Good afternoon all,
As we type this blog we are coming to the end of our little beach getaway at Sihanoukville, lazing by the beach drinking 50c beers! But, the subject of this entry cannot be further away from this laidback lifestyle.
We hit Phnom Penh on Friday around lunchtime. Hounded by remork drivers once we got off the minibus from Siem Reap, trying to get us to go with them to a hotel that they get commission for. We ended up paying a dollar or 2 for the driver to drive us around to a few guesthouses on our list. After looking at a couple of cheap and grotty rooms we settled on a room at the Ókay Guesthouse’. It lived up to it’s name and maybe just a bit more.
Our 24 hour history tour started soon after. Firstly we hopped into a remork to the Tuol Streng Museum. Tuol Streng was, before the Khmer Rouge came to power, a high school. Upon the fall of Phnom Penh the High School was closed as part of the mass and forced removal of people from Phnom Penh to the rural provinces. It was only a couple of days after they arrived that the Khmer Rouge had achieved this closedown of the city.
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| Tuol Streng |
For the 3.5 years of Khmer Rouge rule, the High School was turned into a prison. Here, thousands past through the gates both in and out. They were kept either in 2m x 1m cells or otherwise in a mass prison cell where up to 50 people were laid down on the ground and shackled - in a room the size of a typical classroom.
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| a cell. |
We chose to hire a guide and he was well worth the investment.- explaining the history, reasons people were brought in (usually because the KR leadership were either paranoid or just wanted to demonstrate their control), the torture methods used and the stories behind some of the inmates.
Inmates here were tortured and interrogated before being executed for either disobeying orders or moreso not being of any further worth in the search for information. One of the victims was an Australian journalist- one of 20 or so non-Khmers. Even high ranking officials of the KR were interrogated and tortured here. Upon it’s capture by the Vietnamese in 1979, there were 7 survivors!
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| one of the less barbaric methods of torture |
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| survivors with vietnamese soldiers |
Sobering as the afternoon there was, we headed off to the Foreign Correspondent’s Club - a barand rooftop restaurant in a French Colonial Building on the riverfront. Stepping in here you are taken back to earlier times almost instantly. You cn feel the history and imagine the buzz as correspondents were based here reporting on Indo China conflicts. The half price cocktails were too good to refuse and a jug of Pina Colada was selected as we took in the views. The food was excellent - obviously over the odds compared to our normal budget but well worth it. A stroll along the river took us back to our room, having an early start for the next morning and so finished our afternoon in PP.
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| alright view to take the mind off the prison |
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| Cocktail, check, yummy food, check, good view, checkmate! |
Up early and into the remork for a trip to “The Killing Fields” museum on the edge of town. This is the place where most from Tuol Streng ended up. Taken by truck from the prison, they were herded off the truck and killed usually with a quick slit across the throat as bullets were too expensive. The morning here was one of reflection on how we can treat other humans and for no compelling reason. A definite must see if in PP.
Hopefully the pictures can do more justice to the feeling and importance of both these places.
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| Careful where you tread - some of the mass graves |
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| Sign says at all - well gives a bit of info anyway |
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| Memorial pagoda with remains of victims inside |
After an hour long remork drive back into the city we settled for walking for the rest of the day, punctuated by a lunch stop at Sugar n Spice Café:
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| If you can read sideways - you'll work out it was all for a good cause and food was yum! |
Night was spent at the guesthouse in their restaurant having chats with the family, drinking beer and watching football. Next stop is Sihanoukville and the promise of white sandy beaches!
