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Published: April 5th 2009
At BKK new airport
on my way to Phnom Penh, Oct. 2007.It is October of 2008, my kid's getting married and she's requesting me to go to Bangkok and purchase her, for the ceremony, some rice paper fans that come in pastel colors and are just beautiful ! .... the only place we have seeing them; Bangkok. Everywhere in the Venice of Asia ! .....
So, I get ready for my trip, get my ID 90's and ZED's and take CO Business/Fisrt to Narita to connect with NW to BKK. I landed at the new airport in BKK for the first time and continue on to the city by the usual bus for the usual 200 Bt to Kao San Rd.
It is to late for my massage, but not for my beer and some goodies, food and stuff ......
Before my trip, since I don't want to spend the whole ten days off I got in Bangkok, I got me a pass for Thai Airways to Kathmandu and another one for Phnom Penh, the one that looks the best is the one I'll take ! .
The next morning I go into work and start the shopping for my kids wedding. At the World Trade Center I find everything and I
Phnom Penh
the street market, my first morning purchase all and leave for the airport to fly out ! .
Kathmandu is full, but Phom Penh wide open both ways ! ..... so, Phnom Penh here I come !!! .....
The flight to the Cambodian capital is about 50 minutes and the flight, as always with Thai Airways, excellent ! .... fine food, supper flight attendants .... not mentioning their beauty, and the service ! ... wow ! .
I arrive into Pochetong and as usual, we have to make a couple of lines for the visa. You got to have US $ 25.00 cash for it and we all, I think, are ready ! .... after a while, I am out in the street husstling for a bike driver to take me to my hotel by the Mighty Mekong ! .... one volunteers for a buck all the way ! . I hopped in and here we go for the city ! .
I have not being there since 1999 and things are ovbiously changed ! .... new hotels everywhere ! ... new buildings coming up in every corner ! . Happy people, normal people all over ! .
I tell my driver to take me to
Phnom Penh
colonian architecture downtown ..... the mekong riviera and he proposes somewhere else. I insist and we go there. I fornd me a hotel, how much for the balcony room ? .... about US $ 20.00, I take it ! . The driver leaves, but I ask him to come back tomorrow to take me to S-21 and the Killing Fields. He agrees and leaves ! ...... I get a little rest and then I go out for a beer ! .
As clockwork, at around 1400 hrs. for about an hour, the rain pours down like a big shower getting everything wet. I wake up and go to my balcony and there's life as usual, kids coming out of school walking home, no umbrellas, a man taking a walk with his elephant by the promenade, and all people walking and doing their business as nothing is happening, all wet and the rain falling ! ......
Once the rain stops I go out and my driver arrives to take me to S-21 and the Killing Fields. We arrive to the old french made S-21 and there are a bunch of Scania tourist buses parked outside ! .... the whole area is full of street vendors
Phnom Penh
another street caption in downtown selling food, magazines, postcards, and souvenirs ! ..... how bizarre, twenty years ago people was dieying there, now tourists are flocking to see what remains of the blood spattered in the walls, that, yeah, there still some in some places, and whatever remains of those horrors to take a snap pic on it.
The place is decaying and completelly different to what I remember in my first visit. There were no tourists, for one. And, I remember, as you entered one of the first buildings, you used to get welcomed by a big, wall sized map of Cambodia made up with human skulls and other bones. It's been removed, maybe thanx to the tourists and only a pic somewhere remains.
As you walk the buildings that conform the complex you pass thru the registration and intelligence gathering place, with rows of pics of the nameless victims, faces of horror of knowing what's going to happen to them. There are expositions with names and nationalities of the victims, of the city abandoned right after the take-over by the Kmer Rouge and Pol Pot. Then the torture chambers, and some pics of the condition they were in when discovered by the liberating
Phnom Penh
having my pho with my baguette vietnamese army forces in 78, I believe. Then in the next building to the right, the cells, made up from classrooms that still have remains of painted signs alluding to classes taken by the kids under their french teachers.
Every classroom became about twenty or more cells, made with bricks and mortar ruddely just like that, every cell has a hole, to drain the human waste from it, and a chain for the inmate or prisoner. The cells are kinda dark, due to the improvised walls and cells and there are stains in the floor from batteries, used to shock prisoners in their cells too, or from usage and waste. Row after row of cells in every floor. The balconies are covered by barbwire ...... and in the gardens are still some torture implements such as a tank filled with water with a sling used to hang upside down the prisoners and dip them into the tank. Signs with instructions hanging everywhere telling the prisoners how to behave and cooperate with the "authorities". Pretty depressing place .......
After my visit to Tuol Sleng I went with my driver to downtown for lunch. Where, he asked, well, where you and every
Phnom Penh
find the street vendor !!! other phnompenhnite eats, I responded .... and he took me to the best place for pho in the whole city. I was the only "farang" there, and the patrons, still, stearing at you like "what is this farang doing in our place ? " .... the pho ... delicious !!! ....the baguette, delicious too !!! .....
