Busy day in the Penh

27.01.2017

Today was super busy! I picked Jo up at the airport in the morning and then we pretty much went straight to Tuol Sleng, S-21 prison, on the other side of town. It was really heavy and depressing. 21,000 people were tortured there for secrets they may or may not have had. Then they were sent to the killing fields outside the city. Many of the victims' photos were on display, including some photos of people that were already dead when they took them. One beautiful woman stood out to me. She was dead, but looking up to the sky. Someone had taken her photo looking straight down at her from above, but her eyes were facing away from the camera and pointing to heaven. She wore a plaid button down shirt and her long black hair was flowing out of the right side of the frame. Although I couldn't see her eyes, which must have been closed, she seemed to be an angel gazing at the heavens, ready to be called back home. What pain she experienced, she didn't deserve, but at least it came to its inevitable end. People in Cambodia say that there are ghosts all around us, because so many victims of the Khmer Rouge were cremated properly. None of these murders were blessed by any mnks. If any of that is true, I believe I felt her spirit still trapped in that horrible place.

Feeling like I weighed 500 pounds, we lumbered back to the bus, hungry and exhausted. We waited a while before it came, but it was suddenly hilarious because we met a cute family with two very articulate children speaking English to us. They immediately brightened our mood. We had seen them on the way to the museum, so it was funny to see them again on our way home.

We grabbed beers and a sandwich on our way back to the hotel and I felt much better. But then it was time to see the other more vibrant side of Cambodia. We watched a folk dance show, with amazing costumes and talented musicians, they looked like they stepped out of an ancient temple fresco, it was amazing.

After that, we still weren't finished. We had a late dinner at Dine in the Dark, a pitch black restaurant, where you are served by blind waiters. I ate with my hands the entire meal, which consisted of bacon wrapped asparagus, roasted duck and caramel custard for dessert. It was great fun guessing what everything we were putting into our mouths was. We were wrong only on the duck, we thought it was a strange type of roast beef. As soon as a big loud group of British people showed up, we knew it was time to go. We had to get up early in the morning anyway.

Tuol Sleng