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Published: December 5th 2005
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The simple life
A man fishing on the way to Phnom Penh Screaming down a road that is barley big enough for our ute to fit down. We dodge other cars, bikes, dogs and begging children. Squeezed in the back of this old rusty ute, that even puts mine to shame, with 8 other travellers, clenching white knuckle tight. The dust and smog lashes my face so hard it almost threw me off back. The thought that I might actually die, although ordinarily would, did not cross my mind. This was the way of life in Cambodia and one gets used to it a little too easily.
We arrive at the port where we got on our boat. We naturally had to fight our way past the 20 or so women pulling at my shirt, begging me to buy fruit or bread. It's sad to have to coldly say no all the time when they are rather desperate to make a living. But you can't get caught buying everything, especially when you don't want it.
The boat leaves the port and we head out into the Tonlé Sap River. It starts huge, so big you can't even see land. After a few hours, the endless water gives way to lush green
trees and floating villages. 200km and 5 and a half hours later we get to Phnom Penh.
Never before have I been hassled so much by people trying to sell me something. There was a small walk before we hit the gate where at least 30 men all tryin to sell us a ride to thier hotel. I began, as had worked in Siem Reap, with a polite, "No thanks" That failing I moved to ignoring them completely. Failing again, I had to resort to telling them where to go, which insulted them. "Too bad, take a hint" I thought. Rohan and I sought refuge in a small restaurant for lunch. They hung around outside waving signs and still trying to sell us a ride. You couldn't make eye contact because that shows interest. We ate a horrible westerners lunch with an exclusive view of the wall beside me. My Phnom Penh experience was not starting well.
Not one to down a place on first look, I opened my mind again once we got into town. It went from bad to worse. The least said about Phnom Penh the better. Lets just say, for those of you that
Caged
Caged in like animals and beaten to death while chained to a rusty bed. know how much I disliked Los Angeles, This place was worse, a lot worse. We saw what we wanted to see and got out real quick.
We checked into some accommodation and headed strait for the S-21 (Tuol Sleng Prison) Pol Pot's evil Khmer Rouge Regime tortured and killed over 2 million of the Cambodian population. Mostly educated people. It was an old high school before it was transformed into a death camp. Some of the rooms still have the beds used to restrain prisoners while they were beaten to death to save bullets. If you look closely, you can still see blood stains marking the floor, A grizzly reminder of the atrocites here. The next building had sign after sign of the faces of people who were executed. An amazing amount of detail was kept about each victim. Name, age, height, weight etc... Then there were some pictures of the result of being beaten to death. After a while, I felt physically ill and couldn't take any more pictures.
We then made our way to the Killing Fields, about 12km outside of the city. A huge pagoda stands as you walk in. In this, was kept hundreds
Victims
Faces of some of the victims of human skulls and old clothing exhumed from the mass graves just beyond. Some of the graves still have small peices of bone in them.
All this was enough to make anyone depressed so we thought we would lighten the mood by taking up an offer to shoots some weapons. A short trip took us to a firing range where, for a few dollars, you can fire live rounds from a large selections of pistols, rifles and machine guns. After a bit of haggling, I decided on the AK 47. I was taken into a brick building about 70 long with a heap of tyres and a small target up the end. I sat down, set the gun to single shot and fired at the target. I was expecting a huge kick but it never came. A very light and accurate weapon, it was easy to see why it was the choice rifle of so many armys over the years. In fact, I believe it is the most used gun in history. A colossal bang emitted with every squeeze of the trigger. A high pitched whistle as the empty shell casing whizzes over my head and by my feet.
More Victims
Faces upon faces upon faces Rounds exhausted, the man retrives my target picture. I gotta say, without braging, I think I did pretty well, hitting the bullseye twice. Not bad for a person who has never shot anything more powerful than an air gun.
The next morning, we are pleased to leave and settle in for an apparent 7 hour journey to Saigon. I hadn't slept well the night before so I figure a nice long bus ride would be a good chance to catch up on some sleep. I didn't account, however, for the fact that the bus had NO shock absorbers and the road was barely there at the best of times. I persisted in thinking that even so rough, I was pretty tired and may yet fall asleep. No such luck. We hit a bump that literally threw me over the chair in front of me. "Hmm I can't sleep like this" I thought "Maybe I should sit up" I sit up and hold on to my chair (which was falling off) Another bump meets us. My head flies strait into the roof. Suffice to say, I wasn't enjoying this. Nearly 6 hours later (with constant simmilar bumps) we arrive at
Blood
A drop of blood still stains the floor in the rooms of the Tuol Sleng Prison Moc Bai. This is the end of the line for our bus driver. With Vietnam only a stones throw away, we decided upon lunch. The highlight of the day so far.
We ready our passports and walk to the boarder. Something seems a little lax as opposed to the previous boarders I have crossed. Handing out 1 dollar bills to these security guards and customs officers seemed more like a money making scam aimed at tourists than official boarder check business but we weren't getting into Vietnam without it.
We meet with our man on the other side and get on an comparatively luxurious bus. Covering nearly the same distance from Phnom Penh to Moc Bai, the trip from Moc Bai to Saigon was to take 1 and a half hours. INCLUDING a 15 minute stop. 1 and a half hours of blissful, smooth sailing, enough time for a quick nap. We roll into Saigon, still a bit of a dirty South East Asian city but paradise next to Phnom Penh. Vietnam was shaping up good.
We had a quick squiz at the War Remnants Museum. (aka American War Atrocities Museum) This whole trip, we have been
Horrific
A map of Cambodia made from human skulls bombarded with Indochina's tumultuous past. It gets a bit overwhelming at times but one has to look back to look foreward I guess.
To get there we took a cyclo. A little carriage with half a bicycle attached to the back of it. It is amazing the organised chaos of the roads. Cars, but mainly bikes swarm the streets like bees, buzzing around in all directions and somehow there is never a crash. We ride seemingly blissfully through the middle of it all. It was somewhat relaxing but always amusing.
So we haven't done an incredible amount here in Saigon, just resting. We orginally going to skip straight through as we had done with Phnom Penh but we like it here so we booked a few nights accommodation and a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels tomorrow. We are also going to plan the trip north. I kinda wish we had several weeks to do it but you know the drill.
Anyways, thank you so much to all the people who have sent messages, comments and emails. I hope you are all enjoying reading it, I am enjoying bringing it to you. Keep 'em comin' and thanks
Killing Fields
A small stack of human bones for the support...
See you all soon.
PEACE, CAMO!!
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Mum
non-member comment
Great Story Telling
Hi Cam What a great experience you are having.Enjoy every moment,look after each other and stay safe. Love Mum