We spent Christmas in Pnomh Penh checking such festive treats as the S21 security prison and the Killing Fields. As you can imagine none of this was particularly conducive to a Christmassy atmosphere, and no matter how insistently I ran through Coca Cola and Marks and Spencers adverts in my head, I just couldn't shift the thought of a quarter of a countries population being wiped out in just under 4 years in the largest unrecognised Genocide in history. In fact, I mislead you. The slaughter of around 2 million people couldn't officially be declared as a Genocide in any court as it was so all encompassing and not specifically directed against one ethnic or political group. Despite the indiscriminate nature of the killing only the deaths of the Ethnic Vietnamese could be seen as Genocidal. During our stay, some of the perpetrators were up in court finally hearing their cases but to this day most of the instigators live freely, with the Khmer Rouge's leader Pol Pot dying of Natural causes in 1998.
Imagine for a moment if you will, that whilst you were at home eating your turkey and watching Home Alone or Wallace And Gromit for the tenth year on the trot, we were checking out the site of mass graves and torture chambers. Jingle ALL the way.
My other recollection of Pnomh Penh was indulging in an unashamed Potato Fest. See, after the best part of two months on a steady diet of rice and noodles we were close to breaking point so when we broke, we broke and in style, consuming every kind of potato variation you can imagine. I now think we were trying to replace the lack of a Christmas with a menu consisting of our favourite starchy comfort foods, including Bangers and Mash, Steak and Chips and a Roast Pork Dinner. Boom!
Selected Cambodian Soundtracks
The 2 albums that stick in my head from Cambodia were Faraquet's "The View From This Tower" and Pivot's "Make Me Love You"
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