By Robyn Skinner
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Bermudian Robyn Skinner is travelling around the world and in the latest of her reports she sets foot in Cambodia for a price and despite the awful legacy of dictator Pol Pot and lingering memories of genocide, finds its capital Phnom Penh an amazing place filled with generous and friendly people.
Next Stop: Cambodia
A boat, van and bus ride later I was standing in front of the Laos departure lounge (hut on the side of the road) being asked for $2 (US) to remove the Laos departure card. Ahh bribery at its best.
After paying my dues, I picked-up my backpack and walked to Cambodia (really only about 100 feet away) to more huts on the side of the road. For another $2 fee I received a visa application and for $20 they 'processed' it (read: stuck a visa in the passport).
In a second hut more official-looking men wanted another $2 for.....I have yet to find out, but I was not going to get into Cambodia without paying it, so.... I paid it. (I tried to pawn off some Jordanian dinars, but they just laughed at me).
A third hut, filled with more Cambodians playing dress-up, required another $2 for.... the privilege of walking onto Cambodian soil. Who knows, but at the end of the day I had no choice and it is a small price, however unofficial, to pay to enter a country.
Then it was into a car (because the bus we had organised was full), to a lunch spot before transferring to the bus for another ten hours to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
I had been warned of the lawlessness of Phnom Penh. An American I met in Laos said ten years ago she saw people regularly walk around carrying AK-47s. I was not sure I was prepared and arriving at 11 p.m. was not ideal, but the bus driver was not going to be rushed through his hour-long dinner stop.
Luckily I was still travelling with my California travel buddy and the Hawaiian couple so when we arrived in Phnom Penh a tuktuk was easy enough to arrange.
My first experience in Phnom Penh? Before extricating myself from said tuktuk I was offered marijuana. Five minutes in Phnom Penh and I realised I was in a different world.
Here the black market is alive and well. Massive SUVs without licence plates make crossing the roads a life and death experience (Cairo's got nothing on Cambodia) and drugs, especially in the backpacker area, practically litter the streets (at least the guys trying to shove them into your hands anyway). Also lining the streets are the tuktuk and motorcycle drivers pestering you to take a lift (and anything else you might desire) until it becomes a sick chorus.
Still, Phnom Penh rises above the smog, the traffic and the lasting memories of a genocide, to offer great restaurants, museums, and a people that are amazingly generous and friendly (even when not trying to shove drugs into your hands).
In 1975, the city was actually emptied by a dictator in black, Pol Pot. He decided the best thing for his country, which had gained independence from France in 1953, was to rid itself of the intellectuals and to start he was going to empty Phnom Penh. Yes, even the hospital with its sick and dying patients was emptied, and forced on a march out into the countryside.
Welcome to Year Zero where money meant nothing and cities had to be abandoned to form a Maoist, peasant-dominated society. Anyone who was educated, spoke a second language or wore glasses were targeted and executed.
Within three years, this man and his cohorts had managed to kill a third of the population (estimates are between two to three million people) through work camps, torture rooms and killing fields.
The largest torture location was actually in Phnom Penh at Security Prison 21 or S21, a former school. This, now the Tuol Sleng Museum is where me and my California travel buddy started our visit.
Locked in these former classrooms, victims of the Khmer Regime were forced to testify that they were in fact anything the regime wanted them to be conspiring with the communists, working with the Americans, whatever, before they would take them to the killing fields to either dispose of the bodies or finally kill them.
When the Vietnamese finally entered the city in 1978 and freed the country of this insane regime, they found only seven bodies still left in the killing machine. These seven are now buried in what used to be a courtyard filled with children. It's a solemn affair and silence is self-enforced. I held it together until the photos of the children. Like so many psychopaths, the Khmer Regime photographed and catalogued their torture. Row upon row of photos display their victims and children not older than a few months to a few years stare helplessly at us visitors who can only wonder what sort of monsters would do this.
