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S21 Detention Centre
Former school, in front are seven graves of the people left there to die when the centre was abandoned We have been in Cambodia for a week - in comparison a relatively short stay but after our time in Vietnam, just the respite we needed!
We travelled in a very comfy and spacious bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh - the capital of Cambodia. What should have been a relatively straight forward border crossing was somewhat complicated to say the least! In true Vietnamese custom, taking a bus load of tourists across the border is another way of making a few extra quid!
On getting on the bus we were all asked to hand over our passports and $25 - for the 'Visa Service' - the cost of the Cambodia visa is of course closer to $20. On getting to the border we looked in amazement as the driver with all our passports (none of our money to be seen!) tried to call out the names of various nationality passengers - amusing at times! We were then handed our passports back, to walk through the gate, and then asked to hand our passports back to the driver. We then hopped back on the bus and headed to the Cambodian immigration. We all hopped back off
Choeung Ek
The killing fields monument containing thousands of skulls of victims the bus and sat around watching the driver try and fill in all the visa applications for us - again trying to be seen to be earning his 'service'. He kindly filled in our health declarations for us too! We were then re-issued with our passports for the purposes of walking into Cambodia. All in all took a good hour and a half to get through the border. We are quite confident that if were allowed to keep our passports, fill in our own form and pay our fee direct the whole bus would have been through in twenty minutes. There are, however, lots of horror stories of people who have insisted on paying the correct fee and filling in their own forms - such as buses not waiting, unforseen problems with Visas etc so an extra $5 basically 'bribed' our way to a smooth crossing!
On arrival in Phnom Penh we were as usual greeted by hordes of tuktuk drivers but instead of the unpleasantness and aggression we had come to expect from Vietnam we were greeted by friendliness and quite nice people. They didn't mind having a bit of fun - such as the driver that said
with a smile that we should take his tuktuk to avoid land mines on the main street!
Cambodia has a somewhat colourful and not particularly nice recent history. On 24th June we visited the S21 Detention Centre, which was changed from a high school to a detention and interrogation centre used by the Khmer Rouge. During the 1970s a chap called Pol Pot decided that Cambodia should return to 'Year Zero'. Anyone with an education/glasses/their own thoughts were imprisoned/tortured and executed - he had decided that the whole country should be farming based. The detention centre was pretty sobering and disturbing.
The following day we hired a moped and visited the 'Killing Fields' of Choeung Ek - where between 1975 and 1979 in the region of 200,000 people were taken for execution after being tortured at S21. The main method used (as bullets were too expensive) was by beating people over the head with farming tools. They were then thrown in mass graves, some still alive. Whilst walking around there are still visible bone fragments/teeth/clothes etc in the ground. After all the horrors of the place, it seemed to be very serene - fields and trees all around,
Our transport
Little different to our off road bikes in Vietnam as if all the people that still lay interred there were now resting at peace.
After our few days in the capital we headed to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. We then spent a couple of days on hired bicycles (a bit of a come down from the motorbiking!) exploring the temples of Angkor, which were spectacular! We have seen a lot of temples in South East Asia but nothing compared to this - it is unofficially referred to as the '8th Wonder of the World'. The area is a major tourist attraction and there were lots of people selling and lots and lots of children following and trying to sell drinks, tat, bracelets etc. But with lots of competition things were pretty cheap after a bit of haggling! There were a few kids who were begging which wasn't particularly nice, they would follow you moaning rubbing their tummies saying "no food, no school, one dollar". On the third day we hired a tuktuk to take us 13km to see the oldest of the temples for a couple of hours, which were much more decrepid but equally fascinating.
All in all we were both very impressed with
Cambodia, it was a really good end to our time in South East Asia and a really nice bit of well needed respite!
On 30th June, we headed back to Bangkok. A much smoother border crossing as the visa is free. We were met in Thailand by a crazy man with a mini bus and had a very quick and at times hair-raising drive to Bangkok. This is our fourth visit to Bangkok so we decided to try somewhere new to stay, we checked in to the Bluefin Guesthouse, which is in a residential area away from the tourist traps. It is lovely! Fairly new (also cheap!), well looked after, the manager is friendly and very keen to chat with us and not once has he tried to sell us a 'trip'! With it being away from the tourist areas we have wandered up and down the street, hassle free, the beer is half the price too!
So this brings us to the end of our stay in South East Asia, and it has been overall a very positive experience. The best bits?... the whole of Cambodia, beer Lao, pad Thai, beef noodle soup, motorcycling the mountains in
North Vietnam.
We head off to Sydney tomorrow and can't wait for the cold!
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jill
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Finally caught up with your antics. Glad things are going well. It is great to be able to experience the world through your eyes. It has been reassuring to know that australia is freezing while we are cooking here in the UK for once. Hope you manage to find Jacqui. The only news this end is that I have traded the toyota in for an astra cabriolet. Giles has taken custody of the MG with the hope of manageing to sell it from his place. I have had 7 years of fun with the MG and believe it is time someone else had the opportunity to experience life with a classic. Keep on treking and experiencing all that the world has to offer