The cross over from Vietnam to Cambodia was probably the easiest we have done! Jo (we met in Saigon) was also going to be in Phnom Pehn and gave us the address of where she was going to be staying. We met a Korean girl, Kate who didn’t know where to stay, so we all grabbed a tuk-tuk, walked into the guesthouse and there was Jo sitting having a beer. So here’s some shots of arriving, and our first night out in Cambodia.
Jo and I decided to do the ‘Killing Fields of Choeung Ek’ together, it was an amazing place, it is really peaceful and tastefully done. Entrance fee was $5 which included an audio tour. As you wandered around it had stopping points explaining what had happened there. When revolution came, locals dismantled the place, so there are no structures to see, only mass graves. Every time it rains, more clothes and bone fragments surface which they collect and store for remembrance. At one point in the audio tour, you sit by a lake to listen to some survivors stories. It’s hard to find words to describe this tour, the survivors have created a legacy/remembrance that is so peaceful and informative it is hard to believe the atrocities happened here, and in such a small area. I didn’t take many photos as it just didn’t feel right. The first photo is the memorial stupa, it is filled with skulls found from the field, they identify as many as they can, but they rest in the stupa. The second photo is the ‘truck stop’ in the early days of the Khmer Rouge a truck would come once a week with around 30-50 people, they would get their names ticked off a list, then were murdered and pushed in a mass grave, once filled the soldiers would fill it in and dig another in preparation. It wasn’t too long before the trucks were coming at least daily and had 100-200 people on board. Out of 17000 detainees, 3 survived. (I don’t even want to mention the killing tree, lets just say, the top guy on war criminal charges was taken to the spot, he broke down and confessed his crimes asking families to forgive him, he received life imprisonment.) The third photo is of the lake where i listened to survivor stories.
Onto lighter stuff, we went to Wat Phnom. Legend says in 1373, the first temple was built by Lady Pehn to house 4 buddha statues that she found floating in the Mekong.
After lunch we went to the National Museum, which was really interesting, mostly pre-Angkor artifacts, the world’s largest collection.
Here is some photos of our guest house. First photo is our guest house, lots of tree shade! Second photo is the street
And some photos of Phnom Pehn
Finally it was our last night with Jo in Phnom Pehn, so we decided to go to Raffles for cocktails (really good happy hour 4-7) that progressed to FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for more cocktails. Hope to catch up with Jo again soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment