Once Upon A TYPE…

nakakawili ang pagba-blog! thanks to ramsey lagi syang nandyan para turuan ako about what’s new…lagi kasing busy si pong! cool un technorati kaya lang di pa din ako sanay about this kind of stuffs eventually siguro mama-master ko na din! guys keep the patience on me!

specials:

> drilled crap

> noodles with singapore smell

> rage beef with emon

these are just some of the foods that the resto i went to last time offers…when i first saw the menu, i couldn’t help myself but laugh! my friend mike who is a restaurant manager and fluent in vietnamese also did the same, we don’t need to say anything more, obviously there’s a lot of mistakes here. who among u wants to eat drilled crap??? baby, they mean grilled crab! not drilled…i imagined how they prepare the food, maybe an electric drill on one hand and the crab on the other, hehe. noodle is one of fave food here in vietnam, they’ve got lots of varieties and i don’t mind trying new ones. based on the name, it’s noodles but it’s suppose to mean Singapore noodles not with singapore smell, haha! last, rage beef with emon, sounds like mad cow to me! let me correct it - braised beef with lemon! truly Vietnamese are very innovative, they try to impress most of their customers all the time but these kind of menu is not pleasing at all, how about the new pizza at Pepperoni’s - Sweet pickle pizza! i guess i will not be able to dine there as often as i do now that mike’s heading to hanoi soon…sometimes, nakakapraning yun mga nakasulat in vietnamese then ita-translate nila sa english, kasi ang layo ng ibig sabihin! kaya kung medyo sanay ka na, ikaw na lang ang mag-aadjust sa mga pagkukulang nila, hahaha!

The word Tuol Sleng is recognised as the location where the Democratic Kampuchea regime, more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge regime, set up a prison to detain individuals accused of opposing Angkar. However, in the Khmer language, the word Tuol Sleng connotes a terrible meaning in itself. It is perhaps only a strange coincidence that the KR regime used this specific location as a prison. Tuol Sleng means ‘a poisonous hill or a place on a mound to keep those who bear or supply guilt’. From the moment I entered the place, goosebumps was felt heavily.

at the entrance you’ll see pictures of the people detained and tortured.

  left  to right -  introduction to the Tuol Sleng museum, barbed wires surrounds the wall of the compound, on this site 14 dead bodies were found.

The victims in the prison were taken from all parts of the country and from all walks of life. They were of different nationalities and included Vietnamese, Laotians, Thai, Indians, Pakistanis, British, Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, an Australians, but the vast majority were Cambodians. The civilian prisoners composed of workers, farmers, engineers, technicians, intellectuals, professors, teachers, students, and even ministers and diplomats. Moreover, whole families of the prisoners, from the bottom to top, including their newly born babies, were taken there en masse to be exterminated.

The prisoners were kept in respective small cells and shackled with chains fixed to the walls or the concrete floors. Prisoners held in the large mass cells had one or both legs shackled to short or long pieces of iron bar. Then short iron bar was about 1 meter and was designed for 4 prisoners. The longer one was 6 meters and held 20 to 30 prisoners. Prisoners were fixed to the iron bar on alternating sides, so they had to sleep with their heads in opposite directions.

Before the prisoners were placed in the cells they were photographed, and detailed biographies of their childhood up to the dates of their arrests were recorded. Then they were stripped to their underwear. Everything was taken away from them. The prisoners, slept directly on the floors without any mats, mosquito nets or blankets.

Every morning at 4.30am, all prisoners were told to remove their shorts, down to the ankles, for inspection by prison staff. The they were told to do some physical exercise just by moving their hands and legs up and down for half an hour, even though their legs remained restrained by iron bars. The prison staff inspected the prisoners 4 times per day. During each inspection, the prisoners had to put their arms behind their backs and at the same time raise their legs so that the guards could check whether or not the shackles were loose. If loose, shackles are replaced. The prisoners had to defecate into small iron buckets and urinate into small plastic buckets kept in their cells. They required to ask for permission from the prison guards in advance of relieving themselves; otherwise, they were beaten or they recieved 20 to 60 strokes with a whip as punishment. In each cell, the regulations were posted on small pieces of black board. See the picture.

