Border crossing and onto Phnom Penh (1 - 6 October 2007)
The border crossing into Cambodia did not start out too great; we had a slow boat that was basically a bus-on-water. The boat had no air conditioning and even though it had windows, the boat was travelling at such a slow pace that it did not even produce a breeze in the scorching heat. It was almost like travelling in a sauna. Finally some cloud picked up and it started to rain, in fact, it started to storm! It was raining extremely hard when we docked and we got soaked all the way to the minibus that was to take us into Phnom Penh. The roads in Cambodia are some of the worst in the world, so it was a very wet and bumpy ride - we were actually air-born more than once! We arrived in the pouring rain and got soaked all the way to the guest house that Stef recommended to us, Green Lake Guesthouse.
Wow! Phnom Penh turned out to be amazing! This is such a lovely and relaxed place. The people are friendly (even though they will keep on harassing you to buy something from them or to go in their tuk-tuk) and the accommodation section by the lake feels like somewhere in a deserted part of Mozambique. Our guesthouse had a huge deck that looked out on to the lake, the deck had chairs with huge pillows, a big screen TV with DVD’s to choose from, a pool table and a small, cheap and fantastic restaurant. The best off all is that we paid only $5 per night!
A strange thing is that the people on the streets, even the very young ones, would just walk straight up to you and ask you if you want to buy ‘something’ - marijuana, opium, cocaine, heroin! Marijuana is everywhere in the restaurants as well, it is even on the menu as a ‘Happy Shake’ or a ‘Happy Pizza’. This is probably because of all the sad sites in and around town!
We spent most of the evenings out with the friends we made in Chao Doc, Alan and Rob from the UK, going out for dinner and dirt cheap beer.
I never realised what horrific history Cambodia has. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took control of the country and they went on a killing spree. They murdered an estimated 2 million people - anyone with the slightest power or education and their entire family was killed. We visited the S21 Museum, also known as the Toul Sleng Museum. This used to be a high school, but the Khmer Rouge took over the school and changed it into a prison and torture facility. Between 1975 and 1978, more than 17 000 people where held here and then taken to the Killing Fields to be executed. The museum shows striking photos of the victims, as the Khmer Rouge took a picture of every prisoner before they were executed. The worst part for me was seeing the photos of the little children, even infants - they were all brutally murdered and they did not know what was going on.
From the S21 Museum, we went to the actual Killing Fields of Phnom Penh. During the Khmer Rouge, the prisoners from S21 were brought to this field and killed in the masses and then just dumped into mass graves. The most unpleasant part for me, and even just writing about it again makes my eyes fill with tears, is the way that they killed the kids. They took the kids by the feet and then hit their heads into a huge tree or they would let the child hang onto a branch and position a knife/sword or other sharp object underneath them, so that when they cannot hold on any longer, they would plummet into the weapon. It is not known how many people died here as all the bodies have not yet been exhumed, the count currently stand at about 10 000 exhumed bodies.
As you can imagine, these images are now embossed in our minds and gives us great respect for the surviving Cambodians and their struggle to go on with their lives, trying to rebuild their country. Today, Cambodia, S21 and the killing fields are peaceful places, masking the horrors that unfolded here less than three decades ago.
Okay, all depression aside, we did get to do more upbeat activities in Phnom Penh as well. We went shopping at the Central and the Russian Markets - dirt cheap branded clothes and everything thing else from pigs brains, to cigarettes, to shoes and even toiletries were on display. We also visited the National Museum and the very impressive Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is a magnificent piece of architecture and it is any photographers dream. The monks wandering around in their bright orange robes added to the beauty of this place. We were very lucky and got to see the previous king, Sihanouk, as he was wandering about in his garden.
We were reluctant to leave Phnom Penh as we had such a relaxed time here, but alas we took a bus to Siem Reap.
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