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Published: January 31st 2005
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Keeping the beach clean!
One of the daily chores on our own private island When traveling through Cambodia you are constantly reminded of the atrocities that, as little as 30 years ago, were tearing the country apart. You are never far from someone who has lost a limb or their sight from a landmine, or less visable, the people who have lost parents, children and friends either directly in the hands of the Khmer Rouge or by their legacy of unexploded audenance left in Cambodia's soil.
We felt it important to learn about some of the country's recent past so that we could understand the people of Cambodia a little more.
The 'Killing Fields' just outside of Phnom Penh, is just one of many sites all over Cambodia where men, women and children were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge Regime. A small fraction of the mass graves have been unearthed and the skulls carefully laid out on glass shelves which fill the space of the memorial tower from floor to ceiling. The guide who showed us round the ground had lost family members to the regime and explained how many people want the world to see the truth and reality, however morbid. We were pleased that we weren't seen as freaky tourists who
Memorial Tower
Killing Fields, Phnom Penh. just want to stare and take photos, it really is about education. No one in Cambodia wants to see this kind of thing happen again anywhere. The area has been changed into a place of rememberence and therefore the air of the place is peaceful and somewhere to go to pay your respects.
Unlike the Killing Fields, the atmosphere at S21 is chilling to say the least. In 1962 the complex of buildings was a high school called 'Ponhea Yat' but in 1976 the KR Regime took over and established 'Security Office 21', a prison to be solely used for the interrogation and extermination of anyone against their cause. In the next 2 years over 10,500 men, women and children went through the system at S21. Each and everyone of them photographed and documented (sometimes before and after interrogation!). The museum which is now housed in these same buildings is extreamly harrowing at times. Some of the cells have been left as they were at the point of the fall of the KR and walking around these will leave you almost at the point of tears. Its still hard to understand how human beings can cause so much pain
and suffering to eachother. S21 is not your usual 'tourist attraction' but it helped us put yet another piece of the puzzle together.
On a lighter note! The rest of our time in Phnom Penh was spent on the usual route of palaces, markets and temples. Its terrible to say but at this point in our trip we have seen so many of these places that sometimes we just cant be bothered to look at yet another! We had come to this way of thinking and decided that heading down south would be the best option, theres nothing quite like a beach to give your mind a rest! So off we went to Sihanoukville on the south coast. The town itself is pretty dull, but it has some pretty beaches. Unfortunately these beaches have been over run by children and women selling everything from pedicures and scarves to lighters and fruit. This is not always a bad thing as fruit and pedicures are very nice, just not great being offered them every 30 seconds! We decided after one night that we would take a trip to one of the many islands off the coast and see if it was
possible to find ourselves (and our new travel companions Tim and Dana) a haven to escape to for a few days. The island that we ended up on was fantastic! There are only 9 beach huts on the whole island and on the nights that we were there only 3 were in use. The 4 of us, 2 swedish guys, the family who owned the huts and the 2 resident (and extreamly friendly) members of the Cambodian army were the total of the islands inhabitants. It was all the normal beach life with a bit of fishing and late night games of (vodka fueld) cards. Its a hard life but someone has to do it!
After 3 days on the island we had regained enough energy to tackle the trip accross to Vietnam to we parted company from our new found friends and hit the road and then boat accross the border.
Note: Most people who know me (Bex) are aware of my feelings towards spiders. I had come to terms with the fact that on our travels I would inevitably meet a few of these eight legged demons, but was completely unprepared for having them be offered
to me as a light snack! Cambodias seem to like nothing more than frying up a batch of these huge beasties and munching on them as casually as if they were a packet of walkers - yes I almost died!
B & R
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