Bfast is more international here with bacon and pancakes. Got a tuktuk for 15usd for the entire day.
First we went to the killing fields, Choeung Ek memorial. Relatively far from the city centre. Now that i realise how luxurious was the car ride in Siem Reap. Super smelly and dusty here with flying sand. And lots of potholes along the poorly paved roads. My mask comes into good use, lucky got bring. But still enjoy the shiokness of the breeze while on a motorbike. We shld have swapped the experience for a car here in phnom penh. Imagining the victims being transported in trucks, traveled along these roads blindfolded, to be executed in the killing fields. Terrible. And this was quite recent, during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975- 1979. Did the news report this in sg?
6usd per pax, we spent abt 2.5 hrs. Mass graves being dug out. unbelievable that so many lives are lost. Got tired from frowning with the whys, how can the killers lay their hands on the people. Human killing humans. Cambodians killing Cambodians. Is their intention to overthrow the political grp strong enuff to kill in such manners? With such cruelty. The khmer rouge's belief: would rather get rid of the innocents than to spare an enemy. They used tools, palm trees' branches to hit heads and slit throats. They smashed babies against a tree before throwing them into a pit in front of their mothers. The mums' remains were also found naked. My hands felt weak even by typing these out, and as these thots appear in my mind. The youths dominates the demographic landscape here, youngest population in SEA, with average age of 15m pple to be 23 yrs ago, over 65% is aged under 30.
Headed to the Toul Sleng museum next. The s21. The sky weeped for a short while otw there. The poor tuktuk driver got to put and tie the canvas first before putting on his raincoat, which by the time, he is already drenched. He should dress himself first, we have the shelter.
Why must they torture the victims before sending them to the killing fields? The methods they used include caning, starving them, plucking out their nails, tying them upside down dipping them into filthy water. and why must pple work for the khmer rouge. How can they join the grp and help them torture and kill pple. 4 buildings, the s21 used a pri sch. One of the buildings had first lvl as brick cells while the second lvl is made up of wooden cells. The 3rd has huge classroom size of detention areas. The cells are really claustrophobic.I couldnt stay in there for more than a mi, not to mentioned with shackles to the ankles. Barbed wires surrounded the building to prevent desperate victims from escaping or committing suicide. This genocide museum reminds me of the concentration camp on germany which was even darker than this one. Terrible war. The last 14 victims died before the group fled the s21. There were 7 survivors.
The tuktuk ride soothed the heavy mood abit. The breeze, despite sandy, helps. We headed to the central market, a traditional one. seems to sell more things as compared to the one in siem reap. More local. Walked one round before going to Wat Phnom, the temple for the lady named Penh.
Saw how the divination lot was obtained. The person held a book-like item, like those olden wooden scrolls in his hands, prayed and raised on his head and with a small wooden stick, looks like pencil stringed to the book and poke into a page of the book. Then the monk read out loudly, in i think, cambodian language.
Requested the tuktuk to send us to a what looks like a shopping mall on the map instead of the hotel. We stepped into swensens to find only icecream, no main courses. Went opposite to black canyon coffee to have the lunch cum dinner at 5pm. Then we strolled back, making a detour to the national monument for pictures. The nice slow walk took abt 1 hr plus. More locals here, we saw them play mini football and badminton at the park. There were pple doing workout, simple ones, like the sg workout in wide open spaces. And there were many playgrounds clustered together, heaven for the screaming kids.
Looking forward to a good bath on the second last day of the trip.
