We woke up pretty tired after our temple excursions and went to a local super market to pick up snacks for the 6 hour bus journey. We boarded the bus at 11 and set off on our long journey. When you are travelling, you tend to use these journeys to think about everything and anything. The scenery from the bus around these places is brilliant. The roads are crazy here!! We felt that South America was bad at the time but it is nothing on this place. Bikes are plentiful here and tuk tuk’s as well. Tuk tuk’s are like a horse and carriage with the horse being a small motorbike….it’s great fun. I was keeping my eyes peeled and admiring all around me. The side of the roads are flooded at the moment following rain and all the children are playing in them now. We stopped off for a break and straight away we are surrounded by people selling all sorts. One thing that has struck me here is how happy some of the kid’s are. They have nothing but this doesn’t wipe the smiles off their faces one bit. It makes you think about all the times you sulked when you were younger about not getting a computer game etc…shame on us all!!
We got to the hotel after 6 and went to a restaurant called “Friend’s”. The people working in this restaurant are former/current street children. They consist of the more experienced “Teacher’s” and the less experienced “Student’s”. It is fairly expensive (well expensive as far as Cambodia goes!). We got to choose 3 dishes from “Fish, Vegetarian and Meat” dishes. I went for meat all the way!! Mike actually got 4 dishes. The food was quite tasty and surprisingly filling. Our tour leader Caroline (who is pretty cool and we are getting more and more use to her) told us of a potential “Tsunami” that may hit our next destination. If this was the case we would fly to the stop after this (subsequently nothing has happened yet and we are on route). We also saw “Angry guy” and his girlfriend here who seem to be following us around!!
One of our Tuk tuk drivers told us about a shooting range and that we could potentially fire a Bazooka!! All they guy’s eyes lighted up so we said we would go ahead with it the following day. The group is getting a lot closer and the guys have really hit it off. We can have a laugh but these guys are pretty experienced workers (who are taking a break now) so it’s great to have a few serious conversations with them at the same time. We have really talked up Australia to them (the majority are going here) so we hope they like it.
After the meal, some group members headed home with Mike, Conor, Mark, Tobian, Renee, Bee, Phil and I ready to explore Cambodian nightlife. We had a quick pint in a bar. Phil and Tobian left early and the rest of us headed to a Cambodian nightclub called “The Heart of Darkness”. We got searched for guns going in (funnily enough we were bigger than the bouncers) and once we were inside we felt like celebrities. The Manager shook our hand’s. It was a bit weird seeing some 60 year old in there chatting up Cambodian girls but what else is he going to do I suppose ha! We got talking to a few Cambodian girls who seemed really nice but we left it at that and headed home.
The alarm went off at 8am and we headed off to the “Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S21)”. Here comes the history lesson. As the Khmer Rouge (UCKRR) were commencing their reign of terror, Toul Svay Prey Secondary School , in a quite Phnom Penh neighbourhood, was transformed into a primitive prison and interrogation centre. From 1975 to 1979, an estimated twenty thousand victims were imprisoned in Security Prison 21 (S21). Teachers, students, doctors, monks and peasants suspected of anti-revolutionary behaviour were brought here, often with their spouses and children. It is now a museum and from our tour guide we got an idea of the scale of suffering endured by the Cambodian people. We were lucky to meet one of only 7 survivors and we got a photo with this man.
Following S21 we went to “The Killing Fields of Choeung EK (Hell on Earth in 20th Century). This was formerly an orchard. During 1975-1979, The UCKRR used this orchard and converted it into the most cruel and barbaric killing field on earth. There are scenes of crimes to be seen here like the Memorial charnel house with 8,000 skulls of victims and large mass graves in the ground. Some bones are still on the ground even now. You have to take a step back and imagine how bad it use to be and the thing about it is that this only ended in 1979 which isn’t that long ago!
We had lunch in a nice English restaurant and we all got cyclos to tour the city. It was 3 dollars and was a great way to see the city. My driver was crazy and was constantly hounding me for a tip….I should have given him a tip across the ear!! We ended the journey at the glistening, golden Royal Palace . We just admired it and decided to head back to the hotel to try and fire a Bazooka.
We agreed a price with our driver and 6 of us set off. We got two tuk tuk’s and we were told that the destination was a half an hour away. As we got further and further the darkness was setting in and the city getting poorer and poorer. We turned into some alley way and entered into what we think was an ex military area. When we arrived no one was in sight. It was scary enough for a minute. The Tuk tuk driver (Who calls himself “Big Black”) told us it was closed for the day and that we could come back tomorrow. It was almost like a set up to just pay him the ride fare. We also found out that the Bazooka firing happens in the mountains. We were pretty pissed off so decided that we would pay the full fare price tomorrow morning. To come all that way and not fire the Bazooka sucked!! We joined the rest of the group for dinner, pool and the most interesting Economics conversation I have ever had with Mark and “Dips” (a real character!!!). We have to get up at 6 in the morning so we got to bed early. I’m loving being back into the swing of travelling……waking up not knowing where you are or where you are going!
Brilliant stuff,
Gary
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