Triumph and tragedy in Phnom Penn
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2008
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63
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Trip End
Jun 20, 2009
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Friday, February 13, 2009
After seeing the wonders of Cambodia in Angor Wat we would soon come face to face with the dark side of this wonderful country.
Cambodia was plunged head first into a hellish exsistence during the 1970's when Pol Pot ( not to be confused with equally disagreeable type Paul Potts, winner of "Britain's got talent") took over the country with his band of not-so-merry men. Under a so-called communist guise they set about reversing Cambodia to the dark ages. The year would be zero and no intellectualism, creativity or challenging of the leaders would be tolerated. The Khmer Rouge ( again, not to be confused with the" Kenmare Rouge", as everyone's fave Kerry woman is now known due to recent adjustments of coifurness) emptied the cities and filled the countryside with hundreds of thousands of slave labourers, frightened and forced to work the land in some idiotic attempt at agrarian idealism
The menu
. In the process 2 million were killed and horrendous camps were set up to facilitate" brother number one's " increasing paronoia. More and more people were suspected of treason to the regime and were thus sent for torture and interogation to abominable places like Tual Sleng.
As a buachaill beag I had once spent 4 weeks pocket money on a plastic AK-47 machine gun and greatly enjoyed legging around the estate simulating exciting shoot-em-up scenarios with my buddies. Of course, in Phnom Pehn one can take that tomfoolery to another level. Just outside of the city are numerous shooting ranges . I had heard various stories of people firing RPG rocket launchers at cows covered in gasoline and other such gruesome tales . O f course I was content with having an aul blast of a semi-automatic machine gun .
So, we set off on a saturday morning in a tuc-tuc that would be home to our asses for most of the day. We pulled into the firing range and were greated by a giddy ex-military type who showed us " the menu". This consisted of various weapons, M-16s, AKs, M-60s and even and old Thompson macine gun. I was torn between the Thompson and the AK but elected for the gun of my youth in the end
The shooting gallery
. With other people ahead of us firing away we were introduced to the sheer loudness of the guns and Murph decided to leave us fellas to our own devicess and save her ears. Myself and Madden were brought into a crewed shooting lane where I loaded up and shot off the magazine. After firing of a couple of rounds I switched to automatic. The rest of the magazine was gone in a couple of seconds as you can see on the video but it was great craic altogether. I scored some good shots on the target but Lyds wisely advised it was time to move on and at a dollar a bullet she was dead right.
We were next driven to a completely different world. This was the domain of the Khmer Rouge, what is globally known as " The Killing Fields". A macabre experience it definitely was. First thing you come across is the memorial containing thousands of skulls found here in the various mass-graves remains were found in.
But, in my opinion, even more disturbing were the bits and rags of clothing still poking out of the ground in which so many people met their grizzly end. We wandered about the place fairly speachless as the morbid reality of this vicinity's story enveloped us.
But it was to get even worse. Next up was a vist to the place known during Pol Pott's power as " S-21". Tual Sleng was a former school switched into a detention house of murder, torture and interrogation. We decided to get a guide for this place and it was worth the extra few bob as we were brought around the various cells, torture rooms and photographic exhibitions of the victims. The place is bloody eerie, full stop. When the Vietnamese army liberated Phnom Pehn they discovered the bodies of the last few victims here
Letting rip
. They took photos and now you can see those photos in the cells where these atrocoties took place. Along with the splaters of blood in the rooms, it makes for a truely heinous experience. We were lost for words as we left the prison and walked through the beggers ( past victims, displaying horrific wounds themselfs ) to our waiting tuc-tuc. My " craic" with the AK now seemed a bit crass as we headed back to the city centre.We had to pluck ourselfs up though as we donned the glas of Eireann and prepared ourselfs for the big opener of the 6 nations. The night before we had scouted out the best venue with predatory impedus and had settled on a decent sports bar called the Gym. The night before both myself and Madden had been hustled in pool by a unhuman display ( including one handed full length pots ) em... by a wee girl, but tonight we were blood thirsty and heart hardened. any Frenchies would be wise to follow the lead of the fore-fathers who legged it out of Indochina at the first hint of rebelliousness in the 50's. By the time the Irish game came up on the big screen ( bout midnight) we had gathered a hearty troop of Hibernia's finest including a northern chap who batted for the other side but sang Ireland's call with such gusto as to alter our previous disdane for Phil Coulters monstrosity for a night at least and a legal chap who was here to work on the empending Khmer Rouge trials. The game was a cracker and we were in full voice as we left the horrors of the day behind us and roared approval at the men in green's new found might and muscle.
The rest, as they say, is histoire. Needless to say we rested good and easy the next day , Liam and ourselfs would split up after 3 great weeks on the road that next night. He went back to Koh Chang and we departed for the beach resort of Shinoukville.
Tragedy and triumph in Phnom Pehn.
