We’re in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At the end of the previous post, we were being whisked through the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in a bright red tuk-tuk. We were supposed to be going to a pharmacy, but the driver wasn’t going to the place we showed him on our map. We did just pass by the Royal Palace, though. Ooooh. Neat!
Tuk-Tuk Phobia
He drove for about a mile, making quite a few turns along the way. We were pretty sure we weren’t going to the pharmacy on the map, but we weren’t positive. We were getting concerned, but on the other hand, it was neat to finally get a look at Phnom Penh. There’s no better way than from the back seat of a tuk-tuk.
We always have this fear of tuk-tuk drivers taking us someplace we’d rather not go. (See here, for example). With this driver, we’d been getting a neat tour of Phnom Penh, but it wasn’t long until we were too nervous to enjoy it. I leaned up and said, “pharmacy!” He nodded and pointed across a large city square that we were approaching. Hmmm… was that one of those green pharmacy signs on that building? It was!
It was a nice pharmacy, too. Very clean and modern inside. The pharmacist spoke excellent English. She gave me something for my bug while the tuk-tuk driver waited for us outside. Our excellent tuk-tuk driver, (how could I have ever doubted him? wink wink), took us back to the boat. The ride back was easy and very enjoyable.
I’m glad to report that the ginger tea and meds worked well. By the next morning I felt fine. Good thing, too, because we were going to visit the Royal Palace and on the palace grounds, the Silver Pagoda.
Cambodia’s Royal Palace
Cambodia’s Royal Palace isn’t one building – it’s more like a very well-manicured park dotted with beautiful buildings. It dates back to 1866, when Cambodia was a French protectorate. Phnom Penh was named the capital of Cambodia in that year.
The French influence shows itself in the grounds. Perhaps “gardens” is a better word. The lawns are pristine, and greenery is delicately shaped and manicured. It wouldn’t look out of place in the gardens of Versailles.
The buildings on the grounds are in the traditional Cambodian style. So beautiful. The largest of them is the Throne Hall. Like all of the buildings here, the Throne Hall is used for government and religious functions.
Khmer Rouges Headquarters
It’s hard to imagine this place in the 70’s, when it was Khmer Rouges headquarters. Picking up the story from last time, the Khmer Rouges communists took over Cambodia in 1975. They ordered the evacuation of cities, and began the process of elimination of monks, teachers, government officials — anyone who was educated. (Non-ethnic Cambodians were on the hit list, too). All ties to the past were to be removed.
Over the course of the five-year Khmer Rouges reign of terror, 25% of the Cambodian population was killed. (Around 1.8 million people). People were either murdered outright or they starved to death. What were these guys thinking?
The leader of the Khmer Rouges went by the name of Pol Pot. He started out as an average Cambodian kid, born to a wealthy Cambodian family. He studied hard, made it into the best schools, and received a grant to study in France. While in France, he fell in with French communists. He read Marx, Lenin, Stalin. He got hooked. Then he joined the French Communist Party.
Communist Thought in the 1950’s
In the early 1950’s the popularity of communist thought was on the rise. There wasn’t just one “communism.” Mao Zedong was implementing his own version in China. Stalin died in 1953, but Nikita Khrushchev continued a Stalinist style of communism in Russia. Ho Chi Minh’s version was taking shape in North Vietnam. In Yugoslavia, Tito was establishing his own brand of communism.
Pol Pot traveled to these countries and studied them all. He and his cadre developed their own approach. It was the most radical of them all. Once in power, they inflicted incredible misery on Cambodians for four years. (See more here).
The Khmer Rouges experiment was a disaster. It wasn’t long before starvation in Cambodia was widespread. Khmer Rouges leadership rotted from within. They started executing their own, as just about everyone became suspected of being a traitor. Tuol Sleng prison was the last stop for those poor souls. (Although one could say most of them got what they deserved).
In January 1979, the Vietnamese Army invaded Cambodia, took Phnom Penh, and chased the remaining Khmer Rouges into hiding, (although not for long). The Vietnamese converted Tuol Sleng prison into the “Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.” That’s what it is today.
For better or for worse, I missed Tuol Sleng on this trip. But we’re still on the grounds of the Royal Palace, and the next stop is the Silver Pagoda. I won’t have to miss that.
To be continued…