Sadly, the next day was no lighter. Me, my California travel buddy and the Hawaiian couple organised a trip to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, 14 kilometres from Phnom Penh. A central building holds the skulls and other remains of the nearly 17,000 people executed and buried under the grassy fields here. Now signs indicate what the different areas were used for a tree used to kill children for example. I will leave the description at that.
After the gruesome and exhausting afternoon, we decided we needed something not linked to the genocide. The tuktuk left us at the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. This, while it costs a small fortune of $8 to enter, is not nearly as impressive as the Palace in Bangkok. Even the Silver Pagoda with it floor covered in five tons of silver failed to impress (I'm getting difficult to please).
About half an hour was all we needed here.
What we really needed was happy hour at, where else, the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). This is a three storey bar that overlooks the Mekong and was filled with reporters before the Vietnam war infiltrated Cambodia. Covering the walls are photos that transport you back in time and up the stairs to a view of the Mekong that is barely rivalled.
It was the Hawaii couple's last night in Phnom Penh (I had to wait three days for my Vietnam visa) so we decided to try and shake off the depressing last few days at a nightclub. Ha! Heart of Darkness is not just a Joseph Conrad novel but also a place where awkward UN personnel, old Cambodian men, young Cambodian women and preying Western men all mesh together on the dance floor.
The next day we decided to see what else Phnom Penh had to offer. While genocide is never far away from any discussion, most people can remember it, lost family to it, and are desperately trying to get over it, there is incredible life in this city. This is mostly centred around the Central Market where everything from frog's legs to sunglasses are sold.
My California buddy went nuts, buying gifts for people at home. After stopping for some yummy greasy, fried spinach and rice-based dish we headed to a nearby shopping mall. Seemingly out of place, this seven storey air-conditioned building represents the wealth that is trickling back into this economy.
Next was the Russian Market. This is infamous for providing access to AK-47s for $100. I didn't see any of these, but I did notice the lack of electricity, the intense closeness and packed stands and promptly had us leave. I couldn't take the heat.
After wandering through some of the boutique-lined streets, art galleries and restaurants a hurricane descended. We had no choice but to walk (where are the tuktuks when you need them) to our hostel. Dripping wet and almost squashing a frog along the way we survived and settled into a restaurant to eat and watch the film Killing Fields (actually a good way to start any education on the genocide in Cambodia).
The next day we jumped on the early bus to Siem Reap the town next to the Angkor temple complex. This enormous temple-strewn area was the capital of Cambodia's ancient Khmer empire and now it attracts tourists who visit first and foremost, Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. Besides this main attraction there are a couple of hundred other temples to visit in what many say should be a week-long excursion.
Me and my travel buddy did not have that, nor did I think I could visit temples (regardless how amazing) every day for a week. The next morning, with her upset stomach and our desire to see the main temples in a day, we found a tuktuk for $10 to take us around.
The first stop was, of course, Angkor Wat. Impressive? Yes. The most amazing thing I have seen? No. It is a stone building that is enormous and there are some interesting carvings, but at the end of the day I am not educated enough on what these represent to be adequately impressed. Highlight? A Korean film being shot in the main area. Go figure.
To be honest, I preferred our next stop Temple of Bayon, which is part of the Angkor Thom fortified city (it's walls stretch more than 12 kilometres and are six metres high). Bayon, built around 1200 AD, is known for the 216 massive faces. A little bit eery and crumbly, some say these faces resemble the former King who could be peering down on his subjects.
The heat was intense and I was thankful we hired a tuktuk as we continued touring the various temples inside the city. Before we could leave the Angkor Temple area (which you have to pay about $20 a day to visit) we had to visit Ta Prohm, (you know Angelina Jolie. Tomb Raider. Go). I, of course, refrained from taking my picture by her exit from the crumbling tomb, but I begrudgingly admitted it was my favourite temple in the area. With trees growing out of the crumbling buildings, massive roots holding-up archways and with the rain pouring down it sparked the imagination.
Temples done, the next morning my travel buddy headed to Bangkok, I found a coffee shop with amazing mango smoothies that helped me catch-up on some admin.
Next Stop: Not quite done with Cambodia Battambang (the second largest city in Cambodia).
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