Phnom Penh, Cambodia

今度、日本語で書けなかったです。この物語は長くて、難しいです。It's been hard for me to convince myself to write about this part of our Spring Break trip.  When Martin decided which locations we would visit, and I made the plans accordingly, I had no idea what I would encounter.  As he's very interested in geopolitics, and knowledgeable about world history, he thought he knew what to expect.  But we all four came away tremendously emotionally impacted by what we saw and learned there in Phnom Penh about the Khmer Rough regime.  I still can't stop wondering how it could have happened in modern times, that the leader, Pol Pot, could induce all those teenagers to act as his henchmen and exterminate a quarter of the population of his own country in less than four years.  In its quest to create a totally proletarian society, intellectuals and anyone not "working class", ie, doctors, dentists, teachers, engineers, merchants, etc. etc. were killed.  How can a country recover from that? Even after the regime was removed, there was no one with any education left to rebuild the country.  Certainly, the Khmer Rough is responsible for the poverty we see in Cambodia today. 

Back at the beginning of the trip, while still in Siem Reap, touring Angkor Wat with our wonderful Cambodian Guide, Rathana, I learned a bit about the Khmer Rough.  Being a truly cheerful and positive person, and an advocate for tourism, Rathana was reluctant to dwell on the negative, but several times he did note various impacts on the 1000+ year old architecture which have been attributed to the Khmer Rough, such as the stones which have been cut away between the statue guards on the way to Angkor Thom South Gate.  When we questioned him directly, we also learned that his parents lost several family members to the mayhem.  This was before they met, married, and started a family after the "Liberation" by Vietnam in 1979.

So, Rathana dutifully delivered us to the bus which would take us to Phnom Penh.  As we settled into our assigned seats in the first and second row, directly behind the bus driver, I looked out the window at the makeshift bus station, consisting of card tables set up behind pick-up trucks, amidst several worn but sturdy looking buses and various uniformed people running around with clipboards.  Several bottles of water were delivered to our bus for the passengers, as well as a small snack.  The seat was comfortable enough, and though it was very hot, there was air conditioning, which helped to some extent.  Besides the driver, there was an assistant, a woman who spoke both Cambodian and English.  Oh my.  That bus ride.  We had decided to take the bus for the six hour trip rather than the somewhat shorter trip by air, if you consider the airport time, as we thought this would be a good way to see the countryside.  Well, that was true.  The highway to Phnom Penh is basically straight, paved for the most part, and very narrow and crowded.  Because the bus is bigger than almost everything else using the road, people walking, on bicycles, scooters, cars and trucks, the method of progress is to drive very fast, weaving and dodging the moving obstacles and beeping the horn whenever the driver comes up behind something, or meets something coming the other way.  Which is pretty much constantly.  Half an hour down the road, we came across a similar bus which had been heading the other way.  It was pulled over to the side, and all the people were getting off.  In the road lay a flattened bicycle, and in the ditch lay an inert body of a man.    Well.  Let's pause for a moment here.

After that, our bus driver drove just as before, but used his horn even more constantly, I can still hear it now.  A raucous noise.  It was one HELL of a ride.  When I woke that night at 3am with the worst migraine I've had for some time, it was easy to blame the stress of the swerving, speeding six hour long bus ride with its constant loud horn honking, and exhaust smell as the culprit.  We survived.  Eventually, we reached Phnom Penh and pulled over.   We got out, and a mob of people were clamoring for attention.  I had to assume these were tuk tuk drivers looking for fares, but it did scare me a little.

When we saw our name on a piece of paper, we trepidatiosly let the two men take our bags, and followed themto a van.  Our tour guide, "Sam" was very different from Rathana, but also very good.  Actually he was perfect for the job, as his interest and knowledge of Cambodia's history, particularly the Khmer Rouge, was quite extensive.  He took us to our hotel and we talked about the plan for the following day, which we tweaked to include the Killing Fields, having to give up the National Museum.  (I had wanted to see all those Buddha's that had been removed from the Angkor Wat temples, but maybe there will be a next time... but not another bus ride, I can guarantee that.)

So the next day, we went to what has been termed the Killing Fields, which is different from the movie.  Choeung Ek Extermination Center is a little ways outside Phnom Penh, and is one of several places where people were killed by the Khmer Rouge.  Informative signs are in Cambodian and English, and the piles and piles of skulls, from just one of the numerous mass graves are entombed in a tall building to act as a memorial to all those slain.  It was a sobering event for us.  After that, even more upsetting, was a tour of the S-21, Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide, which had been a normal high school until the Khmer Rouge used is as a concentration camp.  We saw torture rooms, cells, and hundreds of individual pictures of the captives, all looking straight into the camera, holding a number.  Their expressions are unforgettable.  I found this informative post which explains it better than I can.   

  Then we went to a pleasant air conditioned restaurant and ate excellent Cambodian food, though it was impossible to stop thinking about what we'd seen.  In the afternoon, we visited the splendid and serene Royal Palace, which is quite a contrast to the poverty and grimy bustle of effort we see elsewhere.  It is very interesting and suspicious that Pol Pot spared Prince Sihanouk and his palace during his reign of terror.  The palace has lovely architecture, a throne room with many buddhas, and in the elephant hut, there's several ornate seats for the king and queen to ride on elephants.  The current king is single and the country is poor, so that's not going on at all.  Later we had a chance to explore the Russian Market.  Monica's pretty good at bargaining, so I stuck with her and we picked up a few good things very cheap. 

The night we arrived, after the busride from hell, Martin walked outside the hotel and talked to a tuk tuk driver, and he took us to a safe place to eat.  A tuk tuk is an open cart pulled by a small motorcycle.  It's like a taxi.  They are all over, and you need to negotiate a price, the drivers can speak enough english for that.  Well this tuk tuk driver worked out very well for us.  He waited around till we finished, then took us back to the hotel, where we made a plan for the next evening with him to drive us around town for an hour for $5.00, which was very interesting, except for the car exhaust, and when we would stop at a light, very small children, maybe seven years old, would rush into the very congested six lane street and beg for money from us.  That was upsetting to me, and once I tried to tell them to get out of the street because of the danger, but they just laughed and mocked me.  I really can't imagine their life.

So, I took lots of pictures, and have many more in my mind.  Those few days in Cambodia will stay with me forever.  I'm glad my children had this chance to enhance their global perspective with this experience. 

Comments

[Matt Scholl]

Very moving post, what a tragedy, but it needs to be remembered so we can avoid future killing fields. They happen every time Communists take over a country.