Unhappy Places

I woke up Monday morning at 5:30 to grab some breakfast, pack, and make my 8am flight to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. We walked out of the small terminal (security was a joke, never had to show ID and they checked Mackenzie in too even though she was no where in sight). One thing that has been entertaining is being on the receiving end of racial profiling for once. However, other than maybe one or two times that being white was unhelpful (ostracized, shunned, etc.) being American has been a huge plus. I can set the metal detector off and they don't care (in the malls not the airports). They give me the best service, police treat us better than everyone else, and in general most of these countries have learned that you treat white tourists well so they keep coming back and giving you there money. We stepped out onto the tarmac to find a twin prop plane. It instantly reminded me of the one used by the Cleveland Indians in the movie "Major League" when the owner is trying to mess with the players. However, it was fine on the inside and ran surprisingly quiet.

When I arrived in Phnom Penh I was as tired as I've been the whole trip. Between staying up late watching Federer-Nadal, waking up early, and walking/climbing the entire day before at the temples in Angkor Wat, my body needed a break. Once I settled in my room and relaxed in the air conditioning I felt a lot better and eventually headed out around 2pm. The only sights I was really interested in Phnom Penh were Tuol Sleng (S-21 Torture Prison used by the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's crazy regime) and the Killing Fields (10 miles outside of town). I contracted a motorbike carriage (could squeeze six, I got it to myself, nice plush leather and I could relax) for the stops and a ride back to my hotel for a grand total of $12.

The stops were chilling to say the least. More than anywhere else on the trip, these places had an unpleasant feeling. S-21 is a former high school that was turned into the notorious prison camp where people were tortured before being killed. Over 14,000 entered its gates and only 12 survived. Walking through the rooms and seeing the pictures of the people was disturbing. For some reason, this human suffering seemed so much closer as I was on the spot and it happened just 30 years ago. How people can hate others so much to do such things is beyond me.

After visiting the prison camp I hopped back in the cart and enjoyed the drive through southern Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields. One of Pol Pot's crazier actions was to evacuate Phnom Penh in 12 hours (said US was going to bomb it) from 2 million people to a couple thousand because he wanted everyone working in the countryside. Between the civil war (1970-75) and the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979) roughly 2 million people died in Cambodia, or over 10% of the population. I can't believe that the people have suffered so much and are now just going on with their lives. The Killing Fields were very solem as well. Signs told the stories of how the people were brought there, executed, and buried in systematic fashion. The memorial had lots of skulls and bones that have been unearthed. About 1/2 of the graves have been dug up and the estimate for total killed there is about 20,000. The stories of people who were killed and suffered under Pol Pot were very disheartening. So many lives lost, spouses, children, parents, never heard from again. There must be so much anguish and sorrow in the people of this country.

When I got back to my hotel I tried to watch another movie but my DVD drive died half way through. Now my D drive doesn't work along with my iPod and my harddrive is filling up fast with photos from the trip. Basically, I am just nursing myself home in the technology department, hoping everything will be fixable when I get back. My one salvation on the food front in Phnom Penh was the nice Total Gas Station just across the street from my hotel (picture taken from my balcony). It had Magnum ice cream bars, Pringles, juices, Pepperidge Farm Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookes, and other snacks that kept me fed. My breakfast this morning was unpleasant as the restaurant stank and the eggs were the runniest I've ever seen. I ended up eating the bagget and left the rest.

My flight was nice to HK (three seats to myself, good meal, and an hour nap) and I ended up spending about 6 hours in the airport as my flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka had been changed. Due to the rebel attacks on the Air Force base next to the International Airport, CathayPacific decided to quit flying into the airport so I have to change airlines in Bangkok. Things are looking good though as I can't wait to see my old friend, David Athukorala. More on him later.