Kampong Trolach

During the night we felt the ship begin to move as we progressed  up river to our morning destination Kampong Trolach on the Tonle Sap Lake.  Here – after the ship staff prepared a gangway complete with 2 planks well secured together and two handrails, we made it up the bank towards our morning transportation. His transportation consisted on a cart pulled by two Brahman Steers.  Each cart held a driver and two passengers.  Usually these carts are used to haul farm products and equipment, but they had mats for our comfort J. All along the way we were accompanied by lovely young girls and boys who provided us with lotus flowers and woven reed designs.  This makes them a few extra dollars, but they were not too pushy.  It was important to remember that all our drivers were provided with a fair tip, but some still insisted on receiving more, which most did not.

 

 

 

 After our 20 minute ride, we were picked up by a little more comfortable transportation – namely an air conditioned tourist bus.  This 30 minute drive took us to  the Udon Monastery and through some beautiful countryside including rice paddies at various stages of growth. At the monastery we climbed a full flight of stairs – great going Blanche -  and received a blessing in the form of a chant by two monks.  After the blessing we were free to wander around the grounds including looking in on the dining room for the monks.  The monks need to wander through the village where they are provided with food, which they carry back to the dining hall to have it served by the nuns. We have to thank our local guide Wanty who has been great at providing us with information about the area and people.

 
 After our time exploring we got back on the bus and in about ½ an hour arrived at a village that specializes in the production of silver items.  We had to be careful to determine the genuine silver from the genuine fake items.  Many of the sellers were quite persistent and several members of our group added to their silver collections. 

We proceeded back onto our ship – from the silver community – then proceeded back to Phnom Penh where we had a free afternoon. 

The free afternoon was spent in many ways, everything from shopping in the large Central Market to having a quiet afternoon of reading. 

Then at around 6 we all met on the Sun Deck to enjoy fabulous entertainment by our bartender Pisey and to have some delicious Margarita, Singapore Sling or Grasshopper compliments of Rostad Tours.  The last part of the performance involved some very danceable music  which a number of us joined in – which resulted in a few overheated adventurers. 

From here to our daily briefing with Henry and a lovely supper.  The evening was topped off with a very informative lecture by Jean-Michel Fillipi.  He obviously new about the history of Cambodia and had the presentation well down, but many of our guests were rather fatigued and the accent a little strong, so….

Time to get rested up for tomorrow’s adventures.

A Day of Contrasts and Reflection

As I write this – I must say – that this has been a very emotional day.  Last night we watched The Killing Fields, and today we visited the mass graves and the detention centre.

But first – let’s take it from the beginning of the day.

  

We awoke to another beautiful day, warm weather and sunshine. For some, morning started with Tai Chi on the Sun Deck. After a lovely breakfast during which time our ship docked in Phnom Penn.  At 8:30 we headed out to explore parts of this city of 2 million people.  We had a great time riding in a cyclo – the ubiquitous passenger vehicle of this part of the world.  Each of us had our own driver and we had to remember his number so we could return to the same driver after each stop.

Our first stop was the Royal Palace – a multi building facility of which one was the Silver Pagoda.  We took lots of pictures of the outside of the buildings, but had to put our cameras away while we were inside.  We were impressed by the centuries old architecture of the Khmer. They also had a scale model of Angkor Watt which we will be visiting in the near future.  This gave us a chance to take an aerial shot which we will not be able to do when we are there. We also enjoyed the numerous flowering plants and trees throughout the grounds.

After wandering around the Royal Palace we returned to our cyclo drivers and proceeded to the National Museum of Cambodia.  Here we wandered throughout, observing the numerous statues from the various Cambodian Era’s – some dating back hundreds if not several thousand years. Again no photos, but it is possible to Google most of the statues located in the museum. Again we enjoyed the central garden area with lovely flowers and plants.

From here we headed back to our ship for lunch and a chance to rest for a bit.  We had quite a surprise for lunch as our hotel manager had managed to locate a whole pig – yummy!

Then, at 2:30 we headed out by bus to the most emotionally draining part of the day – The Killing Fields of Choeung Ik where we wandered around, our guide pointing out the mass graves and informing us of how they would kill the prisoners, then cover them with lime so that the deterioration started before they killed the next group on the next day.  They have constructed a tall building with 17 floors of skulls, bones and other artifacts.  As we walked around – it was possible to see bones and teeth that have been exposed by the rain.

We then got back into the bus and drove to the Tuol Sleng detention Centre – where prisoners of the Khmer Rouge we detained, imprisoned and tortured.  Many died of starvation before they died from the torture.  One of the very few survivors is now an 84 year old man who is featured in a book which many of us purchased – both to support him and to better inform ourselves.  It was a quiet bus ride back to the ship where we prepared for our briefing and dinner.

 

 

Dinner was an experience in itself – a family-style dinner of Cambodian Food.  Absolutely fabulous, and some brave souls actually tried the deep fried tarantulas, silkworms, or water beetles.  During supper we also celebrated Tony’s birthday! Lila did a great imitation of Marilyn Monroe!

After dinner we were treated to some traditional and not so traditional dancing by a group of local young people who are studying dance to promote better employment later in life.  The group was really great and obviously very talented.