Vietnam - Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is very hot despite it being their dry season, which is the cooler season - today was 32C but at least there is not much humidity. We had a leisurely breakfast and then met our same tub-tuk driver from yesterday who took us to the Watt Phnom, a temple near our hotel. Buddhists make offerings to Buddha and there were many Buddha statues in the temple all with money tucked into its folds, food, lotus flowers and drinks. One woman who was praying in front of a Buddha first sprayed it with something from an aerosol can and then smeared lipstick all over it’s mouth, I don't know what that was all about and I must try and find out. Our tut-tuk driver was waiting for us as we left the pagoda, and he drove us to the main market for a brief visit before he dropped us off back at the hotel. 

We checked out and met our Audley arranged guide who took us to Tuol Sling, also known as S-21, a former high school turned that the Khmer Rouge turned into a detention centre for interrogation, torture and death. During the regime of the Khmer Rouge, from 1975-79, over 3 million people died, of a total population of 7.3 million people. Of the 18,000 people tortured here, only 11 survived. The photos of the victims and the rooms in which they were tortured were harrowing to see, at one point I felt quite queasy. When they were close to death they were transported 14km away to Choeung Ek, also known as The Killing Fields. This is a photo of one of the buildings where the victims were kept in very small rooms, shackled by the ankles and given a tiny metal box to use as a toilet. As we left S-21 we met 3 of the people who were part of the 11 survivors who were liberated from this prison.

From there we drove to Choeung Ek, where we saw the excavated remains of the fields where the people were buried. Buried in shallow graves, sometimes still alive, and then DDT was sprinkled over them to get rid of the smell of death or to ensure they died. We saw the tree where babies were bashed against to kill them. They did not have many bullets available to kill the victims so usually the people were taken to the edge of a pit and clubbed to death with a spade, bamboo pole or any sort of implement. It was horrific to see all this, but important to do so when you realise how recently this occurred. 

The guide and driver then took us back into the city to the riverside where we boarded a speedboat to take us to our boat, the Aqua Mekong, which is to be our home for the next four days as we cruise along the Mekong River. The boat takes 40 passengers and is very beautifully appointed and decorated with dark teak wood everywhere. There are only 23 passengers on this cruise so there is plenty of space for everyone. We were shown around the boat, it has a gym and a spa on it and a small pool, before going to our cabins. This was followed by a safety briefing and a practice fire drill. Before dinner we had a wonderful show of cultural music and dance provided by young teenagers from a local school, there is an extra of one of the dancers. We have met some very nice people already and at meal times we share tables, tonight we sat with a lovely couple from Canada at dinner - which was delicious.

There is limited wifi is the lounge area that works intermittently, it's from a boosted 4G link. The boat used to have very good wifi provided by Starlink but for some reason Elon Musk stopped it working in Cambodia only a few weeks ago! Once the boat sails into Vietnam waters the wifi works again! I hope I can upload this using that intermittent wifi.