The R&R Big Adventure

From Asia to Africa

Our bus pulled into Phnom Penh earlier than expected, but fortunately our hotel room was ready, so we could dump our bags and have lunch. When we left London, on the 1st October,  Peter Jones had just installed its Christmas decorations room. Now, nearly four months’ later, the hotel was still playing Christmas music in the foyer. The season that goes on giving.

As we had already been to the landmine museum in Siem Reap, and The Killing Caves near Battambang, we thought we may as well go for the triple (and not leave it until our last day in Cambodia) and face The Genocide Museum that afternoon.

S21, or a high school (named Tuol Sleng) in more innocent times, was the infamous prison in Phnom Penh that, during the brutal regime of the Angkar (‘The Organisation’) 1975-1979, became a place of torture and death. The well curated exhibition told a gruesome story of what went on here – and it didn’t pull its punches. People were tortured several times a day for days and weeks on end to extract fabricated confessions (remember, just being a professional or educated person during the regime meant certain torture / death) that were then used to justify their – and their family’s – execution. Individual human stories brought the atrocities to life, including that of a New Zealand man and his friend who sailed into Cambodian waters during a round-the-world trip, and who shared the same fate as that of many thousands of Cambodians in this prison. I won’t go into the gruesome details here, suffice to say that never underestimate man’s (or woman’s) ability to inflict such torture and suffering on their fellow human beings. Some horrendous statistics included the facts that this was just one of 196 prisons in Cambodia, and that there were 343 killing sites across the country. What was interesting to understand was how the twisted ideology of Pol Pot and his followers eventually led to such paranoia within Angkar, that it eventually turned on itself, and torturers became prisoners themselves at S21.

After leaving the museum we needed some light relief, so we headed for a mall near our hotel to stock up on items for the next leg of our trip. Heading to Africa, and safari, our current wardrobe staple of blues, blacks and whites apparently wouldn’t do (blue and black clothes attract the tsetse flies) so we headed to H&M to stock up on some ‘sludge brown’ and ‘swamp green’ t-shirts and polo shirts.

Yesterday morning we headed to the Royal Palace. We made an effort to cover knees and elbows as instructed, but it seemed few other tourists followed the guidance. In a city that is crowded, noisy and dusty, it was lovely to have some peace and quiet in the grounds of the palace, and see some beautifully manicured lawns and flower beds. Apparently the 71 year old, confirmed bachelor, former professor of ballet in Paris, lives alone in the palace grounds. We asked our guide whether the Khmer Rouge had taken artefacts from the palace during the regime – he replied ominously: ‘they destroyed people, not buildings’. The Silver Pagoda, next to the palace, is so called because the floor is made of solid silver. It contained hundreds, if not thousands, of gifts and offerings to the respective Kings of Cambodia. In a well curated museum, this collection would have filled several rooms, but instead were piled up in one large space.

After the palace we added Phnom Penh to our collection of exotic locations for haircuts. Our respective barbers used to live in San Francisco for many years, to where their parents had moved post-civil war. Family commitments necessitated their return. It was interesting to get their take on modern day Cambodia. From there we walked through the upmarket area of Phnom Penh with modern apartment blocks and trendy restaurants back to our hotel for a brief rest, before exploring The Russian Market. We were told we could get major brands’ seconds here (quietly taken out of the factory backdoor), but it was the same old naff designs we had seen in plenty of other markets across Asia, with (lack of) quality to match. We didn’t linger, and headed instead to a Skybar on the 23^rd floor of a tower block, with views across the city at sunset. The views didn’t disappoint, but the bar manager clearly hadn’t worked out that the bar should be ready by 5pm (it was one of their USPs after all), and not have staff setting up and mopping floors (and being asked to lift our feet whilst they did so) as the sun was setting, and the city lights had begun twinkling.

It was our last night in Asia, and having had Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian food whilst here, we decided to go Japanese on our last night. I had some excellent sashimi and Wagyu beef, and R a delicious yaki soba. The service, as it has nearly always been during our three and a half weeks here, was excellent. Unlike Uber back home, the Grab app would deliver a driver to our doorstep in a minute or two – no five minute wait to find a driver, only for them to cancel on you whilst you are waiting for them to arrive.

This morning we had a lazy start, followed by brunch in a nearby restaurant, before heading to the National Museum. Here were stored many artefacts from Angkor Wat: having seen the temples, it was now interesting to see at close quarters the statues that had been removed, and appreciate the intricate detail and craftmanship. Part of the exhibition also told the story of Douglas Latchford, an unscrupulous art dealer who  – back in the day – had a network of Khmer Rouge thieves who would steal artefacts to order from temples across Cambodia. These items, thought lost for many years, have only been returned to Cambodia in the last year or two. It seemed apt that, at the end of our visit to Cambodia, we were seeing our experiences of Angkor Wat, and the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, come together in one exhibition.

And so to the next and final leg of our trip round the world: Africa. Probably one of the most obscure flight routes we will ever take – Phnom Penh to Nairobi, via Doha – we had managed to secure business class seats with Qatar Airways, via our Avios points. Given we would be travelling for nearly 24 hours door to door, we were looking forward to some comfort, after delayed buses, dilapidated boats and dusty tuk tuks in our travels across Cambodia. Both legs were great  – very efficient CSDs / CSMs / TTFN (whichever the abbreviation Qatar use), with delicious restaurant quality food. It was lovely to finally fly with a Middle Eastern carrier (Emirates, take note) where the crew have their own personality, and truly put the customer, rather than the operations manual, first. We were looking forward to enjoying the huge new business class lounge (The Garden)  at Doha, however due to the immense size of the airport, even with a two hour layover, we just about had enough time for a shower and a bite to eat before we had to start the hike to our boarding gate. The airport is nearly double the size of Heathrow, and a third of the size of Doha city. Since we were last there (probably at least ten years ago) they have built a transit system just to get people from one end of the same terminal to the other.

We arrived in Nairobi on time and thankfully (as we were both feeling quite befuddled) we could get into our room soon after we arrived at 9am. The agapanthus are back and in full bloom here. Other guests look the real safari part, and could well be joining David Attenborough on his next expedition. With our ‘safari’ wardrobe we look like we will be joining the mark down rail in H&M. I have no idea what the mobile data or wifi situation will be in hotels / lodges / campsites along the way, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, don’t assume a rhino was to blame.