Bangkok, Vietnam and a German Biker Bar in Phnom Penh

Returning to Vietnam in 1999 after being away for 30 years and like the Lemming kept coming back, staying a little longer each time. After a while I felt the need to see more of the region and headed to Thailand and a couple short trips into Lao.  Meanwhile, there sits Cambodia, ever so close but always just below my radar. However, in those days Cambodia was still a pretty raged place but had heard it was starting to change. It was becoming more assessable with a stronger and more stable government but still with an the edge of a developing country and ripe for a visit from Doug.

Though, always in the back of my mind were the stories of my Cambodia born friends in California. They told of the forced labor camps and harsh times their families endured under the Khmer Rouge rain. They were just children but very brave and much older than their years, fleeing on foot across Cambodia to Thailand, enduring the hardships of life in the Thai immigration camps.  Then one day their luck changed and the opportunity to immigrate to the states opened up to them.

Along with those accounts, Cambodia had gained a reputation among expats as a pretty rough place. The Khmer Rouge did more than kill millions but destroyed the previous government and killed most of the leadership along with any potential leaders.  All this in their attempt to recreate their vision of the utopian agrarian society of Cambodia’s past.  So in the 80's when the Vietnamese toppled the Khmer Rouge they left behind a country in shambles. Inn turn Cambodia garnered a reputation as a place where the rule of law could be flexible, depending on how many guns and how much money was involved.

It was about 6 or 8 years ago when I made my first visit. One day on a whim I booked a bus trip to Seim Reap from Bangkok.  Which turned out to be one of the harder bus trips I’ve ever taken, spending the morning on a crowded un-air-conditioned minibus to somewhere across the border from Poipet, Cambodia.  Where after floundering around with bag and baggage I found the border crossing and was passed through the chaotic and disorganized Cambodian immigrations.  
                      Welcome to Cambodia!

Once across the border I located the booking office for the second stage of my bus trip to Siem Reap. After a tense wait for the bus, "yes, soon bus" - hour later, "soon" boarded ah, ha, a full sized bus. Full size yes but a bad sign is when only after a short time our bus was already having mechanical problems requiring quick  repair stops. However, I came to look forward to these little mystery stops as a welcomed break from the pounding of the rough and bumpy road.  Then there was that bridge, so decrepit that the driver and his helper laid planks over the holes so we could proceed. The buses movement over the bridge created an eerie creaking sound as though the bridge was trying to warn us not to cross. Meanwhile, the water was rushing in torrents below us. OK, not sure of the torrents of water but I guarantee that even through closed eyes the bridge was very high and the water below was treacherous.
Oh ya, and it didn’t help being stuffed into a cramped seat holding my bag on my lap with no air-conditioning in very humid 38 degrees temperature.

On to Phnom Penh where I faced the historical sites that gave credence to the stories I had read and heard about, Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek.  I was blown away and kept thinking what a tragedy this was, with so much killing and destruction, how could this happen?  Furthermore how is it that the USA or any western country never came to the rescue of the Cambodian people.  Just how is this possible?

To think that in just  three years, eight months and 21 days the Khmer Rouge killed upwards to three million babies, kids, adults, grandparents, teachers, doctors, attorneys, visiting foreigners and anyone wearing glass (yup, you read that right, glasses)..   

The converted school compound of Tuol Sleng is where people were photographed (detailed records were kept), tortured then sent out to be murdered and ultimately to be buried in mass graves.
  

To save on expensive ammunition, hoes and pic-axes where turned into killing devices and used to bash in skulls, throats were slit with knives and the gruesome practice of swinging a baby by its legs and smashing its head against a tree was used and you can still see the tree.  

I've visited numerous times since and still find it emotionally upsetting but never on par with the the intense emotions I felt on my first visit.  Tuol Sleng is about the same as then but the killing field has been redeveloped to make it more tourist friendly. When I first visited it was if I had just found it, stacks of human bones piled against trees, fabric from the clothing of the victims poking its way out of the earth, the strange sight of a locale kid bathing his water buffalo in the pond which now is fenced off to the outside and has a walking path around it.  

During this first visit I learned how the executions were carried out mostly by young people.  This really got my mind working and being this nervous guy I am couldn't help but think if killers survived they would now be around my age. So that normal looking Cambodian walking down the street could be in fact one of the killers. However, most executioners were killed off by executioners so that none gained any power, allowing the Khmer Rouge in there paranoid leadership style to keep the killers in check. However, now that the international war crimes tribunal has been created to ferret out these criminals and put those criminals on trial. I'm guessing these murders if they still are still walking around will probably not fall back ito their old habits and will be keeping a very low profile.

Cambodia has changed a lot since my first visit and is now coming into its own with improved roads and with and most bridges not requiring you to bring your own decking. The bulk of this is a byproduct of Cambodia's recent opportunities in international trade, bringing a slew of new condos, restaurants and some very nice hotels, while leaving Cambodia as a place that is still interesting but with still a little edge to it and an inexpensive destination to visit.
 
One thing that still hasn't changed much, is that Cambodia, Phnom Penh in particular still offers a no holds barred night life. Bringing us to Phnom Penh’s, German Biker Bar, which in name is the Lone Brother Bar.   The place is an open air affair, with big guys in leathers, even in the 35 c degree heat, big bikes out front and friendly ladies at the bar inside.   $3.50 for a girl drink of rum and coke at the bar and you become the most interesting and sexy man in the world.  Anyway, with the girls at the bar. 


 

That's all I got for now but always thinking of you... 

     Doug