Cambodia --- Phnom Penh edition.

Hey hey!

I'll be blogging in english while in Cambodia so I can properly make Tony jealous! :)

I kept hearing that Cambodians were among the friendliest people on earth, and i have to say that so far i agree!
I was sitting next to this Cambodian guy on the airplane shuttle and we started talking for a while...before we got off he offered me his business card ( Long Beang- Attorney at Law ) and said to call him if i had any questions or troubles or wanted to go out for coffee! And when we got off the plane, he even offered to drive me to my guesthouse! I gladly accepted. He even called the guesthouse and arranged for the manager to come pick me at the street corner. So as far as friendliness goes, Cambodians are on the top of my list.
I'm staying at the Floating Island guesthouse. A nice enough place in backpacker central. It's right on the river and has a spectacular sunset view. The staffers are in their early twenties and are super friendly as well. The pool table is free and you get to plug in your ipod to the sound system...so all in all, a great place.

Yesterday i went to the "Killing Fields" and to the "Tuol Sleng a.k.a. S-21" Museum. Needless to say, not a very cheerful day. S-21 used to be a high-school and was transformed by the Pol Pot regime into their main prison/interrogation a.k.a torture center. Gruesome. The place is filled with horrible pictures and mug shots of many of the victims. ( they used to document the lives of every prisoner with pictures and biographies)The place is seedy and dirty and scary as hell.


Then i went to the Killing Fields where all the bodies ( thousands upon thousands) were buried. Quite the creepy vibe as well let me tell you. You can still see old clothing and bones scattered everywhere. The mass graves have been dug up and the landscape is left littered with huge crevasses. A big stupa has been built to commemorate the genocide and is filled top to bottom with skulls.

I can't really express how you feel when you walk around a place like this. It's intense to say the least. But my brain had the hardest time wrapping itself around such evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. Farmers, peasants, intellectuals, bi-linguals, doctors, men, woman, children. There was even a special tree they used to beat children to death against. And another tree they used to hang speakers from to bury the screams during the exections.

Yeah. Great place. But it was worth seeing. And unfortunately for me, guides weren't available at either place so i'll have to read a few books to get to know a little bit more about the Khmer Rouge.

Oh, that's an interesting fact that i didn't expect. French is a bit everywhere still in Cambodia. Especially museums and govermental facilities. I'm told that some elders can still speak pretty well but for most of the population,french is their third language. But this kid at the guesthouse is getting pretty good...

So far on my trip, i would have had no problems bringing my mom to any of my destinations. Bangkok is soooo bland now. But Phnom Penh, a bit more hardcore. ( Don't worry mom, i'm totally fine.) But the first time i left the guesthouse at night, we hadn't walked for 20 seconds and we were offered every single drug you could imagine! Yes, even that one! And apparently, 95% of the massage parlours come with happy endings, so you need to watch out.

But it's not all bad. The tuk-tuk drivers don't piss me off as much as they did in Bangkok. You get offered a ride every 4 seconds, don't get me wrong, but they seem to take rejection better. :)

Today i went to the Russian Market, a smaller, hotter version of the Chattuchak market in Bangkok. I didn't buy anything. Having a hella-small backpack is saving me tons of money. Then i went to the National Museum. It was smaller than expected and a lot of the stuff repeated itself along the way. But the peaceful courtyard filled with coy-ponds was worth it. I sat down and enjoyed the rest of my book ( Breakfast of champions is officially the greatest book ever- everybody go read it now please so we can talk about it!!!) while it rained outside.


Speaking of rain, there hasn't been much of it considering it's the rainy season here. Hopefully that won't change when i'm in Angkor!

Guess what i had for lunch today!? No! Guess again! POUTINE !!!! hahaha I laughed when i saw that on the menu in the Lazy Gecko restaurant. It wasn't really good, but surprisingly, it wasn't the worst poutine i ever had. Well done Cambodia.

I bought my ticket for Siem Riep leaving tommorow morning at 7 o'clock. 6 hour trip for 3 and a half dollars. Oh yeah and Cambodia deals mostly in american dollars. You only need Riels for tuk tuk or moto drivers. ( the moto-drivers are a lot better and less scarier than in bangkok! Don't be scared to try if you ever come...)

So that's pretty much been the last 3 days...i've met some nice people - Chris, Gabs, Rianna and Zoe from England. And a nice guy from finland with whom i've just enjoyed supper with whose name i can't pronounce so i won't even try to write it down.

Enjoy the pics, and more to come soon!

p.s. you also hear a lot about how Cambodia is a country of intense contrasts - good
and evil, beauty and ugliness and so on. These last pictures give you an idea of just that.