The Siem Reap and Angkor Wat experience was much better then I expected. My next stop would be Phnom Penh, the notorious capital of Cambodia. If you read about this city online, it seems like the worst city in South East Asia. I didn't really look forward going to such a place but I had my reasons. I booked a bus with Giant Ibis, this is without a doubt the best bus company in Cambodia. Clean, modern busses, enough legspace, professional luggage storage, airco, free water and snack and fre wifi with a power socket at each seat. They picked me up at the hostel and another long busride started. I think the busride was about 6 or 7 hours with some toilet breaks and a stop at a restaurant. When we arrived in Phnom Penh I was cautious because I read about the stories, motorbike taxi's who drive you to remote areas to rob you, or demand more money, bags getting snatched and taken while you're driving in a tuktuk,.. basicly following to internet a lot of street crime. I got into a tuktuk and secured my backpack with keeping it on my back for the ride, we drove straight to the hostel and except from trying to convince me to use him the next days the ride was smooth. Tuktuks here are also decorated with fences to protect the tourists from street criminals. While checking in in the hostel I read the warnings again for street criminals and how to 'avoid' them.
When I got to my room, a little later an Irish couple walked in, we started talking and decided to get out for food and hang out together the next day. Phnom Penh is not really a beautiful city, the people are poor, the looks of the city are a bit special and I can imagine not everyone feels safe there. We walked to a local restaurant where we got some local food, quite funny to see my new Irish friend ordering chicken and get chicken feet. They looked horrible and I didn't try them but he was brave and ate them. After that we went back to the hostel and had an early bed. Just when he was saying, happy to have a room with airco, we got na powercut for half an hour or more, funny.
Early morning again, breakfast together and ready to start the day. One of the main reasons I came to Phnom Penh was the cheap and fast Vietnam visa handling. They also needed a visa so we went together. I knew this place that was trustworthy and has great reviews online. You don't want to give your passport to some travel agency without knowing if they are trustworthy. The place Cina Travel is what I recommend. We paid 50 dollars and gave a passport picture, we could pick our passports up in the evening. Easiest, fastest and cheapest way I know. After this we wanted to visit the Killing Fields and S21 Prison but we didn't want to negotiate with a Tuktuk driver on the street so I decided to walk to the bus station and see whats there. When we got there, there was a local travel agency with own Tuktuk drivers and they were trustworthy as well. They are located almost next to the Giant Ibis office. We paid 30 dollars for a full day and the driver waiting for us, 10 dollars a person seems like a good deal. The ride to the Killing Fields was pretty interesting amongst local traffic, life and city views. He dropped us off right in front of the entrance and waited till we got back.
The Killing Fields.. This is not qualified as a nice experience. We got an audio guide and the sadness of this place is hard. They created a very interesting visit with a lot of information, combined with stories from people who survived this horror. For the people who don't know what happened here, the Red Khmer killed almost 25% of the Cambodian population, this was done by Cambodians under the rule of a dictator. The Killing Fields are basicly mass graves and places where people got killed in very large numbers. Even today bones, skulls, pieces of cloathing still come out of the earth after raining days. I can't say I enjoyed this visit but I am 'happy' that I did it. This makes you understand what happened in Cambodia and what people can become. There is a lot to see there and its all very sad, at the end there is a massive monument with skulls from the ground level all the way to the roof in a glass building. This is a very impressive but sad experience. This makes you silent and think. When we left we were all a bit silent and emotional in some way.
Our next stop was the S21 Prison, this is also another part of this dark Cambodian history. The building used to be a school but it became a secret prison where they tortured and executed people, they also offer an audioguide which is a must. We walked in and it started to rain, which made the experience of being there even more impressive since the doors were opened and closed by the wind with a bang. The classrooms seemed to be the torture rooms for some or interrogation rooms. The horrible beds are still there combined with pictures of how they found the people there. One classroom is still used today twice a week for local people to talk about what happened there and it got supported by the Belgian government. Its good to know they do something right with my tax money. Since heavy rain was falling we spend about an hour there in the first building but it gave us time to listen to the stories from the people who were there and I must say every single story is really, really sad. The story about one girl in particular made me feel so sorry and sad for the short and horrible life she had. It stopped raining and we moved on to the next building, this one was full of pictures from people who have been staying there, most of them did not survive. Pictures of men, women, children,.. It didn't really matter to them they killed everyone. Also 2 western men who made their interrogation quite funny, they saw them as spies and demanded to give CIA information, he gave all funny telephone numbers and funny names, one of the numbers he gave was from the owner of KFC restaurants but both of them got executed as well within 2 weeks. The next building were prison cells, very small, interesting to see but not a nice experience. The tour continues to another building, this one was full of pictures, the "nice" thing about listening to the stories of people on the audioguide is that later in your visit you get to see the picture of the person, which makes it even more sad then it already was. Its very emotional looking at the picture and knowing the story about the sad life they had. Also knowing that this are just a few stories, there were millions of people killed,.. The next room is full of torture instruments and human bones, skulls,.. When we walked towards the exit there is a stand with a survivor sitting. I can't imagine how he can be there, every single day sitting in the place with all those horrible memories. It really makes you silent.
We got back on our Tuktuk and went straight to the hostel to recover a bit, we went to get our passports back, they were waiting when we arrived, very professional service, everything perfectly handled. I also booked my bustrip to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam with them for the next morning. I can't recommend this place enough, Cina Travel ! On the way back to the hostel we stopped for food, had some conversations about the day and then went back to the hostel and prepare for tomorrow with an early sleep.
I had a very interesting time in Phnom Penh, it was great to spend the day with the Irish couple. I also want to say, give Phnom Penh a chance, it is not a beautiful city, its a bit dirty, it is poor but we didn't have the smallest problem there, if you use your mind the chances of getting robbed or getting in problems with street criminals are small, those things can happen to you anywhere. Like I said we didn't have the smallest problem at all. Do use your common sense but don't judge a city already before you've been there. I wouldn't stay there for more then 2 days because there are nicer places but I don't think its the hellhole internet reviews make it look like.
Until the next adventure!
