Phnom Penh

Arrived 6/5/2011

The street sellers - they walk up and
down the streets all night trying to
 sell you books, dvd's and braclets

Well riding into Phnom Penh was not too bad, in comparison to Bangkok anyway.  The city is much smaller and it was not until I was about 10km out of the city that the roads started going crazy with traffic.  Finding a place to stay was interesting everywhere in the city is jam packed, everything and anything is crammed into to a space.  I have ended up in Nordic House along 136 Street (most of the streets in Phnom Penh are named by numbers and rather randomly as well) a nice place but have struggled to sleep with all the noise outside – the hard life of a light sleeper.

Thought this was an interesting way to
describe delicious

As the countdown lowers the green starts walking faster then runs in the dying seconds. Funny to watch but don't get distracted and watch it in the middle of the road!

The crazy clothing stalls 

And yes, as I mentioned in my previous blog my first night in Phnom Penh was enjoyed by having Travellers Diarrhea.  Luckily it was only a 24hr case and nothing more severe it is not much fun!

The market from outside

First day in Phnom Penh in ended up just hanging in my cave room (no windows) until midday where I summoned the strength to go downstairs have some food and change rooms to one with windows and natural light!

Day 2 proved to be much more exciting with the body reasonably recovered and itching to do something.  I checked out the central market (Phsar Thmey) a cool cross shaped building (pretty massive too) with stalls everywhere.  It was all mainly clothing, jewellery and food and outside the market was ringed with moto’s, tuk tuk’s.  Every 30seconds you were asked “Motorbike Sir?” “Tuk tuk Sir?”  Gets a bit tedious after a while but that’s their job.  Anyway wondering through the market was fun got myself a new top to cycle in (old merino falling apart and sick of constantly stitching it together) we will see how it lasts… The clothing stalls are about 3m x 3m and all crammed with everything, real pot luck of what you find.  The central part of the market was all dedicated jewellery – diamonds, gems, gold, silver, plastic I’m sure some great imitations there.  During my time squeezing past people and between stalls I saw one lady with a massive plate of mangos balanced on her head just wondering through no idea how she did it.

The central jewellery section

So I succumbed to a moto driver outside the market.  We agreed on $7 to take me to The Killing Fields and Toule Sleng Genocide Museum and whatever else I wanted to see to go to around the city.

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

This was the most infamous killing field of the hundreds or maybe it was thousands located around Cambodia.  It was an old Chinese cemetery that was converted into mass burial sites.  One mass ‘grave’ was around 10m x 5m and something around 5m -8m deep containing some 400 bodies, sick.  There was a central monument 17 shelves high (approx. 10m) filled with the skulls, bones and clothing of many who were brutally killed there.  Some of the skulls you could see deep cuts that were made by the axes used to kill them.  Incredible, horrible, sickening you just didn’t really know what to think.  I would suggest a good feed before you go there!

What I hadn’t realised about Khmer Rouge regime was that it was instigated by the poor people of Cambodia to try and make everyone equal.  The powers to be trained and brainwashed the young population to torture and kill anyone deemed connected to the government and who they thought intelligent enough to fight back.  Not really the right way to go about things.

Read the sign - sick

Some bones and teeth slowly uncovered from the rains 

Some of the things banned to take into the museum

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum

An old school that was used as an interrogation (by torture) centre.  This was where some of the people thought to have knowledge of the old government were tortured to ‘expose’ all evidence and knowledge they.  It was more they were forced to say.  Either way they were killed there or sent to a killing field.  Walking around the place was really eerie, there rooms had the beds and some of the instruments left in them, barbed wire enclosing all the buildings and seeing all the rows of holding cells.  You’ll be happy to know there were a some survivors but in general it was pretty heavy going and as much as I wanted to see everything I wanted to get out of there!

One of the torture rooms

The cells

Right this is actually making me feel sick writing about it so I’m going to stop.  You definitely have to see these places if you come here though to grasp a real understanding of the brutality and scale of it all.

Day 3 I just had a general wonder around the place.  Checked out the big clock and wondered up to look at Wat Phom behind only to see an inviting sign saying foreigners only please pay $1 for entry.  No Thanks.  Monkeys on the grass as I continued to wonder around nothing out of the ordinary. 

The big clock - watch out for the seconds hand!!

To continue my education on the history of Cambodia I checked out a 40min doco about the land mines in Cambodia.  They are everywhere and it makes me quite nervous to go much off the beaten track.  Seems most injuries and fatalities are in the country over farm land.  Monsoon rains shift and sometimes raise old land mines so not only are there loads of them undiscovered they move!!!

So that was Phnom Penh and brings me to general disaster number… probably up to about 23 now.  Paying for the room.  I handed over a big smacker - $100US.  The lady looked at it and said “No sorry I cannot take this it has a cut in it, it is not legal tender here in Cambodia.”  Say what!!!??  That was given to me when I exchanged my money in Thailand it better be legal tender throwing that kind of money away is several days of living and a big kick in the nuts!  Had to pay with a different but I’ll be finding somewhere that money can be used or changed.