Day 5 - Siem Reap and Phnom Penh
This was our last morning in Siem Reap and also the morning of our cooking class… the first I can recall since Home Ec in 7th grade. It ended up only being two of us, Rhi and myself, and our instructor, Sophea – who as it turns out was the same age as us – which was fantastic because she could essentially baby us the entire way through. We spent the first half hour or so exploring the Central Market. Sophea pointed out various fruits, herbs and meats that might be of interest. It’s probably a tossup as to whether watching fresh fish writhe uncontrollably on a table nearby or seeing underwear sold on the table next to dead chickens was more surprising but they both made for memorable sights.
After the market, we proceeded to the kitchen and began cooking. They let us each select one starter and one main course, the idea being that we’d eat our creations for lunch. I selected Setronel soup – a coconut milk soup with tomatoes and squash – and fish Amok – which is a creamier and milder version of Thai yellow curry. (Rhi chose Vietnamese fresh rolls and shrimp Amok.) Thankfully, there were no disasters and everything turned out fabulous.
Our biggest problem ended up being the sheer quantity of food. We easily had enough to feed four, if not more and kept trying to convince Sophea that she should eat with us… she finally caved and had a fresh roll, victory!
Of the entire morning though, my favorite memory came as we were about to leave. You see, we had taken a multitude of pictures and wanted the share them with Sophea. For some reason, it surprised us that she didn’t have an email account. Practically speaking, it’s not a priority for her to have one or even really use the internet but in our reality, a life without internet or email is simply unheard of. Anyway, she asked us if we could help her set up an email account so that she could communicate with us and happily we did. So now the hope is that she will actually use the account… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Our group arrived in Phnom Penh later that evening and like good westerners, headed straight for happy hour at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC). We arrived there literally five minutes before happy hour ended so we were all double-fisting drinks to take advantage of the deals… I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m not an alcoholic… I swear. Once we were good and liquored up, we headed to dinner. Initially, I wasn’t planning on having anything more to drink (like I said, I’m not an alcoholic) but they had a pineapple-chili margarita on the menu… c’mon, how on earth could I resist that? Needless to say, it was awesome. It was the most interesting mix of sweet and spicy I’ve yet to encounter. I have to try whipping those up when I’m home.
Day 6 – Phnom Penh
For as much as our days in Siem Reap meant experiencing Cambodia’s beauty, this day in Phnom Penh meant experiencing the recent and very ugly history of Cambodia. Our morning began at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and ended at the Choeung Ek killing fields.
Tuol Sleng was a former high school but when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge gained power in Cambodia it was converted into a prison and interrogation center. Unspeakable torture and evil occurred on those grounds and most of it was conducted by brainwashed child soldiers.
The Khmer Rouge was meticulous in their record-keeping and photographed every inmate. These pictures made for an all the more haunting visit. Each face had a look of utter despondency and hopelessness… even the children. As we walked the grounds, seeing the unbelievably cramped cells, the various torture devices, and the crude structures created to ensure that no inmate could leave, or for that matter die, without assistance from the soldiers, we couldn’t help being shocked into a horrified silence.
As if the museum were not enough to drive home the cruelty of the regime, we went on to the killing fields where thousands of Khmers were killed brutally. In memory of the victims of the regime, a stupa containing thousands of skulls recovered from some of the mass graves was erected in the center.
While, staring at all these skulls is jarring, walking among the mass graves and listening to our guide detail what occurred on these grounds not so long ago was really my undoing. As we walked by a tree where soldiers would literally fling babies and young children repeatedly in order to kill them, often while their parents watched helplessly, I found I couldn’t help myself from weeping. I just cannot begin to understand where such brutality comes from and why on earth someone would want to cause such harm to another human being.
By the time we left Choeung Ek, I think we were all emotionally drained and were content putzing around Phnom Penh with no real agenda. I explored the Russian Market, famous from days where you could buy grenades and other assault weapons for a pittance – it’s much tamer now, and scored an incredibly cool pair of rose-coloured aviators for $6. I then had a blind massage, which really wasn’t much different from a seeing massage except where a seeing massage therapist would look at a clock for timing, the blind therapist regularly pressed his speaking clock to check the time. The massage itself was good but I’ll admit it was weird to hear every so often, “Ding! It is
Since there was still time remaining before dinner, Wally and I headed back down to the FCC for happy hour – this time there was no need to rush, thankfully – and an attempt to watch sunset over the Mekong. It turns out that the FCC faced the wrong direction so sunset was unremarkable, however, the drinks were fantastic… but we knew that already.
Day 7 – Phnom Penh + the Mighty Mekong
On our last morning in Phnom Penh we paid the obligatory visit to Wat Phnom. As far as temples are concerned this one really was nothing to write home to momma about. The bigger attractions were that there was an elephant and some monkeys you could feed. I was willing to feed the elephant because it was fairly controlled and appeared docile but the monkeys freaked me out. They were just running wild through the trees and as someone who never got around to getting her rabies shots, I kept having images of one of them leaping from their perch and biting me. Some of the others – vaccinated, I might add – gave the feeding a go without any incidents occurring.
