Cambodia Genocide (please view at your own risk - sensitive material!)

Nov 10

Day 21 – PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – Nov 5 – Part 2

Probably about 3x per day, I have a slight heart attack. This afternoon was one. Sitting, enjoying my lunch – taking my time, when it hit me like a truck – this flight is International. Which means be there 2 hours early, plus this traffic is nuts. My flight at 3:50pm. I realized this at 1:51pm. I panicked, ordered a Grab, and prayed. We got there late but somehow they accepted me and I met Sandy in the customs line. They put us in a short line. We made it. Nice to be reunited. <3

We checked in the the White Mansion and our room was a massive suite. Tall ceilings, comfy beds, a pool, this place checked all the boxes!! Let’s stay in tonight haha.

We hired a TukTuk, got ourselves down to the Mekong riverside, walked and had a nice dinner. We met SiHa, who became our driver the next couple of days. He took us around the city. We bought matching fake Louis Vuitton pyjamas, so cute. Had an amazing sleep in our ‘made for royalty’ room.

Day 22 – Phnom Penh – Nov 6

We started with a free breakfast offered in our hotel. Wow! Huge, amazing menu to choose from.

We were picked up for our Killing Fields Tour. This tour is worth coming to Phnom Penh for. The Cambodian Genocide was the persecution of Cambodian citizens from 1975 to 1979. We heard various numbers up to 3 Million people killed by the Khmer Rouge, their own Government who is still in power today.

Our tour took us to killing fields where the masses were actually killed. We walked in blood stained rooms, as this was not that long ago. These people were put on busses with the promise of taking them to a better place, people giddy to board the bus that was to take them to torture chambers and eventually killed. They would torture the people for information, all highly educated doctors, etc… were taken here. once they had all their information, they were killed in many different ways.

Looking at hundreds of photos of these prisoners was very emotional. I had tears numerous times as each photo showed a different emotion. Some looked brave, some looked afraid, some looked calm. The stories of the babies were the worst. I took a photo of the tree where they hit babies’ heads against the tree to kill them. Threw babies in the air to shoot them in the air in front of their mothers.

The many torture techniques were not for believing. I will attach photos of some of them here.

There were 11 survivors from the killing fields. Only 11. Somewhere between 2-3 Million dead, depending on the varied accounts told. Of these 11, 2 adults and 4 children are alive today. 2 of the children were sent to Germany at that time, and nobody knows where they are. There are 4 alive today in Cambodia. All 4 were at the tour, we met them. This was really something else. The 2 adult men are in their 90’s so they will not be alive much longer, so it was a real privilege to meet them. All the soldiers who were forced to carry out the killing are alive and well in Cambodia living in society. There is no ill-will in their country for these men, as it is a known fact that they had no choice but to kill their own people - or they would be killed themselves. There is full amnesty, peace, forgiveness among the people of this country. There lingers a feeling of unrest of the Government, as the same party is still in control, meaning they are still very much controlled. Among the people, there is kindness, love and peace.

We came back down to the Riverside for lunch, then back to our room for a rest and watch the election results. We happened to time it perfectly to see the results and Trump’s speech.

We went back out to Silk Island, where I could have hung out all day. Very primitive – reminded me of my cousins in South America. Kids with no shoes, dogs playing, and BBQ Asado on every grill we passed by. We took a ferry with our TukTuk both ways with SiHa.

We went to the night market downtown riverfront area, then to La Croisette for dinner. Best Greek salad I have ever had in my life – I could live off that salad! Sandy had margherita pizza which was also super delicious!! We gave our leftovers to a woman who said she needed it for her grandson, she said everyone in her life had died including her daughter- the little boy’s mother. We weren’t sure if it was true, but we gave her our food anyway.

We stopped at the skybar on the way home. WOWWWWWWW. Nicest sky bar I’ve seen.

Day 23 – Phnom Penh – Nov 7

We woke up to a coffee and baguette, then we hung out at our pool for a couple of hours. It was so nice!! Then they served us our free breakfast at 10:30 at the pool, so kind and super delicious.

We took a TukTuk to Monkey Island, where we saw one monkey and tons of kids. Took some pics with the kids and hung out with them for a while. They all jumped on our tuktuk begging for money afterwards. We had read that giving all of these children money fuels the problem in their country, so we had to say no – tho we did give others money where there were fewer of them. One little boy started walking and singing Feliz Navidad with me.

Then we went to the Central market – then the Russian Market. Enough markets! Bought a few things, lucky me – Sandy is flying home in 2 days and she bought a carry on so she can take things home for me to give me space here.

We went downtown riverside at the Mekong River for a long walk, and ended up back at the same restaurant as last night. I had to have that Greek salad again.

We found a killer massage place, we sat in recliners beside eachother and got an hour foot massage together.

Then just another walk with Gelato and home to pack. Sandy leaves 7am for the airport. When she booked her flights, we had not talked much – so she has a number of back and forth flights so we just catch up with eachother in different cities.

Day 24 – Phnom Penh – Nov 8 – Part 1

Sandy was up at 6am. I slept about 20 minutes last night, just one of those nights I was up all night ugh. We went down at 6:40am for a coffee and she left.

I went at 8am to have my hair washed. This deserves its’ own paragraph.