Sfter the lunch he dropped me off and then, later on, picked me up to take me to the Killing Fields. This place has not changed much, maybe for it's remore location, the only thing I saw kinda new was houses and more people and beggers. There are the pits where human remains where buried, with the signs of how many and the approximated ages, and there is the pagoda with the memorial and human remains.
When I was going out I passed by a couple of girls, and I thought I heard spanish being spoken .... so, I stoped by and asked. Yes, we are from Argentina. Good. Flor and Lorena a couple of nice girls from Buenos Aires traveling thru Asia, coming from Australia going to Vietnam, tomorrow, by the boat in the Mekong. And, tomorrow, also, I am taking the boat
Phnom Penh
reflections ...... too, but north, I wanted to do the trip thru the river up to Siemreap where the Angkor Temples are ! ......
So, we agree to meet in the evening and leave each their way.
The evening comes and I go out to get me a bike to take me where Lorena and Flor live. It took a long time, it's kinda hiden, by a little lake in an area of Phnom Penh filled with guest houses and houseboats, pretty nice and cheap.
I arrived and went to the terrace, overlooking the lake and the moon and stars. I got me an Angkor Beer and sit with my friends. The other friends, of them come out and they organized a trip to a restaurant refered by the Lonely Planet as a good place for seafood.
We got out to the street get two tuk-tuks and get on board on them. There's a dude from the UK, the two girls from Argentina, a french guy, a couple from Switzerland and Italy and two kids from Norway, and me. We all get on board those two tuk-tuks and leave ...... no one of the two drivers knew whwre we were going, but
The Killing Fields
The Pagoda at The Killing Fields near Phnom Penh, with offerings for the victims ..... here we went. Turns and turns in downtown and we could not find the damn place ! ..... the drivers asked around and nothing ! ...... finally, after a long time searching we found the place.
We all sat and got our beers and started to order stuff, the food was excellent ! ..... the service great, but, again, I can't remember the name of the place.
From the restaurant we went to a club and another club and danced the night away ..... I remember, the tequila shots were something like 5 bucks for a whole round ! ..... cheap.
I got to my hotel around 0400 hrs. and my boat was leaving for Siemreap at around 0530 hrs. so, kinda slept, got up, changed and left running to find my boat. I had a ticket and didn't wanna lose it.
I am the last guy and the boat leaves port.
Here goes this old old soviet era and built passenger boat that leaks everywhere ..... everybody on the roof. The sun hasn't come out yet, so, we are all up there enjoying the view ! .... the breeze ! . There are pagodas and temples at the edge
The Killing Fields
At the bottom of the pagoda there are the clothes of the victims with the tools to keep them captive .... of the water .... the city, bars and clubs, restaurants and houses ... we pass a couple of bridges and the city starts to grow thin ..... scarse houses and then, the country ..... the wide river sooo beautiful !!! .
The sun is coming out and even this early you can feel it's rays burning !!! ..... The river gets wider. There are houses and business in stills, there are boat and engine shops in stills over the water. People is friendly, there's this guy that is trying to hit on this cambodian chick and she can't find a place in the boat to run away from him ... that was funny ..... this dude's wearing a Che Guevara hat that he bought in Cuba.
The river opens wider and wider, we entered a lagoon and it's sooo wide and big ..... there are entire small forests inside it. Trees growing on it. Palm trees ...... and people living in the middle of the lake and river .... seems like a good life.
As we travel, the boat slows down to almost a stop and as this is happening, people approaches the boat in canoes, passengers get off, sometimes
Tuol Sleng S-21
At S-21 in Phnom Penh, one of the classrooms turned into a torture cell ..... notice the blackboard. they board the boat. But, makes you wonder, there are no visible houses or towns on view, how do the boat driver knows where to stop ? ....
After about five hours we get to Siamreap. The boat docks and we start to get off .... I look for the people from my guesthouse and they are there ! . I ask, because, when I booked my guesthouse the people at the place where I bought my boat tickets told me that this place was centric and nice. Yes, the guesthouse is "close to downtown" Siamreap. How close ? ..... few blocks. A-ha ! ... let's see. And I board my tuk-tuk with those dudes and we go. The distance from the port to the town is about 10 kms. Siamreap is a nice progresive little city and there's even a royal residence there for the king and family. Of course the Angkor Wat archaeological site and some really nice new hotels popping up everywhere ! ..... being there before.
So, we get to the guesthouse and it's way out of town. I 'm not staying there, and I take a hike, leave them there, got me another tuk-tuk and
Tuol Sleng, S-21
Some of the galleries of pictures of the victims taken by the Kmer Rouge ..... go to another one I remember from last time; mothers' guesthouse. Upon my arrival, the chinese lady recongized me and gave me the same room than the last time. Of course, the place is changed, our US Dollar took a hit, and now this place is a bit more expensive ! .... but not too bad, still.
I got me a bicycle rented for tomorrow, I am planning to go to Angkor on bike and go thru the whole place all day long, from sunrise to sunset. Only one day.
