Journal:

Cambodia, 05 Apr 2002

I was up at the crack of dawn for another long day of traveling. A group of us gathered at about 6.30am and caught a seven-hour bus to the Cambodian border. We traveled on one of those super-buses where the passengers are on a higher level than the driver. This was the most comfortable bus journey in all of my time in South East Asia. We enjoyed the extravagant luxury of roomy, comfortable seats and wonderful air-conditioning. It's strange to think how a "normal" bus journey has become such a special treat. After crossing the border on foot, we then boarded mini-buses that brought us on the six-hour journey to Siem Reap. Apparently, the journey from the border to Siem Reap used to be the stuff that legends are made of, taking anywhere from 12 to 14 hours. These days, the roads are of reasonable quality (about the same as Myanmar) and are improving quickly. New roads are currently being built along much of the route and the expectation is that in a few years it will be very easy to travel around Cambodia.

Over the course of the day's travels, most of the independent travelers have formed cliques. My clique consists of Ger (from Cork), Sean (from the North of England), Anja (from Germany), Martin (from Germany), and Julia (from Germany). It didn't take us long to discover that we had all paid different amounts of money for the same journey. I paid 150 bhat (a little more than US$3), while some people paid 100 bhat, others 200 bhat, and some people even paid 400 bhat. The bus companies charge so little because of kickbacks that they receive from vendors at the various rest breaks and from the guesthouses in Siem Reap. We all check into the same guest house and settle in for a great night of drinking and fun.

It is so nice to be away from the oppressive heat and humidity of Bangkok. I don't know the reason from the high levels of discomfort there... many people blame the high levels of pollution. As far as I am concerned, air conditioning is an absolute necessity in Bangkok at this time of year. For some reason, Siem Reap in Cambodia is much more comfortable. You would imagine that it would get similar weather to Bangkok. However, although it is hot by day, it is very comfortable by night.

Cambodia, 06 Apr 2002

Most of us awoke at 5.00am this morning, after a mere three or four hours of sleep, to explore the temples of Angkor. The city of Siem Reap is a few kilometers from Angkor, which was the ancient capital of the Khmer kingdom. Khmer kings spent their lifetime building monuments in their own honour. Most of these monuments are in the Angkor area of Cambodia. Angkor is similar to Bagan in many ways. However, Angkor has a smaller number of monuments that are more spectacular. The temples of Angkor made a much greater impression on me than those in Bagan. The giant stone faces that adorn many of the gates and towers are especially striking. And some of the temples are very picturesque, having been consumed by the nearby jungle. We hired motorbike drivers for US$6 to drive us, convoy-style, from sight-to-sight. We went to Angkor Wat for sunrise, and then we visited more temples that I can count throughout the day, before settling on a nearby hill for sunset. After a very long and very tiring day, we returned to the guesthouse for another evening of merriment.

Cambodia, 07 Apr 2002

We got up in darkness for the third successive morning, as we arose at 6.00am to take a mini-bus to the capital city of Phnom Penh. I had intended to take the high-speed ferry to Phnom Penh, but I decided to stick with my newly found friends who were taking the mini-bus. The mini-bus ride was arduous to say the least. The road resembled the surface of the moon, with large craters keeping most passengers airborne for most of the journey. Most vehicles pay no attention to which side of the road they are driving on, instead just plotting a course through the craters that provided the least impact on the vehicle. Quiet often our vehicle and an oncoming vehicle would have switched sides to the "wrong" side of the road. There were also many occasions when the mini-bus would veer off the road and drive along a sun-baked rice paddy field to avoid a particularly uncomfortable stretch of road. It took an agonizing twelve hours to complete the 300-kilometer journey. After being thrown around in the back of a mini-bus for the day, we all had a great thirst for beer upon our arrival in Phnom Penh.

Our first order of business after settling into a guesthouse was getting our Vietnam visas. A nearby tour operator is organizing the visas. It is costing a reasonably expensive US$35 to get a one month visa with a two-day turnaround period.

Phnom Penh has some great western-style pubs. Tonight we visited quiet a few of them, ending up at the excellent Heart of Darkness pub. Pool tables, friendly locals, other travelers, and great music are a feature of most establishments in this town. I have the immediate impression that Phnom Penh is a great traveler hang-out.

