Such Diverse History

I arrived in Phnom Penh by fast boat from the Mekong Delta. I shared a taxi to the hotel with a couple I met on the boat. But of course, instead of taking us to the hotel we requested, the driver took us to a hotel that would pay him a commission. It was a nice place, but out of my cheap-budget range. The couple decided to stay and I asked to go to the original hotel. My next ride was on a motorcycle taxi, complete with all my gear. I had my small day back on my back, held my sleeping bag and mat and the driver but my big pack in front of him. Being so loaded down doesn't seem to bother the motorcycle drivers in the least.

My first impressions of Phnom Penh were of the beautiful French Colonial buildings, the inspiring pagodas, the modern cars and jeeps buzzing around the wide boulevards. The city seemed very clean and much nicer than I expected. After walking around and exploring more, I did see much more trash, poverty and homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks. Like most large cities, it has many contrasts. I also came to learn later, that most of the nice vehicles I saw are owned by corrupt government officials, who have bodyguards drive them around.

The U.S. dollar is the most common currency here, with the Cambodian riel used only for small change. This made prices in tourist restaurants more expensive than other countries I've been travelling in, but still cheap compared to at home.

I saw my first petrol station on wheels. I saw a girl pushing something across the street. When I got closer I realized it was a steel barrel on wheels with a glass bottle and a pump attached to the top. I than saw a woman on a motorcycle stop to fill up. How convenient! Another type of gas station I encountered many times was a rack of old soda and liquor bottles filled with petrol, sometimes as part of a convenience store, other times just on their own. Handy for filling up the many motorcycles that fill the roads. I did see a few 'normal' gas stations too, but few and far between.

My first night in Cambodia I planned to meet up with 2 Irish women I had met on the slow boat through the Mekong. They took the long, slow ride, while I switched to the fast boat for the end of the trip. I arrived at the Happy Herb Pizza place long before they did. I was sitting outside, enjoying watching the activity of the busy street when a guy asked if he could join me. He kept me entertained with lots of interesting stories. A free-lance camerman originally from Belgium, he spent 12 years in Africa before coming to Cambodia 3 years ago. My new friends arrived and we talked about what kind of pizza to order. Though it's not on the menus, it's well known through the travel grapevine that at almost all pizza places in Cambodia, especially 'Happy Herb', that you can order your pizza 'Happy' or 'Very-Happy', for no additional cost, depending on how much of a buzz you want from your pizza. I'll let you decide which one we ordered...

That brings me to some other strange things you can buy in Cambodia, though I only heard and read about them. You can buy almost anything in the marketplaces - from marijuana to hand grenades and automatic weapons. I stucj to the normal souveniers.

I switched guest-houses the next day to a nice, relaxing place on Boeng Kak Lake, more of a back-packer hang out area. Explored the city a bit on foot, but took plenty of time to just hang out in the hammock also. Was glad I did, as the next day was quite draining. I hired a Moto (motorcycle taxi) to take me to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. About 15 km outside of town, the area seems like a normal, rural field until you get closer and see the dug up mass graves and memorial stupa. This where the Khmer Rouge brought some 17,000 innocent men, women and children for execution between 1975 and 1979. The stupa contains over 8,000 human skulls arranged by sex and age behind glass panels. It's very gruesome to look at, but I think also important to have a memorial for people to see. My next stop was even more grim. Tuol Sleng (known as S-21) is a former high school which was turned into a detention / torture center by the Khmer Rouge, now a museum. Many of the small rooms (more like cages) where people were kept in chains are still there, as well as torture devices. The Khmer Rouge had a strange habit of photographing their victims, and the hollow, haunted looks in the eyes of the victims gives you chills. At it's peak, S-21 claimed as many as 100 lives per day. I read books about this terrible time in Cambodia's history recently (don't really remember studying about it in high school at the time it was happening), but seeing all of this was almost overwhelming. It's hard for me to believe just how cruel and savage people can be, especially to their own people. In total in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge reign, over 2 million people, including almost all monks and educated people, were killed. This was in addition to almost everyone being forced to leave their homes and to work in the fields with very little to eat. Families were seperated, and sometimes forced to kill each other. After meeting so many truely kind, gentle people since arriving, it's hard to imagine what most of them have been through.

Coming back into the city, my driver gave me a short tour. We went by the Thailand embassy, which just a week before had been destroyed by riots. Glad to note that relations between the two countries has since improved. We also saw a gutted-out hotel and a few businesses, more victims of the riots. We did encounter a happier sight, the filming of a hollywood movie. It was great to see all these people in traditional costumes. Have no idea what movie it was.

Decided it was time to move on and bought a ticket to take a boat the next morning to Siem Reap. Overslept and almost missed the boat. I was supposed to be picked up at my guesthouse at 6:30, and when I woke up and looked at my watch at was 6:49. I flew out of bed, ran downstairs and found a Moto driver that knew where the boats left from - my boat would be leaving at 7:00. Got there just in time! Really nice ride and sure beats taking the bus - Cambodia is not known for it's nice roads. Passed many small villages along the river. I was picked up by yet another Moto driver on arrival. Spent the next 10 minutes on the most awful rutted road, lined with shacks and horrible smells of fish and garbage, one of the worst areas I've been through, very glad it didn't last long, we were soon on another road headed into town. Got settled into my guesthouse, than went to the Angkar area to watch the sun set from a hilltop amid the ancient temples. What a magnificent sight.

I spent the next 3 days exploring the many temples. What incredible masterpieces of architecture! About 100 or so temples built between seven and eleven centuries ago when the reign of the Khmer empire extended over a vast territory. They were part of a much larger administrative and religious center whose houses, public buildings and palaces were contructed of wood - now long decayed - because the right to dwell in structures of brick or stone was reserved for the gods. There aren't many restrictions to people exploring the temples and you are able to climb around inside the buildings - and I do mean climb, the stone steps are the smallest I've ever seen causing you to have to use hands as well as feet to reach the top. The buildings are covered in beautiful, intricate carvings and it's great to see them up close. One morning I watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat (one of the largest temples, and is considered by many to be one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind). As soon as it was up, I went inside the temple. There were very few people inside and it was amazing to explore the temple almost by myself and just sit and enjoy the peaceful surroundings. One day, while walking around the grounds, I saw dozens of monks coming towards me. They were all on their way to lunch - a picnic in the forest. Some of them offered to share with me, but I just sat and talked with them for awhile. Later I met some musicians playing traditional music. They were all handicapped in one way or another by landmines, of which Cambodia probably has more than any other country. I bought a beautiful book from them made by a Japanese man that shows many survivors of landmine accidents.

That evening I took my motorcycle guide up in a stationary balloon to watch the sunset. My first time in any type of balloon, we timed it just right and could see the whole area in a pink glow before the sun went down.

My one tourist stop in Siem Reap itself was the war museum. Not much of a museum, mostly just weapons and things displayed outside, but the guide was very interesting to talk with. Just a little younger than me, he lost his parents in the war and spent 8 years in the jungle. He had a slight limp, lost part of his leg to a landmine. He has no home and lives at the museum. He is working on writing a book about Cambodia's history.

Cambodia really tears at your heart. So many warm, friendly people, but so much poverty - you see many children, disabled, and old people begging just to survive. The government still seems to be full of corruption and not doing much to help the people.

Next, back to Thailand.

Linda