23rd July 2007 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Up early and get a tuk tuk to the airport. Pass a military school on the way & they are all out in their uniforms doing exercises. It looks hilarious – about 70 men all in navy outfits doing star jumps!! Get to the airport and check in. actually get dinner on the plane and its only 1hr 20 mins! Specifically requested Vietnam Airlines, as Laos air doesn’t publish their safety records and westerners are not advised to travel with them!! Arrive in Phnom Penh and the heat is unbelievable. Get to a guest house and then head off to the S-21 Genocide prison. It used to be a high school, so is spread out over 4 buildings, each 3 floors high. Three of them have photos of the victims and torture rooms. You can see where they were chained to beds and beaten. You can see the metal boxes they were given as toilets and also the steel bars they were secured and shackled with and you can see some of the other torture instruments as well. The rules of the prison are stuck on the wall. Basically you are not allowed to do anything without permission. You are not even allowed to move your fingers; otherwise you get beaten and whipped. You have to answer question as you are told to answer them. So many people spent days in here writing out thousands of confessions to avoid worse punishments. The worst building is the final cell, before you were sent out to the killing fields to be executed. The cells are so tiny and you lie on the floor with your feet shackled with an iron bar. The outside of the building is covered in barbed wire, to prevent the inmates from committing suicide by jumping off. Its very strange to see and a bit difficult to digest. How pol pot did this to his own people is beyond me. The place is eerily quite. You know about the horrors and atrocities that happened in Cambodia, but when you see it in front of you with pictures of the victims, its very surreal. Don’t really feel like doing anything else afterwards, so just head back to the hostel and digest the day’s information.
24th July 2007 – Phnom Penh.
Up early, as want to go to the killing fields before the heat kicks in. get a tuk tuk out there, its about 15km out of the city. You can noticeably see a change in living standards. Cambodia is a lot poorer than the other SE Asian countries and you can clearly see it. There are so many people living in tiny iron huts on the side of the roads. They are such nice people and they live like this. Get to the killing fields, where the people from the S-21 prison were sent. Its strange – its literally an open field with lots of large holes that acted as mass graves. There is a large pagoda type building, about 5 floors high and it is absolutely jam packed with human skulls. Its very weird. Walk around and the weirdest and most disturbing thing is that the victims clothes are coming out of the ground. Its very hard to take in. there is a tree with a speaker attached to it – its where they played music to drown out the sounds of the people being executed, so the neighbours wouldn’t hear it. Unfortunately, there are kids begging at the back of the field and its very hard to walk past and give them nothing. Head back into town. Not too bothered about doing anything else, and the heat is unbearable so just relax in front of the tele for the rest of the day.
25th July 2007 – Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Up early and go to the bus station. Thankfully the bus isn’t too full so get to spread out. Again, you can really see the poverty once you leave the city. They told us the bus would take 6 hours and it actually does!! Makes a pleasant change! Normally there are hawkers at the bus stations from the guesthouses, but this is absolutely priceless! They are literally banging on the windows for your attention while the bus is still moving. There are dozens of them. The minute the bus stops, they all stampede for the door to get as many westerners as possible. Its so funny – we agree on a price with one guy and get into his tuk tuk and set off for the guest house. Arrive and there is no room!! Anyway, find another place and get some food. Check out siem reap. It’s a nice place with some great restaurants. Wander about a bit and then just give into the heat and go to bed.
26th July 2007 – Siem Reap, Cambodia
get up and wander down to reception and agree a price with the tuk tuk driver for the day in Angkor Wat. It’s a few km’s out of town and along the way we stop for petrol. So we pull into a street stall, where a little boy refills the motorbike with a few litres of petrol out of a large coke bottle!! Then we pass a truck with at least 35 people on the back of it!! Anyway, get our tickets and go to Angkor Wat first – it’s the largest religious building in the world. Wow, its truly mind blowing. The detail and the architecture are mesmerising. I cant describe it very well, you just have to see it to believe how spectacular it is. The main section of the building is up a really steep staircase. I do try to climb it but half way up, I realise that I may not be able to get back down – so I have to scramble down from there. Its boiling hot, so its nice to hide out in some of the extremely long corridors that stretch out in every direction. Then go over to Angkor Thom. Its all spread out over a beautiful area – its all gardens and green areas and rivers. It really is amazing and so well maintained. The Bayen temple is covered in faces, all built into the stone. Then check out the elephant terrace – its really cool, very 3D. apparently it was used as a pavilion for Royals. Move onto the leper terrace next. Its really fab. It’s a hugh platform with massive sculptures built into the stone. You can also go through it and walk behind the outer walls – its amazing. Its like an enormous trench. Its boiling hot, so take a quick lunch break and then head out east. Pass some fabulous little fortress things as you pass over bridges. There are some great smaller temples along the way too. The next temple is Ta Keo. Its simpler than the others, but still really impressive. You have to climb to the top to see the best of it, but again its extremely steep, so I have to just check out the ground floor. The last temple of the day is Ta Prohm. Its absolutely stunning and is the one I had been looking forward to seeing the most. Its beautiful and has a real eerie feel about it. The ruins are more decrepit but are the most mystical as there are strangler figs and silk cotton trees entwined amongst them. Its so cool. It has loads of places to explore. Its about to rain so head back into town. Once the rain stops (and its monsoon style rain!!) we wander around the market and the main streets. It’s a nice town, with loads of nice bakeries – diet starts tomorrow!!
27th July 2007 – Siem Reap, Cambodia
up relatively early and find our tuk tuk driver again. Another boiling hot day for Angkor! Along the way, we pass a motorbike with 3 dead pigs strapped onto the back of it!! The first place we get to is East Mebon and its not actually a temple. It’s a water reservoir for the Yasodharapura city. There are large stone elephants on each corner looking outwards. Its on three tiers and again requires some climbing to get to the top. Manage to make this one and the view from the top is fab. Sweat like mad climbing back down in the midday heat. Move onto Preah Khan. It was used as a Buddhists university and city. Its pretty hugh & quite a bit of it has fallen down, but its sheer size and detail are still pretty overwhelming. There is a cool stupa right in the centre of it. Move onto Neak Pean next – its pretty unique. Its located in the middle of a pond, which is surrounded by 4 other ponds. Go to Pe Rup next and its imposing towers dominate the surrounding view. Again you have to climb to the top and we both take one look and decline due to the intense heat. The last temple proves to be the most amusing, as the local kids are always trying to sell you stuff and they get all whiney when you don’t buy anything from them. So we are all wandering about and this little girl comes up and says if I can name your capital city and prime minister will you buy something from me. No – they know them all. One guy said, if you can name Namibias capital and leader he would buy something. Well, he had to buy something!! But the best of all was when one girl said to Emer , if I can count to ten in your language will you buy something. So she counted to ten in Irish!! It was priceless, and Emer had to buy a bracelet! Am all templed out, so go for a balloon ride. But its not running as the weather is getting bad. So have to wait til tom. Head back into town with our cheeky tuk tuk driver who tells us all about his many girlfriends and how he prefers older women!! His future wife will be a happy woman due to all his experience!! Get back and end up falling asleep. Wake up and the monsoon rain is bucketing down. Not going out in that! After it eventually stops, head up town for more delicious food and a lovely glass of red wine straight from the fridge!!
