Big City and Sad History in Phnom Penh

My bus from Battambang arrived in the early afternoon heat, still fairly far away from the hostel I had booked. I joined two others on the bus on a ride to our hotels, which happened to be fairly close to each other. When I finally arrived, I put down my bags and hopped into the pool to escape the heat. I met some friends from earlier in my travels, and made some new ones, before enjoying a dinner of traditional Cambodian food and planning for a tour the next day to two famous memorials/museums from the Khmer Rouge era. The first stop was S-21 or Tuol Sleng, the center of a nationwide prison system used mostly for torturing and then killing any suspected enemies of the Khmer Rouge when they had power. The complex had been converted from a school, and became an incredibly secretive killing machine located deep within the country’s capital. It is now a museum commemorating the many people who suffered and died there, complete with remaining records of prisoners who were brought in. There were many ordinary items there, beds, pots, swing frames, all with the added context of their use in the torture and detention of about 20 thousand people- only 12 of which are believed to have survived. The visit to the school was macabre, deeply sad, and a valuable look into the all too recent history of this beautiful country. Two of the twelve survivors, now old men accompanied by translators, were there at the prison that day, but unfortunately I didn’t have much opportunity to speak with them. The tour I was with left after about two hours, leaving me a little pressed for time towards the end. We next drove towards the edge of the city, in order to visit another part of the Khmer Rouge’s cruel system. Our destination was Choeung Ek, one of many sites known as the killing fields of Cambodia. After the prison sites were filled with bodies, the Khmer Rouge needed somewhere new to put their victims. Before this, for those suspected enemies of the regime who were not deemed worth interrogating, they would be brought directly to one of the killing fields. They might be kept for days, but often within hours or minutes of arrival, they would be murdered- with guns, farming equipment, and methods even more gruesome and cruel. Those killed by the regime extended far beyond any reasonable assessment of who opposed them, including young children and any family members or friends of suspected “insurgents”. Music would be played loud to mask the sounds of screams and disguise the true purpose of this government holding. Choeung Ek is in no way unique, just famous and home to one of the largest museums. It is one of many unceremonial graveyards scattered across all of Cambodia. Bones are still revealed from under the ground when it rains, and it is almost certain that all of the people who died there will never be identified or accounted for. In an attempt to commemorate the horrors that took place here, a large stupa sits in the center of the site, filled with recovered bones from the dead. Many are marked by little colored tags, pointing out the signs of deathblows or torture and identifying the weapon that had been used. Between the two sites, S-21 and Choeung-Ek formed a powerful slice of the full picture wrought onto this country by the Khmer Rouge. I don’t regret seeing them, though I wish I had had more time to sit and think about the remarkably detailed and extensive museum found at S-21. This day left me deeply sad and contemplative, and I am glad to have a better understanding of these terrible events that occurred so recently. By the time the evening came, I was looking for an opportunity to get my mind off of the morning’s experiences, and a free sunset tour of the city offered by the hostel sounded like a perfect idea. We started off with a walk through some central gardens lined with massive buildings and dotted with impressive statues and monuments. This eventually led us to the banks of the Mekong river where we joined lots of vehicles on a ferry trip to the other side of the river. Unfortunately, about halfway over, some serious rain began, and our guide decided to take us back across the river again. We walked along the riverfront as the rain began to lessen, with various beautiful and impressive building being pointed out by the guide as we moved along.

After a short walk, we found ourselves in front of the royal palace, complete with many street vendors and local people enjoying a wide open lawn sitting in front of the castle lawn. Even the outer ring of the castle was truly beautiful, especially in the evening light. Unexpectedly, our guide took us to a nearby vendor sending all sorts of fried and seasoned bugs (and assorted little animals). I tried them all, still slightly unnerved, but more confident after earlier experiences involving bug eating. New to me were some tiny fried whole frogs, and some tiny whole shrimp. Everything was quite manageable, and the shrimp and frogs were genuinely good. Eating bone still puts me a little on edge, but outside of my own squeamishness I really can’t find a problem. After eating our fill of a few bags of bugs, the tour group made our way back to the hostel together, admiring the skyline now illuminated in the evening darkness. I took a short break after the tour, but ended up planning to go to dinner with my Alaskan friend Tim who I had met in Thailand and happened to be in Phnom Penh at the same time. Shortly after meeting up with him, I ran into a tour guide from the morning’s tour who invited me and Tim to dinner. Luckily Tim had a bike he had been traveling on for the last few weeks, so it was easy for the two of us to hop on and follow the tour guide and his girlfriend to a spot he recommended across the river. Outside of the tourist center, they took us to a great and cheap restaurant, and we ordered together in accordance with their recommendations. We had some steamed snails (not incredible, but not at all bad) as well as some pork skewers, grilled squid, and turmeric/rice pancakes with filling (very similar to the dish I had in Ban Lung). After dinner we all went to a small amusement park together, and tried our hand at a seemingly international carnival game of throwing darts, trying to pop balloons. Tim and I shared one entry (15 darts I think) and predictably earned enough points to buy some small prizes, but nothing all that impressive. That said, the experience was more than worth it, and I was happy to have shared the experience and gained a glimpse into a slightly more local side of life in Phnom Penh. After our wonderful dinner and game, not to mention everything else in the day, I was happy to return back to the hotel and get a good night’s sleep.

The next day I joined Tim once again, and with some other people from the hostel, set out to explore the city once again. We started off with basically the same route as the previous night’s tour. Even then it was really interesting to see the same sites in the middle of the day. I even remembered a picture of the central gardens this time! We then set off into a sizable Buddhist temple complex. This involved quite a few massive stupas, beautiful metalwork, and the graves of many, presumably important, people in different styles. After some time wandering through the religious monuments, we decided to head back towards our hostel. By total coincidence, we passed by the embassy for the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. After looking at some pictures posted outside of the embassy, I quickly realized that this was definitely a building owned by the country I generally think of as North Korea. Though technically not North Korean soil, it was still a little jarring to feel so close to a country that feels so distant both physically and politically from my home country, and really the entire world (though I guess this isn’t as true as I had thought!). After returning to the hostel, I had a calm evening and made plans to depart for the Cambodian island of Koh Rong the next morning. This came quickly, and the next day I found myself climbing sleepily into a bus speeding down a newly built highway (courtesy of funding from China) and then a packed bus complete with identical life jackets all featuring various conflicting designer labels sewn on. Excited for some time on a tropical island, I sat through the bumpy boat ride and waited to arrive.