CAMBODIA - Phnom Penh
Having travelled for nearly 9 months we are used to arriving at new destinations and looking for accomodation. We have a set routine and critiera. We select a suitable coffee shop one of us sits with our luggage and we take turns to visit 3 pre selected Hotels from either the Lonely Planet Guide book, or recommendations from fellow travellers we have met on route. Our criteria is based on price, location, noise levels, size of room, facilities, breakfast and/or Internet included, plus a few more comfort zone extras. If a Hotel comes near to the test we jump in a taxi and go for it.
Phnom Penh is situated on the junction of 3 rivers, the Tonle Bassac, Tonle Sap, and the mighty Mekong. Our Hotel overlooks the Tonle Sap near the centre of Town. We decide to visit the darker, sadder side of Cambodia's recent past with a visit to the Tuol Sleng museum, which in 1975 was a school until taken over by the Pol Pot regime and turned into a detention and torture centre. More than 17,000 Cambodians and a few foreigners who were considered a threat to the Khmer Rouge regime were taken here between 1975 and 1977 and interrogated, nearly all were then taken from the prison to the Choeung killing fields to be exterminated. Like the Nazis the Pol Pot regime kept meticulous records of all prisioners ( History repeating itself ) There are numerous rooms in the prison displaying black and white potographs of Men, Women and children, all of whom were later exterminated at the killing fields about 5 kms outside Phnom Pehn.
Later we visit the memorial stupa at the killing fields which used to be orchards prior to 1975. Now it is a field of craters where the bodies have been uneathed from the mass graves. A huge glass tower displays the skulls of nearly 9000 people, many of whom were bludgeoned or hacked to death to avoid wasting precious bullets. Babies were thrown against tree trunks, others were buried alive. All around this very sad place there is still evidence on display like fragments of human bones and bits of clothing scattered on the ground around the disinterred pits.
All in all a very distressing place and an example of mans inhumanity to man.
We atke a tuk tuk around town to see the main sights and reflect on how Cambodia will need a few generations to recover from the suffering caused by the Khemer Rouge and Pol Pot regime era.
Next day we lunch at a restaurant called Friends run by an organisation that helps fund social programmes where some of the proceeds go towards helping Cambodia recover by aiding former orphaned street children with employment in the catering and hospitality industry. Many of the apprentices here, later find work in Hotels and businesses throughout Cambodia.
Thursday 16th March
Bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodias spiritual and cultural centre and the temples of Angkor.
Friday 17th March
Up at 6am onto bicycles and try to arrive at the main Angkor Wat before sunrise, the 8 km journey takes longer than expected and the Sun has risen over the main building before our arrival. However we are lucky to see the best of this mother of all temples and the worlds largest religous building before the tourist buses arrive, and the place gets crowded.
Originally the whole Angkor area was a Kingdom with hundreds of temples and at its peak a population of over a million, when London had a mere 50.000.
The Ankgor period lasted nearly 600 years from AD 802 to 1432 when the temples were built and the Khmer empire was one of the greatest powers in Asia. Our days cycling circuit covers 17km and takes in the main temples including Ta Prohm an atmospheric ruin which has been swallowed up by the jungle and huge tree roots like hands cover the remaining stonework. Everything looks very much as it was when first discovered by explorers. ( It is also the sight used for the film Tomb raiders. ) Next stop Angkor Thom and the Bayon temple. The whole Angkor visit is both breathtaking and somehow difficult to absorb in such a short timespan. Ideally a week would be more suitable to discover the secrets of one of the worlds outstanding temple kingdoms this would allow sufficient time to
experience the magnificence of the sites.
Rumour has it that for preservation reasons within the next 10 years some of the ruins will be fenced off and tourist pathways built. We are so lucky to have had the freedom to explore up close as we have on this occasion.
Saturday 18th March
We fly from Siem Reap to Vietnam Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City ( HCMC )
posted by MartineandMike @ 6:43 PM
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