Cambodia part 2

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22/02/12 - Phnom Penh - The capital

A lazy morning before check out at lunch time. We hopped on to the bus to the capital of Cambodia.

The 6 hour journey was smooth and uneventful.

On arrival in Phnom Penh we were surrounded by tuk tuk drivers one of which offered to take us for $2 which was a bargain. The driver was a genuinely nice guy who didn't pressure us. The hotel we chose was full and so was the second and he said he could take us somewhere quiet and cheap, he was right on both accounts. His name was Lee and we hired him to take us to the killing fields tomorrow.

The heat had hit me today (33 degrees) and we went for an easy stroll by the river to find some dinner before having an early night.



23/02/12 - Phnom Penh - Choeung Ek

*** Today's blog is about the genocide in Cambodia and includes torture. Skip today's blog or scroll to the line of stars if it might upset you... the day upset me. ***

Lee picked us up at 9 am and started our tour with a trip to the Tuol Sleng museum which was originally a school before being taken over by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge forces and being turned into a prison/torture chamber.

In 1975 the communist leader Pol Pot had the idea that the country would be better off without educated people in cities (although he himself was an educated Mathematics teacher) and that they should live in the old way, off the land.

The Khmer Rouge were uneducated peasant villagers who had been promised food and good jobs by Pol Pot.

Pol Pot forced city dwellers to evacuate their homes and live in the countryside in conditions close to slavery and ordered that rice production be increased by 3 times. Families were split up.

The Khmer Rouge regime started to arrest people who were accused of leading an uprising against the Pol Pot revolution. They focused on intellectual people, teachers and those who spoke other languages and even people who just wore glasses.

Prisoners were interrogated and tortured for between 2 - 4 months to force confessions including that they worked for the CIA or Russian KGB. Many confessed to things they did not do to end the torture.

Torture included tying a prisoners arms behind them and hanging them by their arms from a horizontal wooden beam until they lost consciousness then pushing they head into filthy water used for fertilizer to shock them into consciousness so the torture could resume.

I also saw evidence of water tortures and physical violence. Hard to believe people could do this to their own kin.

The school/prison was 3 stories high with fishnet barbed wire on the 2nd and 3rd floors to prevent people committing suicide by jumping down.

In one of the buildings were photographs of each prisoner and it was shocking how many children had been detained here. The Khmer Rouge would interrogate entire families of a person suspected of working against them and often they did not know what they were accused of.

In the final building were paintings from one of the handful of people who survived the genocide. It took a strong stomach to look at them.

During the 3 years of genocide around 20,000 inmates passed through the Tuol Sleng prison.

Lee then took us to the Choeung Ek killing fields 15km away. We hired headsets to hear a personal tour.

At the start of the tour was a memorial stupa which contained the skulls of thousands of people killed here as a constant reminder of what happened.

The killing fields were where prisoners were taken after confessing and executed, usually along with their families so there was no one left to take revenge. Pol Pot's theory was 'it is better to kill an innocent person accidentally than to accidentally allow an enemy to live', sick!

Trucks would drop prisoners off at the killing fields at night and they had been told they were 'going to a new home' in order not to arouse suspicion in case they tried to escape.

In the night prisoners were taken blindfolded to the edge of a pre dug pit and were executed. No bullets were used as they were expensive, instead the Khmer Rouge would use cheap weapons like knives or hammers to beat people to death. There were even examples of the stems from a sugar palm tree being used to slash throats as it had a very hard and sharp serrated edge.

Close to the entrance was a storage shed used for chemical substances like DDT which was used to cover the stench of bodies decaying but also to finish the job if the guards hadn't managed to kill someone.

The tour continued to the first of the many mass graves here. The grave was the size of my living room and contained 450 victims bodies.

On the ground nearby were human teeth which frequently get washed up out of the soil during the rainy season, chilling.

The area was once an orchard with a lake. The lake was still there and some fruit trees remained. It was a very tranquil area and hard to tell such atrocities were committed here.

Walking around the lake I listened to several stories from survivors of the time.

Further along was 'the killing tree', here babies were taken from their mothers and their heads were bashed in against the tree in front of their mothers before they themselves were killed.

This has been a stomach turning day of horror. To think that as recently as the mid 70s this was allowed to happen for 3 years is shocking. Over that time more than 3 million people died, either being brutally killed or worked or starved to death by the regime.

A very sombre mood was over us during the tuk tuk ride back.



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Bobby had been unwell today with a bad tummy and was even sick by the lake. He had a lay down while I had some salad in our guest house.

As I was sitting and reflecting over what I had seen today a guy from Holland started talking to me and shook me away from my thoughts. He is traveling for 3 months and gaining enlightenment and teachings about Buddhism.

After lunch I started chatting to Katlyn from Australia. She had been mugged here just a few days ago and her purse stolen which contained all her money, cards and passport. She has managed to sort everything and will pick up her emergency passport today. Scary stuff but she was light hearted about it all.

