Greetings,

This is one of the rooms used to hold political prisoners during the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. This photo was taken in the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh. These rooms are hard to describe and they had an old ammo box to use as a toilet. Further more the device they used to attach the prisoners to the bed were awful. This is where they would torture people to get information.

The room was basically JUST this iron bed and that’s it.  Horrific.

Regards,

Note: To enlarge image, right click and select “view image”.

Greetings,

This is the photo of a once school turned into a horrific prison that was used to hold prisoners in the Cambodian Khmer Rouge genocide. To say the genocide museum in Phnom Penh was eerie is an understatement. The place was down right creepy. Can’t imagine what it was like to have been held captive there.

I get the creeps just writing about the place.

Regards,

Note: To see the image larger, right click “view image”.

What can I say, other than … GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! I had a most horrific sleep of I don’t know, let’s just throw out hmm say 5 hours? I woke up, half asleep in some kind of day dream, wondering where the h3ll am I? Oh yeah, I’m in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam aka Saigon for you “old schoolah’s”. Also, now when I leave Vietnam I can say things like “When I was in Nam” hahaha.

First, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has the craziest traffic I have ever seen, it has like 90 million people and I think all of them are on motor bikes at all times, seriously. I mean until you have been here, you have no idea. NO IDEA!!! I thought Bangkok was crazy, ha, it’s nothing. That said, Phnom Penh is crazier than Bangkok. I saw things like ladies yelling at dogs and the dogs jump up on the scooter and sit behind the lady as she bombs through traffic. This place is ALIVE with lights everywhere, constantly stuff going on despite the ~midnight curfew (I know, buzz kill). Crossing the road requires aggressive patience. You have to be patient for an opening but aggressive enough to take it or you will never, ever cross the road. It’s organized mayhem, it’s majestic.

I took the bus yesterday, yes? I sat around until I had 25 minutes until the bus came, ran to my guest house, packed like a rabid rob and rolled down the stairs into the foyer. I buy a ticket and she says “you’re late, take a moto taxi, NOW”. I say “sure”. this moto guy was mad, I would have gotten his number, it was fun, it was a trip.

As I’m sitting in the bus, I ‘m like I DO NOT WANT to leave Phnom Penh, I love it there. It’s just… I knew exactly what I’d be doing for the next few weeks had I stayed, all my friends who have been there, you know exactly what I’d be doing. Just hanging out… It’s “all good” but I feel like moving on. THAT SAID, Phnom Penh, Cambodia is on my top 5 places to relocate for say a winter of work, cheap everything and pure chilling. I even sheepishly asked the bus driver to stop the bus haha. Ok, back to Vietnam.

So yeah, roll out of bed and hit downstairs, this place I’m at is pretty pimp for $10US a night, yo that’s $300US a month BEFORE negotiating a long term rate, sick, yes? Anyways the wifi blows and isn’t steady but next door is. I go next door and they are full. I pay for the next night (reserving) in exchange for their wifi, so I’m using their wifi now and move tomorrow, I’m proud of myself.

I find this place that fixes iphones / ipod touches, then go to this place to get my cam fixed, since it’s not a licensed whatever I figure I’ll shop around a bit. That’s when I meet “Mr or Captain X”. He’s a moto taxi guy. Let me tell you how I met the next charismatic character in this most jovial journey.

I’m smoking a fag and enjoying some freshly squeezed OJ for breakfast, he comes over and is like “want moto” I’m like No but kinda one of those “no but maybe?!?” so he keeps kinda hanging around and comes over… I see him chain smoking and already like the guy, then he shows me this book. THE BOOK.

The book was actually 3 books, with maybe 100 testimonials in different hand writing and languages that he’s legit. Most people also leave their email. Most emails say “Hey, I bet you met Captain X somewhere in Saigon, he approached you, you were hesitant, chill out it’s all good and then goes on to say what they did together”. He offers tours of the city and exclusive tours of the Mekong Delta which involve eating King Cobra, drinking snake blood, having your own boat with him and a guide for 3 days or 5 days through islands, fishing, anything you want really. He knows the area very well and I even took some of the peoples emails, but there were so many people writing stuff and the dates, I’m sold and I got a good vibe.

