PHNOM PENH HORRIFIC PAST – WORLDS BEST TOUR GUIDE – AND VERY EARLY AWAKINGS!!!

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So we are now in Phnom Penh which is the capital of Cambodia. It’s a lot bigger than we expected and the poverty is really in your face and after the terrible past these people have really come along way. The thought of what happened here less than 30 years ago with the Khmer Rouge regime and all the horrible things that happened in this city and the rest of the country has hit home pretty hard with what we have seen over the last couple of days it has been a huge eye opener to say the least. First of all we arrived with very sore bones after our death defying boat ride up the Mekong River too find that all the hotels that we had looked at over the internet where full so we found a place called the Khmer Royal hotel which is smack bang on the water front. The room is very nice with a fantastic view over the river, all the cafes and bars are in this area so location wise it’s the dog’s bollocks. Upon arriving we were approached by a Tuk Tuk (scooter with a trailer attached to the back) driver offering us all sorts of transport for the next day and we took him up on the offer of a trip to the Killing Fields, Tuol Sleng genocide museum, the royal place and basically anywhere we wanted to go for the day. So we swap names, I’m Shayne and this is Barbara nice to meet you..Ahh Mister Shayne and Ali baba pleased to meet you my name is Jumbo see you tomorrow at 10 am. We honestly thought that we would never see Jumbo again. With all that we went out for a meal and a few drinks then headed back to the hotel for an early night planning on getting up around 8.30 am. Tucked into a comfortable bed for a change it was fast to sleep for us both!!!BLISS!! START ME UP!!START ME UP!!!START ME UP YOU NEVER STOP!!! Were we dreaming that The Rolling Stones are performing outside our window? Was it kids playing their car or scooter stereos loud? So at 5.10am I get out of my bed in my jocks walk up to the curtains pull them back and HOLYSHIT!!!! I wasn’t greeted by Mick Jagger and the boys from the Rolling stones, no teenage kids to yell abuse at but...around 50 Cambodian woman doing Aerobics! And they have been at it every morning since, so sleeping in is not going to happen hear that’s for sure!!
Wide awake we have a bit of brekkie and go down to see if Jumbo was about, sure enough he’s yelling out Mister Shayne, Ali Baba I not forget you!! We talk for a couple of minutes and get the day sorted out. First stop was a Shooting Range which is a 20 min ride out of town and is run by the Cambodian army as a bit of extra income we arrive and are greeted by some seriously looking dudes with a menu consisting of all the guns that are on offer as well as how many rounds you can fire!! I Couldn’t believe what I was about to do. They had everything on offer from pistols to a B40 Rocket launcher. So I chose 50 rounds of a Uzi which was not as easy as I thought and when I got my target back I only hit it 16 times out of 50 rounds so I guess the army won’t be signing me up!!Next up I thought stuff the pistols and all the other small guns I’ll go straight for the big boy the M16 machine gun with a hundred rounds. I was shitting it when I seen the size of the bullets, for a start I was all over the place but in end I had got the hang of the beast and even the dudes from the army were Impressed!! While having a look about the place I did notice the Ducks outside looking a bit sad and lonely and looking down the end of the shooting range you can see the remains of what was a perfect duck. In our last blog I was saying how Jimmy was telling me about shooting Ducks with an Uzi, I will was little wrong about the Uzi part as the dudes told me they had some guy from Ireland there a couple of days ago and it wasn’t an Uzi that ended this ducks life, it was a machine gun (You savage!!) You see at this shooting range your good old American dollar doesn’t just buy you guns and bullets it will also get you any livestock you want to have a pop at, They told me last year a sicko from Australia forked out $200 US and bought a cow only to spend another $300 dollars to launch two B40 rockets the cow was turned to mince with the second rocket POOR COW!!! The shooting big guns thing was soon put aside as our next stop on Jumbos tour was the Killing Fields which was about to let us know you much these people had suffered at the hands of one sick bastard. Between 1973 and 1978 about 17000 men, woman, children and infants who had been detained and tortured at the S -21 prsion were transport to this old orchard to be bludgeoned to death so the Khmer Rouge could save wasting precious bullets. The first thing we went and seen was the huge Memorial Stupa they have built which is filled with skulls of the victims that have been un earthed from the mass graves. Wondering around you can still see bits on bone and clothing littered all over the place. We didn’t stay for too long as it was getting very hot and I think we had both seen enough!!! Sitting outside we were having we break from things with our man Jumbo who could obviously see that we found the going a little rough.