Cambodia, 08 Apr 2002

I thought that the traffic in Bangkok was bad, but the traffic in Phnom Penh is far more hectic. There probably are road rules here, but you wouldn't think so given the chaotic scenes on the over-trafficked streets of Phnom Penh. And crossing the street is more difficult than anywhere lese that I have visited. It can literally take 10 minutes to cross a narrow road.

I was surprised to see everything in a local supermarket priced in US dollars. When it comes to paying for everyday things, it appears as if dollars are at least on an equal footing with Rial (the local currency). There is no need for a traveler to change any money into Rial because you can use dollars and Rial interchangeably. The current exchange rate is 4000 Rial for one US dollar.

Today, we hired a convoy of motorbike drivers to take us to the Killing Fields and to the Genocide Museum. Between 1975 and 1978, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge detained, tortured, and executed anyone with an education or a skill. Pol Pot wanted to convert Cambodia to an agrarian society. As part of this effort, he moved much of the population from the cities to the land and outlawed any aspects of society that he thought might interfere with his plans. He ordered the migration of people from cities to the countryside, the destruction of historical monuments, and the banning of traditional culture.

Teachers, students, monks, and foreigners were tortured and executed. Some people were executed simply because they wore glasses (Pol Pot thought that people wearing glasses were probably educated). Between 1975 and 1978, more than 100 people a day were executed at the Killing Fields that we visited in Choeung Ek. In many cases, the soldiers were ordered not to use precious bullets, but to bludgeon the people to death. The Killing Fields are simply a collection of mass graves, some of which have been exhumed. At the center of the Killing Fields is a harrowing monument to the dead with 8,000 of their battered skulls behind a large glass tower.

The Genocide Museum (also known as Tuol Sleng Museum or S-21 prison) is the detention center in which many of these people were tortured before their execution. Travelers are free to roam around the cells, many of which still contain the original tools of torture. The Khmer Rouge photographed all detainees and documented their biographies before killing them. The Khmer Rouge also photographed many of the torture sessions, and the photographs are displayed in the museum.

The mood was a bit somber after our visits to these horrific places. What makes them all the more harrowing for me is the fact that these atrocities occurred so recently. So many people that we are passing on the streets have been directly affected by these atrocities. And many of the people responsible are still at large. In fact, Sean pointed out photographs in the Phnom Penh Post of Pol Pot's right-hand man (known as brother number two) at his daughter's recent wedding.

What better way to lift our somber mood than to eat a "happy" pizza for dinner. Apparently, Khmer people have traditionally used the seeds of Cannabis plants to flavour their food. Many establishments in Phnom Penh have taken this practice a step further and openly serve "happy" pizzas. When ordering, you just tell the waiter how "happy" you would like your pizza. My pizza should have been called "sleepy" pizza because that's all I wanted to do after eating it. A recent acquaintance remarked upon the ingenious concept of food containing cannabis... you serve food with cannabis, cannabis makes people hungry and they want more food, you sell even more food with cannabis, and so on. What a great ploy for a restaurateur.

Cambodia, 09 Apr 2002

In total ignorance of any notions of politically correctness, one day after visiting the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum, we made the short excursion out to a shooting range. I thoroughly enjoyed spraying my target with bullets from an AK-47. I fired the first half of the clip one bullet at a time, and then fired the second half of the clip in automatic mode. It cost me US$20 for a clip with 30 bullets. I took one of the bullet casings and my bullet-shredded target as souvenirs.

Firing a rocket launcher costs a fairly-steep US$200. A few years ago, some over-eager Texans purchased a cow and used a rocket-launcher to blow it into several meaty pieces. After the word got around about this, the people who run this military-sponsored shooting range were nervous of unsavory foreign press coverage. To prevent this from happening again, the government banned foreigners from purchasing cows. I jokingly asked my driver if he, because he is a local, could buy a cow for us so we would not be breaking the law. He declined saying that he would get in much trouble if he did so, but instead offered to put a chicken in the sights of our AK-47 for a small fee. What a great country!

We enjoyed another great evening on the town tonight, this time visiting the wonderful Sharky's Bar - a bar that is surely named in honour of the illustrious Brian Sharkey. Sharkey's Bar is a great place to hang out and play pool with the locals. After a few games of pool, we left with some locals and went to a disco to dance the night away.

Spending:

$184 for 5 nights, including:
    - $20 for a one-day pass to Angkor
    - $20 for the shooting range
    - $35 for Vietnamese visa