Phnom Penh

On our way to Phnom Penh, we visited an impressive Buddhist center (Vipassana Dhura), housing the largest Pagoda in Cambodia.  In the monastery, we participated in a blessing ceremony, chanted by Buddhist monks; then we were showered with jasmine flowers. (See Pete’s video for a taste of this sensory experience.)  Next we made an offering of rice to the monks before their meal. What an exotic experience.  Afterward, we toured the countryside (Kampong Tralach) via ox cart, still a popular mode of transportation used to plow the fields and carry crops, hay and animals.  Children offered us flowers as we passed them.

Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is a bustling, international, developing city.  At the junction of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, it is a Southeast Asian hotspot for foreign investors.  High rises are going up quickly, but the city also has preserved some of the unique architecture of the Khmer Empire and French colonists. After an orientation tour of the city by Tuk Tuk, we were treated to a traditional Cambodian performance by young Khmer dancers and musicians (see video).

To read the captions, click on the first picture and use the arrow keys to navigate the gallery.

We spent the morning learning about the atrocities of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot has been called “the Hitler of Cambodia.” His goal was to build a new society constructed of a peasant citizenry, uncontaminated by bourgeois ideas.  After the king was deposed, Pol Pot arrested anyone connected with the old regime and forced the remainder of city people to become agricultural laborers.  Enemies of the his party were tortured and forced to rat on people they knew who could be threats to the communist party, which was basically everyone who was educated, successful, artistic or professional and their relatives.  Between 1975-1979 Phnom Penh was known as the “Ghost City.”

We toured one of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (the S21 detention center, or torture buildings). This prison was ironically once a high school. Those deemed elite were sent to the Killing Fields to be exterminated. Around 2 million people perished, leaving behind mostly agricultural workers and Pol Pot’s army of brainwashed children, some of whom turned in their own parents.  The Khmer Rouge was also responsible for planting over one million landmines to protect themselves from a Vietnamese invasion. The Vietnamese aided another Cambodian communist group warring with Pol Pot and eventually overthrew the tyrant.  Many fatalities occurred and still are occurring because of the mines set during the civil war.  Pol Pot’s reign of terror is another important history lesson on why demagogues should be avoided at all costs.

In the afternoon, we visited the Royal Palace and opulent Silver Pagoda. Built in 1866, the estate is the residence of the current king.  Its opulent Silver Pagoda has 5000 silver tiles covering its floor.

Tomorrow we return to Vietnam- this time the southern portion – on the Mekong River.