We started our trip in Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is a very busy and crowded city with many cars and lots and lots of scooters. Where as in the Netherlands we take our bike to go everywhere, they ride a scooter, which they use with two, three and sometimes four people at the same time. Crossing the road is quit a challenge. However the solution is very simple: just walk straight ahead and don’t be to careful because they’re used to people crossing the roads every five seconds. Half of the time you walk on the street anyway because the sidewalks are narrow, uneven and have many missing tiles. If there is a proper sidewalk, there will be tables, chairs or scooters parked on it. Lots and lots of scooters. Especially near garage stalls and eateries.
There are small shops everywhere, where they sell water, soft drinks and all kinds of food. Some have converted their bicycles into sales trolleys as well. Really everywhere you go you can buy food and drinks.
It's a very busy city with mainly rocking economy.
Electricity cables hang together in large thick bundles on houses, above traffic lights or in trees. In the evening there are large piles of waste that are sometimes collected, but most of the time it's all open and uncovered on the street. City dwellers go through the garbage looking for plastic that they can sell, and rats and cats find nice snacks in there.
Long story short, Phnom Penh is a hectic city full of colour and smell with lots of chaotic traffic. And of course let's not forget about all those little tuk-tuks because they’re driving around there too.
HOW TO GET THERE
There are a few different ways to go from Amsterdam to Cambodia. You can go by plane to Bangkok, Thailand and then take the bus to Phnom Penh. But there are more options and we took the cheapest one. And let me tell you the cheapest way isn’t always the best nor the fastest.
Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, The Netherlands → Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, France which took about an hour.
Transfer time 2,5 hours.
Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, France → Kunming airport, Yunnan, China which took 7,5 hours.
Transfer time 8 hours.
Kunming airport, Yunnan, China → Phnom Penh airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took about only 2,5 hours.
And this is only just the time we spend at the airport. It was a very very exhausting 36 hours with only 3 hours of sleep.
WHERE TO STAY
We were in Phnom Penh for three days and stayed at Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel. It was a very nice hotel located in the middle of the city, which was very convenient because you could walk almost everywhere.
WHAT TO DO
The first day we didn’t really do that much. We woke up at noon and had to get something to eat so we only had the afternoon. We went to the Tonle Sap river which pulses through the country from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The Tonle Sap River connects the Tonle Sap Lake with the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, and has played a huge part in civilisation for centuries. We walked on the boulevard and came across multiple temples where there were ceremonies going on.
Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng
There is a lot to say about those places but there are no right words. It’s interesting, impressive but most of all it’s overwhelming. When you walk through those places there is this sadness all around you. You feel small and very powerless.
The Killing Fields of Choeng Ek are the best known mass graves. During your visit you are walking near mass graves, the Killing Tree and the Memorial stupa. There is an audio tour with diverse languages that I recommend listening to because it gives a lot of background information about the horrific events of the Killing Fields. The audio tour tells you about the regime and the way people were murdered. At the Killing Tree soldiers grabbed the baby’s by their feet and they were hit with their heads against the tree until they were dead. In one of the fragments of the audio tour they’ll tell you what the tree looked like when it was found. It’s one of the most terrifying things people do to one another. Now the tree is covered with hair elastic bands as memorial to the event. During the rainy season the ground will shift and the fragments of body debris are exposed. When I walked their I saw clothing and bones of the victims who were once buried and now exposed to broad daylight.
The memorial stupa is where the audio tour ends. When we entered the stupa we had to take off our shoes as a respect to the victims. In this memorial stupa there are thousands of skulls, some of which show holes, where people have been beaten to death with an axe or shovel. The number of skulls went up to 4.000, which is nothing compared to the 3 million people who were actually murdered.
In trucks “opponents” of the regime were brought from S-21 (and other prisons) to these Killing Fields. These so called “opponents” were mothers with children, babies and older men. Those trucks came at night and were unloaded while anthems were played so loud in the background that nobody could hear those people crying and shouting.
Before those people were taken to the Killing Fields to be executed, they were tortured for days, weeks or months in the Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. The Tuol Sleng museum, also known as the Genocide museum was a high school until the Khmer Rouge turned it into a torture, interrogation and execution centre. They renamed the school, originally called Tuol Svay Pray High School, S-21.
During the audio tour through the museum you can hear the most horrible things. Eating excrement, pulling out nails and hurting until one becomes unconscious was business as usual. The buildings are covered with barbed wire because prisoners would jump of the building to end the tortures. Of the 14.000 people who entered the prison only 7 survived. The Khmer Rouge made portraits of the prisoners and when you’re visiting the museum you can see 6.000 of the portraits that all tell a shocking and gruesome story.
The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng museum are not the most fun thing you can do, but still I think it is a must if you travel through Cambodia. After visiting this place and hearing more about this period, you understand the country a lot better and the things it struggles with right now.
Other places
Other places we went to are the Golden Temple, which is painted golden on the inside and outside, Central Market and Wat Phnom. What Phnom is actually set on top of a 27m-high tree-covered knoll and is the only ‘hill’ in Phnom Penh. According to legend, the first pagoda on this site was erected in 1372 to house four statues of Buddha deposited by the waters of the Mekong River. One thing to remember is that when you visit a temple make sure to wear long pants or a long skirt because you need to cover your legs. Also in most temples you need t take off your shoes.
You can also visit the Royal Palace but we found that too expensive since it costs $10 dollars per person.
WHERE TO EAT
In Cambodia it is possible to spend only $10 per day on food and drinks, which as we all know is not much. The first few days we had to adapt to the weather and the temperature so we didn’t really eat at local restaurants, and by local restaurants I mean tiny little garage boxes where you can have dinner for $2,50. When we go out for food we just walk around the city until we see something where we would like to eat.
The first evening we went to a place called Tumkratoei. Tumkratoei is a restaurant where the serve mostly Thai food and we ate there for $1,50 to $4,00 per person.
Another nice place, but also a very expensive one compared to Cambodian prices is The Artist. The Artist is a Western guesthouse where they serve all kinds of Western breakfasts like French toasts, American pancakes and yogurt. Don’t ever try to order yogurt in Cambodia. First of all it’s a bit expensive. And second of all it is (almost) never available. They put it on the menu to attract western tourists but they simply don’t have it. Our breakfast costed between $4,40 and $5,50.
Last but not least there is a non-profit organisation called Friends. Friends was founded in 1994 for street children and marginalized youths to give them a future in the hospitality industry. Next to this those children get medical help, education and they learn about their own culture, “Mith Samlanh”
This restaurant was also very expensive and the only reason we went there is because all the profit will be used to build futures for those children. The food was very delicious, though.
You can check out the previous blog about Cambodia here!
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