Phnom Penh

Tuesday 24 SeptemberUp for a 6.30am pickup then short flight through to Phnom Penh.  Our guide took us directly to the The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (one of about 360 places) and explained what had occurred at that particular site.  It had originally been a Chinese cemetery but chosen as a location for the execution of many prisoners considered enemies of the regime of the Khmer Rouge.  Mass graves containing 8895 bodies were discovered at this site when excavations took place after the fall of the regime. The bones, clothing and weapons used to kill the prisoners have now been put in a 17-level acrylic glass display cabinet inside the stupa and are identified by age, gender and method of death.

Although no further excavation is planned, a wooden walk-way had been constructed over the area where the mass graves were located as bits of bone and clothing still surface after periods of rain.  Overall it was a sobering experience - all the more for it having happened in our lifetimes.  We then went back into Phnom Penh through the chaotic traffic to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - originally a High School but used as a prison (along with about 120 others throughout the country).  It was  known as Security Prison 21 (S-21).  Truck-loads of people were shipped from there to the killing fields every day, with approx 20,000 out of the estimated 3 million killed coming from this prison alone. Only 7 people survived S-21; two of them were young children who hid under a large pile of clothing on the day the prison was being liberated, and 5 adult males. Of the 5 men who survived, only two are now alive and both were at the site to talk with if you wished. One was an artist whose paintings of his memories of the treatment of prisoners were on display in the last building we went through.  We didn’t speak with them directly as we really didn’t know what to say!!

We then checked into our hotel and got a tuk tuk to the Royal Palace.  It was around 33 degrees and dry (although we were anything but dry!!). Only a few of the buildings are accessible to the public as the Royal family still live there but perhaps they could have let us have had a quick look round inside as we understood the king is away in China at the moment.  Part of the grounds included a model of the Angkor Wat temple complex and Patrice was very amused to hear an American woman saying to her partner in a serious tone (please insert your own American accent here) “Do you really think we need to go to see the Temples now that we have seen the model!”.  Clearly she was less keen to see them than her partner!  Also for those who might travel with Patrice at any point in the future - please be aware that getting a complete photo is not something that comes naturally to her - she took no less than 8 photos of David and I sitting under a small pagoda which had a spike on the roof.  Not one had a complete spike until the last one and by that stage it was difficult to see who we were but at least we had the spike!  Extra points for perseverance though :). After reaching a level just under spontaneous combustion we decided to get a Tuk Tuk (loving this mode of transport!) back to hotel to cool down in the pool.

Buddhist Memorial Stupa

S-21

Angkor Model at Royal Palace

After dinner we decided to take a night-time tuk tuk ride around whatever sights our driver (Piet) thought might be interesting for us - it turned out we got a great look at the city’s early night life and it was pretty lively (particularly for a Tuesday evening).  I should mention that Patrice took a temple picture and was so proud she got it all in until she looked at the picture and guess what - it had half a spike!  The trip wasnt that speedy however. With three of us in the wagon, his underpowered machine made barely 15kph so any crash would have been low speed. As is typical of many parts of Asia you see some amazing sights of things loaded on scooters but yesterday included a passenger with a metal pole so high that it was at risk of hitting low level power lines as they moved along (not to mention being a hazard to people around them) and a female passenger sitting on top of a very large metal box holding a range of items and all of which were very loosely balanced! After a 40 minute drive along part of the river we were back at the hotel and got an odd, but friendly hug from the driver (might have been the extra $2 tip).  The picture below conveys just a little of the scene.

 And this one from earlier in the day at the palace shows just how creative people can be with plastic bottles in service of safety in the home, even if it was the King’s home !!!