We left Ho Chi Minh City and headed to Phnom Penh in Cambodia on the Mekong Express bus, a ride with lovely staff but heavy on the karaoke music playing on the TV and through the speakers. The disco-type atmosphere of these really popular karaoke shows is hilarious (but not if you have a headache). There's a big dance hall with psychedelic lights flashing all around, a raised platform in the middle where the lip-syncing stars "sing" away and all around them couples dance in a very conservative manner, dressed impeccably, like it's New Years Eve. Pretty amusing. Four hours later, slightly annoying.
When we got off our bus in Phnom Penh we felt a bit like goods at a market with tuk tuk drivers haggling over who was going to get us. We were called, clapped at, grabbed, it was insane! Luckily by now we are used to this so it didn't come as a shock, but it's still a bit daunting after a 6 hour bus ride and with a headache. After looking at one super dodgy guesthouse with stained yellow sheets and walls made of moldy plywood (insert mega-shiver here!), we got driven to another one that was clean, fresh, and walking distance to nearby sights. We were sold! We crashed in bed ready to begin tackling Cambodia in the a.m.
Our first day in Phnom Penh was slashed in half by enraging airline ticket problems. I'm not even going to go into it we were so infuriated, all I'll say is that we spent a LOT of time and long distance call money trying to change dates on our "easy to change" round the world tickets. Bah, humbug! What a crock! We resolved nothing, and had to make the tough call to only spend one evening and one morning in Phnom Penh or risk not getting out of SE Asia. Anyway... we fit in as many sights as we could, and what sights we saw...
Now I know that normally I'm a bit silly when I write, putting in cute little anecdotes and dialogue, but this entry is different. We visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum also known as S-21. We can tell you, very definitively that visiting these two places has left us haunted with the horrors, and I literally lost sleep last night over it. In addition, on the way to these two places we gruesomely witnessed a fatal motorcycle accident victim, who had not worn a helmet, as is the norm here. I won't go into detail, but yesterday was just an incredibly tragic day from all angles, but if you can understand my saying this, we would not change any of our experiences yesterday for anything.
The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are the grounds where thousands of men, women and children were tortured, executed and thrown as less than garbage into hundreds of mass graves, of which 43 have not been disinterred. Initially, trucks came in packed with people for torture and execution from Tuol Sleng prison, but as their numbers increased, temporary detention areas were set up in the fields as the combatants (Khmer Rouge term for their soldiers) could not "keep up" with the high demand of executions. As you enter the killing fields you are met by a massive white tower, known as a stupa, which holds within it over 8000 skulls of victims brutally massacred on these grounds between 1975 and 1978. The skulls show evidence of these innocent people's deaths by gunshot, bashing, stabbing... The grounds are surprisingly, well, "normal". Images of open, deserted wasteland dominated our imagination, but it is in fact, much smaller in area than we thought, and there are so many beautiful trees. That is, until you read the signs at the trees, one which states that it was where a loudspeaker hung and blared deafening music to muffle the moans and cries of people and another tree which made me cry, against which children were whipped. I don't mean to be gruesome in writing this, but I just think it's so important for anyone that has limited knowledge of this to understand what the people of Cambodia have been through in very recent history. Can you even call it history? It's so recent. I also debated whether to take photos, not wanting to be disrespectful and exploitative. I decided to take a few and have included them for the same reason as above. If there are people that won't be visiting Cambodia, this is an opportunity to show this to them so that they can better understand, know what horrors this world is capable of. After all, genocide still continues in our world today.
It is interesting to note the Killing Fields are run privately by a Japanese company that charges admission to the grounds for profit. Can you imagine?! This was allowed by the Cambodian government however, who made the decision to privatize the site. Nothing in this world is outside the claws of privatization.
Our next stop that day was the first stop for many Cambodians before being sent to the Killing Fields: Tuol Sleng Museum, back in the 70's known as Security Prison 21 (S-21) where Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders and security forces detained and tortured thousands of people, again, men, women and children, before sending them to the Killing Fields (however Pol Pot and other leaders denied even knowing about S-21). Chillingly, this prison was originally a high school. From grounds of education to grounds of torture. There is nothing prettied up about Tuol Sleng to assist the faint-of-heart visitor to deal with it. Instruments of torture and rickety metal beds rest where they originally were, and black and white photographs of victims, in the exact rooms where you are standing and where they lay dying are hung on the walls. In another wing the mug shots of thousands of people are displayed, all of which likely died a horrific death. It's difficult to explain the looks on people's faces in these pictures, but I saw four distinct expressions: defeat, horror, defiance, and lack of understanding in particular from little children that would not have known what was happening. Tiny children, as small as 3 years old in "criminal" mug shots.
When the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, only 7 people out of a possible and known 20,000 survived Tuol Sleng, of which 3 are still alive. One of these men is now 61 and became a painter, depicting scenes of all he saw or heard while detained at the prison. These paintings now hang in the prison museum.
Pol Pot died in 1998 having faced a not so legitimate trial for his crimes, and it is estimated, although there are a few estimates, that it is likely that over three million people were massacred by the Khmer Rouge which he led. In addition, many other Khmer Rouge leaders have never been brought to trial. However, there are over 19,000 mass graves that have been discovered. Perhaps this is still not evidence enough. Promisingly though, within the last few months they have arrested some of these leaders and they are presently in jail.
I will stop at that for now. If anyone wants to read about this period in history, we have seen the following books circulating the streets: "Brother Number One" which is a biography of Pol Pot, and "First They Killed my Father".
I will finish on another note, our visit to the National Museum where an excellent guide taught us about Pre-Angkorian to present architecture. We became nervous 5 minutes into our tour as she continued to quiz us on what she had shown us. I can now say with confidence, however, that Scott and I can now point out to you if a statue is pre-Angkorian, Angkorian or post-Angkorian. Archeologists in the making, we are (said Yoda), particularly Scott who was a star pupil at remembering the names of all the Hindu and Buddhist gods. What a nerd. Our little tour also left us slightly more prepared to tackle the Angkor Wat (two more sleeps), as the carvings and statues and symbols now mean something to us.
And so comes to an end our short but important trip to Phnom Penh. We finished our day with happy hour martinis at the Foreign Correspondents Club which is open to the public, has some phenomenal photojournalism posted on the walls as you ascend the staircase, and provides a fantastic view of the Tonle Sap river at twilight.
No Canaussie ratings this time, as what I wrote about cannot be rated. If in Cambodia, it is imperative to see these places, and if not, maybe this will help some to better understand this country and its people. Signing out now, back soon with our wonder of the world aka Angkor Wat report. xo
More thumbnails ...
Phnom Penh Hotels
12 votes 
This is a top pick!
