Phnom Penh - Round One

---

Day 31/32/33 - Phnom Penh (pronounced "Nom Penh")

The usual assault happened to us as we got off the boat in Phnom Penh - an attack of moto drivers but with a slight twist added in. Here there are now tuk tuk drivers after us as well. The guesthouse we had found online for cheap ($4.50 per person per night) was clear across town, so the guy offered to take us there for $3, so we just agreed as that sounded reasonable. We had to stop at an ATM though since we had no Riel (Cambodian money). The driver took us to the reliable ANZ bank and to our shock the ATM dispensed dollars. It was so weird and we both kind of looked at each other really puzzled. Our driver assured us that everywhere takes dollars.,so we got back on the tuk tuk and made our way thru the streets of Phon Penh to the "Sunday Guesthouse". The city is definitely different then Hanoi or HCMC. The traffic is not as hectic or loud and there seams to be more cars on the road or rather SUVs. And not run down ones either, Land rovers, Mercedes SUV, Lexus SUV, etc. The city was definitely more developed then we had thought with loads of camera shops, mobile phone shops, car dealerships and even KFC and Swanson's.

We got to our hotel and check into our room that had no A/C just a fan, but we decided we needed to tighten our belt and start saving on luxuries. We walked to the Southern end of the city and had a yummy lunch at Del Gusto Cafe then headed to the nearby Tuol Sleng Museum. The Museum was previously a high school before being taken over by Pol Pot (Khmer Rouge) in 1975. They re-named it S-21, which became the detention center and place of torture before people were taken to the Killing Fields. To quote Lonely Planet, "Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their barbarism". And Lonely Planet book was spot on with this description. Even when you walk in there is an uneasy somber feeling. We joined with 3 others and paid for a guide, which was a good decision as she told us stuff we never would have known. The rooms are more or less in tact (not as refurbished as the "Hanoi Hilton") just like the Vietnamese found it when they took over Phnom Penh. The pictures on the wall of the decomposing people that were tortured in the very room we were in (and on the very bed next to us) are too hard to describe; there simply aren't cruel enough words in the dictionary. S-21 usually sent women and children directly to the killing fields and would keep the men and interrogate them with torturous ways - pulling off their finger nails, scorpions, hanging them upside down for hours on end, etc. The ironic thing was that the torturers and executioners who worker atr S-21 were eventually killed themselves as Pol Pot thought they "knew too much". The next building was full of pictures showing many of people that came through S-21. There would be btw 200-300 people brought each day (most of them were doctors, teachers, scholars). We tried to take a look at every picture but there were just so many - one after the other - room after room. Men, women, children, foreigners. The building also held the chair the everyone sat on while getting their picture taken, tools that had used for torture and skulls of those that were either killed here or died due to living conditions of S-21. In the last building they had put up on the walls stories of the surviving Khmer people about the day their loves ones disappeared. There were also stories of those that were part of the Khmer rouge and where they are now. Most high-ranking officers have yet to be sentenced and Pol Pot himself dies of natural causes in 1998. It was sad to think the US had back this horrendous regime being lead by a psycho-path back in the 80s.

We had arrived in Phnom Penh, excited about what new adventures we would have in Cambodia and left in pretty dire spirits. There was a shop next by that sold silk products made by children that have been disabled due to landmines and picked up a few things and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, we went to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek just outside of town. We were with a lovely older couple Jackie (UK) and Mitch ( ) they had bee living in Canada but had spent time volunteering in Africa and China for the last year. They gave us great trips about our trip to China & Tibet and ideas on how to volunteer for free, but not join the Peace Corp. The Killing Fields are where 17,000 Khmer people were killed from 1975-1979. Only 43 of the 129 mass graves have been exhumed. There are more then 8,000 skulls on display at the Memorial Stupa which really put the the unfathomable numbers into something more tangible. We walked the grounds that were covered with shallow graves that had at one point contained 200 or more bodies.

We arrived back to our hotel and the two is headed to explore Phnom Penh. Our first stop was Wat Phnom which is perched on top of the only hill in town. It was really nice, but the street children begging for her money is how we will most likely remember this place. Children were digging through the trash, picking up spoiled food that previous people left on the alters of the Buddha's. It looked like they hadn't showered or washed their clothes for weeks or months. There were even children running around with only a top or naked all together. Temples in Vietnam had beggars on the steps, but nothing like this, not with this many children. It was really upsetting. S at one point just said to G "I gotta get out of here". We did see a cute monkey in the temple area and an elephant along the walls of the main pagoda. It seems here the gap between poor and rich is much bigger then in Vietnam. Just hours after our experience at the Wat, we saw a Bentley trying to park alongside the road - a striking difference. We walked a short distance but the sun was so unrelenting, even for us native Floridian's"we had to duck under cover in a tuk tuk. The driver took us to the Psar Thmei market. It was a little different then the ones in Vietnam, this market seemed to really be for the locals and not meandering tourists. There were the usual things for sale - clothes, jewelry, knick-knacks, food. And some unusual things as well - fried spiders, worms, beetles.

For lunch we stopped by the Friends" restaurant, which helps former street kids gain skills for the hospitality industry. They also do local community outreach by providing schooling for former street kids, assistance with HIV positive mothers and their children. We gorged ourselves on Mekong fish in salsa verde, chicken curry, sweet potato fries and banana & chocolate spring rolls for dessert. Hey what can we say - we philanthropist, doing what we can for the kids!

It was still mid-afternoon, so we headed to the National Museum for hide from the sun for a while longer. The museum had room after room of sculptures and artifacts dating from the 5th - 14th century. It was pretty cool until S got yelled for taking photos - opps!!! We then walked around some more, stopped my a beautiful temple with loads of monks and no tourist. After being out and about for about an hour, we had to dip into a fancy hotel for some relief from the sun. S got the cheapest thing on the menu - a donut so we could sit in the A/C for a bit. G ended up getting a lovely Jasmin Tea and we chatted to the concierge for a bit who was so sweet and friendly. After feeling cooled down, we head towards the river which was fully of Westerns and walked around some more until finally calling it quits for the day.

After relaxing a bit in our room, we met up with our friend Jane, who we had met in Hanoi and is now volunteering in Phnom Penh for 3 weeks. We had a lovely dinner at Lazy Gecko Cafe which also supports a local orphanage and caught up on what she had been up to since we last saw her in Vietnam. We said our goodbye yet again to Jane and headed for bed as we had a busy day ahead of us.

We woke up early - well early by G&S standards - 8AM and went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. It was a huge complex and we payed a hefty price to get in - $6.00 each. All the buildings are overly ornate and pristine, with Buddha statues scattered inside the pavilions and all along the premises. It was quite impressive but over-run with group tours however, it is a must see in Phnom Penh. We got back to our hotel, packed our bags (yet again) and eat quick bite before getting on the bus to Sihanoukville (along the coast of Cambodia).

Halfway along the 4 hour journey, we slapped our foreheads and realized we would be back to Phnom Penh in the near future.


Lots of Love -

S & G

---

Photos

S-21
Bed and shackles still at the Prison

Killing Field Skulls
Skulls that fill the stupa on the Killing Field Memorial site.

Killing Field Grave
Mass Grave that held 450 bodies.

Street Kid
Street kids run rampant around the Wats in Phnom Penh

Buddha Statues
Statue room in
The National Gallery

Nara
The snake that protected the Buddha during the rains.

Comments

[Val Phillips]

I do hope you tried the delights of worms, spiders and beetles - yum! xx