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Phnom Penh

Been in Phnom Penh a few days now and it's been a fairly eventful time. We weren't holding out a lot of hope for this place as the pattern in other countries has been the capital city is not as good as the other cities (i.e. Chang Mai was better than Bangkok, Luang Prabang was better than Vietiane). But it turns out that this is a pretty cool place. We are staying by a lake where all the guesthouses have their restaurant/bar on balconies out over the water with hammocks and pool tables. Anything goes here, you cant walk 100 metres without being offered a tuk-tuk ride by at least 5 guys. If you dont want a tuk-tuk then they are more than happy to sell you marijuana, opium, ladies or anything else you want - some of them walk down the street waving bags of ganja around! For the record we have not purchased any of these illicit goods or services!

Driving round town you see the strangest sights, one motorbike with probably 50 or so live chickens hanging off the back, or two guys on a motorbike holding a bit of furniture that must have been at least 4m high! There is a vague perception of road rules, people generally drive where-ever, just honk your horn if you want to get through! Cambodians are also the masters of cramming people into vehicles, as well as the record 6 people on a motorbike you see vans driving round with at least 20 people inside and another 20 on the roof! Even you average sized sedan will be cruising round with 10 people in it. There's also a place where you can go and fire old military weapons (AK47s, M16s, Hand Grenades, RPGs). You get a menu and order a coke, fried rice and a couple of rounds on an AK47! Contrary to all the craziness there's also a lot of disturbing history from the revolution in the 70's (see below).

So... we checked in around 7pm on our first night and went out to find our new favourite meal, Amok, which is this traditional Cambodian coconut curry. Randomly ran into Martin from Netherlands who we met in Laos so after tea went and hung out with him and our other Dutch friends Pim and Jacco at their guesthouse that had a boat bar out the back. Soon there were about 20 people drinking out there including some locals who convinced us to go to a nightclub in town. It's the first place that I've ever been checked for weapons at the door, I got an extra special extended pat-down, I hoped this was because I look like someone you'd want to do that too, not because I look like a gun-toting miscreant! It was a pretty "pumping" club and we stayed there until the small hours.

Next day we had planned to visit S21 and the Killing Fields but ended up going out to an orphanage with the Dutch boys and a Norwegian guy we met. It was a very cool experience, rocked up to this place in the afternoon and hung out with the kids for a while. It was their day for soccer so we went down to this soccer pitch which was covered in dust and stones as opposed to grass. Had a full on 11-aside game with these kids which was brilliant fun apart from the fact it was 38 degrees (100 Fahrenheit) and there was no wind! Us white boys were covered in sweat and the quality of our soccer really deteriorated in the second half. Our 3-0 half time lead was soon recovered to a 3-3 draw. It's really cool here that the community appears to help out the disadvantaged kids. There are a heap of orphanages around that seem well supported and the kids at the one we went to were really happy. Lots of restaurants and bars donate a portion of their proceeds to these charities too.

Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek

Today was one of the more sombre and educational days of the trip. We rented some bikes and headed off to our first destination, the Tuol Sleng Museum. This museum buildings are the former S-21 (Security Office 21) Prison buildings (it was actually a high school before this), which housed thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge during the Pol Pot era. For those that don't already know, the Khmer Rouge (or more correctly the Democratic Kampuchea regime) ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979 and committed some of the worst atrocities seen in modern times. The general aim of the DK was to introduce an extremist communist society in Cambodia by turning the majority of the country into workers (either in factories or fields). Prior to this time there was quite a class separation in Cambodia, which essentially boiled down to town vs. country. Under Pol Pot and the DK the majority of towns people had their more plush lifestyles taken from them as they were forced to become peasants under government control. During their rule, living conditions worsened, food became more scarce and people were often forced to work long and hard. They also killed (directly or indirectly, through starvation, etc.) in the region of 1-1.5 million people (although this estimate actually varies from about 800,000 to 3 million depending on the source). The details of life under the DK are still under some scrutiny today, as it would appear that initial accounts were somewhat exagerated, however there is little doubt that many people were needlessly and ruthlessly killed. According to several accounts, victims were often beaten to death, just to save on bullets. The DK were evetually overturned by a Vietnamese invasion. Pol Pot was never tried for his crimes, as he died in 1998.

The S-21 Prison is estimated to have held about 17,000 people during its existence. Reportedly, only seven survived. Despite the DK denying the prison's existence, relatively good records were kept, as each inmate was photographed and written up in a biography upon arrival. Any confessions of guilt or traitorship (usually false, as people were tortured daily) were also added to their biography. There were several other similar prisons across the country but this was the premier one. It was used to interrogate anti-government (in the DK's view) people from all walks of life. As peasants (village/country people) were preferred by the government, towns people often made up the majority of people detained. There is evidence supporting the view that the DK were more intent on killing off the educated 'elite', rather than the uneducated. Having said that, there were still many people killed from all across the country. There were also several foreigners killed, especially Vietnamese. Detainees either lived in \n0.8x2m cells or in large rooms where they were made to lie down and were shackled to an iron bar at their feet. Any movement or noise was enough for lashings, beatings or, in the worst cases, death. After their stay at the prison (usually between four and seven months) they were taken to one of the killing fields by bus. Here they met their end and were added to one of the many mass graves.

The Tuol Sleng Museum was set up as a memorial, in order for the public to be able to learn about the DK regime. Some buildings have been left relatively untouched so you can see the cells prisoners were kept in or the interrogation rooms. Others are full of paintings and photos, many of which are the mugshots taken when they arrived and some of which show the horrific violence that occurred. Some rooms contain some of the old torture equipment that was used and others have informative exhibits. There is also one room showing a video documentary of life in Cambodia during the DK regime. It is a very eerie place to visit, not surprisingly, but also very informative and well worth seeing.

After the museum we ventured out to the Choeung Ek Extermination Centre (the closest of the killing fields to S-21). Here there is a memorial building as the centre piece. Inside there is a very tall and quite large stack of shelves encased in perspex. These shelves are piled with human skulls that have been extracted from the mass graves. It seems quite surreal and really only begins to sink in once you see the skulls up close. Several have bullet holes but many contain breaks or have been completely shattered. Many of the bones around the site have not been exhumed (and won't be) and bones can still be found littering the grounds in parts. The rest of the place is made up of the pits where bodies have been removed from.

All in all a pretty morbid day out but an absolute must if you ever visit Phnom Penh.