Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Streets of Phnom Penh. Craziest traffic Ive ever seen.

From Siem Reap, Aaron, Pat and I took a bus to the capitol Phnom Penh. The bus was comfortable, had A/C, and played videos of Cambodian standup comedy. We had a close call with a cow that wandered into the road. The 6 hour ride dragged on, until finally we made it to the bus station.
Phnom Penh is much cleaner and more orderly than I would have predicted. It has some nice parks. It's very modern, and the streets are in pretty good shape. The traffic is unreal though. There appear to be no road rules. Mopeds come from every direction, with no stoplights or even stop signs. Every intersection is a four way merge with horns blaring.

The view from Wat Phnom

The Silver Pagoda houses a solid gold Buddha. The entire Royal Palace area is just beautiful, really a smaller version of the Royal Palace area of Bangkok, which it was modeled after.

Now for the harsh reality of Cambodian history. This country went through living hell from April 1975 to January 1979. The Khmer Rouge killed approximately 1.5 Million people. That amounts to one out of every seven Cambodians alive in 1975. No one should come to Cambodia without first watching the movie "The Killing Fields", and reading at least one book about the genocide. I recommend "First They Killed My Father". It seems inconceivable that such a thing could have happened here. Cambodians are so friendly and funny. But it did happen, just 30 years ago. Anyone over the age of thirty you meet would have some terrifying stories to tell. Sadly, after a few days in Cambodia you realize that there just aren't that many people over thirty walking around. It is a youthful country, and for all the wrong reasons.
During that late 70's Phnom Penh was a ghost town. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced the entire population to flee to the countryside with only what they could carry. Imagine the population of Boston being sent into the woods of Massachusetts and New Hampshire with nothing but a bag of potatoes, having to fend for themselves for food and water. How long would those people last? Not very long.

Faces of the inmates from Tuol Sleng Prison. 17,000 people were incarcerated and tortured here. All but 7 ended up dying in the prison or being murdered at the nearby killing fields.

We visited Tuol Sleng Prison, also known as S-21. The Khmer Rouge took this school and made it into a torture death camp. They imprisoned anyone who was educated, worked for the previous government, anyone that could possibly be considered a threat to their bizarre reorganization of society. They kept records of every inmate. The photos of the inmates are displayed throughout the building. It's quite moving to look at row upon row of pictures of people that you know were tortured and killed.


One of the beds on which people were tortured. The metal box is an ammo canister that served as their toilet.


Next we drove to the killing fields on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. 20,000 people were murdered here by the Khmer Rouge between 1976-79.

One of many mass graves.

The stupa of skulls. Layer upon layer of unidentified skulls found in the killing fields.

Even seeing all the skulls, I couldn't wrap my mind around the magnitude of murder and inhumanity that existed here.

I wasn't sad to leave Phnom Penh at the end of our visit to Cambodia. The city 's traffic, smog and frightening history wore me down. I will miss Cambodia though, and will certainly return to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia is country #48. I'm always a little nervous at border crossings. Siem Reap has a beautiful new airport that belied the country's poverty. I had an encounter with the least friendly passport control officer I've met. I didn't have the right arrrival card so he just waved me away. I asked where to get the right card. He waved me away. I finally found the right card and made it through another window.


My trusty tuk-tuk driver Mao met me at the airport. When Aaron and Pat failed to show up on their flight, Mao wanted to wait to see if they'd come on the next flight. 3 hours later! I was melting in the 90 degree sun of the airport parking lot. Mao ended up driving us all over for three days.

Aaron and I at Angkor Wat. Gowanus Dredgers! The temples of Angkor are spread out over several miles. The place used to be a city of one million around 1200 AD, at a time when the population of London was 50,000! As such, you need some sort of transportation to get to all the temples. Bicycles might be fun in December, but in the 90+ degree heat of April, we chose the tuk-tuk. For $12 we had a driver and tour guide all in one from sunrise to sunset. All we had to do was hop in and hop out. And sweat a lot.

Angor Wat is huuuuuge. Hard to believe this thing was built by 1150, and it's still in pretty good shape. I think I need to build my next house out of stone. And with a moat.

Apsara reliefs cover the walls of Angkor Wat

Endless passageways of the temple

Cambodia is so awesomely cheap it is unbelievable. Here is a list of things I got in Siem Reap for one dollar: An Angkor Wat t-shirt, 80 minutes of Internet, two cold Angkor drafts in a nice restaurant, a hand carved wooden flute, a wooden jaw harp, a 20 minute tuk tuk ride, two litres of cold bottled water, entry to the Land Mine museum. The US Dollar is the de facto currency. You pay in US Dollars, and small change is given back in Cambodian Riel.

At the Bayon temple you have the option to take a short elephant ride around the perimeter of the temple for $15. Riding an elephant is on my life list, so I had to do it. It wasn't actually all that exciting, kind of a weird undulating ride as the elephants shoulder blades roll underneath you. I hope these elephants are well cared for, but I fear they may not be.

Aaron and I on an elephant.

The wonderfully serene Bayon temple was built around 1200. I could spend a day here just looking at all the faces. There are 216 of them in total.

