Day 7: My Family Reunion

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Today I would be meeting my Aunt who I have not seen since I was about 2 and her children (My cousins) whom I have never met face to face. I did a walk around the neighborhood with a hostelmate and kept getting called by Tuk Tuk drivers. One of the things that have changed about Cambodia over the last decade is the proliferation of tuk tuk drivers who call out to all the tourists at all times. If you walk down the street of Siem Reap or Phnom Penh you will be asked many times. Anyway we were looking for a place that she had heard about but when we got there it was not opened so we just headed back to the hostel.

Around 9AM I got on a Tuk Tuk and gave the driver some hand written driving directions that my parents had given me before I left Canada. As it turned out my relatives did not live that far away and I saw the pet shop they run. After a hug greeting to my aunt and her kids. I chatted with my cousins who spoke good English. A lot of younger Cambodians are learning English these days so it made communication easier. I still speak a fair amount of Khmer (Language of Cambodians) but the fact they spoke English made it easier. After introductions I went with them to their house in town and it was quite nice. I was amused by the western cartoons that show up on Cambodian television. We ate lunch at the pet store and it reminded me a lot of the meals my mom cooks at home so I was quite used to the food.

After lunch they asked me where I would like to go. Phnom Penh is full of museums and sources of entertainment such as gun ranges but I wanted to see The Killing Fields or S21. My aunt advised me that The Killing Fields was a bit of drive out of town or S21 which was much closer. I invited my relatives to come along with me but none of them were interested. I should probably explain that my parents and my aunt both lived through the Khmer Rouge. If you have never heard of the Khmer Rouge I would encourage you to look them up. So with this knowledge I was not surprised they did not want to be reminded of it. They were good enough to get me a reliable tuk tuk driver to get me to S21. It was another hot day so I did not want to be outside too long and that is what is involved with the Killing Fields.

When I got to S21 there were a number of beggars who had missing limbs asking for money. I did have a lot of dollar bills left so I gave dollar bills to each of them. It costs a few dollars to gain entrance to S21 and I hope the money goes to maintaining it. A bit of background on S21. It was a school before the Khmer Rouge took over and when they captured the capital they transformed it into a detention and torture center. It housed thousands of political prisoners and even members of the Khmer Rouge themselves when they ran afoul of the leadership. It is said of the 10 - 15 thousand people who went into S21 that only 12 people have known to survive.

I went through the series of building that make up S21 and it was quite disturbing. S21 prison guards took pictures of each victim before they were executed. The pictures themselves are haunting because many of them show people who have been tortured and you can see in their eyes that they understand what is about to happen to them. A large number of tourists from many countries were wandering through S21 and none of them were talking much. It was quite hot outside but when you are looking at the pictures and are inside the building it is strangely cold. I saw mountains of skulls and pictures of the people responsible. Some of the rooms tell about the trials currently in progress to try Khmer Rouge officials. The trials have been a long time in progress because after the civil war ended there was a general amnesty for everyone. I wandered around for a few hours the building before heading out and back to my hostel.

I drank a few beers with my fellow travelers and we discussed the things we had seen in Cambodia. Not surprisingly all of them had been to S21 or The Killing Fields or had plans to go there. My experience was a bit different because I was a Cambodian myself but thankfully I was born a few years after the Khmer Rouge. Still it was nice getting other travelers views on what they had seen. After today I am honestly not sure if I would go see the Killing Fields because it had been a disturbing experience. I had felt that way after going to Dachau, the German concentration camp. It had been educational but not an experience I would like to repeat. On that note I would encourage everyone to visit the Killing fields at least once.

My plans for this evening was dinner with my relatives so I took another Tuk Tuk to the pet shop and met up with them. The restaurant they were taking me to was across town so we took their car. The streets of Phnom Penh are dangerous even for locals so I am guessing that is why they don't use it too often. I had told my cousins earlier that I enjoy seafood so we went to a seafood place. Meal consisted of several dishes of rice and seafoods of various kinds. I ate everything except for the raw Oysters which I cannot handle well. After dinner and pictures with my relatives it was time to say goodbye. They insisted on paying even though I did want to contribute so it was quite nice of them to do that. I invited them all to visit me in Canada some day so hopefully I will see them all again.

They dropped me back off at the hostel and I decided to hang out at the hostel for the rest of the evening. I think I mentioned I work in computers and from time to time I help my fellow travelers with their computer problems. Tonight it was a nice lady from Mexico who was traveling with her boyfriend. She was having trouble getting her visa form printed off for her upcoming trip to India. She was using the hostel's computer and after an analysis of the computer I came to the conclusion that the computers were compromised. I did enough repairs to the browser she was using so that she got her application form filled out. So good deed for the day done. The rest of the evening was chatting with travelers and some cheap drinks at the hostel and so that ended my day in Phnom Penh.

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