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Published: March 8th 2009
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Polly:
On Tuesday we left the seaside town of Sihanoukville and caught a bus to Phnom Penh. On arrival we were met, once again, by a determined troupe of tuk-tuk drivers. We asked one of them to take us the the 'Lakeside' area, which we'd heard was good for backpackers. When we got there, however, it was a all a bit skanky, and although most rooms were going for 4US$, there was nowhere with air-conditioning (which was much needed), and the place was infested with mozzies due to it's proximity to the lake and gaping cracks in the wooden floors. As I'd decided to stop taking any anti-malarials due to adverse side-effects, we really needed a mosquito-proof room and were prepared to pay a bit more for the luxury. We paid the tuk-tuk driver an extra dollar to take us to the 'Riverfront' area of town, but he only took us to hotels owned by his friends, which were either full or a complete rip-off. All the while he was putting on the pressure to be our special Phnom Penh tour guide for the next few days. You can't blame the bloke for trying, but in the end it got
a bit annoying so we got out and set off on our own.
We'd taken note of some of the hotels we'd seen on our journey, and decided to head back the way we'd come from. Apart from the weight of the rucksacks, and the sweltering heat, it was an enjoyable half hour stroll, and actually helped us get our bearings. We passed a big open square where a public aerobic class was going on with about two hundred locals sweating it out in unison.
After enquiring at about ten hotels and guesthouses we stumbled across Superstar Hotel, and it totally lived up to it's name. It cost 13 US$ a night, but had a great room with everything we needed, and it seemed to be in a prime location. You get to a point where you know that if you searched for another hour or two, you might find somewhere similar for 10 US$, but sometimes it's just not worth it!
The following day we went by tuk-tuk to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, 14km southwest of Phnom Penh, and then onto the Tuol Sleng Museum, aka Security Prison 21 (S-21). We'd both read 'First
They Killed My Father' by Loung Ung, a true story of a family who endured horrific suffering at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and wanted to learn more. It was both a fascinating, yet harrowing day, and left us lost for words. I kind of wish we'd done this at the start of our visit to Cambodia as it helps you understand the poverty, and some of the countries problems. It's hard to believe that all of this happened just thirty years ago, and it makes you look at some of the older Cambodians in a different way. In total, it is believed that 1.7 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge rule.
Coincidentally, the genocide trial had just begun in Phnom Penh of a former Khmer Rouge leader, known as 'Duch', so the local news channels were full of the story.
Choeung Ek is where most of the 17,000 detainees held at the S-21 prison were executed. At the entrance is a commemorative stupa, containing 8000 skulls excavated from the mass graves. You can then walk around the killing fields and along the paths which curve around the shallow graves. Although the bodies were buried in
specific areas, bones and clothes were still being revealed on the paths where we were walking. Some of the local village kids were lined up on the other side of a chain link fence begging us in unison for our bottle of drinking water, which we duly handed over.
We then went to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, the former S-21 prison, which was directed by Pol Pot. After storming Phnom Penh in 1975, the Pol Pot regime forced all the people to leave the city and live in remote countryside villages as slaves to his cause. He renamed the country Kampuchea, and enforced a fanatical rule on the people, punishing, or killing anyone who showed the slightest signs of an education. Many were imprisoned at S-21, a former school, before they were executed.
It was possible to walk around most of the former prison and stand in the cells, some as small as 0.8 x 2m. The chains and toilet buckets were mostly still intact, as were the dark stains on the floor and the walls. Some of the larger rooms, used for holding many prisoners, or for torture, were filled with photos, artwork, and recovered documents
from the era. There were many first hand accounts from former prisoners, their families, and former Khmer Rouge soldiers. It was strange reading the same stories from different perspectives.
After we left we were both a bit numb, and just sat in a riverfront cafe for some time in a state of disbelief. I didn't feel sick, just a bit weird. We had some food and gradually started talking about the different articles and accounts we'd read. Until I started writing this blog, I'd forgotten what a strange day it was.
Thursday was a much more lighthearted day. We strolled around, looking at some of the local artwork and crafts. We tried to go to the Royal Palace, but I wasn't appropriately dressed; We'd put nearly all of our clothes in for laundry, leaving me with just a little dress, and Ross' swimming trunks for underwear. I carefully wrapped a shawl around my arms and shoulders, but they wouldn't let me in unless I bought one of their rip-off T-shirts, so we decided to give it a miss.
The following morning we took a bus to Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, finally bringing an end to
our two-week Cambodian adventure...
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