mishaps

Hi again - this is just a quick note to apologise for the current state of our blog! the formatting is doing weird things which means text and images may get a bit jumbled. We hope you are still enjoying our stories, and we should all be back on track soon.

all the best...

NO & GB.

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For all the Plople, join the Guy Club

Hello from the spectacular coastline at Otres Beach!

You have to wait, however - the pictures and stories today are going to cover our last day in Phnom Penh. We're currently staying in Queen's Hill Resort (see their website gallery here) - where the food, sun, sand, water and people are simply stunning. We cannot share that with you yet, until we find a workaround for the limitations on internet usage. Right now I am sitting next to a large sign apologising for the inconvenience, but no uploading pictures allowed. Boo. Lucky for me, I had uploaded some extras yesterday so we have something to play with for now.

So - our last day in Phnom Penh was designated as Market Day. Rather than take another moto or tuk-tuk, we decided to walk through the streets and navigate our own way to the Central Market.

Naomi spotted some pet fashions :)

It seems that not only StKilda and Chapel St doggies get to play dressups!

This is the Central Market, as seen from the upper floor of a nearby shopping mall (more on why we were there later).

You can see an area I highlighted towards the left of the image - a giant iridescent wasp popped in to be a part of the photo!

The Central Market is large. A huge domed structure with four hallways extending from the centre, the surrounding ground area has been consumed by a sea of canopies that extend between each arm and fill all available space - right up to (and sometimes on top of) the surrounding streets.

Our stroll through the market took us by food, cheap electronics, clothing, homewares and souvenirs.

Above, you can see an interior view of the central dome. It was quite a space to behold.

Fantastic fruits enticed us several times. We stocked up on bananas, rambutan, and Naomi introduced me to the world of the Permelon. I am sorry to inform Josh... but it really didn't rock my socks off. Perhaps the Singapore stories built it up too much!

Other fruits we encountered were Mangosteens. Not to be confused with Meganstein. I had an expectation for them to be cheap, so I decided not to buy them at $2 per kilo. For the rest of the day, the lowest price we could find was $4 per kilo! So no mangosteen for me.

Also not purchased, was the stinky and spiky joy of the Durian. I am still hoping to find cheap durians along the way, but the ones at the market didn't tempt me enough.

The seafood at the market was incredible to see as well. Giant tubs full of live mini lobster, scampi, crabs and more.

As for the meat section, we scurried by as fast as we could before the sights and smells became too much for our delicate constitutions.

Perhaps the same can be said for the bug seller - spiders as big as your palm, scorpions and various segmented critters all char-grilled and lined up by their thousands.

This photo is a little surprise for Sarah :D







hehehe. Is that t-shirt familiar?

We spotted him as we left the Central Market.
As Central has a reputation for overcharging, we grabbed a lift to the Russian Market - where prices are supposed to be leaner and the bargaining gets meaner.

Meaner for us, maybe! It was still a bargain, but we later found out that some items (such as our suddenly bursting DVD collection) were in fact cheaper in the air conditioned mall than the sweltering lanes of the street market.

Naomi found fabrics in all colours...

as did I...

We did make some serious purchases, in between the sightseeing and crowd jostling. It was developing into a sweaty day indeed.

The very sensible Cambodians take a nap when it all gets a bit much.

At least, I am hoping this woman was napping and not desperately licking the inside of her lunch plate.

That's more like it! Rows of hammocks, perched above stinky meats as the vendors sway gently in the warm breeze.

Speaking of breeze - the weather we have had here is nothing short of remarkable. Beautiful blue skies every day, a slight coolish breeze, and temperatures hovering around 30. It really couldn't be more suited for us! Every day starts with a smile.

Back to the markets -

I had hoped to find another memory card for my camera, but the prices were not so different to back home and as such I was slightly disappointed. We decided to head back to the Mall, with its aircon and groups of kids and families strutting their stuff. While at the mall, we discovered a few bargains and had fun browsing through the different levels. It really was more like a multi-level market, other than the air conditioning and the posing teenagers.

Photos weren't allowed there - but I was sneaky and grabbed a shot of the Plople t-shirt:

That was just before we headed up to the top level, and discovered a Roller Disco!!! It was great watching the antics of a few of the kids there.

So, our market day was long and tiring but we both made purchases that we are happy with. I managed to resist the compensatory purchase (after not finding memory cards) of a gimmicky techno watch that had caught my fancy, and before too long Naomi was gliding by the thousands of bags and shoes with hardly a glance.

The final picture for today is from the Russian Market, where they had shirts that made me feel very special -

You won't catch me wearing one though.

Our last night in Phnom Penh involved the discovery of a gorgeous little food outlet, and a few other little moments that we hope to share with you soon.

The drive to the coast is a whole other story - if it wasn't for our driver and his fascination with the car horn, we might have been able to bring you photos of the Ikea Spongy Furniture Company (no kidding!) and other cute oddities.

Until the internet options improve (or if I decide to be naughty and upload from here anyway) we wish you all the best for the remaining few days of the year.

Many thanks for the comments and replies that have been coming in, they are much appreciated and always give us a warm happy feeling.

until next time, with love...

- Naomi and Guy.

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To the Fields, lifted by butterflies...

Hello and welcome to Day Two!













Fields of joy, which we spotted while driving to The Killing Fields. The site of these recent and particularly disturbing events are only a short distance from the city centre. These green "eating vegetable" plantations are in a large lake that must be something to behold during the wet season.

I had to ask the driver to let me out to grab a few pics... it was quite cleansing considering the other fields that we saw that day.

