Cambodia Experience

Our last day in Siem Reap we went to the floating village. The place is an interesting place and some proof of human adaptation. The lake, in which the village floats, has a huge difference in water level between the seasons. To compensate for this houses were built on bamboo rafts so they move with the water level. It really is fascinating to see how people live on what is almost a scene out of “Water World”, well without the bad acting. And at a lower budget. Fishnet bellow the house, boats serving as a mini-market floating around. It’s an ado to human adaptation, at least as I see it.

Then we left for Phnom Phen. Stayed a night and left for Kratie. If you haven’t heard the name, don’t be surprised. Its a small town with nothing much in it. But its on the Mekong next to where the Irrawaddy dolphins live. For those of you who don’t know it, its sweat water dolphins. We found a hotel we thought was pretty good, went for diner and then to bed. then it became interesting.

We were sitting with our books when we both noticed small animals jumping on our books. I didn’t give it a second thought and dismissed it as some weird tropical bug. Paula however, being the keen biologist that she is, recognized them as flees. “I am not sleeping in a bed with flees!”. So I went to the reception and tried to explain to the non-english-capable-staff that we had flees. I got a bottle of shampoo. I tried again. This time I was more successful in getting through that it was, in fact, some sort of bug. So I got a bug spray. I tried to explain this doesn’t kill flees but failed miserably. At this point one of the small crowd that has gathered around me had the brilliant idea of actually calling someone who can speak English. With this new translator I got through that it was actually flees that we were facing. The staff was not convinced, they wanted to see the flees for themselves. And so back to the room we went: me, the translator, and 3 staff members. Of course it was next to impossible to see any flees. They also said they had no room available. When we said we would leave, a room became available.

It also had flees. even more so. enough for me to show the stuff. So late at night, with the whole town closed we went into the street, bags and all and hurried to the first hotel we found, which luckily was around the corner. It didn’t have flees. It did have air-co, and double the price. But we figured it beats getting flees.

After our nightly escapade we were all ready to see some dolphins. After a short motor ride we got to the dock, where we hired a boat, and a guide and went dolphin searching. It was wonderful to see them. There is just something about dolphins that make me feel all warm inside. we spent about 3 hours looking around with dolphins popping up close and far, in pairs, solo. We even got to see them play here and there. It was an uplifting experience in all manners. After that Cambodia seemed like a much nicer place. The next day we went back to Phnom Phen and I prepared myself mentally for our following day in Phnom Phen. We will be going to Tuol Slang, a.k.a. S-21 and the killing fields.

It was even more difficult than I imagined. S-21 was a school before it was transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. more then 17,000 people were sent there during the two years of the Khmer rouge regime. 6 walked out. It is a horrible place. Even now, after 30 years it seems like you can feel the pain and horror echoing back from the walls that once where home for children’s dreams. The people were not executed in S-21. Instead they were set on trucks and sent to a field about 15km outside of Phnom Phen. Hence the name. It is as of yet unclear how many of these killing fields actually exist. It is a surreal experience to wonder the peaceful groove, full of trees and small holes. to think of the horrors that took place there. People were not shot, because bullets costs money. They were punched to death. Mothers watched as their babies were slammed into trees until they died. Then the mothers were mascaraed. 

I do not want to go into it any further. Instead I wish to note two more things about the place. In S-21 there are paintings made by one of the prisoners. the painting were comissioned by the wardens to describe the different types of torture. One of the paintings shows a method of torture which has been on the news lately, the so called “Water Boarding”. the method the America administration claims is not torture.

The second is a sentence that was written on a wall in a cell block. “We cry about the past but do nothing for the present”. Think about it.

The next day we took the bus from Phnom Phen to Bangkok. This time the border crossing went smooth. We got what we were promised. By 21:30 we were eating Masiman with rice in an alley of Khao San road.