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Published: December 24th 2006
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Royal Palace
the royal palace at sunset after hitting the viet/khmer border we proceded up the mekong river, destination phnom penh. me rowan and judith stuck together and decided to stay as a wee posse. probably influenced by the fact that the poor gits couldnt get rid of me. we headed for the okay guesthouse on the other side of town and were promptly dissapointed agter assurances from our tuk tuk driver that it had rooms available. i managed to speak to the manager after a while standing around and we got 3 beds. mine however was in a dorm. i hadnt hit a dorm yet in asia, i approached with trepidation but all turned out pretty well. after all $1 for a bed is worth some israeli/dutch twats coming in at 5 and waking me up. i was however, glad to be into my own room the next morning. i spent that day wandering round phnom penh. the place has a real charm about it, not entirely sure why though. maybe its the fact the place is so relaxed and friendly. fortunately the worst thing about cambodia is the fact that booze and food is so damn expensive, but the cheap rooms more than make up for
Killing Fields
Inside the Stupa it. had some great food at the FCC (hopefully will be there one day as an actual correspondant) and saw me a big grey elephant wandering down the street. the architechture of phnom penh is awesome, evidented by the fantastic national museum. i spent the day wandering about this place just gawping at the 5000 sculptures of khmer history and taking in the tranquility of the museum. compared to every other museum i've been to out here, this one is actually worthwhile visiting (take note Hoi An).met the guys that night and me and rowan sat down with the brilliant beer lao and watched apocalypse now. (helicopter scene = best ever) bright and early the next morning i headed out to the notorious killing fields to learn about cambodia's horrific past. my driver took me about 9 miles out of town, through horridly bumpy roads. my arse got such a pounding i now have an understanding what it's like to sleep over at michael jackson's ranch. (yes i know, but i'm already going to hell) we reached the killing fields and i took a wander around, unsure of how i would cope with the scene presented to me. in 1975
The Silver Pagoda
the lovely silver pagoda when the khmer rouge took control of the country they systematically murdered about 3 million innocent people, thousands of them here. the place was eerily quiet, nobody said a word, in fact there were remarkably few people there. in the middle stands a massive white Stupa, a memorial to the victims of the 'revolution'. it is certainly a beautiful peice of work, but only when you approach it, does it strike you that the contents of its 3/4 stories are human skulls found at this site. it was certainly a strange feeling to be so close to genocidal remains. i wandered round the rest of the site to view the pits into which the bodies were dumped and the trees against which children were beaten. many of these mass graves have never been excavated and probably never will. the most shocking thing about this site was the fact that clothes and bones of the victims just litter the site, easily treaded on.
after leaving, my driver being a thoughtful fellow suggested i should head to the shooting range. i agreed, though it did seem disrespectful after just heading from a site of human barbarity. maybe it wasnt a good
AK
Nothing gets between me and my AK idea heading to an illegal shooting range in the middle of nowhere, alone and loaded with cash. but fuck it, here once, do it. i wandered in, ordered a beer (beer and rifles, genius) and was handed a menu that i wasnt allowed to take a photo of. the contents of the said menu were a wide range of handguns, assault rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and an anti aircraft gun. (who the hell needs an AA gun?) after consultation with my little gunmaster i decided on a full clip in a Colt .45 and the infamous AK47. i put on my earphones, army jacket and headed off to kill me some commies. well paper commies. i was lead into a sweat box and shown how to hold the gun. powerful little fucker. immediately disproves all hollywood film shootouts. i blame the beer and the gun, but i managed to miss the entire target with a full 15 rounds. had a wee scare when the thing got jammed in the chamber, but hey, romantic way to go out? after killing a wall and not a target i was handed the ak47. now i've waited a long time to shoot one of
Killing Fields
stupa containing the remains of the innocent these and it didnt dissapoint. given a seat i sat down, took aim and squeezed the trigger. mother of god that hurt. i'd expected the thing to have a bit of kick but my shoulder took a pounding. shot #2. ouch again. still i managed to reel off a few shots while my buddy took a few photos. eventually he knocked it up to semi/auto and i took careful aim. i soon found out aiming doesnt matter, the gun goes wherever the hell it wants, most notably the ceiling. after expending the clip i went to check my target and actually hit it. i considered the AA gun, but i didnt think this would be a good idea. (got a video of the ak though)
i headed back to my driver and towards S-21. this is another example of cambodia's brutal history. a former school in 1975, it was turned into a detention center and some 17,000 (i think) people were either tortured or killed here. (again, i think). this place was certainly more shocking than the killing fields but once again didnt bugger me the same way the saigon museum had. it consisted of many former classrooms, bare,
Bones
bones just lying about at the KF except for an iron bed, weapons and leg irons. there were rooms consisting merely of pictures of the adults/children awaiting their fate here, blood on the floor has still not been removed and serves as a powerful reminder that this wasnt all to long ago. after wandering round i met les from Halong Bay who's hotel had burned down. poor sod, nice to see him again. the rest of phnom penh is somewhat blurry, i watched borat finally and nearly wet my pants. incidentally i had to buy some new underwear after some git in thailand/vietnam kept thieveing mine whenever it went for laundry (happened to others too :S ). after getting my new expensive underwear home and struggling to put it on, i realised, yes guys, it is true what they say about asian men 😉
the royal palace/silver pagoda was one of the finest sights i saw in phnom penh. it certainly doesnt dissapoint when you get up close and personal. though much of the royal compund is closed to the public for obvious reasons, its still a big auld place. after wearing the right clothes finally (and losing most of my bodyweight in sweat) i wandered
Genocide
Mass graves at the KF round and managed to get a backpacker special. that would be latching onto an english speaking tour group for free and pretending you're looking at some dog or something. it feels good to let someone else pay for your tour guide. i got bored quickly and spent the rest of the time wandering round and snapping away. i swear i'm turning japanses, and no, not in the way the vapours sang about. (i know thats what you're thinking balboa). silver pagoda is cooltoo, though i felt like a muppet when i went out of the grounds, checked my book and found that i'd entirely missed the point of the place. though it houses an emrald buddha (made of jade) the main attraction is the fact the floor is made of 5000 1kg pure silver tiles. i failed to notice this. tit should be added to my long list of middle names.
we were now in the backyard of angkor. hell yeah
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jude
non-member comment
hello
Nanana, the arm is the magic of the phot, well so i am told by my sister. You and rowan just look scary, maybe it would help if you actually SMILED!! hehe. Thailand is bloody cold. Froze my ass off for the whole 14 hour train, really thought i might get hypothermia! But we are here now and the hostel seems good. Have a great christmas! See u in Loa. luv jude xxx