It is kind of tricky to work out just how to document our experience of the Killing Fields. Being there, reading and hearing about the atrocities, and seeing the people as they absorb it into their own lives is quite overwhelming and very emotional. I really did not want to play the role of the macabre voyeur, but at times it is hard to know how else to retain the raw emotion that such a place commands. So, please bear with me through the next few images - I have kept the nasties to a minimum, and I do hope that the genuine sincerity prevails over the shock value that can so often be such a convenient soft option.

At the site of the fields, a large monument has been erected which houses many thousands of the disinterred victims... mostly as a cairn that rises in layer upon layer of neatly stacked skulls. The gruesome sight of these remains is mesmerising, but the accounts of what these people were subjected to was particularly difficult and emotional to hear.

This panoramic image (click pictures to see a larger version) shows the excavation pits and a hint of the monument in the background.

Walking through this area, I made the "mistake" of looking down at the ground a few times. Bone fragments, bits of clothing, and even teeth are continually eroding through the surface. Only a small proportion of the victims have been removed from the mass graves that litter the area.

You can see here, as Naomi strolls by a bench, some bone fragments and clothing... these reminders are all over the place. Some have been collected in piles and cairns and put to the side, but others remain where they poke through the soil. In places, the remains are so frequent that every step you take lands on them. Most of the tourists didn't even notice what they were standing on, which disturbed me even more.

In a slightly bizarre and very Cambodian twist, the gruesome monument has a shiny Welcome mat to greet you as you enter the sombre interior.

... and the following image is what greets you inside.

The contrast between the smiling faces of the locals and the grim reminders of their recent history is both baffling and inspiring. We needed some time to process it all, and fortunately the surrounding area held many reminders that reasons to smile are often very close by indeed.

The butterflies were spectacular! As were the gorgeous children who chant "One, two, three, Smile" in gentle encouragement for that lucrative little photograph. I was also amazed at this young boy, who was wading through the water only metres from where the remains of thousands lie.

My final Killing Fields photo is of a tree that caught my eye - and provided some welcome contemplative solitude as I grappled with the emotion of what we had just encountered.

Our schedule for the day also included the S21 museum, a former school that became a prison and torture site for many of the victims sent to the Killing fields. The stories there are quite horrific, and it was another emotionally harrowing experience but one that cannot be ignored.

I have some small observations of the buildings and grounds to share, but will try to refrain from gory details - suffice to say, that the intensity of emotion that hit us as we strolled through the halls and saw such tangible reminders of what had happened there was on a par with how it felt to visit similar sites in Eastern Europe where our own family histories have their darkest moments.

... the paving in the courtyard, a pattern that appears from time to time on sidewalks around the city.

beautiful glass windows - which apparently were installed in an attempt to insulate against the sounds of those being tortured inside.

- I wondered whether this door was a relic from when these were classrooms, not torture chambers...

One of the wings of the school had been roughly converted into solitary confinement cells, tiny areas of unfinished brick with the chains, leg fetters and latrine buckets remaining as they were discovered. The fresh rawness was evident everywhere. This was so different to being in a sanitised, "museum" environment.

With barbed wire sealing the entrances, the above classrooms had crude doorways hacked through to make a corridor, with tiny brick cells either side.

I lost myself for a bit, but thankfully there was a sign to get me back on track:

(I'm not quite sure how everyone else managed it, but G.B. knew where to go - somewhere in --> that direction)

As you may be able to tell, I think that might be enough of the sad stories for now. If the Cambodians have shown us anything, it is that life does indeed move on - and move on fast

... a window latch, on one of the shutters...

...and the Tourist Police! I am not quite sure what they do that is different to regular police, maybe they actually are tourists?

There is one last perplexing element of visiting these historical sites. It seems that people often bundle a trip to the Killing Fields with some time at a nearby shooting range! We were quite baffled, and had to vehemently refuse several times when offered the opportunity to go shoot things within a few hours of witnessing the some of the nastier, gruesomely violent local history.

To clear our heads a little, we spent time in the tranquil gardens of the National Museum.

Monks in orange robes... very cliché but they really are remarkably scenic!

I was not wearing orange, nor am I a monk - but I do believe an air of mystical benevolence and inner peace was happening somewhere nearby...

Above, Naomi has a chat with a young monk. He was very gentle, to the point of being quite effeminate (or maybe that was just his eyelashes standing out against the shaved head) as he told us about how even though he is a monk his dream is to go to university to study commerce and business subjects. Go Capitalists!

I was quite taken by the reflections of the buildings, in the water of the central ponds...

(please keep in mind that I am still trying to learn how to use this new camera!)

:)

As we left the museum, we met an elephant who was carrying a gift - a giant artichoke! Yum yum.

The day was harrowing, but very worthwhile. We wound down over a nice meal or two - and gave ourselves the time we needed to process it all.

...trying to work out where to head for dinner

- Naomi points out the staples that held her fishy curry together (we never found out what the jelly goop on top was!)

This is our steamboat soup spectacular - a cook-at-your-table soup, complete with competing beer girlies who dilligently top up your glass all through the meal. Naomi went for Angkor girl, because Heineken lady seemed a bit grumpy. I had my usual, "Hi-Tech" brand water.

The soup was tasty, and even though we asked for no meat... it came with tripe and a few other squishy bits that neither of us had any interest in consuming. For us, the noodles and vegies did the job well :)

Our final image for the day is a butterfly that was entertaining us at the National Museum. It really is wonderful, how no matter what heaviness might be in your heart, the delicate and happy flitter of butterflies has its own unique way of lifting your spirits.

Wishing you all love and smiles,

- Naomi and Guy.

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