Phnom Penh - Traveling Thru History

Worst Night Bus Ever? You Decide.

Erin — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:00:53 +0000

Recently we had the opportunity to go to Cambodia and were there just before Christmas. If you ever have the chance to go to Cambodia, Christmas is a good time to go. Especially if you want to go to Angkor Wat. We were in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is, and were amazed at how few tourists were there. We actually were the only people at some of the ruins in Siem Reap, which surprised us a lot. Being in Cambodia and getting more familiar with the country was a really great experience, definitely one of my top international experiences. Our first few hours there, though, gave us quite an opposite impression and made us a little skeptical about the rest of our trip. As we were arriving at the Cambodian airport, we got a little weirded out. Southeast Asia has this strange thing where they fog their airplanes just before landing. I had no idea what it is for at the time and we both had some concerns about it. Thankfully, though, one of our subsequent flights said what the smoke was for and it made us feel a bit better. The smoke is just some kind of anti-bacterial fog and not actual smoke. Thank goodness. That tripped me out the first few times it happened. Before we got all concerned about the smoke, though, we had some nice views of the Cambodian landscape as we began our descent. I’ll apologize now for the low-quality photos in this post. My DSLR was packed away, so I took most of these either with my cell phone or my really old digital camera. Landing in Cambodia and getting through the airport wasn’t so bad. That was actually the easy part of the evening. The landing was smooth (which you will learn to appreciate traveling around that part of the world) and we were able to get off the plane without any drama. We had gotten our visas several weeks before our trip, so we were able to get through immigration fairly quickly, too. It only took about 10 minutes to get our visas examined, arrival cards scanned, passports stamped, and be out the door. It was after leaving the airport that things got a little strange. We arrived in Phnom Penh about 4:45pm and had booked an overnight bus to take us straight to Siem Reap. The one we’d booked didn’t leave until about 6:00, so we had a little bit of time to kill………..but that’s not the one we ended up getting on. When we got outside the airport, we snagged a little tuk-tuk to take us to the bus stop so we could get there early and not risk missing it. One thing that is common in Asia is that time is relative. Buses and trains rarely ever leave on time, but you never know which day they will leave early or which day they will be running late, so being decently early is a good idea. We figured being about 30-40 minutes wouldn’t be so bad. We could pick up our tickets, maybe get a little something to eat, wander up and down the street, and then get on our way. Our tuk-tuk driver, though, had other plans. Once we told him where we wanted to go, he got all excited and told us that he knew of another night bus heading to Siem Reap that was leaving right then and there. He said it was better than the one we had booked and that it was the exact same price, so he wanted to take us there instead of to the one we booked. Um, okay, great. We’d love to be on a bus that is leaving now. But, dude, we’re not there. We’re still at the airport. We’ve already missed it. Not to be deterred, our spunky little tuk-tuk driver drove all over Phnom Penh to track down the bus. It was hilarious at the time. He went to the bus depot and found out the route the bus was taking and took all these little side streets to get to each pick-up spot as quickly as possible. It was actually pretty neat to get a super speedy scenic tour of the city before leaving. These are some of the interesting things we saw. Our view from the back of the tuk-tuk as we left the airport. These things aren’t too bad for a quick trip around the city. The weather was nice and there wasn’t a lot of pollution, so we rather enjoyed the fresh air and pleasant breeze. Obligatory selfie. We were super excited to be in Cambodia. We were going to Angkor Wat first thing in the morning and were brimming with enthusiasm for this wonderful new experience. And, no, I didn’t cut my hair. It was just in a bun. Whenever I fly my hair is either in a bun or braids. Also, this is a rare photo of Troy smiling. Sort of. Usually he’s making a goofy face or sticking his finger up his nose. So, enjoy this rare treat. His smiles are quite handsome. Snack carts are so popular here. Most of the time people just push them, but this one was unique because it was attached to the guy’s motorbike. We both kinda wished we could buy some stuff from him since we were both a little hungry, but we were in a hurry and already had some snacks in our backpacks, so we just zoomed right on by. This is off to the side of one of the main streets in Phnom Penh. Every so often you will see a congregation of food carts and people coming to get snacks or meals. We really wanted to stop and check it out, but, alas, we were on a time schedule. This is a typical convenience store. This is basically what most stores on the main streets look like: open front with shelves of wares