Cambodia Part I, Phnom Phen

Pictures from the Phnom Phen can be founded from Picasa. Some of the pictures especially from Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or the Killing Fields may be a bit shocking, so I advice to use some digression. I tried not to upload anything too brutal though.

The ride from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh took around 6 hours and it was okay, steady enough and the roads are actually quite good on the Vietnam side. Another story after crossing to Cambodia. We crossed the border at the Bavet checkpoint. At the border we had to pay 25 USD to get a visa to Cambodia which the bus coordinator collected along with our passports. Just a bit corrupted feeling, they almost didn't even look at who was using the passport, just stamping them in a row happily after receiving the payment.

The Eighty8 Backpackers hostel was our destination. A bit expensive dorms 6 USD, but otherwise a very nice place with welcoming staff. On the first night we gazed upon the riverside, chilled at the Night Market and crossed the Wat Phnom on the way back. Night market is really a place to see when visiting Phnom Penh.

The next morning was followed by a walking tour that I had prepared for us over the day. We started with the Wat Phnom, continued to Central Market, gazed upon Wat Koh and Wat Saravorn. Enjoyed a tour of history with guide in National Museum followed by a lunch. After that tried to capture the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda but realized that we didn't had proper clothing for that. We then went to Cambodia and Vietnam friendship monument, continued to Independence Monument and saw the Wat Langka finally ariving to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. After that we were supposed to visit the Russian Market but we didn't had enough time. Should start these day trips early in the morning, and not at 10 am...

Wat Phnom, the Temple of the Mountains or Mountain Pagoda is a Buddhist temple located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was built in 1373, and stands 27 meters above the ground. It is the tallest religious structure in the city.

The Central market or as locals call it, Phsar Thmei is a major tourist hot spot. The four wings of the yellow colored market are teeming with numerous stalls selling gold and silver jewelry, antique coins, clothing, clocks, flowers, food, fabrics and shoes. We managed to find some electronics like iPod charger for my Spanish friend and usb mouse the Danish one.

We booked a guide in the National Museum of Cambodia. One could correct the name of the museum to a National Museum of Religions in Cambodia. There we learned how, when and from where the Hinduism and Buddhism had came to be in Cambodia and how it evolved over the time, and where it took all its symbolisms etc. The guide also told us about the current status of religions in Cambodia and shared us a view to the stories behind the main gods like Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The relationships between them and all the different meanings of different minor gods like Ganesh with elephant head. Also she shared that the amount of arms contrasted the power of the god and what the feel of fire meant.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is one of the breathtaking museums in Phnom Penh. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". It is estimated that it hold up to 20000 people as prisoners, 1000 to 1500 at a time. The prisoners were repeatedly tortured and coerced to name family members, friends or colleagues as CIA or KGB agents or any culprits against the communist uprise.

When the museum was closing and we were waiting for some of our friends to finish the tour I played with some local kids. I actually started to fold a paper plane for one kid smiling close by. After a while another girl stumbled upon us and took the plane out of my hands and started to fold it by herself telling me that I didn't know how to make a airplane. She actually copied how I had made it already, clever kid. Then a third kid showed up, he challenged me to play with him, whom can shove the airplane further and the highest. I won the first one by far. The kid demanded a rematch and I agreed. Now he threw his airplane directly upwards while I was shoving mine also forward. And so he won the competition for the highest throw and I for the longest one. I donated my winning plane for the girl who was making it with me.

After the long day we finally had a time to relax. We had pallend a get-together with other NUS exchange students that we knew to be in Phnom Penh too, in the end there were eleven of us! We met at the first national flag on the riverside where we saw also some kids break dancing. After awhile of hugging we headed to find a restaurant. Our friends had spotted some place earlier on the day while walking in the city.

We ended up eating beef from a wholesome barbecued cow. The night was perfect with lots of fun. Thank you all guys and girls! While enjoying the dinner we encountered some kids begging, we knew that giving money wont help, so we asked if they wanted to have some meet that we could share for them and they happily accepted. Of course their hiding parents behind the corned weren't so happy because they didn't bring any money to them, rather just ate themselves the food we shared. As previously in the Tuol Sleng museum, I made a airplane for the kids to play and they were happy.

After awhile of pub crawling we found a night club to party at till 4.30 am when we found ourselves back at the hostel.

On the last day we were supposed to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda early in the morning at 7.30 am when they opened and right after that the Killing fields before continuing to Siem Reap. And so it happened that us guys overslept and the girls went by themselves. Although we slept in the same dorm and apparently they tried to wake me up at least three times I didn't join their entourage.

The rest of us woke up around noon and decided to hurry up to see the fields and to catch a bus to Siem Reap on the same day.

The Killing Fields are a number of sites, at least 300 hundred of them found, in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979. This happened immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1970-1975.

Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims. It is estimated that the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

PS. just comment if interest about the facts and real stories of some of the rare survivors of S-21 and I'll share them too!