After two nights in Bangkok, we flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The contrast between the capital cities of these neighboring countries was breathtaking. Bangkok is thoroughly modern with 8.1 million residents, a subway, skytrain, massive traffic jams, huge (HUGE) shopping complexes (with Gucci, Armani, Prada, Maserati, Lamborghini...), world-class 5-star hotels, and every chain store known to man. Thailand's per-capita GDP is $8,000. Phnom Penh, in contrast, has 1 million people. Perhaps 30% of the roads in the city are paved. Many people live in small shacks made of corrugated aluminum. The apartment complexes all look run-down and in various states of disrepair. Cambodia's per-capita GDP is $1,900. And food costs in Phnom Penh were at least twice what they were in Bangkok.
I didn't take any photos in Bangkok. However, I did take several in Phnom Penh.
Homes along the Mekong River
The city, viewed from the top of a shopping complex.The Mekong can be seen in the distance.
The Central Market
Inside the Russian MarketOn our first (and only) full day in Phnom Penh, we hired a driver to take us to the Choeung Ek Memorial (killing field) near Phnom Penh and Tuol Sleng genocide museum. According to our guide book, this particular killing field "is the site of the brutal executions of more than 17,000 men, women, and children, most of whom suffered through interrogation, torture, and deprivation of the S-21 Prison (Toul Sleng) in Phnom Penh." [If you don't know or need a refresher on what happened in Cambodia, see this memorial page.]
Most of the buildings at Choeung Ek are gone now, but the mass graves remain. While many of the graves have been unearthed and the bodies removed, a number of them have yet to be excavated. While walking along the paths between the graves, we could see - in the dirt of the paths - bones that were being gradually exposed as the dirt was worn away by visitors' feet.
In the center of the field, the Cambodian people have built a memoral tower. The tower is filled with the skulls of those whose remains were found here.
After visiting Choeun Ek, our driver took us to Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. Tuol Sleng was originally a high school, but the Khmer Rouge converted it into a prison. It was used mainly as a stop-over for those on their way to be executed. In fact, according to the website I linked to above, "Of the approximately 20,000 people who were imprisoned at S-21, there were only seven known survivors."
Since I did not consider photography to be appropriate at these sites of so much brutality, the photo above is the only one I took.
Our driver told us that he was just six years old at the time the Khmer Rouge seized power. He said that people were fed only one bowl of watery rice porridge each day. Because he was starving, one day he took a duck's egg that he had found. A KR soldier saw that he was hiding something in his hand, and threw him in prison for three days, with no food or water. When she finally released him, he could hardly stand. He tried to walk home, but collapsed on the side of the road. Fortunately, someone who knew his family found him and carried him home.
We saw so many people who were missing a limb or limbs, whose hands, arms, or faces were scarred or melted. Nearly every Cambodian family lost someone to the Khmer Rouge. They are a very poor, downtrodden, and disadvantaged people, but they are unfailingly friendly, helpful, and kind.
