PHNOM PENH

Arrived by mid day, incredibly fluent tuk tuk driver convinced me to go to a hostel on the lake. Most times I would have declined but he seemed very sincere and he wasn't pushy like all the others. Happy 11 turned out to be a nice place, great location, decent price and it had a rooftop bar. In the afternoon I went to explore a bit of the ciry. I dont think I have ever been hasseled by so many drivers or told "i love you" by so many strangers. I had a very 'western' dinner, pizza and DQ! soo good. I walked around and got midly lost. As the night settled in the city transformed, neon lights ad bars everywhere, crowded sidewalks, chaos. When I opened up the map I found my way in an instant thanks to the grid like layout of the roads. That night I met two Asutralians who turned out to be expats and they invited me to go for a drink. We went to a bar around the corner, everyone knew eachother. The bartender was Scottish and had been in Phnom Penh for over 7 years. Weird but interesting night.


Next moring the tuk tuk came to get me and 2 Irish girls. The driver brought his 6 year old son along for the drive. He was really cute but quiet and small for his age. Our first stop was the Killing Fields. Now for this i need to give a little bit of backgroud: in 1975 the Khmer Rouge evacuated all main cities of Cambodia. The leader, Pol Pot, wanted to kill all 'intelligent' people. According to him, they were corrupt and too materialistic. People were considered intelligent if they: spoke another language, attended school, knew anything about medicine, or wore glasses. The people who were not killed got sent to labour camps where they had to work from sunrise to sunset and were fed very little food. Families were separeted, no one was allowed to speak. The Khmer Rouge killed over 3 million people out of a population of 8 million. Many people also died of starvation, infections and diseased.



We visited the killing fields of Choenung Ek, where more than 20 000 people were brutally murdered. At the site there are 129 mass graves and 8000 skulls have been dug up so far. Most people were killed by blows to the skull and then piled in graves where some where burried alive. Using bullets was considered a waste. Babies and small children were killed by smashing their heads on a tree, which is still present to this day. As you walk through the fields you can see remains of clothes and bones on the ground that had been exposed by the rain. It was a very eye opening experience.







Our second stop wasn't any less cruel, Tuol Sleng genocide museum. The bulilding was originally a school but was turned into a prison/torture chamber by the Khmer Rouge. Inside, thousands of photos of those who were victims of torture. Their eyes baring sandness and hardship stare at you as you walk throgh; men, women and children alike. There were two kinds of rooms, the fist were sigles with an iron bed, cuffs and a buket for toilet. These were mainly used for interrogation and torture. The second kind were extremely small cells where you could barely fit one person, these were the regular holding cells. Some still had blood stains on the floor, others had picrtures of dead bodies. I dont want to go into too much detail about the torture, but it was unimaginably inhumane. They forced people to confess to crimes that they hadn't even comitted, they fed them 3 spoons of rice a day and no water. They were not allowed to talk or move unless asked. Human beings can be extreemly cruel when they are in a position of power.
We went out for lunch but the girls had to leave right after to catch a plane. I decided to visit the royal palace to lighten the mood. It was beautiful, with splendid garderns and very interesting and intricate architecture. The silver pagoda was in the same complex as the temple, featuring numerous golden and silver artifacs. It was surounded by 4 towers carved with complicated designs. I went back to the hostel and after having a shower i met up with Dan and Tan who had arrived to town that afternoon. We went out for dinner and i had amazing noodles with red curry, and then, we went for a few beers at the rooftop bar.