Exploring Phnom Penh

Meeting New Friends and Silver and Gold

Em and I woke up before the sun to catch a bus to Cambodia’s capitol city, Phnom Penh. We said goodbye to Siem reap, which had been good to us, and boarded a Mekong Express bus out of town. Our bus had big comfy seats that reclined, AC that was on way too high, and came with a free bottle of water and a packet of cookies. Of the myriad of ways you can transverse the 125 miles between the two cities, this was one of the fastest (5.5-6 hrs on average) and most comfortable ways.

Since we had to change our plans a bit for this trip, we ended up in Phnom Penh with an extra day. Our original hotel didn’t have a room available for the extra night, so we booked a set of beds in a four women dorm at what turned out to be a very nice hostel. Our roommates were two girls from Austria, Hanna and Katerina, traveling for four+ months on a motor bike they bought off a Couchsurfing host in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They’re traveling with no plans and a lot of time; and I’m insanely jealous. 

Since our bus ride into town was 6 hrs, we didn’t have a lot of time to see much upon arrival. Our one stop for the day was to the Silver Pagoda complex.   

The Silver Pagoda is where the King meets with monks, Royal ceremonies are preformed, and where a collection of priceless Buddhist and historical objects are kept. The complex also houses beautiful grounds, stupas (dome shaped buildings erected as Buddhist shrines and in this case also memorials to various Royal descendants), shrines, mounuments, and the galleries of the Reamker (large murals depicting the Khmer version of the Indian epic of Ramayana).

The Silver Pagoda itself is a ornate structure that known locally as Wat Preah Keo, or ‘Temple of the Emerald Buddha’. It was originally built out of wood by King Norodom in 1892, but later rebuilt as as an opulent building bejeweled with silver and gems in 1962. The floor is comprised of more than 5,000 silver tiles, the staircase leading to the pagoda is made of Italian marble, and inside the temple is a life sized gold Buddha wearing 2,086 diamonds. Surprisingly, most of the temple and its relics survived the Khmer Rouge.

Across the street from the Silver Pagoda is the Royal Palace (although the Silver Pagoda is technically within the palace grounds). The public can wander large swatches of the sprawling grounds and formal gardens (they just can’t go into any of the Royal family’s living quarter areas). If you see a raised blue flag, that means that the King is home. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to view any of the Palace grounds as they were closing for the day at the time we finished admiring the Silver Pagoda.

Atrocities Happen Everywhere and it’s Gutwhrenching

Just a warning that this section talks about the tragic and gruesome past of Cambodia and may make people uncomfortable.

Phnom Penh is the capitol and largest city in Cambodia. It became the current capitol city in 1865, during the French Colonial era (it also stood as the capitol city of the Khmer empire from 1434 until 1505). In the 1920’s it was known as the “Pearl of Asia”. The city enjoyed four decades of rapid growth, expansion, and relative peace. By the mid-1950s, the city, and the country as a whole, began to feel the beginnings of what would become decades of misery, pain, and alienation; and would leave more than one quarter of all Cambodians dead.

First was the 19 year long Vietnam War (called the American War in this region of the world). Cambodia was used as a base by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong and as a result was heavily bombed by the US. This caused a huge influx of refugees from the rural countryside to flee to the cities in hopes of shelter and protection. 

During this time, within Cambodia itself, a civil war broke out between the Khmer Regime and the Khmer Rogue (nickname for the Communist Party of Kampuchea). The US bombings of Cambodia provided the fuel for propaganda that helped create the armies of the Khmer Rogue, many soldiers of whom just thought they were fighting for a better way of life. After the US left the war in 1973, Khmer Rouge began their coup in earnest, culminating with the overthrow of Phnom Penh in 1975 (after a year long siege). 

On April 17th, 1975, Khmer Rouge, lead by Pol Pot, began a three year, eight month, and seven day reign of terror against its own people. The Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country from all foreign influences, closing schools, hospitals and some factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, and collectivising agriculture.