The conversation turned to Jumbo and where he lived with his family and with that he asked us if we would like to visit his family who only lived about 10 min is his Tuk Tuk from the Killing Fields. WHY NOT!! So here we are on the way to visit Jumbos Family which wasn’t part of plans for the day to say the least. But once we got there it was so unreal to see the difference between the way we are used to living and the way these guys live. There are about 12 people living in this little shack all the kids where running around like mad chickens, all staring at us with their big brown eyes like we were some sort of aliens. Then Jumbo went missing for about 10 mins which was very weird as he was the only one there that could speak a little English so it was all nods and smiles until his return with 2 massive coconuts with straws in the top of them for you Mister Shayne and Alibaba. During our visit to Jumbos home he insisted that we come out the back fields to see their piece of land that all their crops and fruit are grown sure enough there was the tree that our coconut had just come from as well as a huge Mango tree which we both climbed up to get some mangos while I was up the tree Jumbo started yelling at me QUICK QUICK many ants Mr Shayne and I’m like what!!!!Ants where?? Then I looked down at my hand it was covered in red ants shitting it big time I brushed most of the little suckers off and got the hell off the tree as quick possible!!After a photo shoot with some of his family we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Phnom Penh
Our next stop was the Tuol Sleng torture museum (S - 21) which was once a school until Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge turned into a Torture prison. This place was not good and after a brief look around yet again we left with a lump in our throats and a clearer understanding of the atrocities that happened here under the Khmer Rouge regime. After leaving Jumbo took us to get our bus tickets from his friends business we stopped off for a quick look around the Royal Place and gardens which were beautiful and the Silver Pagoda which has 5000 1kg silver tiles on the floor sure made for a relaxing way to end what had been a big day!!
Sat 23rd Feb
Yet again we are bought from our sleep by the sound of loud music and woman doing Aerobics at 5am, We thought that they may of had Saturday mornings off but it seems not!! Today was a bit more of a chill out day after the ups and downs of yesterday; also we wanted to get our stuff ready for the bus ride to Siem Reap tomorrow, so we headed off to have a look around some of markets and see if there were any bargains on offer an sure enough it was all on again..You like! You buy from me! Special price Mr. Handsome! Madam you want!! We left with 2 pairs of not bad quality sunglasses Gucci and Oakley ($3 usd) 10 T shirts very good quality ($15 usd) the compete box set of Friends and South Park on DVD which all seen to play for the bargain price of $14 usd and Barbs got a North Face day pack which I spent £70 in the UK on my one for the unreal price of $11 dollars which after a close look is the same quality as the one I bought!! All in all it was a good day out and we returned to the area where our hotel is for a nice meal out and a couple of drinks at the Foreign Correspondence Club which has some of the coolest photography we have ever seen on the walls. We settled in for an early night as we had to be on the bus at 8am in the morning for the 5 hr trip to Siem Reap.
NEXT STOP SIEM REAP!!!

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Comments

[Jessica]

Idea to enrich your adventure a little more.
Dengue fever season is always around the bend for Cambodia. I was there during Dengue season and decided to donate blood to the local children's hospital. The line-ups of very sick babies and children were along every hallway and outside of the hospital. I was ushered in by a guard, and treated like royalty when I said I was there to donate blood. The sample fridge was EMPTY. So sad...so many tourists see Angkor Wat/Cambodia, but don't donate blood (a mindful way to give something to the needy)! The hospital was very sanitary, I watched the Dr. open the packaged needle right in front of me. Only took 10 minutes.!Give it a try, you'll feel more hopeful about the overwhelming poverty/painful histiry that surrounds and constantly asks you for help. Loved reading your blog, makes me want to go back! Yay for Cambodian aerobics! Hahah, Cheers!