I digress,

After sorting out the camera by finally finding a licensed canon dealer, we sit down and drink some coffee and I read more of the book. Turns out he loves to smoke and drink coffee, I will quit one day but for now, my kinda guy. The book has countless stories all basically the same. He approaches you, you go with him, he shows you everything, he drives safe. He does drive safe, he does speak decent English and was pretty cool.

Since my camera was in the shop, we went to his house to borrow his camera but couldn’t get it working. I met his wife and his daughter and his grand kid. His daughter married a Welsh man, that’s pretty cool if you know my roots.

I sit there, have a smoke, drink ice coffee and eat dried ginger and mangos. He drives me home (doesn’t ask for anything) I take his number and tell him I will call him tomorrow. Once I get my camera I am going to go on a tour around the city with him, for sure. On a side note, some of them were even solo women travelers. I have LOTS of respect for women who do this solo, as a guy it’s one thing, as a woman it’s definitely more intense.

After that ran into these 2 Brits I met on the bus, go to the War Remnants Museum. That place is creepy and some of the stuff done to Vietnam is horrendous. The US dropped 100 million litres of dioxins on the country(mainly agent orange). 85 grams of “Agent Orange” in a water supply could kill a city up to 8 million people. All the mutated kids and stuff it was sad, since going I’m noticing more and more people with defects. I recommend going, it’s not pleasant but I’m glad I went.

Lots of photos of just pure carnage and cruelty like dragging people behind tanks, disemboweling children, killing whole villages, marines holding beheaded people, burning people alive with napalm(photo below). This is a #!$!#$ed up world we live in, seriously. I just can’t get my head around some of the stuff that I saw. Horrendous stuff and the worst part is the number of civilians that were killed, atrocious.

It’s also weird how back home, where nothing like this has happened… People walk around with $1000 outfits, $800 iphones and drive $50,000 cars from their $350,000 “first home” to their 5, 6 or 7 figure job with a frown on their face… Also, people don’t smile because their teeth aren’t “perfect”.  Here? You see people with very little and the worst dental  hygiene ever smiling and just being happy. I laugh more with strangers in Asia than anywhere I’ve ever been, I love laughing, so do they. Like I said last post, life is actually simple, it’s too bad as humans we’ve made it so hard for ourselves…

When you start to think of the cost of war, you start to realize that everyone is basically a peasant. I mean where do these hundreds of billions and trillions go? Really? Where do they end up and who or what “controls” it?!? If you go to war and a country spends 780 billion dollars on weapons, does that go to privately held weapons manufacturers? I think so, where does that money go? Also with that kind of money, what kind of “pots can you stir” to further enhance the demand for your “products”? It’s messed up, the world is like an onion with 99% of the population thinking they know it all, when in reality, they are just the skin on the outside with so many bitter layers below.

Now? It’s almost 8pm, I’m chilling in my guest house about to take a shower. After that I’m going to chill out until I get a knock on my door to go out and have a late night snack with my British friends.

I’ve been told it’s Monday, let’s hope the market has a most magnificent melt up, shredding the sordid scowls off the faces of those seedy short sellers, indeed.

Tips hat,

I think as humans we’re kinda screwed, we’re almost too smart for the game of life which should be so simple. You see many people here, from all walks of life and all countries. Living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is an interesting place where you will meet people from around the world.

Life here is easy, very easy and reasonably cheap. It’s not cheap if you hang out in a nice part of town with many affluent Khmer people and expats. Still cheap compared to anywhere I’ve ever lived, might I add. People around here eat $5 breakfasts, drink ~$2-4 for a beer but hang out in impressive venues.

I’ve met many expats and a wide range of occupations including but not limited to: Lawyer, Communications Managers, Teachers, Brew Masters, Reporters, Hoteliers and Entrepreneurs.

At night, in front of this monument I don’t know the name of but may have been told, great light show. This occurred last night, a Saturday night. There was this massive fountain with music like this song I should know which is really epic and involves canons or invokes the imagery of cannons being shot at pirate boats from gents with white wigs and yellow teeth. The jets were turned on and off in accordance with the music, classy stuff.

