Phnom Penh & Kratie

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After all the wonderful temple touring we continued our historical education of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, a mere six hours away by bus.

We arrived as dusk fell and could see instantly that this was one busy city, the roads were chocker, people swarmed the streets and the nightly food markets were out in force. This felt a more real Cambodia, more than a tourist hub like Siem Reap had been.

After checking into the rather plain but pleasant Capitol guesthouse we got some street eats from the thriving stall outside our door. So far food (always from street stalls) in Cambodia had been more expensive than Thailand and although it was cheaper in the capital city it was still proportionately higher priced. Nonetheless after my noodles I was in need of some dessert and spotted just the stall to quench my desire. The lovely lady had sticky rice, egg custard, jelly pieces, and cake. A mixture of these in a bowl with sirop, condensed milk and crushed ice on top and you have a super sweet delicious pudding. Even Lewi loves it. But it is no wonder that the teeth of the Khmer people aren't in best shape! My god it's sugary.

Early the next morning we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Cheong Ek, better known as The Killing Fields. It was just a short drive from the city centre to reach this former orchard now infamous as the site where thirty five years ago, the Khmer Rouge executed 1000's of innocent men, women and children. It was incredibly upsetting to walk around the sixteen excavated mass graves thinking of the awful inhumane way in which the victims were murdered, how life was battered out of them. There was a silence around the whole area broken only by tour guides providing terrible statistics and information. It felt almost disrespectful to be walking there, especially when fragments of bone and clothing still poke from the soil. A large stupa has been erected as both a monument to the poor souls who were killed there and to house their remains. It's glass walls reveal 17 levels of beaten and broken skulls whose empty eye sockets stare back at you. We both felt so distressed by this sight and it is surely the most horribly shocking thing I've ever seen. An informative museum and signposts positioned around the area told us the dreadful truths of this place. Everyday truckloads of victims would be brought from Tuel Sleong (the high security prison in Phnom Penh) and were clubbed or stabbed to death so as to save precious bullets. The children were destroyed too so that they could not exact revenge in later life. Chemicals were used to kill those who lay beaten but not defeated in their mass graves. It was devastating to see and read about all this and it's so appalling to see what humans are capable of doing to others. These brutal acts of genocide occurred across the whole country and up to 3million people were killed at numerous sites just like this.

Some people were snapping away paparazzi style here, but we just couldn't, it was too upsetting and felt disrespectful. So we took only a few photos.

As we drove back to the city in our chariot style tuk tuk we discussed the war that led to the Khmer Rouge takeover and their following devastating reign over Cambodia and her people. I didn't know much about any of this until we arrived here so I did some background reading, The American/Vietnam conflict spread across Cambodian borders in the north east, US planes carpet bombing the area so as to 'root out' the Viet Kong. This then sparked a completely separate war against the rebel forces of the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of civilians were killed and landmines still threaten the rural population today. The Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot overthrew the US stronghold of Phnom Penh on 17th April 1971 and so began their tortures, killings, and starvation of the nation in an attempt to return to a totally agrarian way of life (and to sell all their rice to China).

So to Tuel Sleong, a secondary school converted into a maximum security prison where the Khmer Rouge carried out atrocious torture on political and educated persons who were considered both traitors and unecessary in the new society. These poor people were then taken to Cheong Ek to face certain death. Three large school buildings had housed the unfortunate souls, either individually in tiny wooden or brick cells or crowded into upper classrooms, windows covered with barbed wire so suicide was impossible.

The ground floor of one building displayed pictures of all the people who passed through this hellish place, black and white mugshots taken by their prison guards. To see the faces that must match those sorrowful abused skulls at the killing fields was so sad. Men, women and children. To look into their eyes, so alive, defiant, scared, angry, confused, it was very emotional. Upstairs in another gallery, displays had been composed to show that the guards also had stories to tell. They were for example: teenagers convinced by their former king to join a revolution, and threatened with their lives to carry out the bidding of the Khmer Rouge. It's extremely frightening to see how psychologically frail humans are, the will to self preserve is very strong and coupled with an obedience to a murderous authority proved a deadly combination.

One positive we can draw from this experience is that the current government is very determined that everyone, tourists and local people should visit these sites and learn about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, so that we can make sure it never happens again.

After all we had seen we both were absorbed in our thoughts, and so sat quietly by the river trying to process it all. A fact I find most terrible is that the leaders of this awful regime have never been brought to justice, only now are trials being brought to court and this is all too late for some, Pol Pot escaped conviction when he died in 1998. For nearly all Cambodians this scar on their history affects them personally and it must be an unimaginable pain.

For us Phnom Penh had been a chaotic and very hot city, we had learnt a great deal and discovered a lively weekend market where a stars-in- your-eyes competition was taking place on the main stage. The food and communal seating was great, the singing not so much!

Our next port of call in Cambodia was a small friendly town along the banks of the mighty Mekong river, Kratie. Just 6hrs from Phnom Penh it wasn't long before we were sipping a beer on the promenade and entertaining passers by with some didgeridoo at sunset.

It was a beautiful spot, the river was wide and majestic and just 15km up river is one of a few remaining places where the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin can be spotted. We took a couple of days in this mellow town strolling by the river, eating proper French baguettes (so nice to finally have some real bread) and booking flights to continue our travels; Borneo, Sulawesi, and Australia here we come!

The next day we went in search of the elusive dolphins, cycling of course. It was a lovely drive through small villages, children calling "Hello, whatisyourname?" from traditional stilt houses, where their parents lounged on wooden benches or swung from shaded hammocks strung beneath the house. It all looked so relaxed, no one seemed to be working, but who would in this heat?

After a little more than an hours peddling we found the dolphin site, it became clear very quickly that the 'ticket man' wanted to get us out on a boat, money paid ($9 each), straight away. This was all a little pushy, and considering the price per person is $2 less when there are 3 or more people we wanted to hang tight a min. He didn't like that and was turning into an angry little man. But after some artful ingnoring he let us be and we sat by the river wall looking out across the Mekong. It was a very beautiful spot, some small islands were scattered in the centre of the river and as we watched a tiny calf wander around the carpark in front of us I spotted a large ripple in the water beyond. It was an Irrawaddy dolphin, they are very elegant creatures and we were lucky enough to see possibly 5 or 6 of them circling in this area right in front of us. Surprisingly large animals they were easily visible from the shore, in fact with our elevated position we probably had a better view than if we'd taken a boat, and money was saved too.

A brilliant day out, we free wheeled home waving regally to everyone who said hello to us.

It's a strange fashion in Cambodia for women of all ages to wear traditional print PJs at any time of day, but I still haven't got use to the sight of a 50 yr old lady wearing pink Mickey Mouse PJs as she serves you your fried rice. I wonder if it'll catch on back home??

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Photos

Killing fields at Cheong Ek
The stupa of skulls

Tuol Sleung
The cells at the high security prison