Phnom Penh- A macabre tourist destination

Tan, Halley and I arrived in Phnom Penh around 9 a.m. Our flight from Bangkok only took an hour. We had to pay $20 for visas in the Phnom Penh International Airport. We filled out the application and handed over the money and our passports. Then we got into a line and waited to get our passports back. The line didn't matter at all because a man pulled out a passport and called out "Hello" and then waived it in the air with the picture showing. He didn't try to read names at all. It was a long line, so things were chaotic.

We were picked up at the airport by a tuk-tuk. Phnom Penh is developing gradually. It has some paved roads and many dirt roads. There are some very nice hotels and French colonial buildings, but most of the town is dirty. Trash was everywhere, and the foodstalls looked too unclean for me to try anything. I saw what must have been some internet cafes setup outside under umbrellas.

We checked into the Sunday Guesthouse. It is located on a dirt road about 10 minutes from the airport. I wanted to call my friend John, but there was no phone for guests to use. So I went looking for a pay phone nearby. I couldn't find one and lots of the locals were trying to get my attention as I walked around. They asked if I needed a tuk-tuk or motorbike or if I wanted to buy postcards. I ignored them and went to one of the street restaurants to ask if I could use a phone. The lady didn't understand, so I pulled out my phone and tried to show her that it didn't have a signal. A man came by, and he could speak a little English. He told them what I wanted. So another man let me borrow his cell phone, and I gave him a dollar. John and I arranged to meet up for dinner. Then we rented a tuk-tuk for the day and went on a tour.

Our first stop was at the Russian Market. It was filled with cheap clothes made in Cambodia. There was also lots of pirated DVDs and CDs. We stopped for lunch and met a couple who were missionaries. They worked with street children. We split up and went shopping. While walking through the market, Halley met a Cambodian girl who tried to talk to her, but she couldn't speak English. Halley noticed that she had been bitten on the hand. She found someone who could translate. The girl had been bitten by a dog and she wanted to go to a doctor. Halley found us and asked what to do. We asked a woman to translate for us. The girl said her mother was not around. We asked if there was a hospital nearby. The woman told us there was a clinic around the corner. It took a while to understand what she said. And when we looked for it, all we found was a drugstore. So Halley bought the girl iodine and bandages for her hand. Then she cleaned her up and put them on. The pharmacist told the girl to get a rabies shot, but I doubt she could afford it. We didn't know where a hospital was, and we didn't want to take her anywhere far away from the market, so we said goodbye.
Next we went to the killing fields in Choeng Ek village. We travelled on dirt roads to get there.

Inside the killing fields genocide memorial, there wasn't much to see. We were confronted by beggars who were mostly children and landmine victims. The most visible reminder of the dead is the memorial building that is filled with skulls of the victims. It is one of those things you see that you can't believe. It is a tall building filled to the roof with skulls. In the green fields, there were ditches that had been used as mass graves. There were signs at various spots that detailed the torture that happened. One of the trees was used. It's ironic that it is a tourist attraction. Cambodia is such a poor country, so it is willing to show history of the genocide to tourists for money. I read an article that said a new tourist attraction will open: the stronghold of Pol Pot. It will have former Khmer Rouge soldiers as tour guides. The article also said that a Japanese company won the bidding to improve the facilities of the Choeng Ek genocide memorial. It will pave the road to get there.

After that we went straight to another grisly sight, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a sad day for us. Tuol Sleng literally has two meanings. One is poison. The other is finding guilt. Both are appropriate because Tuol Sleng was a prison and concentration camp for those who were declared to be enemies of the Khmer Rouge. Thousands were totured and forced to make confessions before they were killed. We saw lots of pictures of victims. They were children, women, teachers, priests, monks, foreigners, and even Khmer Rouge who were called traitors. The place had a very eerie vibe. It used to be a school before it was changed into the prison for its horrible purpose.

I wondered why did I want to see this? Was I disrespecting the dead or honoring them by going to see the genocide musuems? I hope I showed respect for all of human suffering by visiting these places. I want to remember victims of injustice even if I have no direct connection to them. I feel it is my duty to witness the truth, no matter how ugly. I'm not sure what I learned, but I will not forget what I saw.

Later we went across the street to a nice guesthouse and restaurant called Boddhi Tree. We needed to relax after seeing all of that. After that we went to the Central Market and got lost. But we eventually got out of it and found our tuk-tuk driver waiting for us. Then we met John for dinner. He does anti-trafficking work in South East Asia. There are many people who have little or no hope for economic improvement and they risk being smuggled into other countries for a chance at a better life. Unfortunately, many of them find themselves in horrible situations such as slavery or prostitution. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant called Elsewhere. The name was appropriate because it did not feel like Cambodia.
The next morning we left in a hired car for Siem Reap at 5 a.m.