out on the sidewalk. We were only stopped here for a couple of minutes so the tuk-tuk driver could pop in the bus station office and ask which route the bus was taking and then we were off again. And you think YOUR traffic is bad. This is actually not that bad of traffic for this part of the world. Cars are always up on each other and nobody really pays attention to lane lines. At this point our tuk-tuk was halfway on the sidewalk, but nobody really cares about that here. The only time we got concerned was when we almost got squished by a big bus. Scooter gangs are the most common site on the roads in Asia, which makes sense since scooters seem to be the most maneuverable. They seriously do whatever they want. I’ve seen scooters drive on the sidewalk for a block to bypass stalled traffic, I’ve seen scooters at a red light dart across the road between cars that have the green light, I’ve seen scooters drive between cars going the opposite way, and I’ve seen scooters going up and down stairs. Nobody really cares what scooters do. Kinda wish we’d been driving around town on one, but alas, we were not. The tuk-tuk was fun and we don’t regret it at all. After driving around for about 20 minutes, we made it to this little hole in the wall shop where our driver stopped and ran inside. And I mean that literally. There were several doors lining a portion of the wall down an alley and that is where the tuk-tuk driver took us. I thought we were asking directions again, but the tuk-tuk driver came back outside and told us that the bus would be here any minute and that we could get tickets by paying the man inside. So, we paid the man inside and got our tickets. We were pretty happy about getting tickets for a bus that left an hour earlier than the one we’d reserved. And we were also happy that we didn’t have to pay to reserve a spot on the other bus, so it wouldn’t matter about taking this one. They were both the same price, so it all worked out in the end. Or so we thought. This is about $10.14 USD. Once the bus arrive and we got on the bus, we started to realize we may have made a grave mistake. This bus…….was………awful. And it was non-refundable. So, as unfortunate as it was, we were out of luck. The first thing we noticed about this bus was that it was not a sleeper bus. Troy had reserved us seats on a sleeper bus and this one was definitely NOT a sleeper bus. This was a double-decker travel bus…..kinda. There was a downstairs where all the luggage went that was tall enough for people to walk around, but it wasn’t set up so people could travel down there. The people went on the upper level………which was just seats, no sleepers. It looked comfortable enough, though, after we got on and looked around, so we just sat down and off the bus went. We figured we’d just lay our seats back and sleep that way. That is, until we realized how bumpy the ride was. Holy bananas was that ride bumpy. It was like going over train tracks the entire time. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of the craziness. After the bus stopped a few more times, we realized people were looking around and picking specific seats. Once we actually looked at our tickets, we realized we had seat numbers, so we got up and found those seats. And immediately wished we hadn’t. What we hadn’t noticed upon entry to the bus was that most seats only had one arm rest. The other arm rests were either missing or the plastic was gone, leaving only the metal body, which was rather sharp. My seat had the metal body on one side and plastic on the other. Troy’s had plastic on the outside, so we were at least fortunate that only one of us had sharp metal stuff. I put Troy’s hat over my one gimpy arm rest so I wouldn’t get my arm all scratched up. The other fun part about our seats was that mine leaned back really far and wouldn’t sit up. Troy’s sat straight (and I mean STRAIGHT) and wouldn’t lean back. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, Troy’s seat wouldn’t stay on. lol. The first bump we hit, he slid forward, flailing his arms around and almost tipping sideways into the aisle. It was sooooooo funny and I laughed really hard. Troy was only slightly amused. Every time the bus hit a bump, he would slide forward and have to catch himself. It was pretty funny the first 5-6 times. But by the 20th time, it wasn’t so funny anymore. He eventually wedged his backpack between his seat and the seat in front of him, but that meant he had nowhere to put his legs and had to straddle the backpack. We figured once we were on the road that we’d just switch to different seats, but by the time we left the city our bus was completely full and we were stuck in our less than ideal spots. For the first hour or so, we sat like that: me leaning at an awkward and uncomfortable angle and Troy with a backpack between his legs. I was able to doze for a bit, but couldn’t stay asleep for long because ‘things’ kept crawling on me. I’m hoping they were just ants, but my suspicion is that they were other things. Yuck. And it didn’t help when Troy got super excited because down the stairs (we were seated across from the stairs) on a piece of luggage was a spider the size of a half dollar. He turned on the flashlight on his cell phone and went down to check it out. Thankfully, the dang thing didn’t bite him, even though he was moving luggage...

