were detained in solitary confinement houses individual cells that were created by bricks -- 8-10 cells in what had been a classroom, the cell about the size of a human being, with a little hole in the wall probably to sweep out the waste. Batteries and shackles lie on the floor of each cell. Barbed wire covers the front of the building. In the front yard there is what they called the gallows -- it was a structure much like a football goal that high school students used for climbing and exercise. The Khmer Rouge strung their victims up by the feet and lowered them into a big vat of feces and waste, head first. It is hard to imagine how human beings can do such things to other human beings. Why does this happen? How can people get trapped in such behaviors?

The Documentation Center of Cambodia www.dccam.org is largely responsible for researching and documenting the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. It was established in 1995 through Yale University but became an independent organization in1997. Researchers have spent years translating confessions and paperwork from Tuol Sleng, mapping mass graves, and preserving evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities.

Two surviving prisoners -- Chum Mey and Bou Meng -- were at S21 selling their books, accounts of their experiences at Tuol Sleng S21 -- and the horrors that they witnessed and experienced. Their works are important historically -- they document the horrors and give voice to those whose voices were silenced.

National Museum www.cambodiamuseum.info, cnr St. 13 & St. 178. Located just north of the Royal Palace.

This is a beautiful terra cotta structure of traditional architectural design (c. 1917-20) with 4 pavilions that face an exquisite courtyard garden. The museum houses an amazing collection of Khmer sculpture. A fragment of a huge bronze reclining Vishnu statue recovered from the Western Mebon temple near Angkor Wat in 1936 is the first striking work. The exhibition is arranged more or less chronologically tracing the development of the Khmer sculpture from the human form of the Indian sculpture to the more divine form of Khmer sculpture (5-8th centuries). Works include and 8-armed Vishnu (6th c., Phnom Da), a staring Harihara that combines the attributes of Shiva and Vishnu (Prasat Andet, Kompong Thom province). There are several Shivas (9,10,11 c.) and a pair of wrestling monkeys (Ko Ker, 10th c.), a beautiful 12th-c. stele in stone from Oddar Meanchey inscribed with scenes from teh life of Shiva, and a statue of Jayavarman VII (r. 11-81-1219) with his head bowed slightly in a meditative posture (Angkor Thom, late 12th c.) (Lonely Planet Cambodia Travel Guide). There is also pottery from the pre-Angkorian periods of Funan and Chenla (4-9 c.) the Indravarman period (9 & 10 c.) and from the classical Angkorian period (10-14thc).

Not only was I awed by the magnificent collection of Khmer sculpture but the museum features a nightly cultural show. There were 3 different performances running at this time - Cambodian Classical & Folk Dance on Mondays and Thursdays; Mak Therng, The Quest for Love & Justice on Tuesdays & Fridays, and Spirit Within A passage Through CAmbodian Life on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I saw the Mak Therng performance by Yike Amatak. This is "a timeless story of power, opportunity and human flaws. Mak Therng seeks justice and fights to reclaim his true love." The actors render deeply moving performances that move the audience to tears. The powerful rhythms of the drums and the wailing chords of the traditional instruments come to life as the actors perform classical Cambodian dances and retell this classical Romeo and Juliet-like tragic love story.

Wat Phnom

This magnificent pagoda is about 1.5 kilometers from the Royal Palace walking along the TonLe Sac River. It is built on top of a 27meter-high tree covered hill. There is a legend that the first pagoda here was erected in 1373 for 4 statues of Buddha that were deposited in Phnom Penh by the waters of the Mekong River and discovered by Madame Penh. The entrance is on the eastern side and the staircase is guarded by lions and naga (mythical serpents) that sit on the railings. There was a crowd of people perhaps because it was the beginning of the lunar new year -- but apparently people come here to pray fro good luck and success all year. People come, make an offering and a wish, and return to make another offering if the wish is granted. Offerings of flowers, incense, spirit money, fruit and even big chunks of fatty pork and raw eggs were plentiful. The vihara (temple sanctuary) was rebuilt several time (1434, 1806, 1894, and 1926). It's magnificent -- elaborately decorated with richly colored murals that line the wall from the baseboard to the ceiling and covering the entire ceiling. Buddhas and other statues populate the vihara and gold and color and offerings fill the sanctuary. People are bowing, lighting incense, chanting, and praying. There is a huge stupa west of the sanctuary that houses the ashes of King Ponhea yat (r 1405-67) and in a pavilion on the southern side between the vihara and stupa is a statue of Madame Penh. There is another shrine north of the vihara dedicated to genie Preah Chau -- the central altar contains a statue of Preah Chau protected by guardian spirits with iron bats.

Wat Ounalom, Sothearos Blvd

This pagoda or wat is the headquarters of Cambodian Buddhism, founded in 1443. There are 44 structures. This pagoda was dismantled under Pol Pot but is thriving today. There is a statue of Huot Tat, 4th patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism who was killed by Pol Pot. This statue of Huot Tat when he was 80 years old (1971) was thrown in the Mekong by the Khmer Rouge to show that Buddhism was no longer strong but was retrieved in 1979. There is also a statue of a former patriarch of the Thummayuth sect of the royal family.

Independence Monument, corner of Norodom & Sihanouk Blvds

This monument was built in 1958 upon the country's independence from France in 1953. It is modelled on the central tower of Angkor Wat. This monument also serves to memorialize the veterans and wreaths are laid there on national holidays.



CamTESOL

The Research Colloquium was held at the Cambodian-Korean Conference Center. The main conference was held at the Technology School. The lenary by Willie was excellent -- FLAMINGOS! CamTESOL presentations can be accessed at goo.gl/jkTH2f

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