For the next few days I will be blogging about my trip to Cambodia and Thailand. I kept a journal while traveling so I'm basically just going to copy it down verbatim with some extra details every now and then.
If you had asked me where I was going to spend my New Years Eve, I never would have guessed Cambodia. But guess what… that’s where I am! This morning I bid farewell to Vietnam for the first time in four months exactly. I arrived August 31st. It seems like I have left Vietnam before because I’ve done so much air travel since arriving. Anyways, today while riding the bus out of Saigon I came to realize just how hard it is going to be in 2 weeks when I leave for an unknown period of time.
The bus ride to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, was 6 hours long. We obviously stopped at the boarder to get visas and our passports stamped, and then we were on our way again. It was nice, the visa only cost $25 for a month. Much more reasonable than Vietnam. We arrive in Phnom Penh around 3:30. I stepped off the bus and was immediately attacked by the tuctuc drivers. These are motorbikes with carts on the back, I think they replaces taxis as I have seen none here in Phnom Penh. The bus ride here I read my Cambodia travel guide and tried to learn some of the road names and figure out a hotel to stay at. I’m glad I prepared before arriving, even if it was only a couple hours prior to my arrival. I found a hotel that is only $7.00 a night. Yes, dollars. I went to a bank to exchange money and they told me no, I will be able to get by on dollars. And that is the currency offered at the ATM, so bizarre. I think tomorrow I will try to get some riel though. Something very different about Cambodia, stores close early! The banks close at 3:30 and today when I was walking around so many shops had their gates shut and locked. I’m not sure if it is because it is a holiday or what. This was frustrating because I really needed to talk to a travel agent or someone about a bus ticket to Mondulkiri, so I can go ride elephants. Yes.
Anyway, today I went to Tuol Sleng Museum. Originally the building served as a secondary school but during Khmer Rouge Period it was turned into Security Prison 21, or S-21 for short. This was a horrific experience. I can only compare it to what I felt when I went to Saigon’s War
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| Prison cells. They are so tiny. |
Remnants Museum (but without the guilty conscious since I am an American…) the Tuol Sleng Museum was just more real in a sense because they had photos of all the people who entered and were tortured and killed. The prisoners were people who were "enemies" of the Khmer Rouge– those that served for a foreign government, lived in cities, or were educated... people were considered educated if they had soft hands or wore glasses. More than 17,000 were imprisoned and killed. They also had the torturing tools and devices on display with very graphic paintings illustrating how they were used. It was quite disturbing. In 1979 when the Vietnamese came to save the day the prison guards tried to kill all of the prisoners but a few were able to escape. There are only 7 still living out of all the people that went there- how absolutely crazy! What really struck me though was that the building was originally a school. It just goes to show how ruthless the Khmer Rouge were. Right now some of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge are on trial. The case is called 002- I can’t imagine what is going through their lawyer’s heads who are trying to defend them.
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| Torturing devices. So disturbing and horrible. |
When I left the museum I decided to walk around the city. It is so so so different than Vietnam. It isn’t as developed, well parts of it aren’t. There are some streets that aren't even paved, but a few blocks down will be a bustling shopping avenue. Another difference, there are way more kids begging for money. For dinner I went back to my hotel since it was already dark and I don’t have any Cambodian money. So I bought a meal that was a wee bit more expensive, $3.50 but it was delicious and I had entertainment and a dinner date– the owners five year old daughter. Her English was rather impressive. Dinner was amok, baked fish with coconut, lemon grass, and chili with rice. It was delicious!
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| There are streets that look like this... |
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| ...and then there is this |
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