Enter the Kingdom of Cambodia
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2005
1
17
43
Trip End
Aug 24, 2005
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
We arrived at the border and immediately a wave of apprehension flooded through me; my passport was an issue as it had only an exit visa but no entrance stamp and also, I hadnt had time to sort out a Cambodian visa,however,I remained adamant that I would not be returning to Saigon despite whatever the officials had to say. Sure enough, the lack of an entrance visa interested the officials enough to further increase my unease. I was now holding up a line of about 30 people as these guys huddled round and scrutinized my passport and the attached papers from the embassy
Army Surplus Arsenal
. The heat was unbearable and everyone was restless after the journey - if looks could kill!!! Eventually I was let through and the paper work from then on was relatively plain sailing; the visa was easily attainable on the Cambodian side and was issued immediately despite having heard sob stories of scandal from other travellers. We were then forced to wait for nearly 2 hours to catch our bus to Phnom Penh. The road from the border to the capital is notoriously bad and lived up to its expectations. The bus was ruined, the air con non-existent, the temperature exuberant and the dust plentiful. We had to catch a ferry across the river before reaching Phnom Penh and as we waited, limbless children swamped the bus, opening the windows and reaching in begging for money. The American girl next to me gave them all the lollies she had yet the older kids simply confiscated them from the younger ones and smacked them to the floor when they asked for them back. Welcome to Cambodia, a country that still clearly has Survival of the Fittest etched in the minds of all. All in all, the journey was horrendous.My first impressions of Phnom Penh were far from good. We were dropped off in the heart of the city and it was filthy. It held no appeal to me at all as it stank of pollution, it looked rundown, it was overly congested and completely uncharismatic. Moped drivers were everywhere; "Mister, you want motorbike?" came from everywhere unrelentlessly and after that bus journey, it was hard to keep calm
Independence Monument
. I had hoped to meet the others in the backpackers area up by the lake that night but once again, they had moved on out earlier that day. I arranged with a moped driver to take me to some of the sights the following day and went off for dinner alone. Eating alone isnt much fun at the best of times and that night after that day had not helped matters much at all. The Canadian waitress gave me the sympathy vote and came and joined me but the excitement was just too much and I hit the sack early.The following day, I was up early feeling revitalised and upbeat, outside my driver was waiting. We headed off for the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. South Vietnam had been a morbid experience and it looked like this place with all its disgraceful history was going to be "same same but different". The place was beyond belief. Under the Khmer Rouge regime, Pol Pots ordered the torture and execution of millions of Cambodians and foreigners. He needed little criteria for 'justification'; intellectuals, people with pale skin/soft hands (signs of an easy life) etc. were just some of them. The mass graves unearthed looked more like the bomb craters at the Cu Chi tunnels, Vietnam and it was only the monument constructed in the memory of those who were killed that brought home the extent of what happened there. It stands at the entance to the fields taller than a 4 storey building and the glass casing houses a mass of skulls from top to toe. There is a tree nearby one of the mass graves where babies were literally bludgeoned against before being tossed into these holes. It was horrific and it was written on everyones faces that they were appalled. From there it only got worse. I wanted to see the S-21 museum or Tuol Sleng and decided to see it without the guide, I figured I would be able to decifer what went on there without the need of graphic desciptions and sure enough it really wasn't hard
S-21 Museum
. The former school had been converted into a sadistic torture house and detention centre. Electrocution, starvation and beatings were but a few things that took place there. Often up to 12 prisoners were shackled together by the ankles to sleep, they were tortured by night and day for the slightest misdemeanour. The cells were less than 6m by 3m with no bed and very little light. The museum had photos of a lot of the victims displayed, a lot of them were missing ears or had bloodied faces and all of them looked dejected and forlorn. It was the tip of an emotional few days and yet I was extremely intrigued and captivatied in a perverse way. Before leaving England, I wasn't aware, through my own ignorance, of who Pol Pots was, the regime or the plight they inflicted on the country, or with regards the Vietnamese war; its cause and effects were also unknown and it has certainly helped provide a basis and history for both countries even if it was the most disturbing time of my life; it must surely be far more disturbing for both the Vietnamese and the Cambodians.
That afternoon, I headed to the more attractive sights including the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda and Independence Monument. These were far less interesting but it was a huge relief to be seeing more positive sights. That night I met up with my Danish roomies and we headed out for a much more enjoyable meal than the night before. It was quiz night and depsite a few weak links (stragglers we'd picked up, not us-obviously), we actually did quite well! On leaving the bar we were informed that there was a massive gang outside the Phnom Penh Hotel (a few minutes round the corner) and that a guy had been jumped allegedly because of 'mafia' issues. This wasnt a problem for us as we were staying closer than that but my underlying feeling for the city was only confirmed.
