Now I know that my grandmother loves that I blog and Grams I would do this for you alone but what has happened to comments? I fear I've become boring.
I traveled the 6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by “limo” bus. I got such a kick out of the bus station which was essentially a dirty/dusty clearing with row after row of buses. When my tuk tuk drove up the little kids were right there to sell me a baguette and cheese (a holdover from the French) for the ride. On the bus I had the neat opportunity to sit next to a British woman who had just finished 8 weeks of volunteering with the organization Globalteer. Having loved my time in Siem Reap so much, after talking to her I seriously considered going back myself for a few weeks instead of heading to Europe. For a number of reasons I've now decided not to do that but I have decided to extend my time in Asia in another way (gotta make it to the end to see where I am now).
The bus ride really wasn't too bad. At about the half way point we made a bathroom/cricket stop. You see in Cambodia (and I believe other parts of Asia) a roasted cricket or roach or some sort of insect is considered a delicious snack. On our trek in Chiang Mai one of the guides took joy in snatching the bugs out of mid air and throwing them in the fire. The other riders on the bus loaded up on bags of the critters. I've tried lots of local food in Cambodia but I fear that is one I can't go near.
The best part of the ride was the opportunity to see the real Cambodia, the countryside. As I said in my last post it's so easy to miss the essence of Cambodia in the cities that I was happy to have even this brief view of the heart of the country. The one-room homes were nearly all built on high stilts presumably to help with the heat and also flooding in the wet season. The doorways to many of the homes also had shiny cellophane streamers (think Happy Birthday banner) hanging from them. I thought they were just decoration but in reading the book The Killing Fields (which I HIGHLY recommend) in prep for Phnom Penh I learned that the purpose of the banners is to ward off evil spirits. In the front yards of many homes were large pieces of plastic draped over a bamboo frame. I learned these are set up to catch rain fall. Smart idea. I saw kids playing tag where the boy who was “it” would jump on one leg, groups playing volleyball, plenty of little boys running around naked, hoards of school kids riding their bikes home, farmers corralling cattle and bustling village markets.
Finally in Phnom Penh I was accosted by a herd of tuk tuk drivers as I exited the bus. This first impression reminded me of how I have enjoyed capital cities the least of all on this trip. The least abrasive driver earned my business and I made it to my guesthouse room on the Tonle Sap river. That night I had dinner (a traditional Fish Amok dish) at a great local spot. I took The Killing Fields with me to finish and rather poignantly, just as I finished a passage about an amputee I looked up to see a man with one leg outside of my restaurant just peering in at the diners with his selection of books for sale. I'm thinking “ why not just tear my heart out right here?” This evening would certainly set the stage for a tough two days in and around this city.
Here's where I warn you that the stories from my next two days are rather depressing and the picks on Flickr are a bit graphic. On my first full day in Phnom Penh I visited the Genocide Museum which is housed in the former high school that was turned into the famous S-21 prison by the Khmer Rouge. The government really hasn't made many changes to the building and it almost feel like the “liberators” just picked up and left yesterday. The first thing I noticed was how large the complex was. The information said that between 10,00 and 16,000 Cambodians were there at some point between '75 and '79. The staff totaled 1,720 and at any one time there were between 1,200 and 1,500 prisoners. The external corridors of the school were covered in barbed wire to prevent suicide jumps. On the first and second floors of a few buildings I saw the individual brick and wooden cells where primarily men were held. On the top floor were rooms where prisoners were held en masse, connected to each other at the feet by a central rod. They had displays of the contraptions used to torture prisoners including a box used to clamp down a person's arm while their fingernails were pulled out. There were boards with pictures of the tagged inmates (the KR kept incredible biographical records of everyone), some of them in a tortured state. The museum also had displays with the stories of numerous Cambodians, both survivors of the prison (there were only 7, the rest were taken to the killing fields) and members of the Khmer Rouge. Those who have come forward as a part of the Khmer Rouge were either children who at the time were effectively brainwashed or older individuals who knew that joining was essential for their personal survival. Interestingly a few noted that in their villages today they are still labeled as former KR. They will always carry the burden despite having not been involved directly in the killings.
On my second day in Phnom Penh I hired a tuk tuk to take me out to the Choeung Euk Killing Fields site roughly 15km outside of PP. It's important to note that this was just one of many killing fields. They have erected a memorial building at the site that holds the skulls of hundreds of the Cambodians found in the mass graves. They have grouped them by sex and age. Around the memorial you can walk amongst the craters that once held hundreds of bodies. I read that in fact at some of the fields (not this one in particular) that actual bomb craters were used as grave sites. The thought that weekly trucks of 20 to 30 people arrived at this site and that thousands of Cambodians were senselessly put to death is just incomprehensible. As with any genocide you can't even begin to understand what was in the minds of the killers.
I've read quite a bit about the Khmer Rouge regime in my time here and I really encourage everyone to do the same. I honestly knew very little about the details before coming here but have found this piece of history to be rather fascinating. As Americans I think we know far more about Vietnam than this little country. At the high end it's estimated that Cambodia lost half of its population during this time. I feel bad that I was so ignorant to the details of why and how this occurred.
Okay before I verge on full fledged ranting I will move on.
As I said at the beginning, I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted more time in Asia. After talking with so many other travelers I have chosen to follow up my stay in Cambodia with a week in Laos. I've been here two days already and am so very happy that I made the change in my itinerary. I am in the city of Luang Prabang and I can't rave enough about it. More next time but I am so happy that I will leave Asia on this note.
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