Day 12 Ho Chi Minh city.

Today we leave Phnom Penh on route for Ho Chi Minh City, but not after a mornings sight-seeing. However sight-seeing hardly sounds the appropriate words as we are firstly visiting the prison at Tuel Sleng then onto 'The Killing Fields', before returning to the airport for our 2.15 flight. A more sobering morning could not be planned.

Tuel Sleng was occupied by the Khmer Rouge troops under Pol Pot. The building used to be a school but the excited and happy cries of young children playing have long sinced been banished. Now an eery silence sits over the building, where countless atrocities were committed to extract false confessions before the inmate was sent to "The Killing Fields" for execution. Apparently 20,000 souls were sent here for interrogation before inevitably confessing to their crime of being a traitor to the state, being a CIA agent, being an intellectual, for wearing glasses or merely being a family member of one of the accused. None were exempt from accusation - babies no more than months old, children of all ages, young adults, older family members - no exemption once accused. Around the site, stark rooms are furnished with only a metal bed frame upon which the hapless individual was strapped for torture. Other rooms show row upon row of sad faces staring out at you, with eyes void of any hope. Of the 20000 who were sent here only 7 individuals came out alive. It was one of our most moving and emotional experiences on any trip.

Still amongst this sadness there was a final happy moment. There were two tables where two little old men sat under a tent shelterng from the sun. These were two of the seven men that are alive today and we had chance to talk to them through our guide. You could not wish to meet more gnetle and sweet men as these two.

After the prison, it was an hours drive (but more than 15 kilometeres) to the "Killing Fields" across bumpy country roads (the national highway is a bumpy country road!.

Here the unfortunate souls were shipped for their execution, by any number of means but all of them brutal in the extreme. From 1980 these massed graves were excavated and the skulls collected in a glass memorial, stacked 20 foot high, row upon row. Around the site were the empty graves that had been excavated. However, we were in for a shock. Our guide pointng out several places along the path where white flecks contrasted against the dried earth. Then clothing became apparent, half buried in the dried mud. These were the clothes, bones and teeth that did not make it to a grave and had been exposed by erosion.

It was difficult to say much at all so we returned to the car for our trip to the airport for our next short flight.

I feel I should now add somethng to lighten the reading, so I thought I would reflect on driving in Cambodia. Apparently there is no driving licence for motor bike ridng but there is a licence and test for driving a car. To pass the test one has to be able to pay the required fee (very loosely called a fee!!) otherwise you fail your test.

Driving on small roads is difficult as there is no white line to tell the motorist what side to drive on - so they drive on both sides. The white dividng line, when it does appear, is very helpful however as it tells the motorist when they are driving on the wrong side of the road, even though they continue on the wrong side.

Crossroads are very entertaining. If you are looking for a gap to merge in then that is like looking for a monk in a brothel. So you have a choice of three strategies. 1. Active - where you aim for the front bumper of the oncoming car, close your eyes and pray to Buddha 2. Active-Passive - where you follow someone who has adopted an active strategy but you need to keep your eyes open for someone doing the same in your space and 3. Passive where you wait at the junction all day!

Anyway we arrive in Saigon (that's what the locals still call it) and breezed through passport control having passed our initiation test, apparently with flying colours, some 10 days ago. Saigon is every bit a modern city with more traffic than ever (more tomorrow about rules for a pedestrian crossing the road).

To make up for yesterdays room disappointment we had been upgraded to a fabulous rooftop room with a balcony the size of our last room, with extensive views over the city. Wow three nights of this - luxury.

Comments:

Emily Glad you're enjoying your trip. I'm really enjoying reading your blog and reminiscing about my visit to Cambodia and Vietnam. Visiting the Killing Fields and Tuel Sleng are still the most emotional travel experiences I have had too. I remember finding it incredible that I didn't know anything about the Pol Pot regime before I visited. I remember the bumpy "Highway Number 1" in Cambodia too, after driving from Thailand to Cambodia (a long 9 hour drive that was not much distance at all)! Enjoy Ho Chi Minh city. I found the best way to cross the road there is to close your eyes and walk at a very steady pace. The motorbikes should be able to judge where you will be and swerve round you!!

Mar 31, 2015