Penultimate day in Cambodia

Bit of an ordinary night’s sleep and then up at 0600hrs to do the much neglected exercises which left me feeling much better. The café was packed and noisy when we went down and so we enjoyed of breakfast out on the balcony in company with the local stray cat (there are SO many in Phnom Penh and many seem to have short, stubby and/or deformed tails – apparently it is due to a recessive gene related to the “Japanese bobtail” breed and affects over 80% of cats in the city and is in fact common throughout the country and indeed all of southeast Asia.
At 0800hrs we were picked up by Sam the Tuk-Tuk driver who took us through the totally insane traffic to The Killing Fields which are about 15km south of the city and were the site of more than 20,000 executions between 1975 and 1979. I won’t say that it was a “good” thing to do, but it felt necessary and was certainly worthwhile. Interestingly the audio commentary echoed my feelings in that the speaker said that Cambodian people appreciated the fact that visitors took the time to come and hear the stories and learn of the genocide atrocity. Although it was only one of many “killing fields” throughout Cambodia during the civil war, the site now stands as a permeant memorial for the 3 million or more Cambodians who were killed under Pol Pot. Known as Choeung Ek, the centre houses the remains of 8985 people murdered and buried in mass graves. When exhumed in 1980, many of the bodies were apparently still bound and blindfolded, there was evidence that most were bludgeoned to death to save money on bullets. Those who didn’t die immediately were drenched in DDT and then buried. Currently 43 of the communal graves have been left untouched and over time, fragments of human bone and clothing have risen, and are now clearly visible; a very obvious sign of the horrors which occurred – staff collect these items every few months. The most gruesome component of the killing fields was the killing tree, which was used to beat children and babies against before they were thrown into the mass graves, there theory being that the entire family must be killed so that there was no one left to seek revenge. In the middle of the Killing Fields is the Memorial Stupa which contains more than 8000 skulls arranged by sex and age. It is an horrific yet peaceful tribute and I felt move to light incense and make a small donation.
Back in the Tuk-Tuk it was back to the city and off to the Russian Market… this was essentially a tourist trap and after a quick wander and an essentially fruitless search for the elusive metal pepper grinder I saw in Siem Reap we went back to the Tuk-Tuk. Sam helped use to buy a big bag of fruit (Cambodian prices - $2.25!) and then we went and checked out a pepper shop (again no luck). We were getting a bit hot and cranky by then and a little over Sam’s ranting about the evils of the Vietnamese (also it was hard to hear what he was saying in the Tuk-Tuk so I think I missed about every third word. Realising that we were in street 240 which is know for it’s social enterprise shops we asked him to pull over and let us have a wander… we also suggested that he might like to pop home to check on his son who he had expressed health concerns about (we sent some of our copious supply of banana’s with him. We wandered street 240 until we came across a Belgian Chocolatier and coffee shop (which had soy milk – happy dance for Deb). We took a table outside and ordered drinks and a chocolate each and then surreptitiously tucked into our fruit… Mangosteen, Longan and Bananas … yummo.
After we had eaten, we browsed the rest of the shops and then were collected by Sam again at about 1300hrs. Next stop was Wat Phnom which is a Buddhist temple which was built in 1372, and which stands on an artificial hill some 27 metres above the ground. It is the tallest religious structure in the city and is considered the central point of Phnom Penh – we had a bit of a wander there, enjoying the quiet and the cooling breeze. Finally, we got Sam to drop us at the Royal Palace… the elaborate complex of buildings is the residence of the Royal Family and has strict rules for visiting including that the arms must be covered. Deb as wearing a sleeveless dress but had a scarf to cover herself – this was deemed insufficient and the suggestion seemed to be that she buy or hire an ugly cotton sack top. At this point we decided to give up on the whole idea and got a refund and headed off to have a massage. Sam had warned us to avoid the “casual” massage places which offered $3-$5 treatments on the basis that a) the staff didn’t know what they were doing and b) would steal your stuff while you were distracted. With this in mind we chose a place which looked a bit more reputable … however although they definitely didn’t pinch our stuff, I am not sure they were anymore skilled. My practitioner was a very large young lady and as the massage involved her sitting on me, I was rather concerned that something might get broken – i.e. me! The treatment which was supposed to be neck, shoulders and back seemed also to involve the arm, legs and feet (so possibly not the best grasp of anatomy) and also incorporated at lot of rather odd squeezing and poking … all rather odd really but we both seem undamaged and somewhat looser through the back and legs.
It looked like it was going the thunder so we dashed off to the “5 Drunk Men” skybar overlooking the river to wait it out and to enjoy the 2 for 1 Papaya Margarita deal. The rain didn’t eventuate and as the bar only seemed to do unappealing western bar food we googled “Skybars Phnom Penh” and came up with “Eclipse” which was, as it turned out, worth the 3km cross town hike. Situaated on the 23rd floor of the Phnom Penh Tower, the bar is open air and boasts amazing 360 degrees views of the city. We arrived during “Happy Hour” and enjoyed a Singapore Sling each ($3 – generously sized and not watered down) and then a Mai Tai for Deb and a Sangria for me. We also ordered food which was surprisingly good – prawns and fried rice for Deb, seared squid and fresh Kampot peppers for me and spring rolls to share, followed up with the Dragon fruit we had bought at the market. We just chilled at the bar for a while before walking back to the hotel to get organised for departure day tomorrow!Read more