  The prisoners were required to abide all the regulations. To do anything, even to alter their positions while trying to sleep, the inmates had first to ask permission from the prison guards. Anyone breeching these rules was severely beaten. Prisoners were bathed by being rounded up into a collective room where a tube of running water was placed through the window to splash on them for a short time. Bathing was irregular, allowed only once every two or three days, and sometimes once a fortnight. Unhygienic living conditions caused the prisoners to become infected with diseases like skin rashes and various other diseases. There was no medicine for treatment.

inmates are not allowed to say a word!

this was a cell for VIP’s - ministers and high ranking officials.

this man was killed after the interrogation. His stomach was taken and his liver was eaten by children, they believed that when they eat the liver of a man, they will become more intelligent, his gall bladder was sent to China for medicinal purposes. During those days, Cambodia was the biggest supplier of gall bladder to China, no wonder why they kill so many people!
the jars were used for torturing the inmates, it was filled with filthy water and worms. Inmates were tied and the guards pulls them up and down, inmates tends to lose their consciousness after sometime, guards will then drown them in the stinking water and when they regained their self again, guards will continue the pulling of the rope up and down till the inmate die.

pictures of the victims

tools they used for torturing people. While I was inside the museum, I can’t help myself imagining how the life of the people here were during Pol Pot’s time. Mother’s were separated from their children, if the guards believed that you oppose Angkar they will punish you, women’s nipples were cut and will be bitten by scorpions. Guards will whip you mant times then will rub your wounds with chili and salt. Nails were pulled by pliers then alcohol will be poured on it. Rape among women was rampant! Terrible that’s all I could say!

picture from the left was taken at the killing fields, it was were they bring inmates at kills them by hitting with a big paddle. Some 300 skulls were dug inside the compound of Tuol Sleng and now kept in the cabinets.

I can’t understand why these things happened before, in the Philippines, war also happened, many Filipinos died,too! But here, it was genocide! I can’t believe that people in power like Pol Pol wished these things to happen. Everybody wants change, a change for better not for worse, but for him, he tried to exterminate all the people who aged more than 20, believing that they were old and will not be able to change anymore. Soldiers were so young, they were between 10-20 years old, every year, new soldiers arrives, the old ones were killed by the new ones.

Up to now, I’m still upset, horrified but blessed that I wasn’t alive during those days, I am thankful that I am enjoying the best things in life now. I guess time will not come to me to be able to understand the idea of war, it’ll never sink in to my mind why people have to kill other people.

we woke up early on our second day in Cambodia, we didn’t do anything special but to shop!

it’s still early and normally on a Sunday im still sleeping, but i got up from bed and watched the sunrise, unfortunately it’s cloudy and we can’t see the sun!

neighbor, he’s Malaysian, like us he woke up early to catch the sunrise but since there’s no sun he ended up with his novel…this place that we stayed in is famous for the nice view but the weather is not cooperative enough that’s why we can’t see the beauty.

wishful thinking si chele….sana anito ang hammy ko!!!

morning in PP….people fishing in the lake. Cambodia is a very poor country, most people live in  shacks made of woods and GI. there’s a thick boundary of being rich & poor here, people riding cars are very arrogant that’s what we’ve observed while some people are contented with their motorbikes. there’s no exception that cars here are very cheap, because they don’t pay tax! it doesn’t matter if it’s right or left hand driven, it’s always 4 wheels good, baby!

nagtitinda si manang ng mais. 

Muslim mosque close to the guest house.

cyclo! ang pedicab ng Vietnam at Cambodia!

ang bago naming tuktuk driver!

