Phnom Penh - Capital of Cambodia

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 9 - 12 June 2008

From Siem Reap we travelled south to the capital Phnom Penh. We took the front seats upstairs on the bus but within 15 minutes Claire had moved to a seat near the back. Her theory: "it's one thing to think that your driver is a lunatic, it's another thing to have all doubt removed.... on a continuous basis for 6 hours". First impressions of Phnom Penh were not good. The city is very very dirty. There is rubbish everywhere and you cannot walk on the footpath for more than 10 yards because it is completely clogged with stalls, cars, motos, cyclos, tuk tuks and of course rubbish. And man o man were the tuk tuk drivers tenacious? You have no idea. Every time we set foot outside our hotel/restaurant etc there was a swarm of them ready to pounce. Now we know what it must feel like to be a celeb beating off the paparazzi.

Under normal circumstances we would have simply rolled in & out (on the same day preferably) but we had business to attend to in Phnom Penh. Having heard on our travels that the Chinese had made it more difficult to obtain travel visa's on the run up to the Olympics we decided to make the Chinese Embassy our first port of call. Sure enough, because we were on a tourist visa in Cambodia we were not eligible for a Chinese visa. The guy recommended we return to our home country and make an application from there. "Ok, thank you, that is most helpful..." Next stop, the Laos Embassy. Thankfully there were no issues here followed by the Vietnamese Embassy which went equally smoothly.

While waiting on our visas to process we took a trip out to the Killing Fields. This is where, during the time of the Khmer Rouge (1975-79), thousands of people were brought and killed. An air of gloom resides over this surprisingly small site. Even after 30 years you can still see pieces of bone and clothing protruding from the ground as you walked the short circuit. They, the Cambodian government, which incidentally is still run by an ex-KR man have done very little with the area other than to build a large glass tower. The multi level tower is filled with the unearthed skulls, bones & clothing of the victims that were buried here. As if to get all the gloom out of the way in one day we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum where many of the victims were first tortured before being dispatched to the killing fields. These are very sad places indeed and it is made all the more disturbing when you think about how recent the events were. Very sad, very sad.

Footnote on Cambodia:
Of all the countries we have visited it is here that is pulling at my (Claire's) heart strings the strongest. Cambodia is a country that is struggling socially & economically following years of political experimentation, civil war & continued corruption. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime left it's legacy with over 2 million deaths (from disease, malnutrition, torture) during their failed ideal. They executed anyone intelligent (Dr's, teachers, lawyers etc) or anyone perceived as being an intellectual (wearing glasses), artists, dancers, young & old. They were ruthless and a visit to the Killing Fields & the Genocide museum brings home the harsh reality of this countries harrowing past. What a mess. Landmines are still present in abundance in the countryside and many adults are HIV positive as a result of rape during the KR rule. Maternal mortality is very high while many die from malaria/ dengue fever/TB.

On a positive note there are many people who care. A Swiss Dr set up several children's hospitals that operates primarily from private donations. NGO's have invested in non-profit or ethical profit operations creating sustainable social impact through high quality training & access to employment eg:
you can dine at a restaurant where food is prepared by former street children
have a massage by a blind masseuse
buy handicrafts prepared by landmine victims