We spent the last few hours at the New Market, which truthfully looked like every other market we’d seen except for one crucial difference. Here they sold bugs and I’m not taking ornamental bugs. They sold the real things, deep-fried, as snacks. One look made me want to hurl but apparently, yes, there are people who eat them. Based on the size of those baskets, there are lots of people that do… I’m not about to start.
That afternoon we caught a ferry down the Mekong to Chau Doc, Viet Nam.
Before we got there though, we had to make some some seriously sketchy-looking border crossings. At one of them there wasn’t even a proper dock at which the boat could tie up. Instead, we crudely came alongside a low cliff then had to hop out of the boat and climb up. It certainly made me feel like we were engaged in some sort of illicit smuggling activity.
Upon our arrival in Chau Doc, we were given the option of taking a motorcycle tour through Chau Doc and then up the nearby mountain for sunset. Before this trip, I probably would have said, “no way in hell am I getting onto the back of a motorcycle with some guy I don’t know who barely speaks English” but somewhere along the way that changed. I was even willing to sign away all insurance claims just so I could participate and I’m really glad I did. It was a priceless experience. I was giddy and ridiculously nervous. At first, I was gripping onto the driver for dear life but as the night wore on, I found myself holding onto the back with one hand while the other was operating my camera – probably not the most sensible decision but exciting nonetheless. At the top of the mountain was a rough “bar” with a bunch of hammocks strung up so we could relax and take in the sunset. One of the locals pointed out the boundary between Viet Nam and Cambodia (a river, big surprise) and the two million dollar hill (nicknamed b/c the US spent $2M bombing it during the war) but the real highlight was simply stretching out, slowly swaying in the hammocks drinking $0.50 beers watching the sun go down in the distance.
Day 8 – The road to Saigon
The drive to Saigon was an incredibly long one which we started really early on this day. Thankfully, the roads were a million times better than those in Cambodia so the drive itself was very comfortable. We ended up arriving in Saigon just after midday and once we checked into the hotel our first priority was learning how to cross the streets.
A friend had forewarned me that the roads of Saigon would be unlike anything I’d ever seen and that there would appear to be a never-ending stream of motorcycles. He was right. When crossing the road in Saigon, you have to abandon all previous street-crossing skills and in the words of Nike, just do it. If you stand and wait for a break, you will never move. The trick is to wait for a break in the large vehicles and then just start walking at a slow and steady pace. The motorcycles will not stop coming at you. They will just maneuver around you, which is why you have to keep moving. If you stop, there is a very distinct possibility that you will be hit by a bike and there’s no convincing me that would feel good at all.
After we learned to cross the streets, we were ready to take on Saigon… or at least sort of. What it really meant was since this was the penultimate day of our trip, we needed to get our last rounds of cheap massages in… after all, the Reunification Palace wasn’t going anywhere.
Day 9 – Saigon
I only had a few hours this morning to actually try to see some of Saigon and luckily there wasn’t really too much that I really wanted to see. My plan was to walk to the Reunification Palace and then do some last minute shopping before heading to the airport but alas, that wasn’t exactly how it was going to play out.
As I was walking along the sidewalk, a seemingly nice cyclo driver offered to take me wherever I wanted to go and for whatever price I chose. Since I was skeptical… mostly of his price, I made him reassure me multiple times, which he did, willingly. I hadn’t yet to take a cyclo ride anywhere so I figured Saigon is as good a place as any… I was wrong. Don’t do it. It’s actually very disconcerting because you are traveling MUCH slower than the rest of traffic yet you’re smack in the middle of it all. The entire time, I had visions of being hit by a truck and would find myself willing the driver to pedal faster.
Miraculously, we weren’t hit and my cyclo driver was true to at least part of his word and took me wherever I asked. As a bonus, I got a fantastic tan, sitting out in the open for close to three hours. The experience turned a little south as the ride ended and I confirmed the price. To be nice, I asked him for a suggestion as to how much he thought he should be paid and his response was $25 USD. Now, because I like to be prepared, Mr. Frommer and Mr. Lonely Planet are my friends and I knew this cyclo driver was trying to pull a fast one. Needless to say, I was not impressed in the least. (For those of you that don’t know me well, I don’t tolerate bullshit very well especially when it relates to parting me from my money.) I gave him the opportunity to rethink his suggestion but he stuck to his guns.
At this point, I let the amateur lawyer in me rear its head and sweetly reminded him of his promise earlier that morning of the price being “up to me.” I then brought to his attention the fact that both of my travel books said that the rate for cyclos ranged from 20,000 dong to $2 USD per hour but no higher. I then told him that I’d pay him $6, take it or leave it. I think he realized he was caught between a rock and hard place so he took the money and I left for the hotel. It wasn’t what I had hoped my last experience in Saigon would be but so it goes… aside from that particular encounter the experience as a whole was worthwhile and enjoyable.
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