Heart Breaking

Oh Cambodia. My heart goes out to you.  I knew we were entering a poor country with a terrible history but to see it face to face was shocking. Our first day in Cambodia was overwhelming.
The day started with our boat transfer from Vietnam to Cambodia. To cross the border we had to get a visa on the boat which required us to hand over our passport and $23US to a guy with a bag.  To be fair, he had an official looking uniform.  So we chugged along the Mekong for about 45 min before the boat stopped.  Seemed something was wrong with the motor. We had selected the outdoor seats in the boat for fresh air.  In reality, we were sitting by the motor and as long as we were moving, we weren't gassed out by the fumes. We got moving again only to stop once more to wait for a new boat.  They transferred our luggage and us to the new boat where we all dutifully maintained our original seating arrangements - us outside with our fresh air.  When they fired up the engine the "better" boat spewed a cloud of black diesel fumes. Fabulous.  The inside people had all spread out comfortably taking up the extra room so we maintained our fresh air" and supreme picture taking positions.  All 6 hours of it. Throughout the ride we got off the boat two more times - once to leave Vietnam and then 10 minutes later to enter Cambodia. Yep - couldn't do it in one stop. Cambodia put it's best face forward with this welcome mat.  Safety first.

Welcome to Cambodia - Please watch your step

By the time we landed, the black soot had stuck to my suntan lotioned arms and legs, one arm was burnt, and I was beyond hot and grumpy.  When we landed, a swarm of porters, cabbies and tour guides descended on us to offer their services.  With a 20% unemployment rate you can imagine the numbers and persistence.  Our smiling Cambodia guide appeared with his sign and we followed him to the car.  Now at this point I have in my mind how the rest of the day will go - shower, lunch, and rest - it is our day off after all.  We piled into a hot van and the smiling Cambodian guide says we need to go for lunch immediately because the restaurant closes in 20 minutes, then we have 20 minutes for a shower before we head to S-21 and the Killing Fields.  Hold up my friend! What did you just say? After a 5 minute discussion I remind myself of Phat's advice - be patient with Cambodia.  So I reluctantly give in and we head to the restaurant.  Now for any who really know me, you know that I don't do well with being told what to do.  But in an attempt to make the most of this trip, I put aside my initial instincts, washed the crap off my arms in the bathroom, and enjoyed an amazing lunch at a restaurant that hires former street kids in an attempt to give them a better life.  And so started my introduction to this heart breaking country.  I highlight my "princess" complex only to put the next four hours into perspective.  After lunch and a shower we headed to S-21 which is quite possibly the worst display of human cruelty I have even seen. During the Khmer Rouge era, a high school was converted into a prison in which an estimated 17,000 innocent Cambodians were tortured to extract confessions of presumed connections with KGB, CIA and any other made up excuse they used to exterminate people from the previous regime.  Men, women and children were photographed, biographies taken and thrown into prison cells for weeks of torture. I can't even get into the details but it is stunning what people can do to other people, to their own people. The former head of S-21 has recently been charged with war crimes and is sitting in what some might consider a relatively posh prison given the horrors he inflicted on others.

The Fence around S-21 - No one escaped

Room after room filled with 4'x8'cells

Rooms filled with victoms' pictures before and after

Next we were off to the Killing Fields with our guide giving us random facts and figures about Vietnam - average income $680US/year, 14 million living in Cambodia, many rural people flood the city to work in clothing factories, mostly foreign owned, average wage $80US/mth.  As we drove along this incredible stench filled the van.  Without skipping a beat, our guide throws down a new tidbit of info. To our right was a massive sewage lagoon behind all of the houses and shops that lined the road. In this open sewage lake, the local people grew water hyacinths that were harvested for pig feed.  Sure enough, a break in the buildings displayed this massive lake of raw sewage, boats floating on it, stilted houses perched on the banks, filled with large green leaves of the water hyacinth.

Sewage lagoon

I was in shock.  As if S-21 wasn't enough, now we were looking at modern day Phnom Penh and the prospect it held for thousands of people on this stretch of road.  Then a new Lexus SUV or Land Rover would drive by. There is wealth in this city but certainly not along this putrid stretch of road. The afternoon was spent shaking my head and ended with being eternally thankful that I was born in Canada with opportunities and safety available without question.  I'm not sure how Phnom Penh will ever find a way out of this poverty.  The task seems too monumental.

The Killing Fields

The Killing Field Monument - filled with bones exhumed from mass graves