The regime began with the emptying the cities and moving via forced march, everyone to the countryside. There, those that survived the marches, were forced to write autobiographical essays, of which the contents determined their fates. Families were torn apart, city people (called “new people”) were told to farm and assigned to work under the “old people”; the farmers and rural inhabitants; and the world changed.

The Angkar (The Organization), the colloquial name given to the ruling party, killed anyone that they felt was a threat to their power. In the beginning this meant anyone foreign, educated, political, a minority, or part of the previous political regime. As the years went on, this meant many of the Khmer Rouge’s own cadre members and leaders. 

Arrest by the Angkar meant automatic guilt and many people were either executed immediately or taken to prisons and tortured until they confessed to whatever lies the government wanted them to admit to. Then they were executed. In order to prevent retaliation later, often, if one member of the family was arrest or found “guilty”, the entire family was assassinated.

One of the main reasons that tourists come to Phnom Penh is to learn about the tragic past of Cambodia and the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge (which at the time had the backing of the US because they were against the Russians and winning the Cold War meant turning a blind eye). In order to truly understand the scope of the tragedies committed, tourists are encouraged to visit S-21 Prison (Toul Sleng) and Choeung Ek (the most well known of the Killing Fields).

Before the Khmer Rouge took power, Toul Sleng, was an elite secondary school called Tuol Svay Pray High School. After the Khmer Rouge took power, it was turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21); just one of at least 150 secret prisons and interrogation centers throughout the country. Prisoners here were kept for weeks or months until they confessed through torture their crimes and named their accomplices.; they were then summarily executed. It is believed that at least 20,000 people passed through the prison, of which there are only 12 known survivors.

In the first year of operation, the executions took place at S-21 itself. After that time, there were too many people to systematically eradicate and no space left in which to bury them. A Chinese cemetery and orchard about 9 miles outside of Phnom Penh, was taken over and became one of over 300 Killing Fields found throughout the country. 

Prisoners from S-21 and the surrounding areas were blind folded, hand cuffed, and told they were being moved to a new home. In actuality, they were taken in the middle of the night to their deaths. At Choeung Ek, they were lead one by one to the edge of mass pits and bludgeoned or hacked to death - as bullets were too expensive - and thrown into mass graves. Of the 126 known mass graves found at Choeung Ek, 86 have been excavated and over 8,600 individuals remains recovered. 

Today, both S-21 and Choeung Ek are Genocide museums and tourists can listen to haunting narratives that tell the stories of these sites and their victims. Through visiting sites like this, there is always the hope that each successive generation will learn from the tragedies and follies of the last and not repeat them in the future.

Renting a Tuk Tuk for the Day for Some Exploration 

After a very moving, but depressing day, the previous day, Em and I decided to spend our last day in Phnom Penh visiting a few of the more tranquil and lively sites. We commandeered a tuk tuk for the day and began a very random series of visits cobbled together from reading various blogs and “must see” articles. 

Our first port of call was, Wat Phnom, a 14th century Buddhist temple located in central Phnom Penh. Legend states that the temple was created because the founder of Phnom Penh, a wealthy widow named Penh, found a large koki tree in the river, inside which four bronze statues of Buddha resided, and she wanted to construct a small shrine in order to protect them. The shrine over time became a large and beautiful Pagoda with a huge bronze Buddha inside.

From Wat Phnom, we directed our driver to take us to Koh Dach, also known as Silk Island. This is a small island just across the Mekong River from Phnom Penh and is still very rural and not heavily touristy. It’s main export is beautiful handwoven silk merchandise. Our driver had to stop and ask for directions before finding the correct series of narrow alleyways that double as roads, before we popped out at a ferry dock. The ferries are barges that wait until enough people have filled them before crossing the river (it’s maybe half a mile or a mile at most). 

