why why why?

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We arrived back in Phnom Pen after a comfortable bus journey, made even more comfortable by the fact the TV wasn't working so we weren't subjected to 4 hrs of Cambodian Karaoke and promptly checked into a hotel near the river. We booked our tuk tuk to take us around the sights for the following day and headed out for a rather cosmopolitan meal on the river.

The next day we were up early to meet our driver who took us the 20km out of town to the famous Killing Fields of Cambodia. On arrival it was a very somber set up where silence and respect were a must. The first thing you see when you enter the grounds is a large tower which was built to remember the people who had died there. It also served the purpose of housing many hundreds of the skulls of the dead people along with many of the clothes recovered from the mass graves, quite a chilling sight. Moving around the site it has marked out areas where there were mass graves and also lables a couple of trees, one where people were beaten to death against, the other was used to hang a speaker of all things, sounds quite innocent until you realise the speaker was used to play music to hide the screams of the people before their death so surrounding villagers didn't know what was going on. We didn't stay long at the killing fields as it was a bit creapy so we got back on our tuk tuk, resisted the temptation to go to the local firing range to fire more big guns, and headed to our next chilling adventure S21.

S21 is an innercity school which was converted into a prison under the rule of Pol Pot. It was used to house people who opposed the Khimer Rouge, or more specifically anyone who had half a brain, wore glasses, didn't work the land or just plain in the future might think Pol Pot is nuts and rise against him. This place wasn't age or gender specific and if you were sent there then more than likely the rest of your family followed. The place looked like it was only stopped being used as a prison yesterday, the walls and floors still stained, the barbed wire covering all the balconies of one building (so people couldn't throw themself off) was perfectly intact. The rooms were small with a blackboard at the end which housed the rules which basically said sit still and keep quiet. The gym equiptment in the grounds was converted into torture aparatus, the place was realy realy creapy. To top it all off there was one building which housed thousands of photographs of the men, women and children who were brought to the prison and later killed. Lisa coudn't go in this part and i honestly have never walked so slowly and quietly, generaly shaking my head at such an atrocity and all this was only 20yrs ago!!!! We had decided that was enough and headed back to the river to reflect on our morning and what these people around us must have experienced. They say live for the day in Cambodia because tomorrow is uncertain, and you can see why.

Thinking of tomorrow we realised we hadn't packed as were were leaving to go to Siem Reap to see the temples of Ankor so we headed back, packed and headed out for some food. Feeling like we wanted to give something back to cambodia we headed to a restaurant on the river front that is a non profit organisation where all the money made goes to the local orphanage so we filled our boots, i even bought an extreamly overpriced book from a girl on the street (for her school fees), and headed back to the hotel feeling we had done our bit. Next stop the temples of Ankgor where i intend to re-enact the stunts used in Tomb Raider. (for those of you who don't know tomb raider was filmed here!)

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Comments

[BILLY]

phnom penh
my wife and i are off to vietnam and cambodia next feb-march and find your pages and pics very interesting. your phnom phen page made good reading..plus i thought it very nice that you felt able to give a bit back to the people of the area. hope you both enjoy the rest of your trip... stay safe. all the best, billy.