Tuk Tuk drivers or motobikers will slowly approach you from behind and say “tuk tuk or moto”. You look back say no thanks… They keep following you (not in a creepy way) and you turn around and start laughing (in a friendly way) “No, no tuk tuk” and they start a true from the core of your gut laugh back and drive off looking back one last time, JUST in case you changed your mind. I love that stuff.

Walking down the roads, you’ll be asked for many rides from many characters. If you sit in one of the countless cafes River side you will be accosted by children trying to sell you books and see some weird people. If you venture to Lake Side, you will be in the backpacker hang out. Supposedly it’ s going to have the lake filled to build condos and whatnot, may be end of an era.

If you go out at night, there are countless bars to go to. Most are within a ~$1-3 tuk tuk / cheaper for a moto. If you have lots of people in a tuk tuk, he’ll want more, it’s all about the gas consumption with these guys, time is irrelevant (within reason), I’m digressing. Pontoon was great and had a very mixed crowd of Khmer and expats from everywhere, everywhere. The bar setting was different, floating on Mekong, long walk way to get there. There is security who will search you at the front, more of a “pat down” really.

Not many dogs in this city but lots of cats, not even that many cats really. I have a few guesses why but I’m not sure. Also, there has to be plenty of rats but I have yet to see one, I’ve seen some movement but that’s it. In Kuala Lumpur I saw armies of them and even bigger armies of cockroaches.

Not much street food out and about right now and the carts are much inferior to say Thailand, also the wares look much less appealing. Lots of mini stores though, sadly, this place is very poor.

You see people selling old fruits and what not, sitting in a slightly shaded area off a main street. There children are in a makeshift hammock attached to an electricity pole and a grid iron fence. In contrast to this, you see some of the nicest cars in Asia, driving around in abundance. Lots of Benz’s here and I’m not talking C or E series. I’d say 70% of all the mercs on the road are higher end of the S class.

Lots of interesting monuments in the middle of major arteries and interesting architecture. Lots of barbwire and gated fences everywhere, of course. Also I do believe that “security is one of the big employers here. The traffic here is so “whatever” that most places even have an attendant simply to stop traffic for patrons to get out of fancy boutiques or other places of business from say a law office to a restaurant.

If you ever were to give money to someone in one of these countries, I’d give it to a kid who picks up cans. They are already starting a trade. Even more importantly, they aren’t begging. They aren’t scared to work and took the best opportunity they could. I know it’s not a lucrative one but there isn’t a lot of money circulating here, lots of money but not much circulating if that makes sense to you.

Lots of NGO’s here, tones tones tones. Maybe I should start one… PCS4People? You organize with like minded individuals who control different aspects of the operation and get all those old gov and institutional PC’s and send them here. Then hire people to teach them basic computer usage. Once that skill is in place it opens a door for so many possible occupations from data entry to programming.

Lots of gambling here, it’s really big, like almost everyone does it. You always see people sitting on online gaming sites. Sometimes, go into a cafe later at night and like 5-10 local dudes all playing next to each other. Many expats play as well.

There is a strong sense of disorder which oddly enough mutates into a new form of order. I’m not sure which form of order is best in the short or long term. I will note that I believe North America babies their citizens like they are total morons. So many restrictions on so many things that there really shouldn’t be.

It’s 11:32, I need to check out by noon and catch a 1Pm bus to Ho Chi Minh city. That said, if I go tomorrow it’s no big deal. Every day I spend here, I feel like leaving in the afternoon but keen to stay in the morning. Each day something new which is interesting occurs.

Tips hat,

P.S: My ipod is dead, gone. My digi cam has a lens error and my pc’s battery is dead. This sucks.

I chatted with my mom on skype, first time in a while, it was lovely. Shortly after I went for 1 drink and a smoke, a fine way to retire @ ~11PM. I arrive, have my smoke, have my drink.