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Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Erin — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 03:08:19 +0000

Cambodia is a beautiful country full of history and culture. Unfortunately, they are also a country that has suffered immense hardship and atrocity. When we went to Cambodia, we made sure to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in order to pay our respects to the people who suffered and honor the memories of those who died. HISTORY OF THE CAMBODIA and THE RISE OF THE KHMER ROUGE Cambodia was strong under Khmer rule during the 9th-13th centuries, but began a gradual decline between the 13th and 15th centuries. Over the next several hundred years, Cambodia had a merry-go-round of rulers until one of the worst rulers came to power and ushered in one of the darkest eras in Cambodian history. From around 1218 until 1863, Cambodia was in a slow decline. After the death of King Jayavarman VII in 1218, internal conflicts led Angkor Wat to be abandoned and the once powerful nation went into a cultural, economic and social decline. As their infrastructure weakened, other nations (namely Siam and Vietnam) began vying for control. The Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) conquered Angkor Thom and Cambodia became a protectorate of Siam, though the Vietnamese were still slowly chipping away at Cambodian territories. In 1863, King Norodom of Cambodia accepted French protection from Siam and Vietnam. The French eventually converted that protectorship into full colonial rule of Cambodia. Colonial rule lasted until March 1945 when Japan began a short rule, but the French took control again in October 1945. The French retained control over Cambodia until 1953 when King Norodom Sihanouk secured the withdrawal of French and Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, an action he’d been working on since 1945. King Norodom had been backed by the French in his quest for the ruling seat because they thought he was too weak to force a removal of French troops, but King Norodom had a strong desire for an independent Cambodia and made it a life goal to see the French removed from Cambodian soil. Soon after, though, the Vietnam War began and gradually weakened King Norodom’s hold on Cambodia. King Norodom was ousted by military coup on March 18, 1970 led by Premier Lon Nol, who had formed a coalition with the Khmer Rouge, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. King Norodom was allowed to remain a figurehead for the country, but had no real power. Disunity and corruption led to the downfall of the republic in 1975, though the true beginning of the end started in 1973 when the Khmer Rouge began vying for full control of the country. The Khmer Rouge controlled nearly 60% of Cambodia on January 1, 1975 when they launched a 117-day offensive that officially collapsed the Khmer Republic. After the surrender of the Khmer Republic on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea. From the very beginning of their rule, the Khmer Rouge began a campaign of terror and genocide over the people of their country. Their first move was to issue an edict ordering entire urban populations to evacuate to rural areas to become farmers and laborers. Organized religions were suppressed and the industrial sector was placed under government control, where most of it was abandoned. Those who were caught practicing any form of religion were imprisoned or executed. The Khmer government cut ties with the communists in Vietnam and strengthened relations with China. Vietnam and the Khmer engaged on border disputes over the entire length of the Khmer Rouge reign from 1975-1979. The Khmer government was a Communist government formed on the teachings of Mao, Marx, Lenin and the French Communist Party. Where the Khmer differed from the other Communist factions is that they also believed that Khmers were racially superior to other minorities who claimed Cambodian citizenship. This idea led to a Hitler-esque drive to rid the country of the “impure” Cambodians by killing them. This evolved from ridding the country of minorities to ridding the country of anyone viewed as an oppressor, which included those in leadership/government positions prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover, intellectuals, anyone considered “rich”, those in professional employ and anyone who sympathized with the oppressors or the minorities. And this is where Tuol Sleng came in. HISTORY OF THE PRISON After the Khmer Rouge came to power and began their process of ridding Cambodia of “inferior” Cambodians and “oppressors”, they realized they would need a place to conduct interrogations and hold their prisoners. In August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge came into power, they converted the Chao Ponhea Yat High School into a prison and interrogation center which they named Security Prison 21 (s-21). The school buildings and grounds were enclosed by electrified barbed wire and all of the windows were retrofitted with bars and barbed wire. The classrooms were converted into prison cells and torture chambers that housed roughly 1,000-1,500 prisoners. It is estimated that during the 4-year run of the prison, between 17,000-20,000 people were imprisoned, tortured and killed there. The purpose of the prison was to interrogate by torture doctors, teachers, engineers, religious leaders, skilled laborers, anyone who had been a member of the previous government, anyone who was suspected of being a political dissident and anyone who was perceived to have been an intellectual. Over time, the inmates began to include political opponents as well as those in the Khmer Rouge party who were suspected of being disloyal or a threat to the regime along with their families. A vast majority of those who entered S-21 only left when they were taken to the Choeung Ek extermination center just outside the city to be killed and buried. Of all the people who entered the prison, there are only 7 known survivors, though it is conjectured that there may have been 5 who escaped, bringing the total to 12. S-21 remained in operation until 1979 