Tears of grief and joy in Phnom Penh - and again some elephants!

I promised you to tell you more about the fateful reign of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge that seemed so much to affect the country - and actually still affects the country. As I wrote before, nowadays there are the remaining landmines, the rotting infrastructure, hell, even the widespread corruption in almost every public branches. But during their short political reign of only 4 years the Khmer Rouge did so incredibly much harm to the country and its people, that they leave other infamous dictatorships of the 20th century look like bloody amateurs.

Khmer Rouge soldiers - squinting eyes of political terror and genocide

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Bamboo trains, a deserted island and a touristic ghost town...

After a couple of days I was somehow glad to escape the tourist masses of Siem Reap - I honestly haven't expected the town to be that busy. But at least travelling from here would be easy, as I was on the tourist-beaten track again. Almost every guesthouse and hotel in town offered a bus or minivan service to all major cities in Cambodia.

My next target was therefore Battambang, Cambodia's second biggest city. Although it first doesn't seem to be too far from Siem Reap, it still took me like 4 to 5 hours to get there by bus. Welcome to Cambodia - a country where time travels as fast as a slug on methylphenidate. I was surprised that the Khmers are actually quite fond of watching music videos and complete movies in those rugged buses, so during the whole ride several Cambodian singers and a gun-wielding Chow Yun Fat were flickering on a small flatscreen. Yeah, that's right, a «heroic bloodshed» movie like God of Gamblers Returns was shown in front of the passengers, also including a couple of small kids!

Chow Yun Fat kicking ass with a shotgun - a perfect film for an audience including 5 years old kids!

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