Tourist Attaction

Arriving to Phenom Penh was now becoming akin to all the other arrivals - arrive get rudely awakened, tossed unceremoniously off the bus with daylight breaking into view as the rapidly descending mob of tuktuk drivers, eager motos and taxis tightly close in with a cacophony of 'Miss, you want cyclo/moto/tuktuk/taxi?' 'no thank you.' 'me/i good driver/ have good bike etc.' 'no thank you.' 'Miss, where you go now, miss... MISS?' 'NO, thank you.' Turn around organise walk/shared tuktuk etc. and choose one of the sea of drivers, all presumably vying for your custom as the rules of the Bus Game afford high stakes and big returns for those able to ferry several passengers to their hostel of choice buried deep within whichever city's you have emerged in backpacker haven.

In Phenom Penh this is by the Boeng Ek lake, or more aptly floating rubbish tip which cordons off the travelling community from the rest of civilised society. After a couple 0f hrs sleep in our floating accomodation we headed, via the 'Happy Farm' to Choung Ek. I'm glad this was the order as handling an AK47 or Colt .22 after seeing the horrors of the Killing Fields is a mildly repulsive proposition, I cannot imagine how blowing up a cow with a RPG could vaguely appeal to anyone having seen the destruction that plagues Cambodias recent history. The gravity of the Khmer Rouge acts and close phyiscal, human and time proximity to these attrocities serves to inculcate a very uncomfortable chill. At Choung Ek, to walk in rainy season between the mass graves is especially chilling since rags and bone fragments surface in the paths. I think the clothes were if anything the worst as they make it much more relatable - bones are animal and brutalised whereas clothing that we think of as transient and fragile outlives its owners to become a very human reminder of the individuals who once inhabited them.

The horrors of the past are commemorated in as tasteful a manner as you could hope for (possibly with the exception of the graphics and music on the film) but I'm not sure there's any way in which to make the visit seem less sordidly voyeuristic, the (highly recommended, sadly left languishing in a Vietnamese bus) excellent Footprint guide hardly helped the sentiment by commenting cynically on the nature of the buying of genocide, religious and war sites for tourist exploitation by various wealthy individuals.

Back in Phenom Penh I enjoyed meeting Joe of the infamous Happy Herb Pizza Joint and his collection of lost boys who were all staying free of charge upstairs in a distinctly fagin-esque setup on the condition they spent $3/day at the bar. Seeing as Joe's convivial style, wife's cooking and bewildered visiting mother-in-law lured you into at least several rounds and supper this was an incredible deal and so night no. 2 was on Joe's roof, hammock slung between buildings watching the stars over the lake - incredible despite the mosquitoes being quite so salacious!