Phnomh Penh and the Killing Fields

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The bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh never seemed to leave the city for the first couple of hours. Eventually though, the border emerged and our passports were whisked away by a little man on the bus. When we got to passport control, they still hadn't been processed and once this was done they reappeared in quite a random order. Ours had been separated by quite a lot of other passports. Soon enough though, we were through and into Cambodia we went - for about a kilometre. That took us past the numerous casinos (gambling is illegal in Vietnam!) and to a little roadside restaurant where, of course, we stopped to eat.

A couple of hours later, after whizzing along roads incredibly devoid of motorbikes, we reached the mighty Mekong River. Nobody has yet thought to build a bridge across and so we had to go on a small open ferry. We stayed on the bus which saved us from the rain. It also saved us from the temptation of buying a bag of crispy fried cockroaches to munch on! As we approached Cambodia's capital, the traffic got worse, intensified by the appalling weather conditions which reduced many two lane roads to just about one. A helpful tuk tuk driver then took us from the Olympic Stadium (!) to our hotel, Villa Samnang. It kept on raining that evening so all we could do was wander out to get some money and then to get some food. Cambodian food certainly seems to have more to offer than Vietnamese, but pepper is a prominent ingredient in almost everything. Good for Russ, but not quite so for Trish.

The next day Mr Deen, our tuk tuk driver from the previous night, met us at the hotel. He took us to the S21 Prison, a former school which turned into a deadly prison during the genocide years of the Khmer Rouge and its demonic leader, Pol Pot. S21 now houses a genocide museum where we walked around in stunned silence seeing reminders of the not too distant past. It seems quite strange that many of these atrocities occurred within our lifetime and indeed, we both have clear memories of some things we saw on show here. The prison cells were horrific and the gallows were chilling. Inside one of the blocks were row upon row of photographs as the KR regime meticulously documented their victims. We were also able to watch a video about some of the survivors and their captors. In the courtyard two survivors were signing copies of their books.

From there we were taken some 15km out of town to the so called Killing Fields. There we were given a self-guided audio tour as we joined the hundred or so other tourists walking around in deathly silence listening intently to stories of the horrors unfolding around us. In truth there's not a lot to see any more. Most of the huts have been destroyed and there is little evidence in the tranquil countryside of what occurred there. Beautiful butterflies dance merrily around colourful flowers yet the occasional human bone still surfaces from below during the rains. The audio commentary was excellent and it finished at the central stupor with the tower of human bones inside. The bones have been cleaned, preserved and categorised and they make a terrible sight. In the small museum we once again saw a short film which was in desperate need of an update.

We returned to our hotel in silence. There was nothing to be said.

The next day we did our own thing with a walking tour. We began at Wat Phnom to the north of the centre. This temple was built on the only hill in town and is dedicated to Miss Penh who was the mythical founder of the city. Worshippers bow before a statue of her and leave many offerings to the accompaniment of traditional Cambodian musicians. Inside the temple it was a feast of gold and orange with an intense atmosphere of incense. Passing by the US embassy and Raffles Hotel we called in at the old railway station where a guard prevented us from getting anywhere near the tracks or the couple of active freight locomotives in there. We continued to the central market with its Art Deco design. Outside were hundreds of fruit, vegetable and fish sellers - a veritable feast for the eyes, and the nose! Nearby we took the lift to the top floor of a modern shopping centre to get an aerial view of the market and the city.

The rest of our walk took us past temples new and old. Some nice and some not so nice. We saw the palaces and monuments dripping with gold but draped in poverty stricken families. The Cambodia-Vietnam friendship monument had a very Soviet feel to it. It was a nice tour but hot and dusty so we were pleased to have the chance to relax by the hotel pool afterwards - until the mosquitoes came and spoiled our rest!!

That night we went to Meta House, a German-Cambodian cultural venture, where a film was showing. Two Australian guys had ridden a cyclo (Vietnamese rickshaw) from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City for charity a few years ago and this documented their journey. It was funny and touching, and one of the protagonists, Marty Sharples, was there to answer questions afterwards. You can see the film by following this link.

That was it for us in the Cambodian capital. The coast and the beach were calling!

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Photos

No smiling
Not that there was anything to smile about

Local boy
Seems blissfully unaware of the horrors which took place where he is on his boat.

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

NO SMILING
Says it all...Lest we Forget