Phonm Penh - Overstay

Countries: 2
Cities: 9
Massages: 6
Time away: 46 days
Books read: 6

The capital of Cambodia, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I got off the bus and like a swarm of flies to a warm cow pat the tuk tuk and moto drivers descended upon us.
After a bumpy journey with a little adventure in the form of getting strange looks every few seconds beacuse Jonny and I were the only forenigers on the bus and stopping off at a local market. and sampling local delicacies of fried crickets and tarantula, which doesn't actually taste that bad, the one thing we wanted after this was a place to reside, not pesterings from money hungry drivers. Jonny needed to contact someone who he knew from Phonm Penh and possibly a place to stay but his battery and luck it seemed was out. Though we had heard about the famous Khmer hospitality we hadn't seen it yet and it is only in those moments when you really need it do they seem to appear, and as such you become so much more grateful for it. We were offered refuge in a shop/restaurant and given free tea and eletricity usage.
This was from people who earnt about $60 a year and to have this just moments after hearing from a driver that this is a dirty, seedy place where old men oome to have their kicks, I wasn't expecting kindness from strangers.

After a while we took the advice of the tuk tuk driver that hung around the longest and went to Longlin guesthouse on St. 19. Nice enough for $8 a night with similar furnishings to Manadlay though the walls were shaky. To make up for this was the balcony area, chilled to the max and thats precisely what I did. The next day intent on going out only for my stomach to back out on me and give me some weird pangs I ended up hanging back and Jonny went to the gym and to visit his friend.
The next day took a similar shape to the last of doing sod all with first intentions of going to see the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.

That night though I met up with Jonny and headed to a random Cambodian place where they served jugs of beer for $2, which you just can't turn down. Somehow being the only foreingners in there for ages we bumped into Adi and Jade who had some new friends (Chad, John and Rich?). It was pretty lucky and I was grateful for it as I now had people who wanted to go to the killing fields and s21.

The following morning I got up early making sure I would have ample time to get to their guesthouse yet after a good 45 minutes going to each dragon guesthouse/hotel there is I just couldn't find it, then a moment of sheer dumb luck I managed to catch them just getting off a tuk tuk near their hostel.

We then went to the only western fast food place so far on my trip, KFC. It was okay but the main point here is that i got to chat to the lads who told me stories and showed videos of their previous days fun in the shooting range. Chads video of him shooting a rocket launcher brought out the real man-kid in me and I just thought about the uber coolness of it.
We started off the trip having a tuk tuk race with some randoms, joking about, betting on it and generally larking around before the somberness ahead, I suppose it was a kind of coping mechanism for us all considering we knew it was going to be a tough day.

We went to the killing fields and this is where you truly get a glimpse of the horrors the Cambodians have been through, definitely don't go if you have a weak stomach. This was all in contrast to the feelings I had just had after the shooting range stories.

The killing fields could from the out set be a general picnic area at first glance but as you step in the errie aura akin to that of a work/death camp in Germany/Poland spreads over you and is evident to all. Hushed near silence fell all around when looking at the monument which housed floor upon floor of skulls, bones and clothing from the deceased. There is far too much to say but it is something that can only be experienced, the worst two were the baby killing tree (Yup even defenceless babies weren't spared) and the pit which once had over 150 headless bodies.

s21 was where tons (20,000+) of Cambodians were tortured and kept before being sent to the killing fields. It was a high school before the bloodshed and at first you can imagine children runnning around and enjoying themselves until you walk into a room with an iron bed,blood stains and steel leg clamps for comfort and then into the ridiculously sized rooms subdivided to a size not fitting for farmyard animals to house these victims.
What I could never understand was why they were tortured, pictures of inhabitants of s21 were in many rooms spreading their stories from men women and children. None were spared in case of revenge attacks. But just what infromation they hoped to extract from these people I don't know.

What I do know is that the Cambodians are an optimistic bunch, with such horrendous history the most part of the country isn't looking for revenge but justice and to move forward. Towards a bright Cambodian future.

After all of this I followed the others to a place I later discovered was called Elsewhere, which had three pools and a bar, the best place to go to after such an emotionally draining day. Not to forget what we had jsut seen but simply to take our minds off it for the time being. There we enjoyed ourselves, played around in the pool even when a rainstorm came along and finally messed around with some of the Cambodian kids that jumped in the pool to do somersalts and play a bit of water catch.

Later that evening Jonny showed everyone his singing skills , we played pool and generally relaxed. This felt like a proper backpackers day, visiting important historical and cultural places whilst enjoying the company of new people and new stories as well as some well earned booze.

Till I left for Sihanoukville I pretty much repeated what I had done on the other days which was not much, either at the hotel or Elsewhere, just reading and reading really. BAnd then I had with the others a great Indian meal...it dawned on me it was time to move on.