Our day starts with us docking for 2 nights in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It was certainly an unlucky place for the residents of Phnom Penh when Pol Pot rolled into town in April 1975. It’s a modern-looking city today, but it carries some deep scars. If you only want warm, happy holiday stuff, I suggest you skip the next three paragraphs.
Pol Pot’s rise to fame was on the back of claiming he was raising an army to fight for the return of Cambodia’s exiled King. However, when he defeated the pro-US government, he viewed the residents of Cambodia’s capital as traitors. He set about exterminating them through hard work on minimum food rations when they were effectively deported to the countryside. Anyone viewed as being connected with any type of authority was sent to a converted school in the city centre, renamed S 21.
Seventeen thousand entered the gates of the prison, and all were documented and photographed. This now forms a pictorial memorial of all but 7 who died on site, or died in what became known as the killing fields. In the photographs on display are young children and mothers with their babies, who were all treated as enemies of the state and murdered.
As with our next stop at the killing fields, I could not bring myself to photograph the horrendous things on display, just some external photos. Three million Cambodians were murdered by their fellow countrymen who were convinced by Pol Pot they were the internal enemy. A message for us all I think. The killing Fields, if possible, was even worse. We visited what was one of many camps where those “Traitors” were sent for termination. The area was littered with sites in various states of excavation where people were murdered while standing on the edge of their soon to be grave. Most were dispatched by a blow to the back of the neck with a heavy bamboo stick, as they did not want to waste ammunition. I will spare you the worst thing we were confronted with, as even recalling the description made me feel physically sick. To honour the memory of the fallen, a memorial chamber has been built to hold excavated remains. All 17 stories of it. Again, no photos, just one of a moving memorial on the site. We are glad we went, but we would never want to go again.
Welcome back to those who skipped the bad stuff. As I am writing this blog outside of Cambodia and have no plans to go back, I can tell you the current President was one of Pol Pot's top generals. In fear for his own life when Pol Pot became increasingly paranoid, he and his men deserted the Khmer Rogue, but later led an army with Vietnam’s support to retake the country. Cambodia is in effect a corrupt dictatorship, just one party still led by a man who supported Pol Pots rise to power. The party have many offices across the city that more closely resemble palaces than government buildings. Because of corruption when the locals try to start their own business, the government mafia look for what is effectively protection money. There is a stark demonstration of the consequences of this when we approached the river border between Cambodia and Vietnam. As you cross the border, what were empty river banks are suddenly filled with fish factories and associated private businesses. It struck me that Vietnam claims to be communist, but is not, whereas Cambodia claims to be an open, free-market democracy, but is the opposite. Weird!
To lighten our mood, for $15 we booked a Tuk Tuk for the afternoon to explore the city on our own, as well as make a visit to the Central Market. Compared to the poor countryside, the city felt very affluent, with many very expensive cars cruising around the town, either linked to government officials or the families of “Tycoons”. For about half a million dollars, you can purchase the title “Tycoon” which according to a local in an unguarded moment, provides preferential access to government contracts.
The following morning at 4:38 am, Julie and I were rudely awoken by a call to prayer from the only mosque in Phnom Penh. Despite less than 1% of the population being Muslim, the mosque is allowed to have a loudspeaker blast across the city at what I would call an ungodly hour. Now what is wrong with a phone app that provides those who wish, with a personal call to prayer, rather than inflict beliefs based wailing on those of us nursing a really bad hangover.
Despite the early start, we enjoyed another wonderful breakfast and shared a table with a lovely American couple from South Dakota. The WiFi on the ship is our only complaint as it has been very poor and provides the context for what follows. Now Julie was chatting about staying in contact with family and friends and asked if they were able to get internet last night. Well our new friends looked shocked and it was clear we had made some kind of serious error, but no. They thought Julie had asked “ Did you get intimate last night.” Needless to say this misunderstanding provided many hours of fun over the remaining days together.
Our second day provided a relaxing afternoon and we probably made too much use of the pool bar before all of us onboard hit the streets in a convoy of Tuk Tuks. This was to explore the city at night which was buzzing.
Our tour took us to a rum distillery for some free tasting and to be honest, I would give it a miss as Henley Distillery rum is soooo much nicer. The only other slightly distasteful part of our evening was our tour ran through the red light district. Gawking at what to us looked like very young girls available for rent was not a highlight of the Phnom Penh evening.
Arrival at our ship offered 2 delights. First, a band for some pre-sleep disco exercise. Second and most important, the captain had rotated the ship so now our cabin was against the dock and protected from the wailing mullah which offered an undisturbed nights sleep.
Another link to finish, this one inspired by our evening of dancing away in an exotic paradise, enjoy: https://youtu.be/h0ffIJ7ZO4U?si=jWBBWDZBec8PIDXE
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