Phnomena

On the way to Phnom Phen we got a good look at the country side of Cambodia. The landscape was desolete and reminded of some of the poorer areas of Venezuela. All the main roads to Phnom Penh were blown up in the mid-70's as a socialist strategy for the Khmer Rouge, I will get to them later, so the journey was neither fast nor smooth. *Insert from Kassy: As you may or may not know, I have an unfortunatley small bladder. The bus had an interesting bathroom stop. We simply pulled over to the side of the road and everyone from the bus got off and proceded to relieve themselves withing arms reach of each other. Women, men and children alike; several people even fully relieved themselves if you know what I mean. I have never placed myself above peeing on the side of the road, but it was rather difficult to do with a bus load of Cambodians watching. I think they were overly curious to see a white person. I did however learn why women always wear a shall/ square scarf in the scorching heat. You can use this to wrap around yourself for privacy.

Phnom Penh

The city itself is supposedly the next big up and coming city for young travelers to explore. If one chose to turn a blind eye, the city would be very enjoyable; I found the city to be very eye opening.

The first day we were in Phnom Penh we went to visit the S-21 prison/genocide museum as well as the Coeung Ek killing field. Under the command of communist leader, Pol Pot, these two monstrasities were created for the purpose of torture and human extermination. During his years in power power, 3 million of Cambodia's 8 million population was exterminated. There are still roughly 400 Cambodians that die each year from land minds left by the Khmer Rouge, a third of these casualties are children.

In 1975 they took over a local Phnom Penh high school and converted it in to a hynious prison used for interrogation and torture. The prison is now a haunting genocide musuem that is set up the exact way it was 35 years ago along with pictures of some of the victims. The Khmer Rouge was mostly made up of uneducated farmers who were inspired by Pol Pot to hate anyone remotely close to the middle class. During their revolt, anyone who wasn't part of the Khmer Rouge was targeted and labeled a traitor. Many of the prisoners had no idea why they were arrested, but admited that they were imperialist traders after being subjected to endless tortures. Although most prisoners were Cambodian, they had a section of writen confessions from foreigners. I had one of a male reporter from Minneapolis, who admitted to being a CIA spy. He was one of two Americans executed at the prison.

After signing a written confession of their guilt, the prisoners would then be transported to the Chueung Ek killing field. During Pol Pot's reign of terror, the Khmer Rouge had three hundred designated "killing fields," Chueung Ek was the largest. I first heard about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge about a year ago in my history of terrorism class. During this lesson I was undoubtedly slouching in a chair, chewing on a pen, and drinking my coffee casually while waiting for the bell ring to go play frisbee golf. The history lesson become expotentially more profound as I walked into the killing fields to see the skeletal remains of the thousands of slain victims. The excutions were barbaric. As a way to save money, most prisoners either had their throat slashed by razor sharp branch, hit with an iron bar, or had their head smashed multiple times against a tree. Women, children, and babies were not exempt from these practices.

The killing fields was not the only particularly troubling experience in Phnom Penh. I am usually a huge proponent of "laissez-faire" let the people do as they please, but after a couple of days in Phnom Penh I was praying for some ethical reinforcement. Unfortunately, a relatively large percent of the city's tourism is not generated from it's culture, history, or people but because of the lawlessness. It makes you sick to your stomach seeing middle age men holding hands with 14 year old prostitutes and not having anyone to report to.

Another morose problem is the high level of children beggers. Through the years, I have discovered that I have a soft spot for children. It is exceptionally difficult not to buy something from a shoeless child whose face is covered in dirt, especially when the child is begging in English. Kassy was a constant magnet for them, and when she refused, many of the children would often respond with "Why? Don't you like children." A particularly sickening remark for the person who is making a profit off of child labor to teach them. One child, after trying every trick in the book told Kassy to "Go fuck herself." All the money the child collects throughout the day will go into some dispicable adult's pocket who will intentionally keep the children underfed to attract more sympathy from froeigners. As the child ages, there's a liklihood that they will be sold into prostitiution.

Phnom Penh wasn't all bad. The local people were really nice and helpful. Many parts of the town were very pretty, and we discovered some really awesome local restraunts. My favorite was a Cambodian barbeque. I am thankful for my experience in Phnom Penh, it was harsh reality that throughly upset me. I wouldn't say it was exactly a "positive" experience, but one that has changed me and made me reevaluate some of my life goals.