Holiday in Cambodia

Trip Start Nov 15, 2004
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Trip End Nov 10, 2005


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Flag of Cambodia  ,
Saturday, February 5, 2005

It is nearly impossible to describe Phnom Penh. The legacy of the Khmer Rouge's ruthless 'restructuring' of society clearly lives on, with the pain of the past etched in many faces. On our way to the capital from Vietnam we saw the very recent remnants of an almost certainly fatal crash. On our first day here we saw a robbery. On the second day our tour driver was beaten with a metal crutch taken from a nearby cripple. People with machine guns are a common site. Entire families live on the footpath. Cannabis grows on the roadside. Bars include the prices of girls on the menu.

As all tourists, we visited the 'killing fields' and the Toul Seng Museum - formerly a school turned prison where people were tortured before being taken to the killing fields (if they survived long enough). It was a harrowing experience that made Viet Nam's War Museum seem tame. 'killing fields'
'killing fields'
 At the killing fields there are still bones and people's clothing sticking out of the ground. There is a tree where babies were beaten to death against, nearby is the hanging tree. Thousands of skulls bear hammer and axe marks. At the museum there are many pictures of people as they were bought in and after torture. The look in peoples eyes was something we will never forget.

Taking all of this in becomes even harder when you are constantly targeted by young children trying to sell books or young mums with crying children asking for some money. Whilst we have faced the question of 'do you give?' and 'what do you give?' many times over the last 3 months the severity of it in Phnom Penh challenges us continually. Organisations working to assist Cambodian people advise against giving money as this can encourage begging and often the money is used for drugs or gambling. The other day one little boy continued to ask us to buy something from him so we bought him some noodles instead. A minute later and 6 of his friends were surrounding us. $3 later and we had fed 6 kids and one disabled lady. Their smiles and grateful thanks warms your heart, but then you turn the corner and someone else has their hand or hat out.

Our first 3 days in Cambodia have perhaps been the most challenging days of our travels so far. We really don't know what to expect in this intriguing country.
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