Abby and I arrived in Phnom Penh thinking we’d only stay a short while before Abby headed home to Chiang Mai and I took off for the beach in the south for a little R&R after our 2 week whirlwind adventure. Abby did end up going home despite fantasies of blowing off work to continue traveling, but I decided to stay and soak up the city for a few extra days. I love this place.
As most arrivals in Cambodia go, we descended into a sea of tuk-tuk drivers jumping over one another to offer us rides. Abby had a particularly amusing interaction with one (see the quotes section), but we managed to single out 2 drivers to take the two of us, Matt, and our Icelandic friends out of the madness. On our way out, Abby witnessed a man reaching into a car, grabbing a bag, running across the market, and jumping into a waiting car. People were yelling, but did nothing, and we tucked the straps of our bags around our legs.
We were whisked through a busy market place and headed toward the glorious riverside, which I have hardly ventured from. The street is lined with bars and restaurants with spacious patios filled with cushy large chairs. Beer specials abound, from 30 cents for a draght of Angkor or Anchor beer and $1 Jameson’s, to just plain FREE between certain times. I’ve been a glutton for the pumpkin soup, and grab a bowl at least once a day.
My favorite spot is a bit of a tourist trap, unfortunately, but I just can’t keep myself away. It’s the FCC bar and restaurant, or the Foreign Correspondents Club. There’s a big row of stools looking out over the river and the street below, and a roof deck ontop of that. Big leather chairs placed around low wooden tables are in the center of the space away from the glassless windows, and a free pool table sits in an airy back room. The first night I spent on my own I shared a beer or two with a nice Australian couple (who had 7 kids back at home between the two of them!), who gave me some great suggestions on places to go and things to see in Vietnam, my next stop.
The children here are a particular brand of pushy, and I really have to keep my eye on my bag at all times. Unlike places out in the country, places like Angkor Wat, some of the kids here literally seem to be starving. At the other places we’ve been, kids appear extremely poor, but do seem healthy and fed. It looks like the city life is a bit tougher. Luckily, there are a few places here that take kids in and provide them with food and shelter. One restaurant on the river, Vieyo, is a non-profit that cares for children. All proceeds go directly to food, shelter, and education. I’ve eaten there several times, and highly suggest it. On Saturday and Monday nights at 8pm, the kids perform traditional dances to Cambodian music.
Before Abby left, we went to an old high school that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime, called Security Prison 21, or S-21. It’s now called the Tuol Sleng Museum. There are a few pictures of this in the picture section. We arrived just in time for a horribly depressing hour long video describing the events of the Khmer Rouge regime, and then went to explore the prison.
Thousands of people died at this prison, and many of their remains are still there, kept behind glass. Mug shots of men, women, and children who filtered through the prison fill walls and boards, room after room, and the tools the soldiers used to torture their victims are on display. Pictures of dead, mangled bodies also cover the walls, and paintings from local artists portray prison conditions and torture techniques. After this delightful walk-through we headed toward the actual cells where people stayed. I felt dizzy and nauseas at several points and had to walk outside to the gallows. Many people we talked to said they had the same experience.
Between the killing caves, the movie, the prison, and the book I read, “First They Killed my Father” (a “must read” for anyone coming here, in my opinion), I couldn’t bring myself to go to the Killing Fields, a popular attraction here in Phnom Penh. I had seen enough. It’s a horrible, horrible tragedy, what happened here only a short time ago. What’s worse is to think that similar genocides are still being carried out throughout the world today.
On that note… Abby left to head back to teaching, and I began my solo travels. Having never traveled alone before, the new experience has been a welcome challenge, at times extremely rewarding and at times lonely, but overall very good.
After staying a few days in Phnom Penh, I headed down to the beach town resort, Sihanoukville, to check out the shorelines famed to rival Thailand’s, without the crowds…
