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Published: April 14th 2013
Tai Chi Anyone?
Janie 'tries her foot' at the new skills required...Sihanoukville is familiar territory to us. We had stayed here on our previous trip and had decided that this was the ideal place to ‘hole up’ and recouperate from our travels thus far. It was great to have a comfortable bed, cheap food and a lovely beach nearby (Otres Beach). As we arrived we could feel the ‘relief of the familiar’ and celebrate the fact that, for a while at least, we were going to stay put. The Mekong had taken a good deal out of us!
Having visited the local pharmacy, for Janie, it became apparent that it was possible to buy ANY drugs, including really heavy duty ones, for a few dollars. In fact you can buy ANYTHING here for a few dollars!
Our resort, The Beach Club, is a lovely friendly place run by Luna, a charming Dutch lady. She is one of those people who takes life very much as it comes and for whom very few things represent a significant problem. Even when we broke the glass top of our coffee table in the bedroom (ask Janie about this!!!) she pointed out that it would be far safer to use
The Mango Rooms
Yoga overlooking the sea the bed - for reasons of safety!
We decided some time ago that it would be fun to sample Tai Chi. After a few days, with Janie feeling better, we decided to give it a go at Mango Rooms on the very northern tip of Serendipity Beach. We had spent several days scouring the town for ‘Tanya the Tai Chi lady’ and eventually caught up with her. The whole thing was pretty much a disaster! Trying to follow two or three simple moves is, at best, a challenge for me! Imagine trying to remember twenty or thiry!! Nevertheless, as a bye-product of this experience, Janie landed up doing yoga with a charming lady called Sally - a Singaporean national - whilst I whiled away the hour at the local beach bar - ‘Above Us Only Sky’. (See previous blog entry) This establishment is owned by Nick (an Australian) and Vicky (a nurse who began life in Sheffield!). Vicky, who had also taken up yoga, and Janie hit it off immediately and used up much of the available oxygen on Serendipity Beach with lengthy chats mostly of a medical nature and occasionally gusting to gale force 7!
Otres Beach
A slice of heaven! It was coming up to THE rugby International - England vs. Wales and despite the fact that, because of the time difference, the match kicked off at midnight (our time) we found a local bar ‘Shipwreck’ in which to watch it! We wished we hadn’t! As you are no doubt aware, England got thrashed 30 (lucky!) points to 3! Stuck in the middle of the gathered throng was a lone Welshman. Before kick off he took a great deal of stick. Having said that, as Wales piled on the points, he became more and more vocal - as you can imagine. At the final whistle he sealed it by offering temporary Welsh citizenship to all assembled Englishmen!
‘Above Us’ is a new venture for Nick and Vicky who were trying out many new ideas to kick start their new business. We found ourselves invited to a wine and cheese evening - slightly surreal! And an engagement/wedding celebration for an charming Australian bloke called ‘Dave’. Before - and even after - the ceremony nobody was quite sure whether he had taken part in a betrothal or a marriage ceremony! Only in Cambodia! Anyway - congratulations Dave
Locals at Above Us Only Sky
Steve, Vicky the owner and Janie on whatever happened that evening!
Blah, blah, blah - sunbathing, shopping, eating, meeting new people, etc! You really don’t want to hear anymore about this!!! But it was bloody lovely!
After about 3 weeks we returned to Phnom Penh - again by local bus - to stay a couple of nights. Our aim was to visit the ‘Killing Fields’ just outside the town. The Cambodian government has erected a large memorial to commemorate all the Khmers who died in their own private halocaust. From 1975 to 1979 one crazy individual, Pol Pot, managed to take sole charge of the nation. He was determined to model it on The Chinese Ideal of the agrirain elite. His first action was to clear all towns and cities and get the populace back to working on the land.Overnight this was done! At the end of 4 years about one quarter of the entire population ( 2 million people out of a total population of approximately 9 million) had been murdered or died of starvation. The first to die were those who represented a threat of any kind to the existing regime, the intelligent ones - doctors, teachers, laywers,
anyone who had worked for the previous government, wearers of glasses (yes - it was that crazy!). They were detained at S21 - a specially converted secondary school in the centre of Phnom Penh and, after being tortured into confessions and incriminating friends and relations who were in turn arrested and tortured, they were taken outside the town to be slaughtered.
The Cheung EkGenocide Memorial Centre is a sombre and sad affair but stands as a sobering reminder to ‘Mankind’ that we are all capable of the most heinous attrocities towards one another and that the Nazis were not the only ones with an evil scheme to introduce an ideal lifestyle!!! Perhaps, as a species, we are all too slow to learn! We left the place older, sadder and a little wiser. It was at this point that our tuk-tuk driver enquired whether we would like to visit a place, 5 minutes down the road, where we could try our hands at firing Rocket Propelled Grenades or fire machine guns! Only in Cambodia!
We travelled in our trusty tuk-tuk to the airport, weaving between the dense early morning traffic, and set off for Malyasia
John tries his hand...
A new job in the offing??? relieved to be leaving behind the dust, filth, noise, traffic and general colourful chaos which makes the city so addictively aweful!
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Wow what a place, glad they've put up a memorial to all those poor people who were torured and died. A dreadful time in world history. Pics are great - I like the tuk tuks. Glad you two are enjoying your travels.