Hello Phnom Penh!
Room with a view. Cambodia.
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia is a flat, bustling city- as far as transport is concerned. Huge 4x4s, motorbikes, scooters and bicycles fill the streets. No one really walks - the cars park on the pavements or the pavements are broken, making it hard to get around on foot. Trucks are used as a local taxi service and collection of contractors. Public transport isn’t consistent. Thank goodness for tuk-tuks.
The area we are staying - in the old American Embassy - is surrounded by banks of the world and coffee shops. It’s a mish mash of unfinished modern and tatty old. Coming from Vietnam, Cambodia seems relatively expensive, all transactions are done in US dollars.
Good to see the Art of the Nap and Karaoke continues to be as popular here in Cambodia.
Cambodia is a country that I knew very little about, apart from its atrocities and our first stop, Phnom Penh, feels complicated to me. I can’t say that I am surprised by anything, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to be so affected by this country as our stay progressed. The raw grittiness, strong sexism (which really bugged me) and rise in bag theft is quite the contrast to the gentle, happy smiley people that you happen upon who really do light up your day.
The first thing we did was visit the Choking Ek Killing Fields just a tuk tuk ride away. Aesthetically there is not much to see and I did not feel inclined to record it photographically except for a few symbolic references. From a historical and human perspective this is one of the saddest places in Phnom Penh. Actually seeing the brutal history of Cambodias past is a completely different experience to reading about it.
As you walk around the perimeter listening to the survivors stories it’s ironic that this terrible place is surrounded by tranquil, rice paddy fields.
We then went to Toul Sling - S21 - The genocide museum. While the Killing fields have much of their brutal past hidden by nature, S21 is an old school that became a detention and interrogation centre before being sent to the killing fields. It is full of unnerving horror. Each room explains in tortuous and sometimes graphic detail what happened there. I did not want to photograph anything here, it’s not my story to tell. I came away feeling bruised and battered and in tears.
So our experience of Phnom Penh took quite a different turn. We didn’t think to check up on festivals so we found ourselves at the beginning of a major national holiday -Pchum Ben - Ancestors Festival or Hungry Ghosts Festival.
This is Cambodia’s most important Bhuddist festival near the end of the monsoon and marks the end of Bhuddist Lent. Everywhere began to shut up shop and close their doors, this was a time for family and commemorating up to 7 generations of ancestors.
The festival involves visiting pagodas and offering alms to monks to reach their ancestors’ spirits. Offerings of food, money, and essential materials are made to the resident monks as a gesture of reverence and generosity. The living are then blessed in return.
Visiting lots of temples is not really my thing but this was defiantly the thing to do during this festival. I was completely fascinated by the customs and ceremonial process that we witnessed here at Wat Ounalom - the centre of Cambodian Buddhism.
Large notes need to be changed into small denominations for each of the offerings.
A spoonful of rice is put in each bowl and money is left on each plate.
Nobody minded me taking photographs, everyone was so friendly and kind. At each of the temples we visited to check out the festivities we were offered so many lunches.
In complete contrast, we went over the bridge to see ‘Chinatown’ as it is referred to by the locals. What we saw was quite a surprise. Sterile, empty, huge buildings created with Chinese investment.
This was a pattern that we were to learn more about as we travelled on.