Day 16: Pnohm Penh (08/04/19)
After two days of cycling, I made it to the capital. It was very hot and I was very exhausted so I found a hostel with a swimming pool.
I took some time to read, walk around, visit markets, and learn some history. I knew Cambodia had gone through a recent genocide, but I was not aware of all the horrors.
Barely 40 years ago, the Khmer Rouge attempted to impose an agricultural reform leading to the annihilation of 1/3 of Cambodia’s population in under 5 years. Their leader, Pol Pot, had the genius idea of killing all those people who were not farmers, including scientists, teachers, or any person who had glasses🧐.
One of these killing fields has now evolved into a beautiful memorial park. Beautiful on the outside, but you can get sick while they narrate real stories of what happened there. How they were tortured and killed with tools🔨to save money on bullets. But what impacted me the most was a big tree, now covered with offerings, that was used to smash the heads of babies against.
Enough! Let’s change the flavor with another fun but sad story.
Most of the people I met only wanted to go partying or do drugs. That is not my thing so one of the nights I went for a massage to alleviate my soreness. I am cheap, so I walked through different streets until I found an amazing offer: 1hour full body massage for 7€. My spidersenses failed me.
A lady came to greet me and guided me into a red room (walls, sheets, etc). That shocked me a bit, but it was ok. She asked me to take off my clothes and started the massage. It was quite bad and in <15min she asked me to turn around. That was a bit early but it was my first massage in Cambodia and maybe they had a different style. She started to climb up my legs rather fast. She reached a bit too high for my liking, but I was willing to trust her. That was the moment when pointing at my “D” she asked: “Happy?” -No, no happy! -Then, finish! It hadn’t passed 1 hour, but I was glad to get out of there. Then a young girl passed next to me playing with her toys. It sickened me to imagine what would be the fate of that girl growing in such place.
I was still exhausted but it was time to keep moving