Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh

And here we are in the capital of Cambodia after about four hours by bus. The tranquility of Sihanoukville has been swept away in a flash, since the city is invaded by millions of Cambodians on the occasion of the very famous Water Festival. We have settled into a guest house built above the lake, just the time to drop off the luggage and then we decided to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the festival; just the time to get an idea of what awaited us for the following day. The frenzy and the festive atmosphere that surrounds us resembles in a certain sense our New Year's Eve. Stalls of every kind selling everything: from local dishes to the classic souvenirs, but what impressed us most is the flow of people pouring into the streets in a way that is nothing short of chaotic.

One thing we feel we can recommend to anyone passing through here during the festival is to linger in one of the many places to drink something and observe the river of people: it looks like a film. Incredible!!! Every television was broadcasting live the numerous regattas taking place in the Mekong and we could not miss the chance to witness live a spectacle of that kind. The participants wore official uniforms different according to the team they belonged to and challenge each other with strokes of the oars, intoning songs and propitiatory dances in view of victory. The public is crammed along the banks of the river and attends the races in an engaging way, a bit like what happens back home for a soccer match.

Having abandoned the banks of the river we immersed ourselves in the heart of the city passing by the Royal Palace and the Independence Monument. The traffic was nothing short of paralyzed; the only ones moving with a motorized vehicle were the classic motorcycle taxi drivers, the rest was a succession of human trains that formed a not-homogeneous but effective snake to make their way through the crowd. We then decided to visit the museum of atrocities. It is an old elementary school called S-21 where thousands of opponents of the totalitarian regime were imprisoned, tortured and killed, including women, children, luminaries and ordinary people. A museum composed of an innumerable number of photos of the prisoners collected in vast glass panels inside each classroom; beside these are preserved the torture instruments used by the prison guards.

On the upper floors it is instead possible to visit the cells where the so-called dissidents were chained up. The whole thing is nothing short of gruesome if one considers that it all took place not many years ago (mid-seventies).

Once the visit to the museum was over we returned to immerse ourselves in the festive climate just in time to witness the fireworks display put on for the occasion and in the middle of it we were caught by the inevitable rain that as every evening pours down on Phnom Penh, not by chance the festival is called Water Festival. In our guest house we then made the acquaintance of a couple from Florence, also in the city on the occasion of the festival, and of another guy from Como (Dario), also an expert traveler who is moving between Laos, Cambodia and India. Once the day was over, the time also came to say goodbye, at least temporarily, to Brian and Laura, the Scottish friends, who were staying in the city another day while we are about to leave in view of Angkor Wat.