Mekong to Phnom Penh

We have completed our three day bus and boat trip from Saigon to Phnom Penh and have successfully landed in Cambodia, our Vietnam trip completed. Along the way we saw a floating market, where vendors display their wares selling by skewering a sample on a long bamboo pole and flying it like a flag from the front of the boat. Potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, coconut, mangos were all sacrificed in the effort of marketing. What else did we see: A coconut candy workshop, an alligator farm, a fish farm, a minority village, a traditional music show, a fruit plantation, miles and miles of Mekong, and hours on a bus. We have the pictures to prove it and someday you'll see them, all of them. We'll make ya. It was very nice. Really.

Today in Phnom Penh we hired a tuk-tuk, not the same as the ones in Thailand, but a motorcyle pulling a two-wheeled trailer, and saw the major attractions of the city. The infamous S-21 and the killing fields were first. Not very uplifting, emotionally. S-21 was horrific. Em and I have been reading a bit about the Khmer Rouge, but nothing prepares you for seeing the real rooms and torture beds....and pictures, thousands of pictures. The pictures become skulls at the display at the killing fields. It was a horrible time. Not much more can be said.

As for Phnom Penh, it is dirtier and poorer that what we have seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The are more children begging and more amputees. Both hard sites to see. Today at breakfast two small boys came begging at the table. They looked to be brothers, one maybe 5 and the other 7. In general Em and I don't give....we can't. Once you start you can never draw the line on who to give to or when to stop. (It's a general rule and we've broken it on occasion). My breakfast had just been delivered so I gave them each half my bread. They were asking more for money, but eagerly took the bread.

Em had another small girl walking with us at the killing fields. She wanted money and spoke very good english. Em asked her why she wasn't in school. She replied in a rehearsed manner that she does go to school, but that school didn't start until 1:00 pm and lasted until 6:00 pm. Em glanced at her watch and saw that it was 1:15 pm. Em said, "You know it 1:15, you're late. You better get going." The girl knew she was had. She fell behind and left us alone.

Here's some pics for your viewing pleasure:

These are the houses that line the banks of the Mekong in the more populated areas.


This is the floating market. In the background you can see all the skewered veggies.


Our Tuk-Tuk ran out of gas, so the paying passengers got some exercise.



S-21. One of the mass detention rooms. The numbers on the walls are haunting and I think signify rows, not numbers of people, because they kept way more than 16 people in this room.