I checked on Bobby who by now was rather poorly and kept racing for the bathroom. I certainly felt his pain. I booked our bus to Siam Reap as he thinks hell be better tomorrow then mothered him for a while until I was hungry and left him to sleep.

I ventured alone to find some food (leaving everything but a few dollars in the room).

My walk took me through a local park where lots of people were exercising. As I walked through a local woman stopped me. We sat on a bench and she asked me about Manchester as a member of her family is there and she was worried. I waited for her to try and sell me something but she didn't and we had a chat. She apologise for bothering me and sent me on my way.

I passed a constant barrage of 'lady tuk tuk?' and just smiled and said 'no thank you'. Then I came to a busy road with constant 4-way traffic. I watched some people in front just walk through the middle safely and decided to follow suit. The traffic flowed around me and I only had one brown pants moment. It was best to just look forward and not at the scooter and cars coming at you.

I found a cheap restaurant and ordered some food... I soon found out why it was cheap. I half ate my dinner and headed back to the walking wounded.



24/02/12 - Siam Reap - Angkor Wat

I'm so excited. Today we travel to Siam Reap to see Angkor Wat, the whole reason I came to Asia. Just a 6 hour bus trip first.

5 hours later and a change of plan. The bus broke down with a fuel leak. An hour later and a replacement bus arrived to complete our journey.

We arrived in Siem Reap to be greeted by a man holding a sign saying 'welcome Emily Robertson to Siem Reap', I felt very important.

By now the sun had set so Angkor will just have to wait another day.

A tuk tuk drove us to town where Bobby saw that fish pedicures were $3 with a can of coke and persuaded me to join him. The fish really had some teeth and were very ticklish which was probably why Bobby was screaming like a school girl. My feet felt fantastic afterwards.

A walk brought us to a night market and while I was looking at some paintings of Angkor Wat we bumped into the French couple we had met while sailing at Halong Bay in Vietnam and went for a drink to exchange travel adventure stories.

After saying goodbye and having a very late dinner we headed to the hotel.



27/02/12 - Siem Reap - Angkor Wat take 2

Our driver from yesterday picked us up to take us to the mighty Angkor Wat.

I was excited as I got out of the tuk tuk but nothing could prepare me for the walk along the causeway and Angkor Wat appearing gradually over the surrounding wall. I felt like a little girl.

The three spires of the temple are so ironic they sent shivers through me (even though it was another very hot day).

The walls inside of the temple were covered with engravings of many different scenes. There were headless Buddhas along the corridors which were likely decapitated during the Pol Pot regime.

We were able to climb up to the highest point of the temple and the views were spectacular.

A walk out of the West entrance brought us to a hidden temple which was completely abandoned with pretty views over the lake. The noise of the jungle was deafening in patches and sounded like thousands of crickets.

Walking back to Angkor and we were faced with a group of cheek monkeys, two of which decided to use me as a climbing frame.

The next temple we went to was the Bayon. The temple had an Angkor feel from the pointed peaks but the Bayon had the face of Buddha carved on four sides of each pillar.

Angkor Thom was a big temple which looked mostly intact. There were a lot of steps to climb to the top and I had to have a break or two because of the heat.

Ta Prohm next which is a temple swallowed by jungle and had huge trees growing on stones.

Phnom Bakheng was the final temple to see the sunset. We could see Angkor Wat in the distance.

Another fish pedicure then Bobby had a BBQ Cambodia style with kangaroo, crocodile, snake and ostrich. Bobby wasn't well after.



26/02/12 - Siem Reap - Pool time

To town for lunch then it seemed it was my turn to suffer with a poorly tummy so back to the hotel.

It wasn't so bad and we spent the afternoon by the swimming pool. There were 3 adorable puppies by the pool which we played with and one ran off with my top (I had me bikini on).

Back to town for a second time and I bought two paintings, one of Angkor Wat and one of the Bayon, each took the artist 3 days to paint and cost me £11 each.



27/02/12 - Siem Reap - More temples

Hired a tuk tuk to take us to some more temples. The first was Beng Melea which was a 2 hour drive. Our driver took the scenic route and pulled onto a dirt road which was dusty but worth it.

Beng Melea was built to the same floor plan as Angkor Wat and is in ruins having been abandoned to the jungle.

On arrival to the temple a guard told us not to walk on the wooden pathway and instead he led us on to the ruins then continued to be our guide as we scrambled over the rocks.

The temple must have been beautiful when built with evidence of ornately carved stones laying around. Most of the stones have been left where they fell and at times we had to duck through archways.

The same trees that were destroying Ta Prohm could be seen here as the cause of the destruction and I could see their handiwork up close. The roots can use the smallest of cracks for purchase.

Onward to the rolous temple group and during the journey we saw a dead pig across the back of someone scooters and a live bull in cage behind a bike.

By now it was scorching outside and I was struggling with the 34 degree heat. The temples were a different style to many we have seen but just as stunning.

Last stop was back to Angkor Wat to see it in the light of sunset. It still took my breath away.

Once again I was poorly after food and had an early night while Bobby met with our French friends.

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