The darker side of Cambodia

My final day in Siem Reap saw me attending a cooking class. Held at a local restaurant in Dam Watt area of town I spent the morning in a kitchen with an American girl and three Cambodian chefs cooking up a storm. With limited English (mostly pointing and gestures from all) we learnt to make a traditional eggplant dip, chicken curry, fish amok (my new favourite food) and mango sticky rice. Followed by an absolute feast! I can't wait to have a practice when I get to Aus. I do miss cooking.


That afternoon I went to a local village with two friends from my hostel. We ate snake at the roadside and spoke to the local children. These are the days I absolutely love, away from the tourist hype. The evening saw my first experience of a night bus(!). Well I learnt a few lessons there; having booked the most expensive bus I arrived to a basic, sweaty bus where you are laid on a double bed next to a complete stranger in a 5ft long bed. Fair to say they're not made for westerners! Thanks to a few beers I managed to sleep for several hours until we broke down on the road side and had to wait for a replacement. But finally I arrived, tired but unscathed.

After a bit of trouble with hostels I was checked in and in a tuk tuk to the killing fields. In retrospect doing this when already tired and a tad emotional was a terrible idea. But WOW what an eye opening day. Everyone has heard of Auschwitz but I felt genuinely shocked I knew so little about such a mass killing. 1/4 of the population was murdered, with those leading the Khmer rouge regime targeting those who are educated. I listened to tales of murdering babies against a 'killing tree' and saw hundreds of bones displayed to help us remember the dead. Intense! So naturally I decided to follow this with a journey to s21, where I learnt about the torture endured by those who were made to write false confessions in order to survive a day or two longer, and read tales of women and men forced into marriages. Someone made an interesting comment how the majority of the population here are under 30, and nearly half of those will have come from a forced marriage.

I hope this can become more widely taught in English schools as it really did highlight how ignorant we are to this. I have such a respect for the Cambodian people after learning about how they suffered whilst the rest of the world was completely unaware.