Having decided to take the cheapest and quickest transport option on to Phnom Penh we jumped into a shared locals minibus and headed off. To explain, the minibus has 15 seats including the driver's, with three rows of three and one row of four at the back. Four people share three seats and five the four at the back, baggage is squashed in wherever possible. When booking we were advised to buy three tickets so we could have two seats, as the man very politely put it "you are a wide man" to Matt. Tell you what, these seats were small even for me so thank goodness we did book three otherwise I don't think we'd have made it sat on our hips for 5 hours.
Setting off there was also a woman sat on a small bench inbetween the driver and passenger seat who proceeded to oick into a bag every 30 seconds. Now I know this is a common practice in Asia and have worked with a few people enjoying the practice but this woman must have had about 2 litres in her bag by the time she got off the bus. Luckily she only stayed on the bus for about 40 minutes otherwise we'd have been trying to make room for her phlegm bags ;). A young couple boarded the bus about two hours in, they had a young baby attached to a drip slung from a piece of bamboo. We have seen a number of babies and toddlers being ferried on mopeds all with drips hanging precariously from bamboo, makes you appreciate just how lucky we westerners are. This baby was obviously really ill and the three of them were crammed on the front passenger seat for the remainder of the journey, we didn't mind suddenly having to share our seat for a while.
As the bus arrived at Phnom Penh bus station we were mobbed by tuktuk drivers ripping the door open before we'd even come to a standstill, falang (foreigners) on board, fresh meat! We made a run for it in to the bus station to work out exactly where we were before heading in to the tuktuk frenzie for negotiations. Our chosen tuktuk lurched off into the madness of Phnom Penh traffic, using both sides of the road, and pavement at points, taking on vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Street numbers are not sequential so all we could do was scan wildly for any sign of our guesthouse and shout before he whizzed passed.
A quick check-in, water offload/intake and we were off to The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) about 800m away. This is the school that was used by the Khmer Rouge as a prison, interrogation and execution centre from 1976 onwards for 14,000 prisoners of which only a couple of hundred (all figures given differed) are known to have survived. It is a soulless place, room after room of either cells, tools of torture and photos of either the dead or their tormentors. Not the most pleasant way to end an already knackering day but an important prelude to visiting Cheung Ek 'Killing Fields' in the morning.
I have to admit to feeling a little bit broken when we arrived back at the guesthouse, travelling, intense heat and the S21 museum is not indusive to a feeling of vitality coupled with not feeling the best over the last two days (mainly I think due to heat, hydration and coffee withdrawal...just gave up on the Laos coffee). I'd also managed to obtain some lovely sun blisters on my bottom lip following all the cycling we'd done on Don Khone, who said fish pout was attractive? Matt hadn't suffered the same fate although his nose had looked like a strawberry boiled sweet for a few days despite the fact that he never burns (and I refuse for my editor to remove that statement!). All in all we were both ready for a shower, food, water logging and bed...rock n' roll!
Both feeling bright and breezy the next morning so we hired a tuktuk and weaved our way through Pnomh Penh and out to the 'Killing fields'.
Whilst the traffic is complete bedlam I loved the tuktuk ride, so much to see, hear and smell, a complete sensory overload.
It is hard to not be affected by the sights at the 'Killing fields', just one of the sites used by the Khmer Rouge to execute 17,000 men, women and children during their reign of terror. Bullets weren't wasted on these executions, all manner of means we're used evidenced by the remains. The site itself is surprisingly peaceful and serene, the audio guide is immensely well put together and walks you through the area in an informative and respectful tone but with the very serious message that lessons have to be learned, Cambodia healed and rebuilt. Pol Pot died before he could stand trial for his actions but it is unbelievable that the remaining leaders have still not been convicted and the trial wars to this very day. Whilst there were obviously many tourists, a great many Cambodians were also visiting, young and old. So strange to think that we were walking around the site with fresh eyes whilst some of them may and probably did experience the Khmer Rouge reign first hand and possibly even the 'Killing Fields'. Three million Cambodians were killed during the Khoumer Rouge reign, by their own people and sobering to think we were children then, safe and sound, oblivious.
We leave for Kampot in the morning, nothing more planned for the day except resting up, hydrating and having a little mull over how lucky we both are.
0 comments:
Post a Comment