when Vietnam invaded Phnom Penh and drove the Khmer Rouge out. In 1980 S-21 was reopened under the name Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum with a display of artifacts from the days of operation. The name they chose for the museum is very fitting: Tuol Sleng means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. The artifacts include authentic tools used for torture, a photo record the Khmer Rouge kept of their victims, honorary graves and informational displays. The new rulers of the country, now named The People’s Republic of Kampuchea, wanted to memorialize the atrocities in honor of those who died and in hopes that this will never happen in their country again. TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM Tuol Sleng is a large, rather unassuming complex inside of Phnem Penh. From the outside, it doesn’t look much different from the other buildings in the area, aside from the barbed wire surrounding it and the simple sign over the entrance. There are no flashy signs or shining exterior to entice you to enter and spend an hour or two marveling at what is inside. It is a simple face with a stark message: horrible things happened here. After paying the foreigner fee (locals can visit free of charge) and entering the complex, you are greeted by a sign designating the complex as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Behind the sign is a field of coffins. These final 14 victims were killed just hours before liberation forces made it to the prison. Each was found badly mutilated and it is widely believed that these deaths occurred just before the prison guards packed up and left the prison as the Vietnamese entered Phnom Penh. The sign beside it reads: THE VICTIMS GRAVES – 14 corpses of the victims were discovered in Building “A” by the armed forces of the United Front for the Salvation, Solidarity and Liberation of Cambodia. They were brought down and buried in this opposite plot. Among those corpses there was one female victim. These victims were the last ones executed by the agents of S-21 before they fled this prison compound. On the mid-left side of the above picture there is a sign. Posted on it are the rules of the prison as stated by those who once ran it. Across from the sign is Building A. Each room had a different display of the torture artifacts that were found in the rooms along with a picture on the wall showing either the empty bed and tools as they were found or a body that had been found attached to the bed and tools. It truly was heart-wrenching to see the state of those found still imprisoned here and it was horrifying to learn what was done to them. The pictures on the wall show badly emaciated bodies chained to beds, some bleeding heavily. There are pictures in some rooms of bodies laid out across the floor, chained together, crammed as close as they can be with guards standing over them. There are pictures and paintings of people after having been tortured and some of people being tortured. Some of the floors have dark stains on them and all of the walls are tear-streaked, crying with heartache from the awful scenes played out therein. Even with windows in most of the rooms, a darkness lingers and dampens the brightness that tries to permeate the gloom. Outside in the light, at the junction between Buildings A and C stands a simple, once innocent, structure. This bar used to be where children exercised and played around, but the Khmer Rouge turned it into a device for torture and interrogation. The sign reads: THE GALLOWS – This pole with cables attached to it had been used for the student to conduct their exercise. The Khmer rouge utilized this place as an interrogation room. Ther interrogators tied both hands of the prisoners to the back by a rope and lift the prisoners upside down. They did like this until the prisoners lost consciousness. Then they dipped the prisoner’s head into a jar of smelly, filthy water, which they normally used as a fertilizer for the crops in the terrace outside. By doing so, the victims quickly regain consciousness, and that the interrogators could continue their interrogation. Across from the gallows stands Building C. Building C housed many small cells where prisoners were kept between interrogations and torture sessions. To help bring a sense of reality to those who suffered in these buildings, a few rooms have been converted into exhibits to display personal artifacts and skeletal remains of some of the victims who were buried in a field nearby. Inside you can see how the Khmer Rouge converted classrooms into multiple tiny prison cells. Inside these cells the prisoners were chained to either the bar or the floor and could not move more than a few inches. This was most likely not an issue since most inmates were tortured to the point of being to weak to escape or being so ill from disease and malnutrition. There are several pictures around the complex of bodies so emaciated it is a wonder any of them were still alive. Inside the small white building behind the trees are pictures of and artifacts from those who were imprisoned here. The Khmer Rouge carefully photographed and documented each person who was brought into the prison. Unfortunately, they kept the photographs and the list of names separate, so it is unknown who all the people in the photographs are. Not even children were given a pass by the Khmer Rouge. It breaks my heart every time I look at these photos. Those poor children. The things they went through and it’s most likely that most of them didn’t have a clue what was going on. Included in Building C are registers of personal details along with crimes they confessed to. It is surmised that a majority of the people who confessed to “crimes” were innocent and were just confessing in a misguided hope that they would be released. With the torture these people were put through – starvation, electrocution, whipping, beatings, burning, suffocation, waterboarding, rape, organ removal without anesthetic, blood draining, pulling fingernails, ritual cutting, medical experiments and sometimes skinning people alive – it is no wonder that almost...

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