I’m glad I decide to just hang around Phnom Penh, instead of busting my butt traveling around on a tight schedule. I ended up having a pretty interesting couple of days. Definitely the best I’ve had in Cambodia, and probably the entire trip.

Escape From the Lake

The Central Market

My adventures started three days ago, when I befriended a moto driver who speaks excellent English, Martin. This is not hard to do, since all the English speaking drivers hang around outside of the guesthouses on the Lake, and are dying to take you to the sites.

The Number 9 Guesthouse is a nice place to hang out, with excellent food, and a nice atmosphere. My room was cheap, $3, but it was small, dirty, and noisy. I didn’t mind it for a few days, but the last straw was the loud dance party for old, fat, white guys the night before. So I went out and asked a driver to take me to a nicer place. Martin knew of a bunch of hotels in the $10 to $15 range, and I looked at about five places. Most were “suicide hotels,” with dirty, lime green walls, and fluorescent lights. But I finally found the Asia Hotel for $13 a night. More than I’m used to but it’s an excellent value. It has clean rooms, air conditioning, hot water, and even a fridge!

I’m beginning to realize that it’s worth it to pay a few dollars more to avoid staying in a backpacker hovel. It’s also nice to get away from the orange pants, Beer Lao tee shirt, and dreadlocks set.

Shootin’

Book vendor

After the move, I let Martin take me to Phnom Penh’s must-see sites. The first stop was the shooting range. I’ve never held a real gun before, or even wanted to, but now was my chance to try. First up was an M-16: 30 shots for $30. I took about ten careful shots in single-shot mode, then blasted through the remaining twenty in automatic mode in about two seconds. Wow, it was pretty intense! I did pretty well, and even hit the bulls-eye a couple of times!

Next up was the AK-47, 30 shots for $20. I didn’t do as well with this gun, and didn’t hit the bulls-eye once.

Finally, I figured I’d try out a Colt 45 handgun for $12. I was surprised at how big and heavy this pistol was. I was also the most afraid of handling it, since it seems so much easier to accidentally shoot yourself or someone else with this little gun. And damn, did it have a hell of a kick. When you pull the trigger it’s impossible to hold it still, and it jerks your hands up. I seem to be a natural, though, and managed to hit the target seven out of ten times.

So I managed to spend $62 in 30 minutes. If that’s not enough for you, the sky’s the limit. They have Tommy guns, “Rambo” heavy machine guns, and anti-aircraft guns. These big guns cost $50 for 50 shots. For the truly hard-core, there are bazookas and rocket launchers. As much as I’d like to try one of those bad boys out, I didn’t want to blow $200 on one shot! I also wanted to steer clear of the hand grenade, since I didn’t want to screw up and blow myself up!

All told, it was a pretty intense experience, and worth doing if you come to Cambodia, no matter what your stance on guns is. It’s a controlled situation, is run by the government, and is totally safe.

The Killing Fields

The Killing Fields

Next up was the so-called “killing field” outside of Phnom Penh, where thousands of people were executed by the Khmer Rouge, then dumped into mass graves. There is a memorial, with several hundred skulls arranged by age and sex. I had never seen a human skull before. The weird thing is, though, that all skulls look the same, no matter what the sex, or the race. This gave the site a sense of detachment from reality, unlike the next site I visited.

Martin said his father, who was a teacher, was killed by the KR.

”Don’t let this shit ever happen again”

Pol Pot and his cronies had no idea how to run a government, and when they seized power, their inexperience and paranoia had disastrous consequences for Cambodia. The only part of their regime that worked efficiently was the secret center for interrogating, torturing, and executing the innocent men, women, and children accused of being traitors, or of just knowing one. This place was known as S-21, and was formerly a school. Now it’s a genocide museum.

The group of four three story buildings looks peaceful and innocent from outside, arranged around a courtyard filled with leafy palm trees. If you take a second look, you’ll notice the barbed wire covering the balconies, to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide.

The KR kept extensive records of its victims, including photographs. Building B’s walls were covered with them. The Khmer are a beautiful people, and seeing so many of them, many looking confused, some looking defiant, was shocking. These were just the young men. The rows of photos of young women was too much. I finally lost it and cried when I saw the photo of a young mother, restrained in an interrogation chair, holding her baby.

A room in S-21

Building A was for prisoners who deserved special treatment. Each room contained a rusty old bed frame, covered only with a bamboo mat, and a few implements for torture.

Building C was shocking, too. The school rooms were too big for all the prisoners, so they made tiny cells out of bricks. On the second floor the cells were wood, making the place look like a stable. I shut myself in one of the cells. There was only enough room to lie down.

Building D contained torture devices, and a painting of each of them in use.

In one of the stairwells, somebody had scratched “Don’t let this shit ever happen again.”