Central Market - hindi na kami pumasok sa loob, hapon kasi at umaambon, pero sabi nila eljay, mura dw ang bilihin dito, siguro next time na lang kami pupunta here.

melissa and i - if you are a celfone addict who always changes their fones everynow and then, this is the right place for you! extremely cheap ang fones na binebenta dito, kasi wla na naman silang tax. open sila for swapping nad kagandahan dito madaling magbargain ng price.

merienda sa chinese resto.

donna and eljay - si eljay ang pasimuno ng masarap na kainan na itgo and the price was not bad.

stir fried noodles, hmmm sarap! samahan mo pa ng siomai at siopao, meron pa pala, adidas! ang sarap nun grabe…ang lambat nung chicken feet nila at tasty yun sauce!

ending…napagod na kami at umuwi. the highlights of this day was when we went to toul toum phung or what they called “Russian Market”, I spent a lot for silver accessories because they’re are damn cheap. Russian Market is a must-go place for shoppers like me, everything here’s branded and can be bargained if you’re not happy with the price. Chele and I were happy when we bought bathing suits here kasi ang mura nga…imagine before coming here in PP, we bought new bathings suits that costs us $25 each, tapos dito $3 lang, mossimo pa ang tatak! I can make a conclusion for the day, that food here is quite expensive but the clothes and other stuffs are reasonably cheap!

an exciting saturday, that’s what i felt when the day came going to Cambodia. 8am was the call time but we weren’t able to leave because of some bus problem. eventually, we made it. we got a bus full of foreigners heading to Phnom Penh, it’s a wonderful trip because you tend to meet new people and share opinions about what you’re expecting from the place you’re going. the only thing that’s annoying is waiting! yes, we waited about 2 hours for our passports. a guide was with us to help with our errands, since Filipinos don’t need a visa entering Cambodia, it should be easy for us, but they made it so difficult. they kept our passports together with the other westerners and kept us waiting. as i was getting annoyed already, i decided to call jeff, even him, he got surprised that till that time we’re still at the border a bit later, the bus was on the road again, sigh! the 6 hours trip became gruesome and it made the short way too long, arriving at PP by 5pm (4hrs late!) it’s my first time in Cambodia and i was expecting for a good trip (i guess, everybody’s the same) after the drop-off, our new found friends adviced us to join them at the guest houses near the lake, thinking that it’s nice, we came with them. $5, that’s the price of a room - very cheap! but im not impressed! it doesn’t look like it’s a guest house, from that moment, i knew already that i won’t be able to enjoy the place that we’re about to stay! im not a posh and definitely not a rich kid, but i know what’s nice and not! i can’t imagine how backpackers enjoy their vacation in a room with no aircon, smelly and famous for drugs and much more! maybe im not a backpacker that’s why! im always looking forward at good things and nice experiences…

at theVietnam-Cambodia border!

sa tagal ng passports namin nagutom na ako!hayun at naghalungkat ako ng food sa baul ko!

i’m already annoyed…see!

we crossed the mekong river by a ferry

and here are our fellow travellers

sobra na talaga ang gutom ko, kaya naman kung anu-ano na ang kinakain ko!

drop off! tuktuk adventure w/justine of malaysia, the other guys were compressed like sardines at the other vehicle, nagpakahirap sila dun sa isang tuktuk samantalang $2 lang naman ang rent, hay!

after unpacking our bags, we decided to go out for dinner, i called my friend melissa but unfortunately she didn’t answer her phone so i ended up talking with donna. she’s such a good friend and told us to meet at Lucky Plaza down at Sihanouk St. asking for directions was not a problem because most of the people can speak english, if not they’re still helpful and will try their best to answer your question. we went to a resto - the name’s Bistro Lorenzo and they’re catering authentic Filipino dishes. it’s been a while since i ate Filipino food, i ordered kare-kare, sisig, chicharon and tonnes of rice, i felt like im going to a battle and ready to attack…attack the food that’s why i ate a lot, hehehe! after the feast, it’s coffee time! eljay and donna brought us to a cozy place for tea and black coffee! since im not fond of coffee, i asked for tiramisu, hmmm, heaven!

hindi na kami makaorder kaya hayan at tumawa na lang kami ng tumawa!

it didn’t take long when we decided to go back to the guest house, it’s raining and quite cold, chele and i were just happy from our dinner, when we arrived at the room, our new friend justine knocked and checked if were ok. we put our big smile and said yes! though were a bit hesitant about the place (plastic ka joyce). long day was over, it’s time for nap - early to bed early to rise, makes joyce shopping earlier and wise, nyahaha!