The sleepy faces are watching you from every angle.

A smiling face of Bayon. Bayon is my favorite temple of any I've ever seen so far.

Ta Proehm, as seen in Tomb Raider.

Siem Reap is perfectly set up for backpackers. If there is anything that a traveller needs, someone in Siem Reap has opened a store selling it. I found a bookstore with pirated copies of every Lonely Planet guide for $5 each. Another store will load ripped songs to your Ipod for just 20cents each. Hostels, laundry, massage, travel agents specializing in bus tickets to Vietnam Laos and Thailand, bars, restaurants, all of this in one block. You can live like a king here on $20 a day.

Water Buffalo get in free at the temples of Angkor.

Pre Rup, built in 962, is a great quiet place to wander around.

Banteay Srei was built wayyyy back in 967. It is known for having the most intricate carvings of any temple in Angkor.

"Sah! Cold drink for you? Sah! You buy cold drink from me? Beer? Water? Coke? Maybe after tempah, you can buy from me? You remembah me, OK? I remembah you. You can buy from me."

Any visitor to Angkor will remember these entreaties long after they have forgotten the names of the temples they saw. You may thing you've gotten the tough sales pitch in other developing countries, but no one can outsell the ladies of Angkor. Before your tuk-tuk even rolls to a halt, you will be surrounded by four or five women and girls with armloads of t-shirts, sarongs, flutes, books, and hats.

"Sah! You need t-shirt? You need book on Angkor? Sah! Come to my shop, it right here!"

These are not the roadside sales girls of Indonesia or Laos with maybe five English phrases memorized, these girls, some only ten years old, have learned fluent English solely by haggling with tourists at Angkor. They have a sharp sense of humor too. Whatever reason you give them as to why you cannot buy yet another Angkor Wat t-shirt for two dollars, they have a better reason why you should buy it. Here is one exchange I had:

"Sah! You buy bracelet for your wife?"

"I don't have a wife."

"Sah! Maybe for you Mum?"

"I don't have a mom."

"But Sah, maybe you buy one for you sistah?"

"I don't have a sister"

"Sah, maybe you buy one for you girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"But Sah, do you know why you no have girlfriend?"

"No, why?"

"Because...YOU NO HAVE BRACELET!" (giggles from all her sales cohorts)

These girls are completely charming and harmless and their imaginative sales pitch did not annoy me, it just made me wish I could give em all a hundred bucks so they could go to school instead of selling cold drinks for a daily profit of two dollars.

The Angkor temples are astounding, but really the interaction with these kids was almost as fun as seeing the temples. At one stop the "cold drink" calls were coming in loud from fifty yards away, and I desperately needed one.

"Sah! Cold drink? Watah?"

Just to be a wise ass, I raised my hands in the air and shouted "I need a water! Where do I go?"

The place erupted. "Sah! Sah! Here! Right here!" Three kids sprinted to their mom's cooler, grabbed a water and raced each other laughing and shoving to get to me first. I guess playtime and work melt together into one when your a working kid in Cambodia.

The hot, flat Cambodian countryside, full of rice fields, lies between each temple. Water buffaloes and skinny cows abound. Also monkeys, chickens, and mangy dogs. All of the animals like to step into the road right in front of your vehicle.

What I love about travelling in Asia is that it is always an unexpected and unique adventure. Strange things happen here, things that just wouldn't happen anywhere else. An example; we hired out driver to take us out to all the best bars in town. At first he just kept taking us to one decibel blasting disco after another. We stepped into the first place, and it was pitch black. Not dark mind you, but black, almost no lights at all! If we got separated I'd never find Aaron and Pat. A sappy Thai pop ballad was playing. The dance floor was full of Cambodian kids slow dancing, junior high school dance style. In the dark. Aaron came back laughing from the men's room. I had to go too, and luckily he had briefed me for what was about to happen. I stepped in to see several young men in the club's uniform polo shirts standing at the back of the room. I hesitantly stepped to the urinal. As I'm going, one of the men steps up behind me, says "Good evening sir." and begins to give me a shoulder massage. WHILE I'M PEEING. Odd things happen in Asia. I started laughing uncontrollably, struggled to finish my business, tipped him a dollar for the most awkward massage ever, and got the hell out of there.

At the next club a sign was posted on the door stating in pictorial form; No knives, No guns, and No grenades. No grenades??? Is that enough of a problem that it has to be posted??? I checked with Aaron to make sure he left his grenades back at the hotel. Once we got inside there were lights at least, but the bass was Earth shaking. The bass was so powerful that as I looked across the club, each thump caused my vision to blur momentarily. There was yet another strange lavatorial experience in this place. While I was in the men's room, three young Cambodian kids came in laughing and stumbling, and all went into the same extra-roomy handicapped stall. They were closely followed by two massive goons dressed in black. Their private security force searched the men's room, stared me down as I was the only other occupant, then locked the entry door and stood guard on either side of it. While their young employer presumably sniffed coke in the stall, I quickly washed my hands and wondered if I'd be allowed to leave. I was.

Pat, Aaron and I offering to take out tuk-tuk drivers for a ride instead. Savoen and Mao are sitting in the shade for once.