Blogs from Cambodia, Asia - page 789

What a shit of a day I have had, I think, as the unusually rude parking attendant rushes me along, wanting my bike out at this very instance. Don't push it, buddy, my patience is wearing rather thin today. I had been to visit an organistion, whose director had proceeded to offer our centre coordinator, Nika, a job, whilst his assistant distracted me at the other end of the room. The cheek! The rudeness! I mean, I was at the stage where I was strongly starting to believe that the world of development had more corporate, capitalist pigs in it than the one I had come from. One has to excuse me for having had the naive idea that people actually chose development, first and foremost, because they were GOOD people who wanted to help others, ... read more

As mentioned, we arranged for a Tuk Tuk driver to take us on a tour of the Killing Fields and S-21, however we also decided to pay a visit to a shooting range. After quite a long journey along very remote and run down track in the middle of the country side we eventually arrived at a large set of metal gates. On the other side we saw a partially covered porch area with a rack on one wall holding M-16’s AK-47’s, Tommy Guns etc. etc. We were greeted by a stern, but friendly Cambodian guy with a hard face. He and his friend were cleaning various weapons seated on garden furniture around a plastic table. He handed us a menu that was scarily similar to any everyday menu at a bar or restaurant, however this ... read more

As I am peddling down the waterlogged, potholed back streets leading from my house to the Happy School, I must have an approachable look on my face, as a young Khmer man speeds up to putt beside me, exclaiming in laughing giggles that Water! Yes, water. After a quiet weekend away at an expat residence in Kampot, the ocean-inlet town to the South of Phnom Penh, I am back on my loaned mountain bike, making my way to a little coffee shop I had spotted last week. The motodop’s comments sum up the activity that happened in the city whilst I was away - it rained, actually it flooded into my little rooftop apartment, thankfully leaving a dry puddle around the powerboard I had left laying thoughtlessly on the tiles. My potted flowers had started to ... read more

Cambodia as a country has had a very troubled recent past. The Khmer Rouge wanted to reform Cambodia and create basically a brainwashed society that is devoted to it’s ultra-communist beliefs. They dubbed the dawn of this new age as year zero. In order to wipe out any evidence of a pre-Ankar Cambodia they set about destroying anything with any religious or historical value, and slaughtering anyone who had the knowledge to pose a threat to the regime. Doctors, lawyers, military, monks, they even went to the extreme of targeting people who wore glasses! They did not just stop there; they also killed all of these people’s families, regardless of age and gender. In total they massacred around 2 million people - over a quarter of the country’s population. The country descended into civil war which ... read more

We arrived in Cambodia easily and safely at the small city of Kratie. This was an enroute stop to Phnom Penh to make the long bus ride to Phenom Penh bearable. The small city of Kratie was a good transition to Cambodia which is far more fast moving than Lao. Our second day in Kratie, we rented a motorcycle and rode to temple ruins which we never found. We were not disappointed though because the motorcycle allowed us to explore the surrounding areas of a city that is not a big tourist attraction. During our few hours on the moto, we saw the rural living accommodation of the local Cambodians and were encountered by smiling faces and the waving of all the children playing off to the sides of the street. We also stopped at a ... read more