Phnom Penh - Day 2

We spent much of the morning at a playground among local families with little kids.  We noticed the playground as we drove past in a tuk-tuk on our way to a historic district of Phnom Penh along the waterfront.  The girls had a fun time climbing on the equipment and acting out an adventure story. Vendors offered drinks and ice cream.  A little boy casually peed on the pathway and toddlers were only half-dressed.

This bicycle newspaper seller sold us a copy of the English language Phnom Penh Post while we were in a tuk-tuk

View from the rear of the tuk-tuk.  I can't get used to seeing little kids standing on motorbikes without helmets.

How busy are they?

Phnom Penh's main attractions

Our tuk-tuk driver with the unfortunate name "Porn"

At the playground

A bamboo naga (snake head) sculpture at the base of a hill that houses a famous temple. We saw it again at night spectacularly lit up

A nondescript and seemingly empty building at the center of the playground housed a neglected exhibit on Phnom Penh's past and future, watched over by a bored attendant.  A plaque mentioned a fact that I had forgotten - in 1975 the Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh with its population of two million and "emptied it of its people".  So much tragedy and horror is hidden by that bland description.  I felt amazed by the resilience of the people and the city and by the path they both had travelled.  Another plaque stated that after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge people returned to resettle and rebuild the abandoned ghost town.

We were curious to explore the old town on foot.  Walking toward the waterfront, we paused by a couple of vigorous volleyball games contested by shirtless middle-age men.  Alexa, who is a new member of the Bamboo Spikes volleyball team at Green School, took a special interest.   At lunch I tried a delicious Cambodian curry dish, Chicken Amok.  Then we all went to a nearby shop for delicious ice cream and pastries - thank you French colonial influence.

crumbling grand architecture in the historic district

The central market is another example of French influence - a grand yellow building with a 30-foot high central dome and arms branching out in all directions.  Lynn made use of her bargaining prowess to purchase clothes, shoes and handicrafts.  I bought a pair of Columbia sportswear shorts with an H&M tag, and went exploring the food and electronics section.

One of the odd things about Cambodia is how much American influence there is.  English is widely taught in school.  My (not well informed) impression is that more everyday people speak some English in Phnom Penh than in Bali, even those who aren't working directly with tourists.  US dollars circulate alongside Cambodian Rials.  They are interchangeable at 4000 rials to the dollar.  US Dollars are accepted everywhere.  When a vendor pulls out his wad of bills, the dollars are intermingled with the rials.  If you pay in dollars you are likely to have your change returned in dollars.  The exception is if you are owed some additional change that is less than a dollar.  That will be paid in rials.  So if you are owed $2.50, you'll likely receive 2 one dollar bills and 2,000 in rials.  I found it surprising that of the places that we've visited in SE Asia, the one that has historically been the most anti-American, the one that is the least developed, and the one who has a short history of welcoming Western tourists, is the one where US dollars circulate freely and where English is widely spoken.

A sight you won't see in the US - one security guard casually resting his hand on another guard's thigh

Did someone boost a truck loaded with Dr. Dre merchandise?  This was one of several stalls dominated by Dr. Dre headphones. The woman behind the counter spoke excellent English.  She said the headphones were quite popular with both foreigners and locals.

Young boys taking a break near a memorial to King Sihanouk

That evening we left our hotel in pouring rain to head to the grand Hotel Le Royal for drinks.  Raffles Hotels had bought and restored to its former glory this most elegant and grand hotel of pre-war Phnom Penh, one that had a storied past and that had hosted Jacqueline Onassis in 1967 and earlier Charlie Chaplin.  Because of the rain we made it ten feet from our hotel before being stuck for about half an hour in a massively gridlocked intersection with a cement truck adding to the congestion.  Eventually we made our way to open roads.

In the tuk-tuk, all four of us sat on a rear-facing bench looking out at the traffic behind us.  At a traffic light a family of four on a motorbike pulled up directly behind us - a father, a mother, and two young daughters.  They were drenched by the rain.  They stared silently at us and we stared back at them.  We each recognized that our families were mirror images of each other.  We were within a few feet of each other on the same rainy Phnom Penh street and yet it felt that we were worlds apart.

at the entrance to our hotel

in the Elephant Room at Hotel le Royal

Jackie Onassis and Prince Sihanouk and a wine glass with Jackie's lipstick still on it 

with the bell boy

While in Cambodia, Lynn and I both read River in Time by Jon Swain, one of the few journalists to witness the fall of Phnom Penh.  (It was recommended by Green School friends who worked for many years for the U.N. in Cambodia.)  Along with other journalists and expats, he lived in an apartment at the Hotel Le Royal.  The day of the fall, the hotel was being used as a neutral Red Cross hospital.  The Khmer Rouge refused to honor its neutrality and ordered everyone out.  Jon Swain was a colleague and close friend of Sydney Schanberg and Dith Pran, whose stories are told in The Killing Fields movie and who feature prominently in Swain's book.  Dith Pran saved Swain's life when the Khmer Rouge were about to execute him.  In the movie, Jon Swain was played by Julian Sands.  The ghosts of the past felt more real after we had visited some of the places mentioned in the book that had witnessed so many tragic and cruel events.