Down to Phnom Penh and the Butterflies of the Killing Fields

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12th April 2009

This morning at 7:00am we caught our coach to the capital, Phnom Penh. We pick up our Vietnam visas tomorrow and also we’ll be there for the Khmer New Year - the Cambodians throw water at each other to wash away their sins, I’m gonna get a soaking! They also throw talcum powder, which doesn’t sound so great.

Our bus was a heap yet again. It was raining in the morning and the rain was dripping through the roof for the first hour of the journey. For the first time in Cambodia we met some friendly natives. An old couple on the back seat behind us were trying to communicate with us even thought they didn’t speak any English. These kind people offered us a share of their food and smiled and laughed with us which was a very pleasant change. Pili also made friends with a couple of newly weds across the isle. They showed us their recent wedding album which was very surreal having lots of photos with super imposed images in them. I also notice that the bride couldn’t have been much older than 13-14yrs old. Again this couple shared fruit with us and Pili parted with some of her cookies, they obviously had made quite an impression on Pili!

The 6hr trip of course took over 8hrs and when we arrived in the middle of the mayhem that is Phnom Penh, our Tuk Tuk driver that was supposed to be waiting for us was nowhere to be seen. A local woman gave Pili her mobile phone to call the guest house to arrange for someone to pick us up (very nice of her, we thought). Pili offered the lady 500 riel for the use of her phone; the woman firmly refused and demanded 3000 riel. Pili had to pay and we were both annoyed that she’d been so naive.

Eventually we arrived at the ‘Sunday Guesthouse’, our room was overpriced but we were past caring, we just needed a shower, a beer and a hot meal. After I’d showered I went downstairs to connect to the internet, Pili joined me half an hour later by which time I was having a deep conversation with a really interesting hedge fund manager called Don who is living in New York but was originally from Rajastan, India. Don had recently been laid off because of the financial crisis hitting the money market. He was very interested in some of my ideas of what was actually happening in the economy and some of what I was saying rang true with the things he had experienced in the business centres of N.Y.

Don’s travelling companion joined us a little later, her name was Maya, she was extremely well travelled for a 27yr old and she also spoke five or maybe six languages and apart from all this she was very cool; Pili and Maya hit it off instantly. We stayed shooting the breeze until bedtime.

13th April 2009

We were having breakfast by 8:00, cheese and spring onion omelette with a hot baguette and it was one of the best breakfasts we’d had in a while.

Today we’ve booked to visit the famous Killing Fields of Choeung EK. I was pretty uncomfortable about this especially as we found out that the site was purchased by a Japanese company to exploit the tourists. I can’t believe that money is going away from the families of the victims of the genocide that took place here. I am not saying we should forget what happened I just don’t like the idea of a tourist attraction. Well I was convinced that I should give it a go so I went along with the crowd, which is most unlike me.

On entering the Killing Fields the first thing you notice partially concealed behind some well placed trees was a very large monument with glass panels on each side. Behind the glass on full display are hundreds of skulls, victims of the genocide that happened here. That was enough for me, I told Pili and the guys I’d wait for them in a shaded pagoda near the entrance. I was really disgusted with the whole set up, if you could see the damn monument from the ticket stalls I’m sure many people wouldn’t enter but like I previously said some well placed shrubs concealed this gory display. When I walked over to where I’d told the guys I’d wait a soldier moved me on, I had to meet them around the sites of the mass graves instead. I decided in protest to photograph some of the butterflies floating around like brightly coloured tissues on the warm wind, I had to show some beauty to this place when all around was death and abuse, all sponsored by the Nixon government!!!! 20,000 people were executed here between 1975-78, clothes were poking out of the graves and signs hung on the trees where they tied women and children and tortured them to death. The irony was that I saw more animals visiting this death camp than in my whole time in Cambodia, I had predicted this because as everywhere else where the dead are laid to rest, anywhere in the world, hunting doesn’t take place and the wildlife thrives. I found birds and reptiles and of course the butterflies. On the other side of the fence to the park children were pressing their dirty faces against the fence begging for food and water, we gave them ours. THIS IS WHERE THE MONEY SHOULD BE GOING!!!............Nuff said.

We were also supposed to visit the museum that was Security Prison 21 (S21) set up as a detention centre by Pol Pot in 1975. Inmates after arriving here were then sent to the Killing Field for execution. Our inept tuk tuk driver got completely lost and then took us back to the hotel. To be honest we’d had enough and all agreed we didn’t need to see anymore. Instead we decide to visit the Royal Palace and then walk along the river front. At the Royal gates a small crowd was waiting to get in, when we finally got to the ticket box we found out that recently they’d doubled the entrance price, we concluded this royal family already had too much cash especially when the rest of the country was living in poverty so we gave it a miss and walked along the river front instead. The sun was very hot; we briefly had a look at ‘Wat Ounalom’ which is the head quarters of the Cambodian Buddhist patriarchate. After 15 minutes we decided to walk on down towards the markets and on to the Wat Phnom which is another Buddhist temple and is the highest point in the city at 27 metres high! The place was surrounded by sellers of trinkets and lots of caged birds, you’ve guessed it I spoke my mind to several of them. Another alarming sight were the massively obese Macack Monkies, some of these guys could hardly move, I guess the American & English tourists felt more at home seeing them. At long last Maya suggested we find a bar and sink a few beers, Don and I had been waiting for this suggestion from the girls, it had been a really hot day and our shirts were stuck to our backs. We sat for a good hour, talked, drank and chatted with some of the young sellers that made a beeline for our white skins and western dollars. Some of them were hardened negotiators and cheeky with it, Pili did get a bargain, a replacement pair of fake Ray Bans for me at $2:00, I’d left mine in Poring Hot Springs in Borneo.

After our drinks Maya and Don took us to a seedy resturaunt that they’d discovered near the central market (Psar Thmei) and we had a great & cheap meal. Maya then guided us back to the guest house through the madness of the city at night.

After cleaning up and chilling for a couple of hours Don and Maya knocked our door and asked us to join them across the road for a couple of drinks as it was their last night. At the bar it took us 10 minutes to get a jug of beer because of Pili playing up the waiters, I don’t think they’d ever encountered a mad Spanish girl. At 10:00pm Pili and Maya retired and Don and I decided to find another bar as we’d been asked to leave so that they cut shut the bar and do their traditional New Year celebrations with families; that was fair enough and we soon found another bar. Don and I sat drinking and talking for the next couple of hours. Again I’ve found a like minded individual and again it was only for the briefest of time. Don and Maya are definitely on our friends list that we will stay in contact with.

14th April 2009

Today we just chilled, did some washing and booked a bus and boat trip to Chau Doc in Vietnam via the Mekong River.

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