Cambodia? I hardly know ya!

Cambodian Border
Originally uploaded by PhoJones

Today marks our fourth day in Cambodia. The guide book describes this country as tantalizing for body, soul, and mind, which despite it's cheesy travel writing gloss has been true.

The 6 hour bus from HCMC included a painless border crossing and compelling countryside. This is the first primarily Buddhist country I have been to, and the first noticeable signs are the temples everywhere (much like mosques in Muslim countries). The postcard images of Cambodia are certainly not confined to tourist areas, as the countryside featured huge (what I assume to be) temples, vendors of all sorts of animal statues, and houses on stilts (for the rainy season).

We arrived in Phnom Penh around 2 pm having eaten only tiny bananas and coconut flavored peanuts (the rest stop smells made my stomach churn) and were swiftly met by an endless proposition of motorbike and tuk-tuk offers (tuk tuks are motorbikes with a little cart on the back). A hot and confusing trek to the nearest Lonely Planet guesthouse landed us in a hotel room with HBO. Strange. That night we tried to find an NGO restaurant that gives proceeds to local children but failed and ended up wandering aimlessly before stumbling on to one of the same NGO's affiliates. I ate fish amok (a spiced fish cooked with coconut milk in banana leaves
-- very good). The clientele was firmly western, and I overheard a girl talking about doing freelance work for the LA Times.

The next morning Alex ran out to the bus station to scope out tickets and procured two 8:45 am seats to Sihanoukville. The bus played ridiculously loud Khmer music videos that included old men yelling and teenage girls poorly singing along to music in headphones. A lot of crying/love emotions as well. Yikes.

Sihanoukville is a classic foreign beach town that reminded me a lot of Dahab in Egypt. Crowded with western tourists, signs for scuba/snorkle/island/dive/boat tours, and restaurants with pillows directly on the beach. Also, insanely cheap ($3 for a huge plate of fresh bbq tuna and 50 cents for drafts of Angkor beer (the brewery is nearby)). The first afternoon we learned an important message about being hassled for money: don't sit where there arent tons of other people (no one else for them to divert to) and don't talk to the children unless you want a bracelet. We were immediately wooed by two girls that started asking us a lot of questions and offering free bracelets just to peak or interest. Mine was a better salesman than most and told me about where she lived, went to school, what it was like during the rainy season, etc. I bought two bracelets from her, which immediately made about 10 other people (including a legless man and a baby) come to our table with open palms. Eventually they all left except the girl who had hassled Alex. He explained that he didn't need a bracelet, tried to sell her the free one back with the same tactics, and tried to impart some sort of market value lesson. The girl provided some gems-- "Where are you from? - New York City - Oh, in Australia!"-- "Do you have a girlfriend? - No - You don't have a girlfriend because you won't buy a bracelet"-- "Come on man, your friend got one! She worked on Wall Street. - blank stare." After his continued resistance, she demanded the free one back and chopped it up in front of us. Anyhow, that night ended pleasantly enough with fireworks and stars and a new friend from Boston who is moving to NYC in June. Go figure.

The next morning we climbed over a bunch of rocks with a puppy (that only made it half way, though a challenging half way) to sneak into a really swanky beach resort. After about four hours crashing on their nice, swindler-free chairs and swimming in the South China Sea, a hotel employee caught us but only demanded $6/each. We think he probably just pocketed it. Everyone there seemed to be avoiding the real Cambodia in favor of something that could be found in Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean-- really anywhere with nice weather and tepid water. Little did they know the prices were about 5x higher than 30 seconds down the road. After tiring of the lovely fresh-water pool, we hired a motor bike, and went back to have curries at a beach bungalow for reasonable prices. Sihanoukville is clearly what they mean by a delight for the body. Now I look like a lobster.

We attempted to book a bus back to Phnom Penh this morning but all were full until 10 am, which would put us back here firmly in time to miss out on everything closing at 5:30, so we splurged on a blissfully break free, silent taxi that got us to our hostel door by 11 am.

After a quick meal, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Museum. Both experiences are very heavy on the heart. The Tuol Sleng Museum was a primary/high school before the Khmer Rogue took over just about 35 years ago to the day. Pol Pot and his regime attempted to turn the nation communist pretty much overnight. People were immediately evacuated from cities (under the guise that the US would be shelling them soon, though all that resisted were forced out as well), taken to work as laborers or farmers, and rampant starvation and lack of trust abounded. Any person with any education, that wasn't illiterate, could speak another language, showed affection for their family, or had any "upper class" skill such as being a doctor or lawyer was immediately taken and tortured/killed. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rogue (once misspelled as Khmer Rough - Engrish at it's best!) managed to kill off roughly one-fourth of Cambodia's population. The prison was by far the most well-curated museum we've attended so far-- probably due to being put together by European graduate students that had a firm grasp of English and dropped the need to repeat every fact 300 times. People from the prison were then taken to the Killing fields, which currently has an impressive monument containing about 8,000 skulls. The excavated graves now feature chickens and lizards. It reminded me of the pollywog fields at Birkenau (near Aushwitz). Soul wrenching.

That brings us to now at an internet cafe around the corner from the prison. Tonight we are going to try to find the Foreign Correspondents Bureau for dinner per Paul's suggestions, and tomorrow we are going to try to hit the Russian market and Royal Palace (with a 90kg Silver Floor) before catching a 12 pm bus to Siem Reap/Temples of Angkor Wat - (the blow your mind).

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I forgot my camera cord and didn't expect to find such a speedy Internet cafe today. Hopefully there will be more soon. And kudos if you got through this whole thing.

Things keep happening,
Janelle