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Cuba - More than old cars
Started the day with a trip to the Central Market. Morning is a good time to go before the food gets really ripe. Then off to the Royal Palace which had a large number of ceremonial buildings and stupas. The King (and his mother) were in residence so there was one area of the grounds that we were not able to visit. The present King is 62 and unmarried so at the moment the next heir will be his brother.
One of the buildings had a solid silver floor. When the country got rid of its coins they were all gathered up and melted down into tiles for the floor of the building. When the French took over they offered to restore the tiles so they were lifted the and sent back to France where they were engraved with the Fleur de Lis, returned and put back on the floor.
Next stop was the Art and History Museum, a beautiful building filled with very interesting statues & artefacts. Our guide, Sophal works there part time as a guide and studied for seven years at the University of Fine Arts so was an excellent source of information. This visit was followed lunch at the Titanic Restaurant alongside the river. Don't know why it has that name. It was a nice restaurant with some traditional dancing – the only entertainment we have really had all tour.
After lunch it was off to see the outcome of some of the more sombre recent history of Cambodia. First stop was prison S21, one of the many prisons set up during Pol Pot’s rule. On the way Sophal told us about his own experience during this era. He was a young boy at the time and was forced to work in the fields and given only just enough food to stay alive so was always hungry. He lost one immediate and 20 extended family members. He said that there was probably no family in Cambodia who did not lose members during the insanity of this time. He obviously found this part of the tour very emotional.
The prison was previously a school, but as the schools were no longer necessary, with a few modifications and some barbwire they made good prisons. The people housed here were ex politicians, educated people and also senior Khmer Rouge military who were not performing as expected. They were tortured and then sent out of town to the killing fields. Our next visit was to one of the many killing fields that were located throughout Cambodia. This one had a memorial. More should probably be done at this site as it was difficult to avoid stepping on bones that had made their way to the surface of the earthen footpath. The place really needs a raised wooden pathway.
Cambodia has been involved in many conflicts over the centuries. They were attacked by both the Thais and the Vietnamese and then annexed by the French. The French changed their boundaries over the years and there is an area south of Cambodia which is held by Vietnam. The people here are being reeducated to be Vietnamese and are not liking it. In the 12th century, when Cambodia was at its largest, the population was 60 million. This was reduced to just over 7m when Pol Pot took over and he killed about 1.7m over 4-5 years. The population is now about 15m. End of statistics.
We had dinner at the bar on the 3rd floor of the Foreign Correspondents Club. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor and both floors are open to the elements.
One of the buildings had a solid silver floor. When the country got rid of its coins they were all gathered up and melted down into tiles for the floor of the building. When the French took over they offered to restore the tiles so they were lifted the and sent back to France where they were engraved with the Fleur de Lis, returned and put back on the floor.
Next stop was the Art and History Museum, a beautiful building filled with very interesting statues & artefacts. Our guide, Sophal works there part time as a guide and studied for seven years at the University of Fine Arts so was an excellent source of information. This visit was followed lunch at the Titanic Restaurant alongside the river. Don't know why it has that name. It was a nice restaurant with some traditional dancing – the only entertainment we have really had all tour.
After lunch it was off to see the outcome of some of the more sombre recent history of Cambodia. First stop was prison S21, one of the many prisons set up during Pol Pot’s rule. On the way Sophal told us about his own experience during this era. He was a young boy at the time and was forced to work in the fields and given only just enough food to stay alive so was always hungry. He lost one immediate and 20 extended family members. He said that there was probably no family in Cambodia who did not lose members during the insanity of this time. He obviously found this part of the tour very emotional.
The prison was previously a school, but as the schools were no longer necessary, with a few modifications and some barbwire they made good prisons. The people housed here were ex politicians, educated people and also senior Khmer Rouge military who were not performing as expected. They were tortured and then sent out of town to the killing fields. Our next visit was to one of the many killing fields that were located throughout Cambodia. This one had a memorial. More should probably be done at this site as it was difficult to avoid stepping on bones that had made their way to the surface of the earthen footpath. The place really needs a raised wooden pathway.
Cambodia has been involved in many conflicts over the centuries. They were attacked by both the Thais and the Vietnamese and then annexed by the French. The French changed their boundaries over the years and there is an area south of Cambodia which is held by Vietnam. The people here are being reeducated to be Vietnamese and are not liking it. In the 12th century, when Cambodia was at its largest, the population was 60 million. This was reduced to just over 7m when Pol Pot took over and he killed about 1.7m over 4-5 years. The population is now about 15m. End of statistics.
We had dinner at the bar on the 3rd floor of the Foreign Correspondents Club. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor and both floors are open to the elements.
- comments
Roslyn The Killing Fields needed a raised platform 10 years ago when I was there.. Obviously nothing has changed much including dinner at the 'foreign correspondents club.....ah...lovely sunset from the verandah I remember
Gael OMG - I thought they were bras - just as well I read your heading! Can't quite imagine somehow tiny little Asians with great big bottoms; the one at the bottom of the display looked reasonably large!
Gael Just had another peek - that's not "reasonably large" - it's humongous!