Phnom Penh

All that we had heard of Phnom Penh was that it was a dodgy/depressing city where you want to spend as little time as possible. After a long and cramped minivan journey, we arrived to the city after dark and were tired, hungry and with little patience. So when we were immediately swarmed by tuk tuk drivers touting their different guest houses, we felt a bit overwhelmed and missed Laos even more. While our first night did not leave the most favorable impression, our time in this city over the next 3 days was actually quite memorable and enjoyable.

Mariah's Birthday

Our first full day in Phnom Penh (Oct 16) was Mariah's 26th birthday, so I knew we had to make it special. It was a whirlwind day filled with trips to the National Museum, the Grand Palace, and a famous temple. In between sight seeing, the girls (Mariah, Stacey, and Fauzia) got pedicures, manicures and massages. While the girls were being groomed and pampered, Cory and I took in the local bars and quickly realized that you can get anything and everything in Phnom Penh. While enjoying an Angkor beer, we were approached with offers of sex, drugs, and weapons (guns/rockets/tanks - and your own cow to use them on). I don't think I would have believed the guys selling these trips, but I had already seen something similar on YouTube...pretty crazy. Needless to say, we declined the offers.

The day's finale was a gourmet dinner at one of Phnom Penh's finest Italian restaurants where we enjoyed a multi-course meal and fine wine (compliments of a bit of birthday money from Mariah's mom, Joni -thanks again! ;) I had also managed to arrange a birthday berry cheesecake from the local bakery that we enjoyed with chopsticks back at our hotel after dinner. Mariah's birthday was a success. Even though we didn't spend it on a tropical island (as she would have liked), we did find our own slice of paradise in the bustling capital of Cambodia.

Pol Pot, S-21 Prison and the Killing Fields

As travellers, our goal is to better understand the country we are visiting and its people. To do this, we must enjoy the good and take the opportunity to understand the bad. After Mariah's B-Day, we changed gears and immersed ourselves in the history of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

We started by visiting the Tuol Sleng Museum, also known as Security Prison 21 (S-21) . S-21 was formerly Tuol Svay Prey High School until 1975 when it became the largest detention center used by the Khmer Rouge to store and torture their victims. The museum is housed at the old prison and many of the same torture devices are still left in the rooms with pictures that display the atrocities that occurred within its walls. It's hard to imagine the magnitude of the extermination and torture that went on within this building, but the harder reality is that Pol Pot was not only directly and indirectly supported by major world powers like China, the UK, the US, and many other countries, but once he was discovered as being a ruthless dictator, nothing was done by the international community. In fact, countries like China took advantage of the situation to purchase food cheaply in exchange for weapons to fuel the Khmer Rouge.

Directly tied to S-21 are the killing fields of Choeung Ek where between 1975 and 1978 about 17,000 men, women, children, and infants were exterminated. Most of the victims of Choeung Ek were formerly inmates of S-21. It is an eerie experience seeing the mausoleum with over 9,000 of the uncovered skulls and walking on the dirt paths which are littered with clothes from the victims buried below. Due to the large amounts of rain in this region, the remnants of those still buried keep rising to the surface of the field. The guides of Choeung Ek are constantly finding new bones and teeth after each rain and leave the clothes on the path for people to see just how real the people buried below are.

Similar to visiting the atrocities of the Holocaust in Europe, a visit to the killing fields brings home the horrid reality that so many innocent victims have been killed in the name of power and hatred - and worse, that this is still happening in places in the world today. In Cambodia, the killing was taken to another level - all victims were brutally tortured and then killed, not by a quick shot to the head or gassed, but by being bludgeoned to death so as not to waste precious bullets. The country as a whole has been rocked by the awful experience of Pol Pot's reign and is still building back the infrastructure destroyed by this ruthless leader and the Khmer Rouge. While strides have been made in recent years with the country's fledgling democracy, it will still take years to gain back the trust of the people and to erase the deep seeded fear and pain that are part of the human implications of such a horrible regime.

The Center for Children's Happiness, CCH:

Now this is what traveling is all about - spending time with the local children. Thanks to Fauzia, who had learned about an orphanage called the Center for Children's Happiness (CCH) from a fellow traveler, we were able to spend some quality time with some of the kids of Phnom Penh. CCH is a home where kids (some without family and some with family, but too poor to support them) can live and receive food, clothing, and an education that will enable them to have a better life. The center is currently home to about 50 boys and girls ages 5 - 18. We learned that many of the local orphanages will go to the local garbage dump in search of children working and living as garbage pickers. Some of the kids still lived with their parents, but were so poor they were working night and day scrounging for things to sell to support their family. Other children had parents that had passed away from Aids, land mines or other diseases. The orphanage takes the children in (asking those with parents for their permission first) and begins to give them back their childhood.

In preparation for our visit to the orphanage, we had gone to a local market to pick up some toys and games for the kids. Not knowing what to expect, we bought: balls, a plastic bowling set, building blocks, and nail polish. All our choices turned out to be big hits with the kids, especially the small ones. Many of the teens were more interested in talking with us and practising their English while they gave us tours and told us about themselves - their dreams, goals and interests.

We arrived at lunch time when most of the kids had a break from school and came back to the center to eat. We had the opportunity to spend time with all different ages of kids and enjoyed learning how they are cared for and the opportunities they are given by living there: education, food, clothes, shelter, and potential for university scholarships. One boy we spoke with was beginning the International Baccalaureate (IB) program to prep for university and was told if he did well, he'd be able to receive scholarships to US schools. Some of the other kids were anticipating an upcoming sponsored trip to Japan (where many of the center's donors live) to perform their traditional Khmer dances.

After the older kids left for school, the younger group had an art lesson taught by a volunteer from Southern California. The volunteer (I can't remember her name) had come to Cambodia three years earlier while traveling and decided to return to work for a year as an art teacher in the many orphanages across Phnom Penh. Hearing her stories and the conditions of other orphanages was very encouraging; however, there are a few that are in poor condition due to under-funding, some that abuse their funding, and even a very few that take advantage of the kids. There was one orphanage that she had learned was dealing in the sex trade, and believe it or not, it is actually funded by Save the Children Norway (now, thank goodness, it's finally under investigation). It is a good reminder that when giving money to a good cause, it's important to know where your money is going. And in many ways, giving your time and love can be a most precious gift.

And since we are on the topic of giving, I would like to take this opportunity to let you all know that the children of CCH are working on building their library collection (both Khmer and English books) to help them with their education. If you would like to donate to the cause and send along a few books in English, they are looking for: young children's books (the kinds with lots of pictures and basic story lines/sentences), books at the adolescent reading level (e.g., Harry Potter-type novels, short stories, historical fiction/non-fiction), English grammar books, or any others you think might be beneficial. You can mail the books (fast or slow mail) to:

The Center for Children's Happiness, CCH

Director: Mech Sokha

#413, St. 371, Sk. Steung Meanchey Khan Meancheym

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

email: mechsokha@hotmail.com

(And they of course also accept financial donations if you prefer to send money to buy clothes, school supplies, food, toiletries, etc.)

Finally, after spending our last day in Phnom Penh, we had to say goodbye to our friend Fauzia, who was our travel companion off and on from our slow boat journey, throughout Laos, and into Cambodia. She was heading to Malaysia and we wish her the best! For us, it was time to travel to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor and meet up again with Cory and Stacey (who had departed a day earlier).