Wed 25 Mar – Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I think I have a new favourite dish! Take the old one – the Thai Green Chicken Curry – add a satay taste, some small spuds and carrot slices and you’ve pretty much got the Khmer Curry which we received last night at the Grand View Guesthouse’s restaurant. Here’s hoping I find the same dish at a similar quality level soon. Either way, I’ll certainly be attempting to cook it upon our return home.

A mid-morning trip to Psar Tuol Tom Pong, aka the Russian Markets, saw us part with some solid USD for plenty of DVDs. Our backpacks will now be significantly heavier for the remainder of our trip, thanks to the first five series of both Entourage and Family Guy, a 26-hour long World War II documentary series (only a history buff like me can work through something that long!), a 100-documentary National Geographic collection and the first five Harry Potter movies – plus a few others! In case no we’re unable to find employment for a while back in Australia, we will instead be employing the services of the couch and remote controls.

Between Boeng Kek and these markets, occupying what would otherwise be a rather innocent-looking school complex, is the Tuol Seng Museum. Previously the Tuol Svay Prey High School, Pol Pot and his cronies turned it into Security Prison 21 (“S-21”) in 1975. The complex then became the largest centre of imprisonment and torture for the Khmer Rouge regime – an astounding 100 people per day became victims here during the early part of 1977. The graphic images and items displayed paint a gruesome picture of the events of this period – items particularly troubling include skulls with which the cause of death is prominently evident, tiny solitary confinement cells and pictures of the deceased which were taken for the regime’s records. The Museum is not for the faint of heart but is a must-see in Phnom Penh.


Thu 26 Mar – Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Decisions, decisions, decisions. What to eat. Always difficult. The choice is certainly not helped when the menu you’re perusing provides around 150 available dishes, occasionally more, and that’s excluding beverage options. Such large menus have been a common feature in our travels, sometimes to our inconvenience when all you’re wanting to do is to confirm that a Thai Green Chicken Curry and a large Tiger are available. Tonight’s selection proved consistent with our prior experiences, offering 158 individual meals.

More Khmer Rouge-related sights today, this time the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, 14km south-west of the CBD. This is where most of the Tuol Sleng S-21 detainees were transported to for their final moments, and where they were dumped into one of 129 mass graves. The simply astonishing death count here was around 17,000, over half of whose skulls are exhibited in the white stupa (a large Buddhist-style monument) built amongst the fields. Human bones and clothing poking out from the soil may upset a lot of hardy souls but the Fields are a poignant reminder of the atrocities experienced by the Cambodian peoples in years past.

Cambodia is certainly the least developed of the places we’ve been to so far (although, of all the places I’ve been to, I think India has significantly greater numbers living in poverty), and that is evident in the number of kids and disabled adults begging here. Our guidance is to be generous to the disabled, particularly those who are legitimately trying to earn a living by selling items such as books, as there is no social security system for them. However, as common to less developed countries, donations to child beggars should be avoided. Especially when you can see their mothers sitting lazily nearby, forcing their offspring to beg rather sit through a day of school. The temptation to pass some money onto these kids is tempered by recalling the old adage, “catch a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime”. Encouraging kids to beg by giving them cash does nothing to promote personal development and self-reliance.

Another indicator of the relative lack of wealth in Cambodia that could be considered is the number of Western chain restaurants. A solitary KFC has been spotted in this country, no Maccas and (if this can be comprehended) no Starbucks!