Lee n Tan

We had brekkie downstairs and CK was waiting for us. Our first stop were the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, this is where most of the 17,000 detainees from S21 prison were executed. In the middle of the grounds is a tall glass tower displaying 8000 skulls of the victims and their clothes, serving as a shrine of remembrance. Behind this there are big divots in the ground where the mass graves had been discovered and dug up. All around the grounds were signs letting you know what sort of building used to stand in that spot and some of the trees had signs as well. One was called the Magic Tree, which is where the officers hung a large speaker playing very loud music to drown out the screams and cries for help of the people being executed, as the fields were top secret! There was another tree as well but I won’t talk about that one! All in all a very chilling place to visit.

While we were walking around CK came to join us and told us about his family and how it had affected them. Also he told us a few more details about the area, how on a rainy day you can look down and see human teeth in the clay ground.

Next on the agenda was S21. These buildings were formerly Tuol Svay Prey High School and Pol Pots security forces turned them into a prison. The classrooms became torture chambers and were equipped with various tools to inflict pain, suffering and death. All throughout the museum there are photos of the men, women and children that were imprisoned and killed here. At the height of its activity 100 people were killed every day. You can also read about some of the Khmer people (still alive in 2002) that worked for Pol Pot and what their thoughts are today about what was done.

Pol Pot drove everyone out of the cities into the country. If you were an intellectual, wore glasses, knew another language you were to be killed, he only wanted simple people in his country. A quarter of the countries population was killed in nearly a 4 year period, leaving a population of 70% women. In one of the rooms on the wall was a list of all the killing fields around the country and home many bodies have been found in them. All in all the day up to this point was very chilling and emotionally draining.

By the time we finished here it was after 1pm so we asked CK to take us somewhere for lunch. We stopped at a little corner eatery across the road from the Russian Market. We asked CK to join us and he said it was the first time since driving tuk-tuk’s (2 years) that he had been asked to eat lunch with his customers. After lunch we walked around the market, the guide book was right you can buy anything at this place, clothes, carvings, bolts, motors, food you name it you could probably find it.

CK drove us around a bit and took us past the Parliament Building, Royal Palace and along the riverfront. As we were driving around talking to CK we decided we would leave tomorrow as there is not much more to do in PP. The only other places to visit are the Royal Palace, National Museum and Wat Phnom.

We still had some time left in the day so we asked CK to take us to the Wat first but did not pay the money to walk up the hill. We just walked around the base and checked out the local people taking shelter from the suns fierce heat under the shady trees. Next he took us to a Paramounts Bus Office so we could book a bus for tomorrow to take us to Sihanoukville $6US ea.

We thought we were done for the day then CK reminded us about the museum so he dropped us there. It was very interesting, a lot of the artefacts from Angkor are housed here so it was interesting to see them and know where they should have been in the temples.

We finished at the museum and asked CK to take us back to the guest house, we said our goodbyes and thanked him very much for his help and info throughout the day. We went upstairs had showers and lad down til about 8pm. The heat in Cambodia is knocking us around a bit! During our siesta there was a huge downpour of rain. I went out into the open area near our room and the families in the opposite building were having showers under the pipes coming off the roof, they even had the shampoo out!!

We headed back out onto the darkened streets and found a place for dinner. On the way home as usual we got hassled by tuk-tuk drivers wanting to take us home, as usual Lee’s reply is ‘no, I need the exercise’ and pats his tummy. One cheeky little driver came back with a remedy ‘Believe me if you smoke lots of weed you will loose the weight!!’ Lee and I looked at each other and he drove off laughing. We also noticed all the cyclo drivers sleeping in their cyclos, either in a hammock attached to a pole from the cyclo or in the seat itself. Business must be tough for these guys.

We packed our bags, had some brunch and hopped on the pickup bus about 12. The trip took 6 hours, so we arrived in Phnom Penh around 6.30pm. We had arranged with Kedi for his brother to pick us up, so when we hopped off the bus he was holding a sign with our names on it….great service! He took us to Royal Guest House and we checked straight in, he had wanted to take us to a couple of others but the room was good for $13US, so we took it. We had a shower and a lie down then went for a walk to get something to eat.

We have never been in such a dirty city!!! People think Bangkok is dirty (we actually don’t) but his place is appalling. Along each street there is a huge pile of rubbish on the side waiting to be picked up. When it does (we think every day) there is a lot left behind as it is just in basic plastic bags and some of it is just thrown on the pile. So the guys doing the garbage round cannot pick up every little piece and the roads are not guttered properly so there is no chance of a street sweeper!!

We found a pub to have dinner and then walked back to the room. We have booked CK (Kedi’s brother) for 9am tomorrow to take us round some of the sites.

Today was our chill out day, we didn’t get up until after 11am then we went downstairs for lunch. Last night Lee found Season 6 of 24 in the 300 DVD’s available to watch at Rosy so we started watching them last night and didn’t get to sleep till late. Our afternoon was spent watching a few more episodes.

