F E L I N E R S

Somewhere in the midst of our stay in KL, Peter rang me and said, "Hey what do you say we go to Phnom Penh for a few days instead of spending the whole week in Sydney next week? I am at the MAS office right now."

His suggestion surprised me of course - I just stepped out of Kinokuniya after spending the last two hours browsing through various Lonely Planet guides including Peru and Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. I just could not resist the Indochine travel descriptions on Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia. Now he's asking what I think about going to Cambodia? I said to him, "Fantastic, sweetie."

We have been in KL for almost week since returning from Koh Samui. According to our original itinerary, we're suppose to fly to Sydney in a couple of days to spend another week there before catching our plane back to NY.

I went to buy Lonely Planet Cambodia and the next day we sorted our accommodation online. After much huffing and puffing, we ended up booking the Le Royal, described by the website as 'one of Asia's classic colonial-era hotels'. True to its words, the place was absolutely charming with its original wooden floors and claw-foot bath.

The hotel opened in 1929 and hosted Charlie Chaplain, Somerset Maugham and Jackie Kennedy - all of whom now have 'personality suites' named after them. We stayed a few doors away from the Somerset Maugham suite (btw, go watch the newly-released movie The Painted Veil, based on the classic novel by the writer, starring Naomi Watts & Edward Norton. He's so sexy in it ha!).

The creaking wooden stairs

Corridor. I really like the floor tiles. Somehow I think they've renovated it a wee bit over the top. Should have left it with a more rustic feel rather than grande.

Restaurant terrace where we had breakfast

Apparently between 1970 and 1975 most journalists working in Phnom Penh stayed here, and part of the film The Killing Fields was set in the hotel (though it was actually filmed in Hua Hin, Thailand).

Wat Phnom sits on a tree covered hill about 30m high in the northeast of the city, real close to the hotel. The first pagoda was built in 1373 to house four statues of the Buddha deposited here by the Mekong river. It was discovered by a woman named Penh. Thus, the name Phnom Penh, the hill of Penh.

The area is a real zoo. A bunch of activities take place here. You see beggars, street urchins, women selling drinks and children selling birds in cages (you pay to set the bird free locals claim the birds are trained to return to their cage afterwards). Dozens of cute monkeys running around too.

The most attractive part of Phnom Penh has to be the riverfront. I could spend hours just strolling along, stopping in bars and cafes and watching children play with rudimentary toys, families of six or seven jammed onto 100cc motos, and ferries crossing the river.

Khmer boy at the riverfront. He's an exhibitionist, ain't he?

The next day, we walked a few kilometres down Monivong Blvd to a bike rental store, Lucky Lucky as recommended by Lonely Planet. Khmers stared at us along the way. They stared at Peter, they stared at me. They're very friendly people though - just smile at them to break the ice.

Hunny you need to improve on your photographic skills lah.

Monivong Blvd, the main boulevard that runs north-south.

Traffic comes & goes at all directions in Phnom Penh. There are hardly any traffic lights at all, except at main crossroads. Everyone gives way to one another!

I noticed the the word 'luck' is rather popular when it comes to naming businesses in Phnom Penh.

Peter posing in front of Lucky Burger. Incidently, he is wearing his "Luck is for Losers" t-shirt. Haha.

One of the two things that I highlighted as 'must see' places during our short stay is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or also known as "Security Prison 21" (S-21) during the Khmer Rouge regime. Formerly Tuol Svay Prey High School, the Khmer Rouge regime converted the five buildings of the complex in 1975 into a prison and interrogation centre.

From 1975 to 1979, the regime imprisoned and tortured an estimated 17,000 people here (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000, though the real number is unknown).

Entrance of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Just being there I feel so much - eeriness by standing in the classrooms-turned-prison cells, anger and disgust at the Khmer Rouge militia, empathy for those who lost their family members and friends. In just four years, the regime got rid of almost a quarter of Cambodia's population. So it is very likely that almost every adult Khmer you meet has his/her own family story about the communist Khmer Rouge regime.

