Holiday in Cambodia
Well. Phnom Penh is somewhere else entirely. No one can tell me that you can walk out the door in a western society and have everything right there. We can literally step out of the hotel here and be offered "moto-bike, marree wahna, lady?" plus all manner of other things. Awesome.
I think the Khmers might just top the Vietnamese in the horn stakes. Definitely the boys. Yum. They are a tad more friendly I think as well. Always smiling and very happy to see you. What makes this important is that while the VNese are also happy to see you, it's usually because they may be able to sell you something. Here in Phnom Penh, we can walk anywhere, still seeing women everywhere with stuff dangling from babmboo poles to sell, but never being asked "you buy something?". It's almost a little disconcerting.
We spent the day doing a couple of very interesting activities. First of all, we went to a firing range just outside of Phnom Penh. Backpackers are encouraged to come along and have a go at all manner of firearms to help rid the jopint of unexploded ordnance. I was more than happy to assist here. You are actually shown a menu when you first arrive. I chose an AK-47 and some shitty hand gun. AK-47 I might be lethal with. A hand gun, I would be inadvertantly shooting something in the next province. I was offered a hand grenade, but declined on the grounds I throw like a girl.
We followed this with a visit to the infamous Killing Fields of Cheung Ek. This was a VERY sobering experience. There is a large shite Khmer-style stupa in the middle of the grounds where over 8000 skulls are stacked. When you allow youself to actually realise what it is you are looking at, it is an overwhelmingly tragic thing. These people died (children too!) at the hands of their own people. Unbelievable.
The temples here are the most beautiful I have seen in SE Asia. The most famous, Angkor Wat, is everywhere. I drink Angkor Beer, smoke Angkor cigarettes and no doubt use Angkor bog rolls. It's even on their flag. It is clearly a big ol flip of the bird to the world: "No matter how crap things might be these days, we built Angkor" seems to be the thing. And how.
And the REALLY good thing about Cambodia: I haven't seen or heard on American yet.
