Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2015
The Killing Fields
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| Another great start to the day, with Bruce going native this time! | |
If the previous day's first view of the city by daylight had
been interesting, today's was spectacular. Rays of bright sunshine
were lighting up an infinity of low-rise buildings against a
backdrop of dark grey sky, to memorable effect. Once again, we got
the day off to an excellent start by having breakfast in the club
lounge, with first-class service from the friendly and helpful
staff, and our choice of hot dishes cooked to order.
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| Bound for the Killing Fields | ||
Today's plan involved taking a sobering but important look at one the most disturbing acts of violence in recent history – the genocide inflicted upon Cambodia by Pol Pot and his despotic Khmer Rouge regime during the second half of the 1970s. We intended to make the short (15km/30 min) journey to Choeung Ek, site of the most famous of the Killing Fields, and the one dramatised in the Academy Award-winning movie of the same name. In the event we found a tuk-tuk dropping a passenger off in the hotel driveway and successfully negotiated a rate with the driver for him to take us to our destination, wait for two hours and bring us back again. So off we went! Our young driver this morning turned out to be very likeable. As he constantly looked happy, we took to calling him Smiley - though not, of course, to his face.
On arrival at Choeung Ek we said a temporary goodbye to Smiley, who indicated where we would later find him parked. An audio guide was included in the admission charge for the site, giving details of the thousands of murders that took place here, many in gruesome fashion using blows to the skull with blunted hoes. Even more harrowing were the accounts of babies being flung repeatedly against trees, in order to save bullets. The guidebook warned that the entire site was really quite disturbing, and that visitors should be prepared. People followed the numbered trail in understandably sombre mood, amid signs asking visitors not to walk through mass graves or tread on bone fragments. The trail ended at a Buddhist memorial stupa, filled with human skulls from 5,000 of the victims of Choeung Ek. After returning our headsets, we were able to visit a small museum and watch a short film.
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The drive back to central Phnom Penh seemed to be
proceeding smoothly, with Smiley doing a good job, as previously. At one
particular section with a prolonged lane closure for roadworks, we
had what I thought was a near miss - which in a more logical world
would be called a near hit - when the driver of another car started
to
pull out from the side of the road into the main traffic lane, just
as we were passing. Instead of looking in his mirror or over his shoulder,
he had his eyes
glued to something on the centre console - almost certainly a mobile
phone. We then started talking about how, despite all the weaving,
corner-cutting, contra-flow / wrong-way driving, and so on, nobody
ever seemed to have a crash. And ... CRUNCH! That
same, stupid driver that I'd spotted moments earlier had now run
into the back of our tuk-tuk.
Examining the damage in the travel lane soon resulted in much honking of horns from behind, so both vehicles moved into premises at the side of the road. Much arguing ensued between the two drivers, though without anger. 'Idiot Driver' was trying to insist that it wasn't his fault (as if it's ever OK to run into the car in front) and that no damage had been caused (while it clearly had). Eventually he handed a bundle of local banknotes to our driver, which closed the incident. At least no-one was hurt.
Our
driver even managed to produce his trademark smile again as we returned to the
InterContinental. A children's Christmas fair was in progress at the
hotel, attracting lots of expat and local families, and completely
changing the character of the lobby area. After cooling off for a
bit in the room, we had a tasty and ridiculously cheap lunch in a
local restaurant directly bordering the hotel grounds.
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| Walking to Tuol Sleng Prison |
Our cheery day continued with an afternoon visit to the Tuol Sleng Prison & Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. Also known as S-21, this was the torture headquarters for the Khmer Rouge, and the last stop for most of the victims whose lives ended so brutally at Choeung Ek. Tuol Sleng was 2km from the hotel, and we decided to walk. Although the distance wasn't huge, the afternoon heat and the obstacle-course nature of some of the footpaths made for a relatively arduous walk.
Compared to our morning excursion, Tuol Sleng was somewhat disappointing. It was basically a derelict prison with cells containing bed frames and 'No Photography' signs - and that was about it! We didn't spend overly long there and returned to the InterContinental by tuk-tuk.
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| The pool had been quiet at lunchtime | |
We headed for the pool again, following the same
pattern as the previous day. The area had looked its best a few
hours earlier at lunchtime, when I had managed to get a couple of
photos (right). Now, sadly, it had become quite busy,
and the other guests included some boisterous kids, a Chinese man
who was constantly spitting, and a young couple who were all over
each other and really should have been thinking about heading back to
the privacy of their room.
(They did eventually.)
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| Xiang Palace turned out to be a let-down | |
Later in the evening, we enjoyed a final 'happy hour' in the delightful club lounge. What was meant to have been a blowout dinner in the hotel's upmarket Chinese restaurant, however, turned out to be a mistake. The place had no ambience at all, the staff there freaked us out by scrutinising our every move, the menu was overpriced and the food adequate but nothing special. It was the only disappointing aspect of an otherwise memorable stay at the InterContinental Phnom Penh.