Upon arrival at the prison, prisoners were photographed and required to give complete biographical information. After that, they were forced to strip naked, and all their possessions were removed.

Those taken to the smaller cells were shackled to the walls. The prisoners had to sleep on the floors, while still shackled.

Children and babies were not spared. Peter got me to take this photo. In another life, she could be our adopted Cambodian baby sweetie.

The torture system at Tuol Sleng was designed to make prisoners confess to whatever crimes their captors charged them with. Prisoners were tortured with electric shocks, searing hot metal instruments and hanging, as well as through the use of various other devices. Painting done by one of the seven alive former inmate.

For further reading on the Pol Pot/communist Khmer Rouge regime I recommend the books First They Killed My Father & Lucky Child by Loung Ung and the film Killing Fields. For an eye-opening(and shocking) insight into how things really work in the capital of Cambodia politically, socially, and culturally read Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja by Amit Gilboa.

We had late afternoon snacks at the Boddhi Tree Umma guesthouse, a traditional style house renovated and furnished in a contemporary style using locally produced décor right opposite the museum. It has a cute little garden.

Phnom Penh is a relatively small city and we spent the rest of that day riding the bike, zipping across boulevards, taking in the city's sights and attractions. I had a camera in one hand and a map on the other.

The Independance Monument in the middle of the city

National Museum of Cambodia. Home to a stunning collection of ancient Khmer art, dating from both the Angkorean and pre-Angkorean eras.

The distinctive art-deco styling of the Central Market (Psar Thmei) makes it a standout in the architecture of Phnom Penh. You will find a myriad of stalls offering t-shirts, jewellery, postcards, flowers, house ware, and electronic goods.

I like those cactus. They're very cute!

Psar Thmei in all its glory.

The kids. They steal my heart again and again. That's why you brought me to Cambodia, didn't you, sweetie? You're trying to turn me into a baby person.

The following day we made our own way to the Choeung Ek Memorial about 15km outside of Phnom Penh. Most tourist hire motos or tuk tuks but we decided to make our own way there on the bike as the guidebook says "directions are quite straightforward and well-posted in English". So we thought, okay. We've got a bike, a map and the directions from the guidebook. We didn't have any problems getting there and it was easy to tell if you're on the right track - you'll see tourist in motos, tuk tuks and cars.

Jeans anyone? We stopped at this shop on Mao Tse Tuong Blvd for Peter to buy a hat. The weather was soaring hot.

After a mere 10-15 minutes ride we find ourselves in the rural area. We got an insight into the real Cambodia. Some 80% of Cambodians live outside of the main cities.

Even the cows are skinny.

The gravel path isn't exactly the best surface to ride a bike on.

It was disturbingly peaceful at the Choeung Ek Killing Field. Thousands of Cambodians died at the hands of other Cambodians throughout the four years Khmer Rouge nightmare. Prisoners detained at Tuol Sleng, or S-21 were mostly brought out here after interrogation to be executed. They were killed by being battered with iron bars, pickaxes, machetes and many other makeshift weapons; they were seldom shot because bullets were viewed as too precious for this purpose. Excavated mass graves have yielded a gruesome harvest of human bones, some still covered in ragged clothes.

A memorial shrine containing the skulls of over 8,000 victims

17 levels of skulls of victims of Pol Pot, sorted by sex and age


Some of the excavated pits that were mass graves

The Killing Tree: Executioners beat children against this tree to kill them

Mass grave of more than 100 victims of women & children who were majority naked

Later that day we arranged for a sunset cruise on the Tonle Sap & Mekong River. It was a breathtaking experience.

We were picked up from the hotel in a tuk tuk.

My favourite shot. I didn't realize that the lens cap was stuck and was only partially open, which resulted in the fading black edges on the bottom left and top right corners.

The riverfront. The Buddhist Institute in the background.

Phnom Penh from a distance

On the other side of the river, Cambodians live alot more modestly. No wait, correction. Not modestly. I think they barely even have the basic necessities.