I begin chatting a lady from England who is going to Sihanoukville at 2am, sounds interesting. As our conversation begins to come to a close, this gorgeous Canadian girl shows up. After a few minutes, I ask if anyone in that group is from Canada (I already knew). Now we’re chatting together. Turns out her, her bf and this other couple with other randos are going to a club, I’m invited.

I go to a club called Pontoon, it was floating on the river, Mekong I do believe. It was basically a hard house / funky house rave that was floating on the river. Stayed there a while, met some new people and left. By “awhile”, I mean I stayed until the music stopped and it was getting light out.

Suffice to say, I got back to my hotel room at 2:25pm today and quickly passed out for 3 hours, now I feel human, human enough to share this, with you. Now that I’ve tasted the night life a few times here, I can safely move on to Vietnam… My visa is expiring after all and I’m still here as I’m too lazy to pack.

I have run into like NO BACKPACKERS here at all, just expats. Most seem to like it, most have aged faster here than back home and most have mixed emotions about the place. At night, I’d say it’s not safe but safe. It’s safe enough as long as you assume it’s not safe and act accordingly, make sense? All I know, is I do not want to get stuck somewhere. The world is huge, lots of places are cool for 5 days, 5 weeks, but 5 years!?

I walked through part of downtown at dawn with some people and had no problems. At 8am when a girl I was with walked out of a minimart, her purse was stolen by moto thiefs, it happens SO FAST. She went to curb to get a cab, lifted her arms and at that exact time a moto came by and snatch purse. Her neck is bruised and it was gone before she even could think about it.

She predicts they waited for her to come out, I think maybe they just went for it? Who knows. Supposedly lots of street level justice here. Meaning, had they been caught… Who knows. When she told some moto drivers they got all annoyed.

You see, from what I’ve learned is that in many countries like this, many people have no money. It’s a fact of life. If everyone STOLE there would be no one to trust. So especially among people with very little, NO ONE wants a thief in their neighborhood. The main “robbers” are people with guns, people who a vigilante mob would not chase after.

A friend said someone threw a brick at him from a car last night, I’m not sure I believe that. Spoke with some other people today about walking at night, they agreed once the “witching hour” is out and about, wherever you are, always best to be in a moto. Kinda makes sense though, yes?

I’m off to have some satisfying and filling food.

The internet sucks here so bad, I feel paying $1us a day is still being ripped off, it’s that bad. I can’t even surf.

Man, I’m sweating to death right now in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I feel like I just finished participating in an athletic event wearing the thickest garbage bag I could find for a shirt when all I did was leave a pub and come here.

Went to some North Korean dinner joint last night, good times. Supposedly not many of them around the world, was with a reporter who “filled us in”. Either way, it was a look into and a taste of North Korea. After that, usual good times stuff.

It’s like, really hot. I can’t believe I haven’t gotten around to moving guest rooms, every day I’m like “I’ll leave” but I don’t. I need a/c here, big time.

I bought a $1 meal off this lady on the street for a snack. I paid her $5us, she gave me $23us. By accident she gave me a $20us instead of $1. Considering the average monthly wage here is ~$75-$125us, I figured I should give it back. Give it back even though I typically never refuse money, in fact rejecting money may be a bad omen. That said, when I gave it to her, her husband looked at me like you crazy, they had no clue what was going on and some tuk tuk driver said “wow man”.

I have mixed emotions about that whole scenario.

I keep hearing “beat it” by MJ wherever I go. Like on this poorly lite alley and suddenly you hear the intro start and tuk tuk drivers fall into suit doing front flips and hand springs to begin a show. Ok, it’s not like that but I have heard it numerous times, including in poorly lit alleys aka this city.

On the topic of MJ, my moto taxi guy yesterday wears gloves, a dress shirt and kinda looks like MJ. Hey, on this topic but not really… If you’re approached by a crew of tuk tuk and moto taxi dudes and a few say they will take you… Ask the tuk tuk his LOWEST price, then give the moto guy half and it’s a done deal.

Finally, check out this missile testing going on in Cambodia.

