Hippy den in Phnom Penh

Trip Start Sep 12, 2005
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15
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Trip End Aug 15, 2006


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Flag of Cambodia  ,
Friday, October 14, 2005

Arrived in Cambodia's capital yesterday. A busy city of about 1.5 million. Got off the bus and headed to the city's hippy hang out on the outskirts beside the lake. It was a bit grubby but there was a good vibe about it. We threw our bags into our $2 a night gaff and got drunk with an Aussie couple we had just met. Later that night we had a weird encounter with a 60 something, bearded hippy from Canada, who casually informed us that he had lunch with Jesus in Bangkok!! What a nutcase. Made it to bed for about 10am. We hired a tuk-tuk for the day and went to the Killing Fields, just outside the city. 9000 bodies of men, women and children have been exhumed here in recent years. They were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge Army during their reign between 1975-1979. Led by the infamous Pol Pot the Communist party murdered over 2 million of their fellow Cambodians in an attempt to rid the country of the middle and upper class. It was a morbid place with a glass tower in the middle in which the bashed skulls of the dead were kept.

Next stop was the shooting range. Open to tourists, the Cambodians have decided to turn their arms store into a firing range where for $10 you can unload a clip or fire an AK47 at a flock of feeding unsuspecting chickens. We casually refused and jumped back into our tuk-tuk and went to the old regime prison S-21. Another grim place, which illustrated in more detail the tortuous ways of the Khmer Rouge. It was a pretty depressing place and we were glad to leave. There were not too many other things to see in Phnom Penh so we got dropped off back at "hippyville" where we hooked up with two lads from Kilkenny and got plastered. Head to the south coast today, will write soon.
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Comments

stephen2
stephen2 on Oct 17, 2005 at 02:35PM

bird brains
Dear Mairead and Conor
I can't believe it - all that education. You had the opportunity to wipe out a flock of bird- flu carrying chickens probably in training for attacks on the west and you messed up. The same chickens will be waiting for you at the City Airport next year. They will try to sneak into our food chain - yes even KFC, so you will probably see them again one way or another and suffer the consequences.
luv Dad

billishereagain
billishereagain on Oct 18, 2005 at 09:08AM

Guns and beer
Ok I think I'm Following this.
Your in Phnom Penh, Your in 'Hippy Heaven' with a Canadian. Your plastered and it's a city full of guns. Thats got to be the best laxitive known to man.
Bill

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