S what does one do for a fun Fourth of July in Cambodia. Visit a shooting range of course. Today I'm with a group of five English guys and Jenny. We met them on arrival at Me Mates Villa when I came leaping in with excitement from just resigning my credit cards. They had already booked two tuk tuks to tour the following day so they inviting us along to make the price cheaper. Perfect!
With a good night slept (maybe the first this trip) we woke ready to go. With my patriotic spirit I decorated my foot bandages which now cover my whole foot like a flag. It didn't resemble much but I was happy in my own mine. We crossed through the city passing some overwhelming sights of the city.
Phnom Penh was nothing like I expected. Aside from our shady greeting the night previous in the day the city was still a bit off. During our ride I took extreme notice to the trash. Of you remember, last year I mentioned about the problems of the trash system in Nepal. Well Cambodias are even worse. There is trash piles everywhere. At one point a trash truck came and there was a man pitch forking the trash into the truck. It covered the sides of streets, in front of building, the river banks, and anywhere you could think. Major issue.
We arrived at the shooting range about fourth minutes of driving. We were taken into a garage. Y about seven Cambodian men and shown to a wall lined wi different killing machines. Then we were handed a menu. I wanted more than anything to take a picture but there is a no photo sign.
Now I'm usually one for never following that rule. I've gotten yelled at in the Vatican, louvre, red light district, and many others. However when the people telling you not to take pictures are in possession of countless deadly weapons I figured it was best to listen this time.
The menu as I like to call it listed the types of guns and how much they cost. You can blow up a cow with a bazooka for as little at 100$ when you purchase a hand grenade and a few others also for a 100 each.
We took a look and everyone started to choose. They were all giddy because they had never fired a weapon before. Oh yeah!!! I'm not in western Pennsylvania anymore.mi guessing forgot its not normal for the rest of the work to have knowledge on guns.
The head Cambodian looked at Jenny and I and suggested the smallest in "it's the best for the ladies." Heck no!!!! I look at him and pointed to the M60 machine gun and said "gimme that one."
All loaded up with our M60, M16, and AK47s we headed off to the shooting range. I have to say as much fun as I had to have a strap of bullets, scream happy birthday America, and let it rip I truly had just as much fun watching the newbies.
Afterwards we posed for some sweet pictures. I obviously made the locals get involved.
Next we went to the Killing Fields. Although I feel guilty admitting this, I won't be the first person to admit that I had no idea about The Killing Fields. I had ever heard of them, the Khmer Rouge, or S21 ever in my life. I only knew to go there because of googling what to see in cities.
Once I get pictures and a little more time I will write a detailed post about bother the Killing Fields and S21. It is something more people should know about.
After visiting the Killing Fields we sat at a table feeling sick and drained. Learning about the history, witnessing the craters that houses the dead bodies, and seeing in person the tree that babies were bashed to death left me feeling dead inside. It was horrific.
Then we went to the school turned secret prison torture chamber and the sky opened and rained down. It was the creepiest touch to add to the sorrow of the place. If it wasn't bad enough seeing the rooms where people were tortured they added all the faces of the deceased. The rooms with pictures went on and on.
Feeling miserable we took on the down pour to reach the entrance and find our drivers. Since both Jenny and I have foot injuries we got to stay in the entrance and wait. Once we were gathered by the tuk tuk we decided to go back and have a rest after an emotional exhausting day.
However, the weather didn't like our plan. As seems to be the case in all of my entries these days, we hit a snag. The rain had created massive flooding. Not a little bit but a lot. Every corner we turned seemed to get worse. We reached one if the main ones and cars were up to the doors in water. People were pushing their bikes through the dirty waters.
I could not believe our little tuk tuk could make it through all of the water. And it did..... Almost. Right at the end it could go no further. Our jolly drive jumped out and started pushing. Soon we were there! Wooo we braved the crazy roads. Then our English friend Charlie also got out and helped. Before we knew it we had four people pushing our tuk tuk through the flooded streets back to the hostel. At one point an escalade (why is that even in this city) came plowing down the roads and could stop. It was coming right at us blaring its horn and turn off just in time. The city was a flooded disaster.
Safety back at the entrance to the alley of the hostel we looked down the street. Deep water led up the path to our hostel. A shirtless Cambodian man who helped push us looked at my foot then at the water. Without saying a word he turn and pointed to his back. I hopped on and he carried me to the hostel while Jen got a ride from Charlie.
What a Fourth of July!
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