At about 5ish we decided we probably should get out and about and go for a walk. Lee headed downstairs first and when I arrived he said ‘We have to leave’ I couldn’t believe it!! Anna had booked us in for only 1 week and one of the girls a couple of hours before booked our room out tomorrow night which was their last room available. So now we have to leave, not very happy!! There was no communication and we found it really strange because we talk to Anna & Smiley every day and at no point did we even hint that we were ready to leave. Anyway, Lee said his piece and then we walked around the corner to an internet cafe and checked out our next destination and spoke to both lots of parents to try and cool down.

We walked back and had a drink on the house and I spoke to Anna and told her what we would have done in the same situation back home, she seemed genuinely upset. Smiley on the other hand stirred up Lee a little more, saying that he was not a big manager like Lee etc but Lee kept his cool and just kept saying ‘the only reason we are pissed off is because we like the place so much, so take it as a compliment!’ We were going to stay until about Wednesday so we could check out the life around town and get some great pictures of the locals but now we leave on the 12.30pm bus.

Well today we did it…..we booked Kedi for 9am and we made it!!

We started our morning of temples at Preah Khan. We started walking in and one of the local guys hanging around out the front started walking with us and telling us about the temple. We looked at one another and decided to let him carry on. We are so glad we did, we would have missed so much. The temple was a Buddhist Uni and City built in the late 12th Century (1191). The temple has the Hall of Dancers, also a unique round-columned 2 story building, the central sanctuary wall are pierced with inch round holes – we were told by our guide that these were filled with rubies but upon further reading they were presumed to have been for attaching large bronze plates as a covering to the stone.

Next we stopped at Neak Pean which was a bit disappointing as all the photos have water in the pond but now it is bone dry.

Ta Som was our last temple in the main Angkor area. As we got to the rear (as with all temples) we encountered the kids selling their wares but these guys had a different tact than asking you where you were from and then when you said Australia they reeled off everything. They started with G’day Mate, Cobber, Pal etc then they recited the Capital, Population, Prime Minister, Melbourne’s Population etc and they did not say anything of this slowly it was actually difficult to pick up everything fact they said because it was so quick. As I said before these guys didn’t ask where we were from they had a stick in their hand and started scratching the lines for tic tac toe in the dirt saying ‘you know this game?’ I started playing with one of the girls and once she put her x in the first square she gave me the rules – I win I don’t have to buy, she wins I do!!! We ended up finishing the game and she won but we had discussed that I wouldn’t buy. Along a bit further a boy had the same ploy except when I said I didn’t want to play he said I had to buy anyway!! Real cheeky little devil!!

We decided to go for a bit of a drive and head out to the Roulous Group of Temples. 3 in total but we only visited 2 – Preak Ko and Bakong. This group dates back to the 9th century.

We got back to Rosy’s a bit after 1pm, we had some lunch with Kedi, got changed then asked him to take us to the Lotus Hotel where all Rosy guests can use the pool for $5US a day. One of Kedi’s brothers came for the ride (there are 3 in all working outside Rosy), his name was Chad and he ended up picking us up. It was beautiful to be in a pool!!

We walked into town later on and had Mexican for dinner then walked home.

We made our pickup time 8.30am today but we still didn’t make it! We took off at 9am to a waterfall area called ‘Kbal Spean’ about 40km out of town. The carvings in the river bed date back to possibly the 11th to 12th century. Our trusty driver did not inform us of the 3km round trip to get to the carvings most of it was in the shade, but quite steep in parts. My foot held up quite well.

From here we back tracked to Banteay Srei or Citadel of the Women or as the locals call it the lady temple. That was beautiful and well worth the drive!! The carvings were exquisite and the temple was made from pink sandstone, very different to any other. Probably my favourite!! We had lunch at one of the stalls near this temple and we talked to a guy that sold knock off books (the sellers are everywhere around the temples). He sells the books for $1US, he has to pay the police $40US per month so they do not confiscate his books, he probably only sells 2-3 books a day if he is lucky and at the end of all this he still has to buy the books from somewhere and make a living. Very interesting conversation!!!

From this beautiful temple we made our way to the landmine museum – check out http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/ Aki Ra who was a former child soldier of the Khmer Rouge set up the landmine museum with the mines he has decommissioned throughout Cambodia since 1995. We watched a DVD of his story and it was very humbling. He goes out finding these mines with a stick in his hand just prodding the ground!!!! OMG!!

What we planned to be an easy day ended up being completely the opposite, by the time we got back it was around 4pm and we were buggered!

In the evening we took some other travellers – Philip & Cal out to the Night Market and dinner at the street stall. Not as good as the other night so a bit of a disappointment. We all went back to Rosy’s and played a couple of games of shit head, Mark & Maria (Irish Couple) joined us. Then we hit the hay ready for another day of temples.