I couldn't confirm my trip to Cambodia until 6 days before it, although I bought the tix like 9 months back. My friend CP had to withdraw from the trip due to work commitment.
If it wasn't for my "kind" lecturer who postponed my Advanced Maths test a week back, I'd missed backpacking such a wonderful yet extraordinary country.
My sprained left ankle is in it's 5th week now, no where near full fitness, but it ain't stopping me anyway.
On 20.7.11 (Wednesday), I woke up around 4.30am, and reached LCCT around 5.40am. I checked-in and met up with 4 other friends of mine - Ting Ting, Wei Kong, Hao, and Qun.
They were people I initially met on an online travel forum (Cari), and turned out to be friends from my hometown!
The flight took around 1.5 hours.
Anyway, I had (quite a nice) breakfast of AirAsia chicken rice, slept for the rest of the flight.
We reached Phnom Penh airport and I had a shock of my life talking to the taxi/tuk-tuk agents hovering for customers.
A man practically spoke perfect Malay and that convinced us to take his tuk-tuk driver.
5 of us on a tuk-tuk to our guesthouse - Nawin Guesthouse, which is located near the river. I think it cost around $6.
My 4 friends had booked their (double) rooms. No doubt, I was the odd one. A single room cost $20, a double room cost $20, while a triple room $30. It's an acid test on my new travel mates.
TT and WK were understanding and courteous enough. Being a "valentine couple", they didn't hesitate to share a triple room with me. Quite gratefully, from that moment onwards, I knew I traveled with the right people.
Without wasting much time, the first stop was Tuol Sleng, or S21.
$2 per entry, along with this guide
A little bit of rules during the darkest days of Cambodian history (Click to enlarge)
Not so VIP rooms I guess
Facilities
WK our pro-photographer
The gallows -It still looks scary today
In case you don't know what is going on, please Google "Khmer Rouge" and "Pol Pot".
In summary, there was a bad civil war in Cambodia in 1975-1979, where 2,000,000 people were killed by:
Pol Pot - The communist
Somehow, they had lots of pictures at S21
Womens with babies are not spared too
It was a genocide, by your own people
Nazi Hitler somehow had a twin brother in South East Asia.
And it's hard to imagine that this took place only 20 years ago!
This skull was drilled in from the top
Some were drowned
Or had their nipples removed
Or basically hanged and dried-up
If that wasn't enough of horror, we head to the Killing Field, which is located around 18km from the town.
Our tuk-tuk driver - $15 to rent his service that day, with additional lessons of simple Khmer (Cambodian language)
It took like 30 minutes and very very dusty road to reach
(Remember to bring your face masks)
The monument for the dead
I think it's the first time I've been to such a place
The number of skulls proofs how cruel Pol Pot was
Mass graves
Victim's rags
Victim's bones
The magic tree - Where they hung a loud speaker to cover-up the terrible cries
I think the very point of visiting the 2 places is to remind the world not to take peace for granted.
The distress was eminent, and that I hope this will not happen in my beloved Malaysia.
We headed back to town for lunch and explore downtown Phnom Penh.
The food were conventional, like what we have in Malaysia
The famous "Amok" - Taste just like Rendang Ayam
Our restaurant by the river
Later, we went to Wat Phnom.
Which I thought was quite majestic
Signboard
A poor elephant
Strong Chinese culture in Phnom Penh
A clock for the sky?
We did some additional sight-seeing around Phnom Penh, and I went to get my bus tix to Kratie the next morning. The Sim cards here are expensive though ($7 for one, without any credit, so we ditched it). Then we were back to our guesthouse at around 3pm.
My mates, visibly tired after spending the whole night at LCCT after transiting from JB, took some much needed afternoon sleep.
Without disturbing my mates, and telling TT not to wait for me for dinner if I came back late, I left the guesthouse into Phnom Penh town, at around 4.30pm with a map and my trusted Sony camera, off to explore this new place.
I started walking along the Tonle Sap/Bassac river, where I passed by the royal palace and various places of interest.
Palace guards (Snapping their pics from afar)
Mobile food stall
While resting on a bench, these 2 couples started showing their affection to each other
Then I walk towards downtown, and walked thru this long square.
Similar to Saigon and Hanoi Vietnam, I find a sense of simplicity and content-ness in the people's life. Evenings are spent outside doing healthy activities.
You don't see this often in KL
Group dancing
Seeing your child grow up
Your favourite music
And when I thought back about the horrible scenes I visited in the morning, I realize, that the people here are just happy to live their daily life. Peace eluded them in the near past, and being able to spend their evening out freely, makes their day.
I believe the kids know the past too
Lok-lok by the road
Time's changed quite a lot from those cruel days
China-Cambodia monument
Somehow found some Hong Kong influence here~
People of all walks of life walk towards - Independent Monument
It's a symbol of prosperity, peace and freedom for all
Life's simple.
Life's precious.
Life's wonderful.
Public Bank Cambodia, not bad...
Confusing phone lines, again
Along the way, when I was a little moved to get a motodop (motor-taxi) to get me back to the guesthouse, a tuk-tuk approached me and stroke up a conversation. After some intense price war, I got up the tuk-tuk, who would bring me to a shopping center called Sorya, to the other side of the Mekong river, and Nagaworld Casino. This 1 hour ride cost $3.00.
The first 2 places were nothing much. I wanted to see Nagaworld Casino, but quite miracle-ly, we only passed thru it, and the driver was heading back to my guesthouse. I sensed something wasn't right, and kept on reminding him. He made "don't no".
After like 1-2km from the casino, I made my point to him strongly. I didn't buy his reason of no parking of tuk-tuk at Nagaworld, and insisted to tour Nagaworld, for a mere 15 minutes. Of course I made my point very clear that we've agreed before hand, and that what he's doing is going against what we've agreed.
I've done some research of Cambodia, and know that the people are generally god-fearing, believing in Karma, and respected their promises. After some hesitation, he made a U-turn and dropped me off at Nagaworld Casino.
Knowing and fighting for my rights as a tourist and consumer would help me a lot in my following days in Cambodia.
Genting like Casino? That's why I want to find out
Entrance deco
Quite awful performance, to be honest
No photos were allowed in the casino. I managed to watch few either Singaporean or Penangite guys "on top form" playing their Russian Roullete.
It's the same story at Genting's casino. I am working in a subsidiary of Genting Group, and I've no doubt, that you'll never beat the house.
I left after walking a few rounds, seeing people tireless hoping to earn money thru gambling. But one thing to be glad, is that there're not many locals inside the casino.
Had a simple dinner (maggi goreng) for $2.90, and called it a day
The next-day, it'll be adventurous. I'll take a separate journey to unknown Kratie, by taking the east-coast way, while my 4 other friends will travel west to Battambang.
My first time backpacking alone in a foreign land.
2 comments:
quite an adventure for 1 day :)
Thanks a lot~
More to come!
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