Little did I know, the $15 U.S. hair wash includes a 1 hour full scalp, shoulder, neck massage. This whole process took almost 2 ½ hours. Lying in a body massage chair. I mean…. Canada!? Can we get this service WOW!

2 people working on my hair. When they finished, and I went to pay, the could not take VISA. I had planned it so I would not need any more cash, only my VISA. Oh no… they said - no it’s ok.. no problem. They were going to GIVE that last 2 ½ hours to me. Is this for real!!??

I walked a few blocks to find an ATM, and in my rush – I typed into my phone Canadian to Vietnemese Dong. This is what happens when you travel numerous countries in a short time span. I knew something sounded wrong! But I was in a rush. So instead of taking out 100K Riel, I calculated dong and took out 1 Million Riel. Instead of taking out $35, I took out $360 Canadian when I’m leaving the country in 2 days. Great. Well, I was able to leave 50K tip for the hair people as well as $50K for my hotel girl so that was the silver lining. The people here are so wonderful.

The good news is I will exchange that for U.S. cash, which I wanted to get anyway for the rest of my trip lol. All good.

Our 18 year old friend we met in Vietnam is in the same cities as we are all the time, too .. we keep missing eachother – quite amazing for me to see as this is exactly what Jorg just did earlier this year. Very brave!

RECAP OF PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

Hands down, the kindest people I have met so far in my travels. Every person makes eye contact, smiles, and puts their hands to their chest with a small bow as they say hello.

Peddlers in crowded areas are definitely most aggressive here from anywhere I have seen so far. Especially the children, they are taught to ask for money and food.

There are many more cars here, less motorcycles. Our taxi is a TukTuk, the style were we sit behind the driver. The Grab app is the best in all these countries, once you order your tuktuk, you get in and get out.. it has already been paid by your app with your credit card attached. So many tuktuks, it takes one minute for one to show up.

There is a fair amount of English in Cambodia. The buildings are by far much more sophisticated than anything we saw in Vietnam. Very surprising to see how seemingly rich this country was, though locals still living at poverty level.

The energy in this country is peaceful and friendly. Everyone says hello and smiles with eye contact. This is the first country I have encountered like this.

The trauma of these people, at the hands of their own government is incredible.

Every country I have visited so far on this trip, with the exception of South Korea – is Communist. Though I must admit, it is very hard for me to tell cultures apart when I see them as they have slight differences in cheekbone structure, etc.. I can tell them miles apart by their behaviours.

PICS BELOW:

Hello White Mansion, our Phnom Penh home!
How everyone in Cambodia says hello with a slight bow - gorgeous people
Our welcome fresh watermelon juice drink, and many more fresh fruit juices to follow
Our first dinner in Phnom Penh, so fun!
Our driver SiHa filling fuel on the road, this young girl ran the little store, no shoes
Our new purchase, fake LV matching pyjamas, we just had to haha
Our free hotel breakfast each day was to die for, so yummy
Arriving at the Killing Fields, we were in for a DAY!!
This is the tree they used to bash babies heads against, for killing while forcing the mothers to watch
A standard prisoner room, most of the time naked and no food, lying in this bed with shackles on, the little box was the toilet box - these rooms were filled with blood spatter even today - horrifying places we saw
#22 this prison cell belonged to one of the only survivors of this genocide
One of the only two survivors who were adults through that time
A depiction of the killing of babies with mothers watching. This was impossible for me to imagine.
Lunch along the riverside
I screen shotted a still of a video Jado sent of many people in Hawaii watching the election unfold, this was before results were known but loved to see my son involved in the process in the U.S. while he is living there - great to learn the process
These little houses are outside most buildings and houses in Cambodia to hold spirits, people leave food and drinks for the gods inside these miniature houses
A photo from our ferry. These are real residences with people living in them
Here we are on the ferry by our TukTuk crossing the river
A very typical scene in Cambodia, people eating at homes on side streets / turned small businesses - instead of eating on busy downtown streets
Our driver stopped at one of the side street homes to buy dinner for 2 people for $5 U.S. It was a massive helping of what seemed to be all the inners of who knows which animal. looked like stomach intestines, literally could not see meat in that pot - I could attach a photo
Temples, temples, temples
Markets, markets, markets
We ate here 2 nights in a row, the food was so good and chairs so comfy on the riverside
This woman told us her husband and daughter and everyone in her life has died. She only has her grandson at home alone at 5 yrs old. We gave her our bread and pizza. Ironically, the following night she was there again and showed us a photo of her grandson eating all that food from the night before we gave it to her.
Next 4 photos from skybar
29. So many people go barefoot in this town, including most children
30. The view from our hotel room deck
31. Our only pool day
32 - 34. Monkey temple but we saw more kids than monkeys
35. Central market
36. Central market washroom. yes. And I had to pay for it
37. This sweet family was our tuktuk drivers .. their little son in a hammock in the front seat as we drove
38-39. Mekong River boardwalk
40. The lady came back the next night to show us she did feed our food to her grandson
41. We came here to eat twice, greek salad best I’ve ever had
42-43. Another hour long foot massage so good
44. Mekong River at night
45-46. My ‘hair wash’. 2 1/2 hours later for $15 U.S.
47. This sweet girl coming out to bow to say goodbye to me
48. In my tuktuk headed to the airport
49-60 - Forms of torture soldiers were forced to carry out against their own people
61. The meal SiHa purchased for his dinner from side street home type restaurant