What’s happening,

Is that a long title or what!? I used to care about making it one line, I don’t care anymore. I did a lot today for a guy who woke up and was out the door before doing anything you’d normally do when you wake up, nothing. Let’s talk about the killing fields, Genocide Museum and same day aka 1 day visas to Vietnam in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ask around about a visa, most guest houses wanted ~$40+. I was like, ok whatever. The tuk tuk driver who really “worked on this mark” yesterday was around when I went down, of course he was. Go with him and turns out it’s $40us and same day. Guest house places are like ~2-3 days. Why? Sihanoukville has the consulate and supposedly it’s cheaper and 1 day there. If you ask a guest house, they will tell you the Embassy does not do the 1 day thing… Wrong. Also you need photos, I got 4 from this little place on the way for $2 in 2 minutes.

Oh yeah, the guy after stop 1 was like “hey, I’m having family issues, I need to go… This guy will take over for the day though”. The guy who took over was this nice old guy, not the kinda guy that can grind out the street solicitations like the young cats. Anyways, I like that racket. The guy who is slick but not creepy, speaks great English and will wait around bus stops at night for new arrivals… He gets paid, buddy gets paid.
If you are with a tuk tuk driver all day and you go buy yourself a $0.50 coke? Get him one too. If you ask they will shake their hands hard saying no “oh no” because they are used to get nothing. If you give them one, they’ll be thrilled it’s a great gift of good will.

Got my visa same day for $40 us. From the “River Side” you can pay a dude $2 to get you there and back to your hotel, I just did. Drop it off in the morning, pick up at 4:30. That said, he had to wait ~30 minutes so I gave him a 50 cent tip. Sounds pikerish but 50 cents is ~25% tip, indeed. I will note this was a motor bike taxi, not a tuk tuk. Just one of those tiny bikes on the roads with a driver whose job is going “ride or die” in some of the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen.

Supposedly, 5 years ago, Phnom Penh only had 2 traffic lights… That’s it, just 2 lights. There are a lot of cars, it’s controlled madness. I’d say besides the odd idiot, most don’t speed and always accelerate slow, because there is always someone there. Also you slow down when someone merges, most do simply because you have to.

My guy went out into mid section of a massive 4 way with all others coming same way. All 4 bikes just stopped like inches from each other in a perfect square. Then slowly made the way out. It’s madness but it’s controlled as much as chaos can.

Checked out the Killing Fields next. The place is worth visiting and quite sad and weird feeling, walking through all the mass graves and signs about the “Killing Tree” and the “Magic Tree”. Supposedly the “magic tree” was where they played loud music so it was harder to hear the pain, moaning and suffering. Truly tragic state of affairs. There is a monument / temple? in their honor. It is filled with skulls, I paid the $1 for some flowers and a candle type combo. A place that made you think.

Also a few kids begging outside the fences. They will ask you to take their photo then ask you to show it, also ask for ~$0.25us in riel and for water. I told them if they had an empty container I’d fill them some. No money though, imagine if everyone paid? That’s the problem, that’s a whole other topic really.

After that it was the Genocide Museum. That place was creepy, I can only imagine what it was like to of been held there. Not only to have been held there, but tortured and fully knowing what your ultimate fate was. All buildings were horrendous, similar but different. The place was originally a primary and secondary school turned extermination & torture camp.

There are many rooms / cells to go through. Many explanations of “what went on and how” as well as photos of inmates, remnants of the torture devices, setups in some of the bigger solo cells for political prisoners similar to what it would have been like. Most also included a photo of the dead / dying person. I’m actually quite sure everyone in every photo was dead, if not definitely on last day. They had these cast iron beds, a pillow maybe and an old ammunition or gas tank to put their waste into. Also shacked around the legs and usually lots of blood on the floor.

I’ll write a big update on this sometime, I also took lots of video. I also went the wrong way out, ended up on the ground floor with no exit but the way I came. I looked around and behind the stairs there were just hundreds of old shirts and pants piled up. I went in further and looked around the corner for the part truly under the case climbing down, even more. I could be wrong, but I do believe in 1976 it had ~5,000+ inmates. That or how many had come through total. It could be either one.

