Phnom Penh – the vibrant city once known as the “Pearl of Asia”

Friday 12 July

A lovely chilled day today after our very busy one yesterday.  We had a lie in and then relaxed by the pool followed by brunch at yet another of Ben’s winning picks – Brother Bong café.  I just can’t get over the amazing food we have had and how each restaurant and café go to such great lengths with their presentation, and everything is just so cheap, it’s unbelievable having just come from North America and Europe and it goes without saying how expensive NZ is too! 

Our flight to Phnom Penh was originally around 3pm, but some weeks back it got changed and was now departing at 8.40pm, so it gave us a chance to really take it easy today which is good, as Ben has a big itinerary for the next two days here, plus the All Blacks v England and England v Spain in the Euro 2024 final, so great that we are now re-energised.  Our flight on Angkor Air was amazing, the airport was empty again, our Airbus 320 took off 20 minutes early with just a handful of passengers and took 30 not 45 minutes.  The luggage was through just as we got to the terminal and off the transfer bus.  What a welcome relief after all the stress of the European airports.

And here we are.  Ben booked us into one of his favourite hotels, The Pavilion, situated close to the Royal Palace and the Wat Botum, the Temple of Lotus.  Two pools set in beautiful, lush gardens which have been given special attention since they are quite unique with the fast urbanisation of the city and not a lot of greenery. It was founded in 2006 and the small number of guest rooms are in four villas which have been adapted to preserve their original character.  The Reception Villa dates back to the 1920’s – and the rooms are absolutely delightful.

Phnom Penh was nicknamed the “Pearl of Asia” for its early 20th century colonial French architecture and its grand boulevards.  With its population of 2 million it has been the national capital since 1865 and is the economic, industrial, and cultural centre of Cambodia.

Saturday 13 July

Breakfast by one of the swimming pools in our restful hotel was a lovely start to the day - and then into a tuk tuk for another day of discovery, all arranged by my personal tour guide, Ben.

First stop was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, S-21 – a harrowing, but must-see destination in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian genocide was carried out by the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime led by Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979 in which an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people died. The Cambodian Civil War resulted in the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge, who had planned to create a form of agrarian socialism founded on the ideals of Stalinism and Maoism. The subsequent policies led to forced relocation of the population from urban centres, and to torture, mass executions, use of forced labour, malnutrition, and disease which led to the deaths of an estimated 25 percent of the total population (around 2 million people).  “The Killing Fields” is a phrase that has come to mean mass killings and death by starvation at the hands of this communist regime as many of the deaths took place literally in the fields of Cambodia.  The genocide ended in 1979 following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. As of 2009, 23,745 mass graves have been identified.

Between 1975 and 1978, some 20,000 people were held at S-21, a former secondary school which was used as a Security Prison.  Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their barbarism.  Upon arrival, each prisoner who passed through S-21 was photographed, sometimes before and after torture and required to give detailed autobiographies, beginning with their childhood and ending with their arrest.  After that, they were forced to strip to their underwear, and their possessions were confiscated. The prisoners were then taken to their cells. Those taken to the smaller cells were shackled to the walls or the concrete floor. Those who were held in the large mass cells were collectively shackled to long pieces of iron bar. The shackles were fixed to alternating bars; the prisoners slept with their heads in opposite directions. They slept on the floor without mats, mosquito nets, or blankets and they were forbidden to talk to each other.

The museum displays include room after room of black and white photographs; virtually all of the men, women and children pictured were later killed.  You can tell which year a picture was taken by the style of number-board that appears on the prisoner’s chest.  Several foreigners from Australia, New Zealand and the USA were also held at S-21 before being murdered.  As the Khmer Rouge ‘revolution’ reached ever greater heights of insanity, it began murdering its own - generations of torturers and executioners who worked here and were in turn killed by those who took their places.  During early 1977, S-21 claimed an average of 100 victims a day.

Twenty-six-year-old John Dewhirst, a British tourist, was one of the youngest foreigners to die in the prison.  He was sailing with his New Zealand companion, Kerry Hamill, and their Canadian friend Stuart Glass when their boat drifted into Cambodian territory and was intercepted by Khmer patrol boats on 13 August 1978.  Glass was killed during the arrest, while Dewhirst and Hamill were captured, blindfolded, and taken to shore.  Both were executed after having been tortured for several months at Tuol Sleng.  Witnesses reported that a foreigner was burned alive; initially, it was suggested that this might have been John Dewhirst, but a survivor later identified Hamill as the victim of this act of brutality.

When the Vietnamese army liberated Phnom Penh in early 1979, there were only seven prisoners alive at S-21, all of whom had used their skills, such as painting or photography, to stay alive. Fourteen others had been tortured to death as Vietnamese forces were closing in on the city. Photographs of their gruesome deaths are on display in the rooms where their decomposing corpses were found.  Their graves are nearby in the courtyard. Two of the survivors, Chum Mey and Bou Meng, are still alive, and often spend their time at S-21 promoting their first-hand accounts of their time in the prison.

It was a sombre, sobering, depressing and very sad experience walking through these rooms and seeing the iron beds, still complete with shackles, the tiny cells, which sometimes housed two prisoners and the display cases of the skulls of some of the prisoners, but it is also a must-see experience, made all the more so because it happened in my lifetime, and not that long ago.  It was even more poignant for me because from early 1975 I started work at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva for six years, and during my time there the upheavals in the former French colonies of Indochina – Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos, causing more than three million people to flee these countries, were a big focus for us.  I took no photographs, just the one of the central memorial, with the names of those who passed through Tuol Sleng engraved on large stone slabs which sits amidst flowering frangipani trees in the central courtyard.

