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Published: March 16th 2007
Well hello again everyone, since by last blog I have been having the most incredible journey through Cambodia, this country has turned out to be my favorite countries I have traveling through so far, the people are so friendly the whole place is so relaxing and chilled out, it has really felt like the true backpacker experience I have been looking for!
So when I left the Mekong Delta and finally lot to the capital city of Phnom Penh after 5 different boats and god knows how many various buses etc, Mark, Juan and I managed to find the greatest guesthouse I have stayed in so far. It was called number 9 Guesthouse and was right on the edge of this huge lake, well actually most of the restaurant and bar were on stilts positioned over the lake. There was 24 hour bar and restaurant and we could sit out on the decking overlooking the lake all day it was incredible. The whole place was also filled with loads of hammocks and these massive round chairs that look like a big saucers that actually turned out of be so comfortable for either sitting or sleeping. There was also a TV
Are you sure this tuk tuk can go off road?
Our tuk tuk just after it got run off the roadand DVD player with about 10 more of these great chairs around so at any time of the day you could just lounge around and watch one of the many section of films on offer. Normally if you walked past the TV at around 3-4 in the morning you would fine 8-10 people asleep in these chairs as they were more comfortable than the beds. And to finally top it of there was a free pool table as well. So as you can image it was a very relaxing few days.
On one of the days we had met up with another couple of friends we had known from Vietnam called Colin and Andrea ( a really great Irish couple), all of us decided to take a tour to see the killing fields of the Khmer rouge and the S21 museum. The tour started with our tuk tuk driver taking us to an orphanage for homeless or deprived children up to the age of 18. This was a magnificent experience as the kids were so friendly and funny we were taken around to see the bedrooms (which up to 15 live in at one time!) we seen the kitchen
(Just a pot and stove in a corrugated iron lean-to) then we got to see there classroom where they get taught everyday by volunteers. There were about 110 kids ranging from anywhere between 3-18 and the most amazing thing was that no matter what they have been though or the living conditions that they are living in at the moment they are all just so happy, it really has made me appreciate more what I had when I grew up.
We all spent a good couple of hours talking and playing with the children, they had a set of boxing gloves and pads and so I put the boxing pads on and then they took turns on kicking and punching me, I have to say that some of the 14-15 year old kids that practice this every day can’t half kick, there was more than one occasion where I nearly went flying backwards.
When we left we really all felt like we need to help out in some way so instead of giving money that could go anyway in this corrupt society, Colin and Andrea bought loads of toothpaste and brushes along with Soap and washing powder. Also all of
AK47 magazine (fully loaded)
Not the most likely thing you would except to see lieing on the side of the road! us ventured to the local market to get a huge 50kg bag of rice as we couldn’t find pens and paper for them anywhere.
We said a sad farewell to all the kids before heading to the next destination that happened to be the shooting range. Well we nearly didn’t make it when our tuk tuk was driven of the road (well if you can call it a road it was more like a dusty farm track) and veered off down a steep embankment just missing this huge gulley of water. The embankment was so bumpy the tuk tuk nearly rolled right over twice, so once it came to a stand still in true tourist form we all jumped out dived in our bags and grabbed our cameras to take a picture of our tuk tuk in trouble! We did manage get a 4x4 to help pull us back on to the road luckily and we were back on our travels again.
We got to the shooting range and were presented with a menu which consisted of AK47’s, M-16 assault rifles, Tommy guns, Russian guns, Hand grenades, anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers! There must have been a selection of
30 different guns and weapons to choose from but as with most people I settled on the most used guns in the world the AK47. Colin and I were the only ones to try shooting so we got taken in the shooting range which was in a very humid low lit corridor with a target at the other end. We both and a few shots on single fire before switching to automatic and used the last 20 bullets in a split second. It was really great fun but over far too quickly, we did contemplate having a go at throwing a grenade but then decided against it as we would have just been far to costly on top of the AK47. The funniest thing was that the Cambodian bloke who was there did offer me a go on the RPG with a live target of a cow but you’ll be glad to hear that I did turn it down on the grounds of humanity!
As you can see we all took pics of ourselves holding various guns and having a great laugh pretending to be gangsters etc especially holding the Tommy gun!
Once we had finished prating about with
the guns we were taken to the killing fields to learn about the atrocities that went on here less than 30 years ago by the Khmer rouge. It was so brutal and in humane what they did here, 8985 Cambodians were bludgeoned to death with axes, wooden poles, stones and anything else they could find to prevent wasting there precious bullets. The Khmer rouge went systematically thought the whole country killing any teachers government officials and anybody with an education or power, they also abolished all currency and postal services and basically isolated Cambodia from the out side world. There are different estimates but a rouge figure is that around 2,000,000 people died at the hands of the Khmer rouge in there 3 years and 8 months rule!
At the killing fields there are many mass graves where the victims were told to stand at the edge and beaten around the head until they fell into the pit, in some of the pits that have been excavated there have been up to 450 people found. Since these atrocities the government have excavated these sites and found the majority on the remains and placed then inside a propose built temple/stupa. In
this stupa are over 8000 skulls arranged in sex and age and if you see from the pictures nearly every one of the skulls has factures or axe marks on them, I just can’t believe how these people could be so brutal and ruthless.
I think one of the worst stories I heard was how they killed the small babies by holding there legs and swinging they heads again a big tree yet again to save bullets, these people were animals!
I can now see why they take you to the shooting range first because once we left here we were all very quite and somber thinking about what we have just heard and seen.
Next up on the tour was a trip to the S21 museum which at the time of the Khmer rouge was the countries largest detention and torture centre in the country. It used to be a high school before it was taken over Khmer rouge and since then has now been turned in to a museum to show the crimes that went on there. Apparently more than 17000 people held at this detention centre were then taken to the extermination camp (aka killing fields)
between 1975 and 1979.
In this museum there were many torture chambers and devices, holding cells and many pictures of the victims, they are also many pictures showing the torture device being used. At one point it was claimed that they were torturing and killing an averaging 100 victims a day.
I have to say I was a toughly depressing experience as you can imagine, but it is amazing to see what this country and the people have been though and yet they are still all so happy and friendly despite all this savageness that has gone on.
For the next few days around Phnom Penh we sat around chilled out and played loads of pool! One night we stayed up till sun rise not releasing that time, it is so easy to lose track of time here. It was great I have never been to a place where you can still order a burger, chips and a beer at 5 in the morning, thought the only down side I could possible say was that because we were on a lake there were literally hundreds of mosquitoes everywhere!
So after such a great time in Phnom Penh how
The orphange
Very different from the living conditions back home hey! could it possible get any better, well and a beach of course!!!! So our next destination was Sihanoukville on the southern coast of Cambodia.
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Eva and Simon
Eva Crabbe
Tukking Hell !
Compared to the bamboo hotel in Chang Mai that guesthouse looks mighty fine mate! I can't believe the poverty in some of those photos and the torturing that went on in the killing fields, pretty disgusting. Have you seen Angelina Jolie on your travels? She's just adopted a child from Ho Chi Minh. Looking forward to your next blog baldy! :o)