Cambodia’s Dark Past and Beautiful Beaches
Cambodia – Phnom Penh – Killing Field
We began this week in Phnom Penh exploring the painful history of the Khmer Rouge regime. We visited the Killing Fields and the S-21 Museum, which is similar to visiting Auschwitz and the Holocaust Museum. They both document the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge during the late 1970’s. They came into power through opportunities partially created by the neighboring war in Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh to cheers from the Cambodian people, desperate for the fighting to stop. Within hours of occupying Phnom Penh, they began to evacuate the city and force everyone to the countryside to begin their communist utopia. The regime was paranoid that they would lose power and began to torture and kill anyone who they thought may be a threat. This included teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, and anyone with higher education. Even wearing glasses could be a death sentence. During the Khmer Rouge regime, 3 million people were killed. Cambodia only had a population of 8 million, so nearly 40% of the population was exterminated.
We ended the week celebrating Christmas on an island off the coast called Koh Rong. It took a little longer to get there than we thought. But it’s quiet and away from the crowds. The “resort” isn’t run very well – they opened in October and clearly weren’t ready. They are still working out a lot of the kinks. We are having a nice time despite the problems with the resorts poor management. This was the least Christmasy-Christmas we have ever had. It’s not just that we are on the beach, it’s that none of the locals celebrate. There are some decorations at tourist spots, but it’s not the “Holiday Season” here. We had a lovely day, but we miss the celebration and lead up.
1. Go
- Minibus – 220 km. Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville.
- Boat – 40 km. The longer than planned trip to Koh Rong.
- Tuk Tuk – 12 km. To and from our hostel in Sihanoukville
- Foot – 54,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 27 miles)
2. See
The S-21 Museum was a school before the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison and torture center. No one who entered the prison escaped alive until the Khmer Rouge lost power. The Killing Field we visited is just one of hundreds of mass graves scattered throughout Cambodia. The stories of how they killed people was gruesome. Suffice it to say that they wanted to conserve bullets, since they were expensive, and used any tools or weapons available to kill millions of men, women, children, and babies. Both locations had excellent audio tours that guided us through personal stories and the brutal history.
We watched The Killing Fields the day after visiting the museum and genocide monument. It was made in the 1980’s only a few years after the Khmer Rouge lost their grip on Cambodia. It held up pretty well and told a painful true story of an American journalist and his Cambodian counterpart. We are glad that we visited the museums first, because the movie did not really explain what was going on at the beginning or the motivations. We watched the movie at a theater above a bar/restaurant. It was $3.50 for a day pass, so we just stayed the rest of the day to watch Anchorman and The Wolf of Wall Street.
3. Eat
While on a tuk tuk ride another driver was munching on a bag of fried grasshoppers. He saw us looking and offered some. We both tried some. They were seasoned with salt and spice, so they just tasted crunchy and salty. Not bad!
At our resort in Koh Rong, we are completely dependent on the restaurant and bar for food because we are a few kilometers from anything else. The hours are a bit unpredictable and we have been told twice that they are not serving food yet – once at 4pm which is understandable, but the other time was at noon. When we are able to order food it’s a bit slow to arrive, but tastes good and the portions are large.
4. Drink
We’ve been taking advantage of cheap beers a little too much and decided to hold back upon our arrival at Koh Rong. The beers at our resort are $1 instead of $0.50 or $0.75, so it’s also worth it to save a few bucks. The coffee is also pricey here and not included in the price of breakfast, so we have decided to dip into our supply of instant coffee. It saves us $4 a day, which by Cambodian standards is huge.
5. Sleep
In Phnom Penh, we continued staying in the strange hotel with no windows. But the price made it totally worth it, especially since breakfast was included. Oh, and the view from breakfast was spectacular!
On our way to Koh Rong, we stayed for one night in a dorm in the town of Sihanoukville. The beds were surprisingly comfortable and the room was surprisingly quiet. We were a little disappointed by the location, but for one night we could handle it.
Our place in Koh Rong is interesting… it’s a new resort with cabins and tents (opened in October). We went for a ground tent for $5 a night. The location is perfect. It’s right on the beach with lots of lounge chairs under huge umbrellas, but the resort is a bit of a mess. They are very disorganized and haven’t quite got a system figured out yet. We wanted to upgrade to a raised platform tent and it just took forever to make it happen. Then on the day of the switch, there was still someone in the tent. We didn’t mind waiting, but we wish they would tell us what was going on.
6. Move
Pat was able to get in a few runs along the riverfront in Phnom Penh. Our time on Koh Rong has been mostly laying on the beach and body surfing a few times a day. We did fit in a legs circuit on the beach after the sunset. We wanted to include short sprints into the circuit, but there was a dog living at the resort that got way too excited and started chasing us. He’s just having fun, but we don’t know him and don’t want to get bit.
Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 30 post (coming soon) for details about this week.
7. Etcetera
We love dogs. That being said, while traveling we have avoided interacting with dogs and other animals. Rabies is a major concern in many countries we have visited and Cambodia has the highest rate of human rabies death in the world. Good thing we got our rabies shots before we left! We haven’t seen many stray dogs in Cambodian cities, but on Koh Rong it’s apparently a big problem. They are trying to spay and neuter all the dogs they can get their hands on.
Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.
Nomadic Cadence 
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