Enough about that, if you are here though, go check it out. I paid my guy $12 for the day. Supposedly you can get it as low as $8. That said, you’d probably pay $4-5 to get your visa had you not read here it was only $2 so it all works out. They may ask you $20US as a starter for a day of Killing Fields, Genocide Museum and Vietnam Passport.

On a side note, I’m going to a Korean place for dinner with a Canadian lady I met in Sihanoukville who works here. Sounds good as I’ve been eating NOTHING but club sandwiches and poutines at this local place run by an English gent. Service is slow, food is good but the place is great if that makes any sense. It’s also dead most of the time but you run into a more random set of travelers and residents than a typical “Khao San Road” style here, which I believe there is one. I walked there today, didn’t see anything too crazy.

My visa is set for March 5 – April 4 or something. He said “mark down a day you will definitely come after”. Does that mean, it’s open to start between there or that’s it? If so I’ve just cut one of my countries a bit short, indeed I have. I seriously have no idea.

This is going nowhere, I’m actually going to post a few photos. Phnom Penh is good times and I’m glad to be spending some time here. I’m starting to think almost every country you visit, will be cool. Just different. Eastern Block is HIGH on my list, seriously. Finally, I quite enjoy being driven around foreign cities by somewhat trust worthy but also somewhat nefarious characters soliciting `transport`.

Peace out from Phnom Penh,

P.S: You been to the shooting range?

Had a day of really, totally, nothing. Oh I found out you can get wifi (decent) for $1.50 a day here and if you throw your wet ipod touch / iphone in a bag of rice, YOU MAY be able to salvage it. Whatever I’m over it, just sucks about the contacts.

This place is alright, supposedly “lake side” is where all the bars are and most of the guest houses that are budget and filled with mice. I’m staying somewhere near by but basically the same. It’s quite interesting being here, tomorrow it’s time to visit the Killing Fields, I do believe.

This tuk tuk driver is h3ll bent on taking me to go get my Vietnam visa from the embassy. This typically is in synch with my train of thought. Go to the source and ruthlessly cull the middleman’s greedy paws from your prize.

I digress.

Anyways, Phnom Penh is “ok” so far. Granted I’m resting up from hanging out with a friend on a ~12 day vacation. I keep finding myself in this one bar, owned by an English fellow for breakfast and dinner. I run into interesting people, regardless of the time of day. Typically not your average back packer. Like some dude who went to Thailand 10 years ago and never came home. I thought the guy was like 58, he’s 35. I felt like a kid next to him.

He filled me in on all sorts of stuff I had always assumed but never had confirmed. I may venture out tonight but realistically, probably not. I need to get this visa thing sorted, tomorrow. If not I’m just wasting a weekend here when I could be elsewhere.

On a side note, never, never throw in some wet shorts with your luggage and then lock it up for a few days… I think a lot of my clothes are moldy, ok they are. My new shorts are rank and those filthy white-tshirts I so often don, beyond salvageable. I mean they smell so bad, they were almost “ruined” before this whole wet shorts in sweaty bag routine. Also mix in a pair of shoes that got wet and someone nicked your flip flops so you’re wearing them all the time. hmmmm I really need flip flops again, even though I hate wearing flip flops. You need flip flops for the bathrooms whether shared or private. They are all SHARED just not at the same time, you know?

Guess what else? If your cherry falls off your smoke, onto a Cambodian Lighter… It will explode. Nothing huge but big enough to be like wtf just happened here. They are cheap, I’ve heard many weird stories about them and now have a confirmed one, it was me who dropped the cherry on the lighter and I saw it do its thing.

I think it’s time for some radical change as most of the stuff I’ve bought on this trip is now used, abused and in need of replacement. Supposedly Vietnam is amazing or absolutely atrocious, depending on who you talk to. I’ll just have to check it out myself and see what’s going on over there. I am a fan of small beach towns. Not huge beach results, just small beach towns. Reckon Vietnam should have some.

Finally, is it just me or is it March something? Yes, that’s right March something… It’s golfing time soon, fishing time soon, peace the $#$K out winter time soon. I have no real reason to of mentioned this other than once the winter leaves, a large portion of the world becomes “interesting” again.

Good day,