Got my bike and went out for a ride, a couple of beers and only that. The town has changed since I was there last time, I believe back in 2004. Big nice and luxurious hotels have been built ..... the town looks cleaner and way more active, and of course, the tourist rate has climbed horribly ! .... Got me some food with my Angkor Beer and then I hit the road again ..... went in the direction of the Temples of Angkor ..... to calculate how long will take me .... and I pedal and pedal and pedal ! .... pretty far on a bicycle. There are some
S-21
a classroom turned into a cell block ..... and another and another .... parties going on on the side of the road and I kinda stop over to ck out the people .... and I started to mentally calculate my time off, when do I have to get back to work in IAH ..... and about when to make my connections ..... and suddenly, my previous calculations do not match my new one ! ..... I am short one day ! . Wow !!! ...... so, there's no Angkor Wat tomorrow, got to leave in the morning ! .
So, I get back to mothers' guesthouse and tell the mother that I can't stay more than one night, so, I returned the bike and arranged the pick-up for the morning to go to the port and went for diner .....
Time to go to sleep to get up early tomorrow.
In the early AM hours, a small pick-up truck stops by my place and I get on the back for the drive to the port. We stop by again and again and again and suddenly, the truck is full of people. There's no space for anybody else and we all think we're leaving, but no. We stop bby for another couple; an old
S-21
a caption of the barbwire and the high school outside .... french lady and a cambodian boy, her companion.
The boat's ready for the travesy and we all get on board ! ...... it's exactly the same boat that I came on yesterday ! . Five uneventual hours later I'm in Phnom Penh and I go back to my hotel, the Mekong Hotel with a big big red sign and white letters ! ...... got settled in and then go out.
Later on that evening I went out for some nice shots with my little, broken, and loyal Leica.
That afternoon I witnessed a robbery, right there in the promenade, mid day and in front of everyone ! ... some local dudes approached a foreigner and surrounded him and his girl and robbing off his camera and some valuables ! .... I thought it was a joke ! . So, I am going out, to the promenade, in front of my hotel ..... the cleaning ladies warn me about the posibility of being asaulted, thanx, I know. So, I start walking and walking, admiring the place, noticing the beautiful colors going from blue to red, orange and yellow in the sky as the sun sets in the distance ..... I shot
S-21
barbwire ..... here and there, and when I'm shooting this three or four canoes by the water, a bunch of kids come out of those canoes ! ... they live there ! , so I got some shots of those kids too .... I stop over to chat with some kids, the girl wants to practice her english and we talk about the changes in Cambodia and the increasing tourism, the oportunities and other stuff .... she mentions how, much of the tourists, come with sex in mind. I tell her about this sign I read "sex tourists are not welcome in this business". Continue my stroll and I see this man selling a cambodian version of the escargots, ground snails steamed and with a little of salsa ! .... I buy me some and go back to share them with the girl I was talking, but she's gone. I walk a few meters and there's this other girl, kinda smilly and happy looking, so, I stop by and share my cambodian escargots with her. She doesn't like them, but shows me how to eat them and stays there to talk. I finish them all and then she invites me an ice
S-21
the map of Cambodia I mentioned, made out of human bones that was removed and now is shown only on a picture cream ..... she's got to go back to her job and we stroll together for few blocks. I hit my hotel and say goodbye.
That afternoon, while waiting for the on-time rain at 1430 hrs. to go away, I stopped by this bar near my hotel, in the promenade for a beer ..... a man stopped by, driving his tuk-tuk and asked me, boldy, if I could buy him a beer. Sure, why not. He's an older man and walks with a limp ..... he lived, obvioulsy, thru the JKmer Rouge years and saw everything ..... he lost his whole family during that time and now, he points out, he sees the war criminals being part of the government and driving those few Land Cruisers and Bimmers ! ..... the man with his elephant passes by too ....... the rain continues for about an hour, non-stop and then fades away ...... my friend drives away in his tuk-tuk ..... life continues on. Everybody's wet ! .
Tomorrow I got to make my way back to Bangkok and finish my daughter's purchases at the WTC.
Make it to Pochetong Airport. Someone told me once that that is no longer the name
Phnom Penh
at the restaurant with the friends from all different parts of the globe and my two friends from BsAs, Argentina ! of the airport, but, walking theu the terminal I find the Pochetong Airport signs everywhere, so, it's still Pochetong. Guess the name brings back bad memories ! .....
Check in for my flight and then, since I have some time, I cross the highway to a bunch of restaurants that are on tents across the airport and tend to employees ... usually food is great at those places, and this wasn't the exeption .... and the coffee was great too ! .
Made my flight to BKK and, again, the flight is uneventual. Got to BKK and took my bus to Kao San Rd. go immediatelly to the WTC and pay for all the stuff I bought, took my tuk-tuk back to Kao San and now I got the afternoon free ! ..... sat at the Siam Cafe, my favorite spot for many many years and I see the people stroll and pass by .... people selling all kinds of crap, food, etc. and later on I go for my massage, same place than always, can't remember the name, though, but right there in Kao San ..... some food at the other side of the avenue, outside of kao San,
The boat ride to Siemreap
the boat coming back from Siemreap and our going there ...... at the continuation of Kao San Rd. had some fruits, some fish and prawn all for about 6 bucks ! .
Early AM, again I am on my way to the arport, my plane to Narita and then CO Business/First to IAH ! ..... my trip is over.
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