Siem Riep, Cambodia. What an incredible country.

Life's a Beach

The Killing Fields : 28 April 2004

We're in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Today we took in the tour of the local killing fields and the infamous S-21 prison, where tens of thousands of Cambodians had their last moments in the mid to late '70s. It was hot and depressing, but worth it. And, as always with these sorts of things, leaves you wondering "why?" Our "speed" boats It hasn't been all doom and gloom. The trip down here was actually pretty nice. We took the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, which was a fun trip. Getting up at 4:30 in the morning wasn't so great, but we all make our sacrifices. The water levels are really low this time of year, because the dry season is nearly over. This meant that the big boats can't make it through the lake at all, and even the smaller speed boats can't come all the way to the actual city. So, it was another ride with our trusty tuk-tuk driver, Neang, down to this floating villiage a good 45 minutes outside of town. In this area, the lake doesn't really have a "shore," but instead sort of turns into thicker and thicker mud that eventually starts having plants growing out of it. So, we were carrying our bags across the wooden planks that they'd set up as a sort of pier to the first boat of the day, a little dinghy thing that seated 8. Once we'd filled this little guy up, we pushed our way through the mud to a little house on stilts where we transferred to one of the waiting speed boats. We then got to wait around for the boats to fill up. Finally, they tied a rope between the two speed boats, and then connected us to another little boat that looked like it had a truck engine stuck on the back. This truck-boat then pulled the two speed boats through the muddy water for a while, until we hit a point where we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. At first, we thought this was it: we were going to be pulled all the way to Phnom Penh. Thankfully, they then started up the big engines on the speed boats. The other boat started just fine, did a 360 around us, then took off. We, were stuck in the mud still, though, and had to be towed another 20 minutes into the lake before our engines would start. Once we were going, though, it was a whole new world, travelling really fast across this huge but shallow lake. Eventually, we hit the far end of the lake and started going down the Tonle Sap river. In another sudden and unexpected move, the boats suddenly pulled over to the shore where this giant boat was waiting. This thing looked like an airplane without wings. Seriously. And it was incredibly loud. We were amazed the thing could actually navigate the river, but it did just fine, and by about 2 in the afternoon, we finally hit Phnom Penh. Local kids and moto drivers in Phnom Penh The city itself is an interesting place. It's very different than Siem Reap. For one thing it's like 100 times bigger. For another, it's not the tourist haven that Siem Reap is, so it's a lot more third world feeling. And then there's the history of the place. It's amazing anything is functional here sometimes when you think about the last 35 years of Cambodian history. We found a relatively decent hotel by the river, and settled in. The riverfront area is actually pretty cool, and gets really lively at night. You have to struggle your way through the moto drivers and taxi drivers constantly trying to take you places, as well as countless kids and poor folks asking for money, but you can see the allure this place must have had back in the day, before civil war and genocide emptied the place. Supposedly, the new mayor is working to actually improve the city, instead of just his own bank accounts, and there could be some real turn-around in the coming years. In the mean time, it's certainly a fun place to be right now, and much safer than it was even 5 years ago. Today was our day for the depressing stuff. It started with a tuk-tuk ride to the local killing field, Choeung Ek. Our tuk-tuk wasn't really designed for the local roads outside of the center of the city (or probably for many of those inside the center of the city), but it only ran off the road out of control once. We pushed it back on the road and took off again. The killing field itself wasn't much. There's a monument filled with skulls, a common sight around Cambodia, and a bunch of shallow pits nearby. These were the mass graves. There were still occasional tattered pieces of clothing in the ground. And the usual collection of begging kids, this time with the line "give money and I go away." I guess they know what tourists really want. View from inside the barbed wire We then headed to the sight of the S-21 prison. The Khmer Rouge had turned a surburban school into the center of torture for tens of thousands of Phnom Penh's citizens. 7 survived. It was pretty awful. Many of the prison cells were still intact, and there were even unmentionable stains still on the floor in places. They had a bunch of photographs of the victims, and of the evidence of what happened to many of them in this hell on earth. It was a very trying place. We stayed about an hour, long enough anyway, and came back to our hotel to unwind. We've decided not to look at anymore incredibly depressing things, but instead to look at the positive stuff, which is why we're headed to Cambodia's only beach resort tomorrow. It's supposed to be a very nice place, with near virgin beaches, at least compared to the tourist mecca of nearby Thailand. Hope everyone is well!

Replies: 3 comments

Run into Mr. Pot tending his fields? Posted by Patrick @ 04/29/2004 12:07 PM PST

I like when Andrea recounts your adventures. Not as depressing. Things here are doing fine. I won the most inspirational teacher award again! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, I only win a dinner at Gladstones, not a trip to Cambodia Posted by Chris @ 05/01/2004 12:51 PM PST

I don't think anyone could recount a visit to the killing fields or S-21 and not be depressing. Congrats on the award, Chris! Posted by Robin @ 05/03/2004 11:09 PM PST