I got up and realised I'd been bitten all night long by mosquitoes. I reached over to the coffee table and took my daily malaria tablet in quiet defiance. I think the mossies actually got me while I was on the not-so-lively terrace bar since all the bites were on my legs.
David, the guesthouse boy with an assumed western name, whisked me off for my tour of Phnom Penh at 9.15 and our first stop was The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. During the mid seventies, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge murdered around 2 million Cambodians during the civil war. At this site, Tuol Sleng, around 14,000 of that number had been tortured for information before being sent 15km South to the "Killing Fields" to be murdered and buried. The regime targeted anyone who might be educated including anyone with glasses. The also targeted non-revolutionary soldiers and high ranking officials.
I've been to Auschwitz in Poland before and it's just unavoidable to draw comparisons. Drawing comparisons between genocides feels like trivializing them. Auschwitz was a concentration camp in the middle of nowhere, Tuol Sleng is an ex-school in the heart of Cambodia's capital. In Auschwitz the prisoners were used for forced labour, here they were tortured for information they didn't have. Both the Nazis and Khmer Rouge kept prisoners alive who had talents for art, both kept detailed records of their crimes.
I walked around the school buildings in silence taking in the information and scenes around me. At 10am I went into a room and watched a documentary for an hour that focused on a particular couple that were both victims of the regime. During the documentary I watched a former prisoner who had been kept alive by his captors in order to paint the scenes of torture around him. He was talking on screen with a former security officer of the prison as they discussed their roles at the site. It was very affecting especially as I later saw the paintings as they had appeared on screen.
I got back on the motorbike with David and we drove to the "Killing Fields" There I looked at the monument building with hundreds of skulls on display. There were loads of exhumed mass graves now grassed over but sunken in the ground nonetheless. It felt strange that so many butterflies were in the area - I'd never seen so many, it was just weird.
I needed some relief and David had suggested the previous night that I go and fire some guns at a nearby range. I had immediately refused yesterday, and after later reading about it in the lonely planet had felt right to. Today I felt different and I brought it up again with David who had mentioned it in passing earlier in the morning. I had thought about it at some length - but the real reason I went was because I just plain wanted to. It was frowned upon by the authorities who had closed the activity down stating that it no longer enhanced Cambodia's image of a cultural destination. That meant the activity had gone "underground" - gulp. Still, David wouldn't be suggesting it if it wasn't ok so I gave him the instruction and off we went.
We drove further out of town and down more rough mud roads. We pulled up into what looked like a farm and I scanned around for other tourists. There were none so I wasn't feeling too good yet. There were about four blokes led around in hammocks, two got up to greet me and I shook a hand or two. I felt a bit nervous - I was on my own and doing something a bit naughty I suppose. But I also felt a excited too I wanted to do this and I was making it happen. I was given a laminated "menu" - a laughable professional touch that made me feel better as I was clearly dealing with people who knew what they were doing. On the menu it had a sign that read "No taking photos of this menu". Feeling worse again.... I tried to read all of the options but my mind was made up after reading the first line. AK-47 fire 25 bullets for $30. That was what I wanted, I remembered Samuel L Jackson enthusing about this assault rifle in a movie and that was enough.
I was led into a soundproofed corridor about the length of a bowling alley. A few guns were propped up against the wall and at the far end was a paper target of a guy with a handgun. The guy loaded one of the weapons, gave me some earmuffs and a camouflage jacket. I refused the jacket thinking I didn't need to look like Rambo in order to feel like him for twenty seconds. The man told me I needed to drape the jacket over my shoulder to protect my shirt from gunpowder. I did as I was told. I said I wanted to fire the first ten bullets as single-fire then to switch to automatic and let the paper man target have it (good and proper). I was feeling very excited - yes it felt good, yes it felt macho, yes it's a man thing and yes I was very happy right now.
I had the butt of the gun into my shoulder and I looked down the sight. The guy fiddled with a few things on the gun and then said "ok". I braced my upper half to take the reverse impact the gun would have and squeezed the trigger. Woo hoo! Wow that was good. I did a few more shots and noticed the empty cases flying around my vicinity - this was great! We switched to automatic for the remainder of the magazine and I had real trouble keeping everything straight as the gun fired again and again. It was all over in a few moments and I felt pumped up.
I walked out of the room with my bag and some of the hammock guys asked if I liked it. The guy who had been inside with me returned with my paper target in hand for my inspection - not bad. My first 10 had hit, but as there were only 13 holes most of the automatic 15 didn't even hit the paper. I was asked if I wanted to try some handguns but I knew to stop there. A young couple arrived by tuk-tuk and as the guy scanned the menu I made my recommendation, he agreed and moments later he was inside doing his thing.
It was only 1pm and I'd felt like I'd had more than enough for one day. I'd paid David to drive me around all day though, so he took me to the North part of town to look at a temple on the only hill in Phnom Penh. Afterward I got him to take me to the Grand Palace where I let him go home since I was going to be a few hours in the area and would only be missing out on a lift home.
The Grand Palace was good, a bit like the one in Bangkok I'd seen a few years before (Peter Mandelson was a suited and booted co-tourist that day) but less touristy. I snapped around and headed home for a beer at the guesthouse.
I'm now bang up to date on my blog and intend heading to the beach for the next few days. With any luck I can find a place to watch the second Ashes test.
Phnom Penh Hotels
14 votes 
This is a top pick!
