August 18 thru 21
Bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, 6 hours. This wasn’t so much a tourist bus as just a straight up commuter bus, a mix of 80% locals 20% backpacking foreigners. Since Siem Reap attracts more wealthy tourists and the state of the roads is abysmal, most fly out of the airport in town and usually never see Phnom Pehn at all (it’s a city known more for its history as the sight of the death of hundreds of thousands and less for its lovely buildings). Anyways back to the bus. We were gifted with 2 hours of Cambodian karaoke on the tvs. While culturally interesting to watch for the first 15 minutes I soon wanted to tear my ears from my head. Thankfully I had earplugs in my bag and I did not care if anyone saw me put them in. After Cambodian ktv the driver put in a 1980s Chinese horror film. It was a traditional style one complete with kung fu magic, jumping zombies, vampires, evil spirit babies, and alternate portals with glowing green lights. This was dubbed in Khmer as well, but way more entertaining than the karaoke. I almost think I’d seen it in Taipei before but I couldn’t be sure because all of those films are almost the same.
Finally arrived in Phnom Pehn. Argued with the tuktuk drivers over the price to go to the hotel I had booked (I didn’t really want to wander the city looking for an available room) on the internet the day before. So I finally go…and I just want to say…Lonely Planet…you’d been pretty handy all trip, but here, you let me down big time. I had had really good luck just randomly picking hotels and getting nice clean rooms with ac, cable tv, hot showers, all for 10 or 15 dollars. Here…I knew it was not a good sign when no one spoke English, they dug through a giant bin of keys all scribbled on with markers and finally handed me one. Broken tv, no toilet paper, weak ac, no handle on the faucet, and questionable blankets. Lovely. But it was too late to change my mind. Spent the night, checked out at 7am and the guy asked me “Why so early…you stay 3 days?”…I reply… “Not here, I don’t.” Took a tuk tuk to the waterfront. Found a nice hotel, 15$…no window, but practically the Ritz compared to the other one.
While Phnom Pehn is not on most tourist to-do lists, it still seemed a pretty decent city (I even saw a Starbucks *gasp*). There were scenic things and markets and restaurants…has the same…throw your trash in the street philosophy as Vietnam but not too stinky. Checked out the National Museum, the Royal Palace, and the Silver Pagoda.
The National History Museum
French colonial architecture leftover.
Royal Palace
Buddha ironwork on a door
Outdoor hallways with pieces of mural
Funeral stupa outside the Silver Pagoda
Silver pagoda in the background
Processional banners for the king, sitting in a neglected corner of the grounds
Tired and sweaty I walked to a café in a side street. I sat outside to take advantage of the breeze. Big mistake. “Miiiiiiisss….missss”. Here we go. “Miss you want paper? You want book? Sunglasses? Fan? Hammock?” I was panhandled by 5 separate kids in 45 minutes and 2 adults. Then I made the mistake of actually acknowledging one kid, “What books do you have?”. “This one very good, about Cambodian history” “How much?” “10$”…”No thank you, I’ll pay 3.” Kid is instantly annoyed…”I no make profit, I paid 2$ for this book. You pay 9$ Very good copy”. I then point out that I have a book, a real book, and I paid 6$ for it. Why should I pay 10$ for a photocopy that has smeared words…point to the inside. I don’t even really need a book, I was just being nice and might read it later 3$ is my only offer. Boy gets sullen. He stands there for 5 minutes silently. Finally he says, “Ok 5$”. “No. Please leave now”. Then, I get to hear some great things. A 7 year old cussing me out in really good English…so now his English is good apparently. This is definitely not the way to get someone to buy things. He leaves.
Another 30 minutes, another little boy comes up, this one is smaller maybe 5 or 6…I still do want a book. “Miss, you buy this book..3$”…He must have heard me earlier. Why not, he’s polite. He’s not quoting ridiculous prices. He doesn’t complain when I want to check the copy to see if all the pages are there. So I pay him and get the book. I settle in to read when I hear…Smack! I look up and the kid with the bad mouth has punched the other little kid in the face. Whoa whoa…I am not here to incite children to punch each other. He cries and cries while clutching his box of books. The other kid laughs and runs off. I try to buy the kid some ice cream but he sniffles and says he has to get back to work. These kids are smart, funny, hard workers, its only too bad their focus is not centered on something else. That said, I never saw a kid who looked truly hungry, maybe a bit dirty but while this instance really really got to me, for the most part you had to take the kids with a bit of a cold heart…because they were going to sucker some tourist somewhere, it just usually wasn’t gonna be me.
Met some interesting people, ate some fondue, had some unbelievable sweet lemon pie at a bar that reminded me of Nashville. Bought some dragon fruit, wandered some markets arguing with men about 2$ statues of Buddha. “I give you very good price…8$”….uh no. I go next door…”I give you price…2$”..ok thats more like it.
On my second day in Phnom Pehn or third. I’m not really sure anymore. I decided to do the “sad day”. Why a “sad day”? Because its really not fair to travel to foreign countries and see only the picturesque. You need the full picture, and in that case alot of the picture in Cambodia is taken up by the genocide of the Khmer Rouge.
Background note. The Khmer Rouge was a communist political party in Cambodia that led from 1975-1979. During these few years they uprooted almost the entire country in the name of “agricultural reform” it quickly failed leaving a government paranoid and trigger happy. Killing all intellectuals, government member, middle class, even their own. 1-3 MILLION people died in this time period. What really horrifies me is that this is a modern era, only 20-30 years ago. A time of world wide information and communication. In a nation next door to Vietnam, this exists and was largely ignored by larger world powers.
Anyways, I started my morning with a long long motorbike ride out to Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields). Driven to a largely agricultural part of town behind a dump there was a dirt road with green grass that led to a meadowy tree area. In the middle was a towering stupa…funeral monument. Inside the stupa organized by age were 5000 skulls. In addition to this you could wander around the area where you’d occasionally find signs saying nonchalantly “This was the tree the Khmer Rouge beat babies to death against” or “This is a tree they hung speakers from that played music so that surrounding locals wouldn’t hear the moans of the people buried alive”. Walking along, amidst the bees and trees you’d think it was just another field but then looking down at the dirt worn away on the path you notice bits of white rock sticking out, curved pieces and knobbly pieces…and then you realize. It’s not rock. Its bones. Much of the area was not dug up because it was simply too large of a task. Better to let them be. 15,000 unknowns. And we walk around on them all. The most eerie part is being at a location with several dozen other people and not hearing a single word spoken the entire time out of respect.
After this, I continued on with my sad day and had my driver take me back to town to the Tuol Sleng museum. It was originally a highschool. Except now the outsides are wrapped in rusty bobwire since it was converted to the S-21 Prison in 1975. Tiny cells made in the classrooms, rooms with red stains, and hundreds and hundred of pictures of inmates. Women, children, men, teenagers. Not just Cambodians but westerners were imprisoned and killed as well. At the end of the war when Vietnam invaded only 12 people survived of the 17,000 that were once there. Having seen enough I headed back to my hotel for a shower and a nap.
And thus, worn thin from weeks of haggling with children, carrying my shoe festooned backpack from hotel to hotel and endless undecipherable tourguides…I was ready to go home.
Home to Taipei that is.
Jennifer