Phnom Penh

Day 73 - Phnom Penh

Can you not see all the holes in the bullseye?

After yesterday's venture it was time to do something a little more light-hearted (it would have been difficult not to). After our previous Cambodian examples of irresponsible or immature tourism (Happy Herb Pizza and buying the police badge) we went for the hat-trick today by visiting an illegal shooting range.

The story goes that many shooting ranges opened up after the atrocities of Pol Pot because they found themselves with a surplus of ammunition. Twenty odd years later and the excess must have been used up. Consequently this is the Army's way of making a bit of extra cash and given that their monthly wage is $20 I don't blame them. I also promised myself to do as many 'firsts' as possible and I've certainly never fired an AK-47 before. Well not before today anyway.

Kirsty with an AK-47

When you arrive you are presented with a 'menu'. This includes handguns, shotguns, semi-automatic machine guns, full-on machine guns, hand grenades and a rocket launcher. All have corresponding prices ranging from less than $1 per bullet on some to $200 a pop on the rocket launcher. We shunned the likes of the Colt 45, the Uzi 9mm and the M60 Assault Rifle and opted for the Asian armies' weapon of choice - the big and cheap AK-47 (Kalashnikov).

The sick part came just before we commenced shooting at our paper target. We were offered (and please realise this is a quote) "some more exciting targets - like wildlife". We were expecting this question but hoped it was a travellers' myth and were consequently surprised. Surprised enough to forget to find out what kind of price they put on the head of a chicken, a sheep, or a cow.

Me looking altogether more at ease!!!

The feeling of shooting a real gun with real ammunition is a strange one. the first thing that hits you (furtunately not literally) is the noise - even with ear protectors on (this place was run a bit more safely than we had anticipated). I don't think i enjoyed it until I finished shooting and the adrenaline flows so quickly (especially when it's on automatic) that you feel shattered afterwards. Given my shaking and the fact that I was concentrating mainly on not shooting my foot or something I was reasonably contented with the state of my target at the end - out of 30 bullets, 6 would have caused fatal or life-threatening injuries while 2 would have inflicted painful flesh wounds. Thankfully my target didn't shoot back and I've got less than no desire to start shooting seriously or to go to war.