Can Tho and Phnom Penn

As usual the blog posts are coming slowly. Here’s the update for our last few days in Vietnam and the first few in Cambodia

Can Tho

I was excited to head back to the Mekong Delta after our day tour there previously. I had visions that further in the delta would be all green rice paddies and ladies in row boats with those iconic bamboo hats. Can Tho is actually quite a big town and because the delta is such a high production area there is a lot of infrastructure.

We rose early (5am) one morning for a trip to one of the floating markets.  Our boat lady spoke barely a word of English but furnished us with coffee and baguettes for breakfast and navigated us through the winding waterways while creating jewellery and flowers out of the leaves she picked along the way.  Floating markets are common throughout the delta as farmer take to the water in large boats filled with fruit and vegetables.

Phnom Penn

It was an even earlier wake up the next morning to catch the bus to the seventh country so far on our journey, Cambodia.  Phnom Penn, the capitol, is sweltering hot at this time of year so we spread our sightseeing out over a number of days and spent the hottest parts of the day under a fan, sipping cold drinks.

Killing Field and Genocide Museum (S21)

I was stealing myself for this part of the itinerary having recently read a book describing some of what happened during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of Cambodia.  I knew that these sights would be far from a pleasant experience.

First, we visited S21, a prison created in what was previously a school; this is where about 17,000 Cambodian men, women and children were taken to be interrogated about their counter revolutionary tendencies.  When Phnom Penn was liberated after 3 years of all those who entered the prison only seven survived.

The museum’s main focus is displaying photos taken of the Khmer rouge of every person who entered the prison.  The photos are lined up row after row on display boards and make for an incredibly haunting sight especially knowing that practically all of them were dead within days of their photo being taken.  The large number of photos gives you a small sense of the massive scale of the genocide that took place in Cambodia these are just a small proportion of the many many lives wiped out by Pol Pot and his comrades.

Following on from S21 we visited Choeung Ek commonly known as the Killing Fields as this was where the prisoners from S21 were taken to be murdered.  It is indescribably chilling to be wandering around a quiet grassy paddock with the trees rustling in the breeze and the birds singing, knowing that thousands of people died right there for absolutely no reason other than a few men craved a lot of power.

National Museum of Cambodia

Next we visited the national museum, of which we knew little and came away knowing only a little bit more.  It contains a large collection of art from the Angkor period (9^th to 15^th century), including statues of Hindu gods and ancient tablets inscribed with Sanskrit and Old Khmer.  There is also a collection of weapons and tools from a prehistoric burial site.  But, surprisingly for a national museum, it contained no contemporary history, such as history the Khmer Rouge or royal family.

Grand Palace and Silver Pagoda

Phnom Penn’s Grand Palace is significantly less elaborate than Bangkok’s.  Parts of it are closed off because the King actually lives there, but we got to wander around some pretty gardens and see a couple of nice pagodas.  The Silver Pagoda is named because its floor is made of silver.  Unfortunately silver makes a very unwise choice of floor covering as it damages so easily therefore the majority of the floor is covered in thick rugs making for a less than spectacular sight.

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Coming soon; Kampot and Seim Reap.

Love to all

xxxx