Kaitie and Caroline, being the geniuses that they are, arrived in the scariest country yet with no accomodations booked! They stepped out of the airport in the early evening and had various offers for transportation into the city. They finally settled on one guy and his "tuk-tuk" who gave off the least amount of creepy vibe. In this area a lot of Tuk tuk drivers work on commission meaning that if they take you to a certain place like a hotel they will make some money as well. Luckily our driver was affiliated with a nice hotel that was reasonably priced and thus Kaitie and Caroline set up camp there for the next two nights. Because our driver was not that creepy we agreed to meet him at 9:00am and have him be our driver for the next day to take us around to all the main attractions.
Kaitie and Caroline went to sleep fearing that they would not wake up in the morning as Caroline has a tendency to ignore her alarm completely or accuse kaitie of crawling over her and turning it off. And well putting all your trust in Kaitie can be scary but so far it has worked out. Anyways its nearing wake up time in the morning when all of a sudden Kaitie and Caroline are jolted awake at 7:00am to what sounds like the countdown before a rocketship launch. Over a loud speaker was a man speaking in Khmer (Kaitie and Caroline's Khmer was a little rusty so we obviously had no idea what they were saying) and then all of a sudden little kids broke out into song which could only be assumed to be the national anthem. Flash backs of morning announcements and school came rushing over the two and as the scary man talking over the loud speaker in the middle of the city was scary enough, Kaitie and Caroline quickly distracted themselves with the lovely flatscreen tv and decided to just get ready!
It was 9:00am our driver was there waiting, Kaitie and Caroline were ready (miracle we know!). Crawling into our Tuk-Tuk we were off to the Royal Palace. It was read in the Lonely Planet book that this place requires you to be wearing longer shorts not "skimpy" and shirts that covered ones shoulders. As Caroline has long legs and no matter what shorts she wears will look short was accused of wearing these so called "Skimpy shorts" and thus had to rent pants to walk through the grounds of the palace LOL. PLease note it is only about 9:30am and we are already sweating from the hot sun so pants was just a lovely cherry on the sundae. The palace was pretty cool as all the plants and trees looked like something straight out of the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland! There was also a buddha that was made of silver and had 25 carats of diamonds on it. Kaitie and Caroline like shiny diamonds!!!! The building in which this Buddha was also had a floor that was made of silver tiles. Although tarnished we still enjoyed the silver floor as it was nice and cool on our feet as you were required to remove your shoes when entering all the buildings.
After the Royal Palace it only seemed right to make our way to the shooting range lol. Yes the shooting range! Kaitie and Caroline were determined to shoot their AK47's on their trip. The shooting range was nothing what we were expecting but really what can one really expect when going to a shooting range in Cambodia. Kaitie and Caroline were sat down at a table and handed two folders that looked like menus. Yes we were handed a menu of guns! You could shoot anything from a hand gun to a rocket launcher. Although Caroline has always wanted to shoot a grenade launcher the thought of spending $100USD to do so seemed a little out of her budget. Kaitie and Caroline also contemplated the rocket launcher which you shot at a mountain but again $350USD could not be justified LOL. SO AK47's it was! Up first was Miss Kaitlin Jubb. With army jackets on and ear muffs lol we headed into the shooting range where there was a table and a chair which pointed towards a long corridor where at the other end was a target stapled to a whole bunch of tires. As Kaitie didn't have her glasses she just aimed for white and gave it her all. It was like she channelled Rambo or something because with both the single shot and automatic setting she looked like she knew what she was doing. After her magazine was out the guy retrieved her target in where she had two kill shots (one in the head and one in the chest) in addition to hitting the 5 pointer target. Please note Caroline felt much safer at this point knowing that Kaitie could handle a gun. Next up was Miss Caroline Smith. Super nervous of the kick back from the gun due to her frail body she sat down and began firing. Suprise Suprise the kick back was strong banging her shoulder that likes to dislocate itself with every shot. As Caroline is also blind she just aimed the best she could and gave it her all on both single shot and automatic settings. Although not so Rambo"Esque" she still fired the AK47 like it was nobodys business LOL. The magazine was out! Caroline's Shoulder was sore and already bruising! The guy retrieved her target and the only area in which Caroline shot her target was in the same shoulder that the AK47 bit her! Caroline believes in equal and fair play! Please note Kaitie did not feel so safe knowing that Caroline has no future in the armed forces although happy that she won't be playing with guns either. Shooting range = success. Also note it took over a week and a half before the bruising went away on Caroline's shoulder! Don't worry, we didn't think photos would be enough, so we have captured the experience on video for all to see!
Back to reality Kaitie and Caroline were back in the Tuk Tuk off to their next stop which was the "Killing Fields". We now understand why they take people to the shooting range first. For those who don't know, in the mid-70s a party called the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, and their reign ultimately led to a genocide. The country still is not fully recovered from this tragedy. The killing fields are a very blunt name as that is exactly what it was. This was where they brought their prisoners (academics, high ranking officials, anyone who posed a threat to thier reign) after they tortured them at a prison located in Phnom Penh, known as S-21. There are over 120 massive grave sights which could hold up to 400 people in a single plot. Only 80 of these sights have been excavated, meaning this was a massive graveyard. At the center of the grounds, the government has since constructed a 17 level monument containing the skulls, bones, and clothes of the victims as a constant reminder of the genocide that has occurred. There was also a small museum that outlined in very graphic details of how people and small children were tortured and brutally murdered, sparing no details. Although we were standing in the killing fields and saw with our own eyes the skulls of the victims, it was extremely difficult to wrap our heads around what actually occurred, and not very long ago. In addition, we found we had to made sure to try and distance ourselves, as it would be way to much to handle to fully immerse yourself in what happened where you were standing.
The next place we were brought was the S-21 prison, which was originally a grade school, which the Khmer Rouge transformed into a torture center. Words cannot describe nor give justice to what it was like to actually be in this place. This prison contained 4 different buildings, all of which had their own horrifying purpose. They tortured tens of thousands of people here and it was evident that this occurred, as there were still blood stains on the floors and walls, and the devices used to to torture these people still remained in the rooms. In each room there were graphic pictures of victims who were tortured by these same exact devices, leaving nothing to the imagination. In each room there were hundreds of pictures of victims. Many were mug shots of the prisoners but there were also pictures of the dead bodies of these people after they had been brutally murdered. We repeat there was very little left to the imagination. Some of the buildinges were made into holding cells from either brick or wood but were extremely small in order to hold the constant flow of prisoners being brought to this jail. Although we tried to distance ourselves as much as we could an overwhelming uneasy feeling was unavoidable. This feeling is difficult to explain but in a way it felt like walking through a haunted house not knowing what scary thing you would see next. You could feel a distinct heavy presence in every room you walked into, especially those wth makeshift jail cells, and the feeling got so strong and overwhelming in these that we had to leave. It is so difficult to beleive that something so tragic occurred only 30 years ago. Although this was an extrememly emotionally draining experience that we will no doubt carry with us forever, it was something very important to be able to understand the Cambodian people and everything they have been through as a country. We appreciated the fact that everything was so vivid and direct, thus not trying to hide what truly occurred. It is beleived that this education will hopefully prevent such tragedies from occurring again in the future.
It was definitely a different kind of day!