Once on the ferry we acquired an unsought out local that took us to her home and explained how her family had been making silk for generations. She allowed us to try our own hand at a spinning wheel and her sister showed us how they create beautiful scarves on a wooden loom. While the sisters really wanted us to purchase one of their beautiful products, we managed to extract ourselves with a small tip and some kind words. 

We then climbed back in the tuk tuk and went to the much more touristy silk farm and mock traditional village that we’d heard about. A dollar gains you entrance and there you can learn about silk production from silk worm to silk scarf. The only problem for us is that no English speaking guide materialized and so we didn’t have anyone to explain things to us. We contended ourselves with wandering around and looking at the manufactored village (complete with fake animals like kangaroos and real  animals like a porcupine and peacocks). The grounds are pretty and we spent a bit of time sitting on one of the plethora of swings that were everywhere, and watched the boats on the river.

Our driver wasn’t super keen on wasting gas driving around the entire island (about 20 miles), so we began the trek back to the city center. If you negotiate with a driver for a going somewhere and what you want to do, make sure they fully understand. We were able though, to take a small side trip to visit the Koh Dach pagoda and snap a few photos on our way back to the ferry dock.

On the return ferry ride we inadvertently provided free entertainment to many of the passengers by being clumsy Americans. There was a woman on the ferry selling what turned out to be fresh and fried crab spring rolls. They were cheap and delicious, but apparently difficult to eat. 

First the woman packaged them very nicely for take away and we immediately opened it so as to eat and then were stuck trying to figure out where to put the plastic bag it came in. The sauce was in its own small a plastic bag, whose knot Em struggled to open. Seeing this, the woman offered to take the bag back for a small cup of the sauce. 

As we were eating, I tried to hold the styrofoam container the rolls had come in (so it wouldn’t blow away in the wind) and the sauce cup, and eat, all at the same time. I ended up spilling half the sauce cup down my leg. The lovely seller gave me napkins while laughing at my folly. Then Em stood up to do something and decided there wasn’t enough sauce on my legs, so she needed to spill half of her sauce cup on my other leg (it was accidental, but you’d think we were a circus act). A 10 ten boat ride left me was covered in sticky sauce, the locals with a story to tell their families of about the funny tourists, and we were off again.

Our next port of call was the Reptile Cafe. This a coffee shop located near the Central Market where the owners have collected a variety of different reptiles from around the world to which the patrons can visit with. I’m of two minds on this cafe; I love that I got to hold a kimono dragon and play with a boa constrictor, but I wonder how cruel it is to buy these animals and have them in a store where everyone is allowed to touch and play with them. To be fair though, the owners seemed to generally care about the creatures and each had a small enclosure suited to their natural environment. Also, a staff member was with you when you went to touch any of the animals.

After downing a cool drink, Em and I returned to the heat and headed the few blocks over to the Central Market. The Central Market is an Art Deco landmark in Phnom Penh. It has four main entrances and various marked sections; selling anything and everything you think you’d need. You can buy everything from fresh fruit to knock off Ray Bands or precious gems. Within the narrow aisles are stalls offering manicures and electronic shops, barbers and sundries. The Central Market is a nice place to wander and people watch, but definitely geared towards tourists, with prices to match. If you want something, don’t forget to haggle.

After a brief stint at the Center Market we returned to our hotel for a little R&R from the day’s adventures. When the temperatures cooled a bit and hunger drove us to seek sustenance, we headed to the night market located next to the River Front promenade.

The night market is a miniature version of the Central Market and springs up anew every night. On the half facing the water you can shop for clothes, electronics, or knock off designer purses. The back half, was what we’d come for. 

Lining the edges are various food stalls with heaps of skewers, meats, noodles, and veggies. You grab a basket, put random items in it, and hand it to the cook. You’re directed it a section of mat in the center and a few minutes later your now cooked food appears. Em and I stuffed ourselves for less than $3.

We took a leisurely walk home, meandering through the streets filled with bars and restaurants that catered towards the tourists and ex-pat clientele and along the River Front promenade that catered towards the locals.