Phnom Penh...Cambodia

Just when I didn't think traffic could get any worse...I arrived in Phnom Penh. Now I'm sure you're getting tired about me talking about traffic, but it's nothing like I've ever seen before.


Once again...motorbikes dominate the road...and for my good friend Smiley...you'll be happing to know that every second car in Cambodia is a Toyota Camry.



But just think about a city with approx 1.7M people living in it and most of the intersections don't have traffic lights or stop signs. I never observed a rule of thumb such as "four way stop" mentality...it was more about the bigger your vehicle...the less you have to slow down.

And just to give you an idea of how crazy it was...I either witnessed live for myself or saw the aftermath of three accidents on the way to the airport. OK...enough about damn traffic...we all have busy lives.


Like Thailand...Cambodia is dotted with temples everywhere. I was told there are more than 2000 temples in Cambodia. I think I've seen most of them now. The other thing Cambodia has a lot of is landmines. I was told they estimate that there are over 6M undetonated land mines covering the countryside. Very scary!

And it's heart wrenching to walk past the hundreds of beggars who obviously lost limbs due to landmines.



The shrine above is dedicated to the woman who found a Buddha relic at the site of which has become Phnom Penh. I think you can write your own ticket if you find a Buddha relic. Unfortunately, I'm not too sure what to look for.



The site of the birthplace of Phnom Penh has monkeys running all over the place. Hey...maybe I'm not too far from home afterall...it's like our Parliament. Just kidding...I don't know enough about politics to start having those discssions on my blog. Let's move on to religion or sex instead.



However, my guide informed me that I was very lucky to have the monkey come so close to me and get a shot of him. My understanding is that this particular monkey often attacks tourists if they look at him or take his picture. I did quickly look the other way a few times before I got the shot. Man...once again...putting my life on the line for you readers. I was only about 12 ft from him and I had forgotten to wear my kevlar body suit. You guys owe me!

Now I mentioned my guide...did I also mention that I had a personal driver as well. I'm a somebody in Cambodia. In both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (next blog), I had a personal guide and a personal driver. Oh yeah...you might see me on the next issue of Cambodia's GQ, or People Magazine, or The National Enquirer...or more likely....Mad Magazine's "Look at the Western Boy Sweat" article. It was HOT!

As I already mentioned, Cambodia is known for it's landmines, but it's also known for the genocide that happened in the mid to late 1970s. More than 2M people were massacred in just under 4 years. And most of those massacred were under the age of 8, over the age of 40 and anyone with experience or education. From the stories I read and the stories I heard...the Khmer Rouge were ruthless executioners.

I did visit the genocide museum (an ex jail and interrogation centre) as well as the killing fields just outside Phnom Penh where more than 8000 skulls have been found in mass graves. It was a very sobering experience. I've decided to only show two of my pictures taken from the genocide museum and none from the killing fields. (see below)

Now whether or not the gentleman below was the "real" deal...it was a nice story to want to believe after seeing the genocide museum. This gentlemen claimed to be one of the men in the picture he was pointing to and one of less than 20 people to have survived the jail. Both my guide and I believe it was him. He had some very disturbing stories to tell us and showed us some very disturbing wounds he still had.

This gentlemen never asked us for anything and told us that he was participating in the war criminal tribunals. I feel fortunate to have met him (if he was indeed who he said he was) and hope he can help bring some closure to all the families that were affected by these atrocities.

On to Siem Reap where the sights are less disturbing.