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Published: December 11th 2008
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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!! so sorry for the lack of bloggage ppl but here it comes......!!
So, i guess i better update with the next instalment! CAMBODIA!!
Next stop.....Phnom Penn, capital of Cambodia!
Well the trip started out a total disaster - we were meant to be flying from Saigon to Phnom Penn but instead our shitty tour company (yes you Intrepid!) changed it from an hour's flight to a 6 HOUR bus journey through hell!!
It was crazy, the journey didnt exactly start well when we had to wait around in the bus station (ie. street) for 2 late passengers! Eventually these 2 hungover guys jump on (germans!!) and off we go - you wouldnt get a bus waiting at home for someone! Needless to say, our moods weren't the best when we finally got going on the journey through HELL! We should of brought rubber rings to sit on, sore bum anyone?!! Those roads may as well be dirt tracks....ouch!
The border crossing was nuts - you all get off the bus, scan your bags, get on the bus, drive over the border, get off the bus, get your passport stamped then off you go! Smuggling anyone?!?!?!
But anyway, after
6 hrs of crazy driving (we even hit a baby calf which splattered all over the bus, nice!) we FINALLY got to Phnom Penn!
First impressions - holy shit this is a dirty hole!
Now Cambodia has a really sad past but nothing prepares you for what we saw! Phnom Penn is the capital but is just full of poverty. Homeless familes lying all over the streets, the kids all naked and all begging you for money, its so sad and a bit scary!
The first day we just went to visit a temple which the capital was named after - happily strolling round it when ahhh MASSIVE monkey strolls past, only to look around and there are tonnes of them! Just chillin out, eating bananas (they actually were! hah). We didn't dare go near them though, vicious little things with fangs for teeth! eeek! fab to see though, wouldnt get that back home thats for sure!!!
We were then told there was an elephant in the temple so we walked around for a bit looking for it, thinking elephant my a55, when we came across the biggest pile of steaming shit ive ever seen! It was pilled up to
our knees!! haah - still couldnt find the elephant tho, i reckon some guy jst shovels shit there once a day for effect!!
The 2nd day we went to visit the killing fields. i dont know if you guys are aware of the Kyhmer Rouge reign were this guy called Paul Potts (britain's got talent!!! hah not really) basically ordered his army to kill any doctors, nurses, graduates, homeless ppl all over cambodia. He believed that everyone should live a farmers life so anyone educated or with nothing but the clothes on their back was executed!
He then ordered the rest of the country to live and work on farms - he would bring them to fields for a days work and then kill them just because he wanted to! BASTARD!
He killed millions and millions of innocent men, women and children - worse than hitler i would say, and this was only 40 years ago! Its something we knew little about at the time but glad we got the chance to learn about it!
We visited the S21 prision where the people were held for days then killed - you can see blood stains on the floor its
horrible. The prison used to be a high school its all so messed up.
There were pictures of all the people brought there to be killed, their clothes were still there in a box and pictures of them dead.
Skulls and bones are still kept there it was really tough to see. The sick bastard had teenagers as soldiers who killed these people with hammers, sticks etc. Anything but bullets as they needed to reserve them for the war and would rape all the woman!
Then the bodies were taking to killing fields all over the country. There are mass graves EVERYWHERE - some have been dug up, some left.
We went to a killing field and again there are skulls all in this tower - they buried the bodies separate so their spirits wouldn't come back, so legs in one grave, heads in another etc its so sick. You could see bones as you walked through the fields sticking out, its horrible. but a must to see!!!
As depressing as this all sounds it really was amazing to see! 2 days was enough though and after 2 lovely Khmer curries (mmmmmm) we were happy to move on to the next stop.... Siem Reap!!
Lessons learned:
*monkeys really do eat bananas
*monkeys like to steal
*little kids like to steal also
*our tour company seems to like hotels next to brothels....nice!
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