We left very subdued and visited the Farm to Table café for lunch – another restaurant and community space with sustainably produced dishes.  They partner with growers, farmers and co-operatives in Cambodia to support local organic farming – and there we sat in the garden enjoying our delicious food with hens, chickens and a tractor for company!  Next stop was a wander down Street 240.  Great one-off retail outlets and eateries all in quaint French colonial buildings, many of them NGO’s promoting fair trade and locally crafted items (and yes, I bought a pair of cool, beach-style, shoes in purple hues!).  A big afternoon for us – the second All Black v England Test at Eden Park!  Ben had sourced a great Sports Bar, aptly named Score, and we settled in to watch the AB’s win their second of 2 Tests against the English!

Cocktail hour saw us at the Rooftop bar of the Sundown Social Club in the hip Toul Tom Poung district which overlooks the Russian Market, so named because it was built in the communist era of early 1980’s Russia and a significant number of residents here then were Russians, so many of Moscow’s Cold war goods were stocked in this market.  We sat on the side so we could get a great view of the hustle and bustle of the market below us which was a lot of fun to witness.  We followed this with another of Ben’s favourite restaurants Pépé Bistro – an innovative and very trendy restaurant for people with a passion for food!  They had devised a special Bastille Day menu for this weekend, and I can tell you, it was absolutely delicious.  Seriously, we have eaten like the royal family, breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day since we’ve been in Cambodia  - we have turned into gourmands!

Sunday 14 July

My last full day in this beautiful country and it was a very welcome, chilled one.  Lunch at another lovely café, a very relaxing massage in the spa by our pool and then off out for our last evening together this trip.  First stop, with some great sights enoute – the Royal Palace, the monument to the Father of Independence, a Mausoleum, Wat Botum Park, the Independence Monument, the sacred golden bird statue of Hang Meas and then Central Market.

The Market which is also an art deco landmark - this bright yellow building was completed in 1937 and has a 26-metre-high central dome, with four tall arch-roofed arms branching out diagonally across the block.  These arms create hallways which house loads of stalls, and when it first opened it was said to be the biggest market in Asia.  So much colour, and stalls selling everything you could want, from jewellery to watches, clothes, luggage, toys, toiletries, groceries, food stalls, even ladies having their hair, nails or makeup done in open stalls.  It was incredible, and we spent an interesting hour in there.

Then it was off for a pre-dinner cocktail, and a very special one it was too.  Into the tuk tuk with the guy who has been tuk tuk-ing us around for the last few days and out we got at the Cambodia Raffles Hotel, sister hotel of the Raffles in Singapore.    After a lovely wander about looking around this very elegant hotel, we headed to the famous Elephant Bar for a few cocktails.  It goes without saying that I ordered a Femme Fatale, the Elephant Bar’s signature drink and named after Jackie Kennedy after her visit here in 1967, to fulfil her “youthful lifelong dream” of visiting Cambodia, especially the ancient ruins of Angkor.  When Raffles renovated the hotel in 1997 they claim to have found the glass she drank this from, complete with her red lipstick stain – poetic licence maybe – but it’s a good story nevertheless and it was a delicious drink too – a mix of  crème de frais du bois, cognac and champagne, topped with a purple orchid – made for me!  I followed this with a Kaf Kaf Gin & Tonic, complete with jasmine syrup, jasmine petals, lemongrass, and kaffir lime – look at the photo below to see how beautifully it was served. The Cambodia Raffles other, more sobering claim to fame, is as a residence for reporters during the Vietnam war and the Khmer Rouge era.   

Off to Bassac Lane for dinner.   A famous lane here, full of the city’s best bars and restaurants – a bit like Pub Street in Siem Reap.  We settled – yes it sounds bizarre – for Elias, a Greek Restaurant, the outside dining area of which felt exactly like we were eating dinner in Mykonos and the food was just as authentic too!

Monday 15 July

I’m homeward bound today – it’s been an amazing 10-week trip, full of incredible and very different experiences, different countries and cultures, beautiful cuisines, great scenery and weather, and most importantly of all, seeing my family in the UK, Italy and Singapore.  Finally, a special thanks to Ben who put together an incredible 5 days of experiences for me in Cambodia and fulfilled “my dream” of a visit here, and to Dan, who due to my inept computer skills, has faithfully posted this blog and all the photographs of this trip for me once again!   And for those of you (like me?) who like a list….here goes….. 

Airports

Honolulu
Kauai’i
Vancouver
Anchorage
Seattle
Calgary
London Heathrow
London Gatwick
London Stansted (3)
Dubrovnik
Split
Glasgow
Rome Ciampino
Rome Fiumicino x 3
Barcelona x 2
Singapore x 2
Siem Reap
Phnom Penh

Airlines

Air New Zealand
Hawaiian x 2
Air Canada
Alaska
Westjet
Easyjet x 4
Ryanair x 2
Vueling
Singapore Airlines x 4
Angkor Airlines

Railway Stations

Rocky Mountaineer: Vancouver, Kamloops, Lake Louise
Gatwick
Eastbourne
Lewes
London Victoria
London Liverpool Street
Stansted Mountfitchet
London Underground
Barcelona Sants
Sitges 

Ships/Ferries

Viking cruise from Vancouver to Seward
Anacortes/Friday Harbour return
Split/Hvar return            

Buses

Greyhound Bus Mt Vernon USA to Vancouver, Canada
Bellair Transporter Vancouver - Anacortes
Promet Dubrovnik/Split
Endless sightseeing coaches on the Viking Cruise

Rental Cars

Honolulu
Kauai’i
Vancouver
Anchorage
Friday Harbour
Hvar

no wonder I’m knackered …..think I might need a holiday to get over my holiday!