Phnom Penh-The Killing Fields

'To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.' This motto of The Khmer Rouge, under the rule of their leader Pol Pot, was the regime's justification for the deaths of over 2 million people in Cambodia between 1975-1979. Today I visited the site of many of these executions, the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, better known as The Killing Fields on the outskirts of the nation's capital, Phnom Penh. Around 9000 bodies were taken from the ground here in 1980, at which stage the extractions ceased. Many of the bodies buried here were the educated people of the city, whom Pol Pot , (referred to locally as Ta Mok, or 'The Butcher) saw as the greatest threat to the success of his dictatorship.

Words cannot describe the feeling as you walk into these grounds.
Coming home I ran into a Phnom Penh traffic jam.

The guy on the fron of the truck weighs the recycling people give him, then he pays them for it. Brilliant.

View from my new pad.

Angkor Wat. Wat Wat?

After a transit day on Wednesday that involved 10
hours on buses and 3 hours crossing the Thai/Cambodia
border (more fun than it sounds like), I was ready
for some physical activity. It may have been nice to
ease into it, however the 35 degree heat and 70%
humidity around the clock made that idea impossible.

The physical activity itself involved 2 days of exploring and climbing around the ruins of Angkor Wat and it's surrounding temples. The buildings vary in
age between 800 and 1000 years old and are in
relatively good condition, however the tourist
industry is quickly changing their stability as more
and more people climb and jump around the sandstone
ruins.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at
5am to see the sun rise over the main temple, which
was a calming experience after the outgoing pre-dawn
motorcycle adventure.

On the roads in Cambodia, it is
a case of 'do what you can not to run into
someone/something'or get out of the way if it is
bigger than you. eg truck carrying 40 pigs.

The ruins are very imprortant to the Khmer people
both spiritually and financially, with the nearby
town of Siem Reap being almost entirely dependent on
the tourist traffic. The 'Tomb Raider' films with Angelina Jolie were filmed here a few years ago, which apparently has helped raise the region's international profile considerably.

Apparently it is the quiet time
of the year at the moment, however the town doesn't
seem to shut down, with bustling markets and
thousands of motorcycles in various forms running all
hours I was awake.

The food is fantastic, with the street stall
merchants doing all they can to entice you into their
tent for a meal. Last night i recieved a cooking
lesson with my meal from a 14 year old chef, who also
gave me directions to an establishment that sold 2
litre buckets (literally buckets) of 'whiskeycola'
for $3. Ladyboys were extra.

The accomodation broke
the bank though at $4 per night for a perosnal air
conditioned room. Nice one.

The local IGA owner doing a home delivery.

Bumpy Cambodia

This happy little fella grabbed me the second i crossed the somewhat unfriendly border into Cambodia. When I showed him the photo I had taken of him he just ran away laughing his head off, which certainly lightened the mood amongst the group I had been adopted by. Check out the dental work on him...

Bangkok

Finally i made it to another country and kicked off a much needed holiday/journey. After a midnight-140km/hr taxi ride to 'Big John's backpacker' (authentic Thai accomodation), i settled into my new life of living out of a backpack. Surprisingly i fell quickly into a somewhat crowded sleep with my 8 other room-mates, and awoke bright and early to a balmy 32 degree bangkok morning.

First stop was the Indian consulate, where my fears of disaster were put to rest as I was assured I would be issued with a visa next week for my sub-continent travels. A relief to say the least.

After that initial hurdle, I continued my walk through the streets of the city, and racked up somewhere around 10-12 kms for the day easily. Even with multiple bus and tuk-tuk trips, I really had no idea where I was going so the result was a day of 'didn't I see that half an hour ago?' tyil I found a useful map.

The highlight of the day was definately the hour-long english lesson I gave to 3 female police officers who insisted on buying me morning tea and learning of life as a tall Australian man.