Oh! And guess what! After Alvin and gang left us 2 days ago for Phnom Penh we bumped into them again today very unexpectedly at the 'Jars of Clay' Cafe that was reccommended in Lonely Planet at lunch time just b4 the Russian market. haha! it's their last day and they should be on the plane back home right now. Still can't belief they got one way tickets for just $10 more than us..I swear I checked!! :(
After that we went down to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda that was really very pretty and could rival any European palace I've seen so far hands down! :) The Silver Pagoda had a 90kg gold Buddha statue with 9058 diamonds on it!! 22 carats! That place would have settled the expenses for the rest of my life. Very comfortably. ;) Bings says he's getting a palace when he grows up. :p I asked if I could marry him. But he said that I'd use up all the money on rings and earrings. Probably. :D We topped that off with a visit to Wat Phnom where the origins of Phnom Penh came from. And a very delicious super cheap Indian meal at a restaurant nearby. And this coming from me. :p
Then I got back and bumped into Malaysian people who has been at the museum with us today. We thought they were ABCs cos they were so big built but apparently they're only 20 and juz finised their A level(And they thought we were really young.) They're so super street smart I feel like I've been paying too much for lots of things so far! But then again the 4 of us are very soft-hearted and keep tipping people and giving them more than they ask for. Oh and then on the way down on the stairs, talked to some Nigerian guy briefly. People are nice. :) Wish we had more chances to talk to them earlier tho...seems like I'm always getting to know other backpacker's way too late.
So that was the nice part of the day. Now to the depressing bit. Left for the Killing Fields first thing in the morning and they were REAL killing fields with the mass graves where they killed prisoners and dumped bodies all intact. You have to step on the small bones and their clothes as you walk around..was slightly distyurbed. And the 14-storey tower with the skulls and boies oif the victims...I realy couldn't take it..and I'm a med student. I thought that was bad, and then we went to the Tuol Sheng Genocide Musuem. Here we were all thinking that it was just some ordinary museum with artefacts and information all neaytly lined up...but it was the actualy site and buildings where the prisoners were held...where they were tortured...where they died. It was supremely eerie. The cells, the original beds where they lay, their shackles, the original torture instuments. All the mugshots of the prisoners. The look of terror on their faces. The interview of Khymer Rouge leaders and how they face no remorse. It was disgusting to say the least. It was blazing hot at 37 degrees outside and yet I felt shivers and got goosebumps. Was really glad to get out of that place. It was really sad. And very real. It all happened barely 30 years ago. The older Cambodians are actually survivors of this brutality. We watched a documentary following the life of a young woman who was captured Hout Bophana. Seperated from her husband who worked for the Angkar. The love letters they wrote to each other were really touching. They were eventually both killed. Man turning against man, friend against friend. The Khymer Rouge didn't even spare their own. Everyone was feared to be a traitor. 2 million Cambodian wiped out in just 5 years. Babies skulls bashed on trees. Women lying in graves naked. My heart is too weak.
Tomorrow morning we leave back to Sien Reap.