John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Friday 17 February 2017
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[2017] [Thursday 16 February 2017] Mekong Cruise, Cambodia RV La Marguerite, Cambodia The Daily Cruiser 
The alarm clock was set for a little before 6 o’clock; and when it sounded, I stopped it, then shortly afterwards shaved and showered.… Went for breakfast a little before 7 o’clock, and sat with P and Y. Yesterday — too late, for I’d already spooned out tomato ketchup from the adjacent bowl — I’d spotted a bottle of HP brown sauce around the corner; so today I had that on my bacon and veal sausages.… Janet was still in bed, dozing, and got up as I was about to leave, ca.8am. I went up to the Saigon Lounge to join the Green “family” for the morning’s excursion. Janet didn’t want to join this, because it was the most gruesome part of the voyage: a trip to Choeung Ek, about 11 miles south of Phnom Penh, followed by a visit to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. Choeung Ek is the best-known of the sites known as “The Killing Fields”, where the Khmer Rouge regime executed (according to Adam) 2–3 million people between 1975 and 1979 and buried them in mass graves. Tuol Sleng, one of at least 150 detention and execution centres, was formerly a high school, which was converted by the Khmer Rouge into “Security Prison 21” (“S21”) by the Khmer Rouge. Tuol Sleng means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. We went ashore and boarded coaches, and on arrival Adam obtained and handed out entrance tickets. He also handed out leaflets showing a plan of the site, though he escorted us around and we used the listening devices from our cabins; we didn’t have the pre-recorded “audio tour” outlined in the leaflet.  
 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 19:18:44 “Choeung Ek Genocidal Center” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 19:18:44 (edited) “Choeung Ek Genocidal Center” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:22:46 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:31:02 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:32:14 Choeung Ek 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:33:48 Choeung Ek: site of mass graves 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:34:58 (detail) Choeung Ek: “Former Chinese grave, pre-1975” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:34:58 Choeung Ek: “Former Chinese grave, pre-1975” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:36:56 (detail) Choeung Ek: “Mass grave of 166 victims without heads” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:36:56 Choeung Ek: “Mass grave of 166 victims without heads” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:38:50 Choeung Ek: “Rags of victims’ clothes…” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:38:12 Choeung Ek: “Rags of victims’ clothes…” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:40:34 Choeung Ek: “Mass grave of more than 100 victims…” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:40:22 Choeung Ek: “Mass grave of more than 100 victims, children and women, the majority of whom were naked” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:40:58 Choeung Ek: “Killing tree, against which executioners beat children” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:43:12 Choeung Ek: “Pieces of bones remaining after excavation in 1980” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:42:18 Choeung Ek: “Pieces of bones remaining after excavation in 1980” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:43:44 Choeung Ek: “Pieces of bones remaining after excavation in 1980” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:47:54 Choeung Ek: “Magic tree…” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:47:42 Choeung Ek: “Magic tree…” After conducting us round, Adam gave us a bit of free time. I purchased one of the flowers on sale at the stall in front of the Memorial Stupa, and placed it in a vase at the entrance. Others lit incense sticks and placed them in adjacent receptacles. Within the stupa there’s a narrow passage between the outer walls and the four sides of the tall acrylic glass enclosure filled with thousands of human skulls, and I made my way around, photographing as I went. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:51:16 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:51:38 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:51:54 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:52:24 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:52:32 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:53:48 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 09:55:48 Choeung Ek: Memorial Stupa We re-boarded the coach and were taken back to Phnom Penh. It was a short walk from where we were deposited to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. On 15 February 2017 I wrote, “…When we passed a vendor, [Adam] bought [a kralan]. That wasn’t the last time when escorting us that he got his wallet out.” Today, the whole company of Green “family” had to cross a junction controlled by a traffic cop, and I saw Adam slip a banknote into his hand before he stopped the traffic and waved us across. As we waited in the heat for Adam to get the tickets from the ticket-office, I was aware that there was a spray of atomised water to keep people cool. After we entered we were free to look around. In one of the former school blocks that I passed through were thousands of black-and-white photos of former prisoners, many in their teens. In another, the space had been divided into cells, crudely constructed of brick. Another was similar but the cells were tiny. In another there were instruments of torture on show. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 10:38:54 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 10:41:44 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 10:42:10 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 10:48:00 (detail) Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 10:48:00 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum One of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng, Chum Mey, was there. He had signed copies of his book Survivor on sale for $10, and I bought one; and I also had my photo taken with him. He was only kept alive because he was skilled at repairing machines, e.g. typewriters. After that, I actually visited the building in which his tiny, crude, brick cell was, and stepped inside it. (Photography wasn’t allowed within the buildings of the museum.) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:09:26 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: Chum Mey 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:13:54 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: Chum Mey 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:13:54 (detail) Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: Chum Mey 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:16:02 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:16:24 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 11:20:26 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The Green “family” arrived back at the ship ca.12.15pm, and I met Janet in the cabin; then we went up to the Saigon Lounge, and joined P and Y. I had a beer, and Janet had a lime and soda. At 12.30pm we all went down to the restaurant for lunch. As one entered, our usual table was on the right side; because one was facing the stern, that was the port side; so the view from the window was the same as from our port-side cabin: tubular pillars, girders and gangways. So we moved across to the starboard side, with a view across the Tonlé Sap river. 
Photo taken yesterday, 13:42:54 View from the cabin Returning to the cabin ca.1.30pm, I lay on the bed and read Chum Mey’s book Survivor, while Janet went to the little gym and had a session on the exercise bike. (She’d done the same this morning while I was out. She’d also visited the onboard shop and bought items as gifts for the children visiting this evening.) A bit before 2.30pm, we went up to the Saigon Lounge to join Green “family” for this afternoon’s tour of the Royal Palace complex. “Grrd aftrrnurrn, lrrdrrs rrnd grrntlemrrin!” said the Cruise Director. I think it was I who, on this occasion, as well as commenting that he sounded like Stephen Hawking, suggested that he looked like the racially stereotyped depictions of Japanese soldiers and airmen with thick glasses and big teeth in the propagandistic World War II Popeye cartoons.  At any rate, Janet wrote in her journal at this point, “Our Cruise Director looked like a Japanese soldier from the later Popeye cartoons, and sounded like a very wound-down Stephen Hawking. He spoke so slowly!” After the Green “family” was paraded out, (Janet wrote:) “As I sped along the pier and steps to the waiting coaches, Adam said, ‘Janet, you are very dynamic.’ I’ve never been called that before!” It was only a mile or so from there to Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, on which the Royal Palace and Emerald Pagoda are situated. There were portable traffic-barriers across the road, so we had to walk the last couple of hundred yards to get to the entrance. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 14:51:28 Preah Thineang Chan Chhaya (Moonlight Pavilion) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 14:52:20 Preah Thineang Chan Chhaya (Moonlight Pavilion) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 14:52:20 (detail) Preah Thineang Chan Chhaya (Moonlight Pavilion): photo of the late king Norodom Sihanouk 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 14:53:20 Preah Thineang Chan Chhaya (Moonlight Pavilion) There’s a wall around the whole estate, and we entered a gate through this. Ahead was another wall, the one which bounds the southern part that contains the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and other religious buildings, and in it there was a tall, ornamental gate. The photo below doesn’t do it justice, because the round, layered spire and indeed the complex gabling of the roof are almost hidden. The ticket booth was to the right, between the two walls. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 14:56:32 Royal Palace complex: east gate of the wall bounding the southern part of the complex Adam got tickets and issued them to us, along with a card with a plan of the site on the reverse side, of limited informativeness because many of the names or descriptions were just transliterations of Khmer.   Janet wrote, of when we waited for Adam near the ticket office: “I used the loo — a real one! (I’ve only had to use one ‘hole’ so far.) Interesting: when you opened the outer door the ‘ladies’’ were on the right and the ‘men’s’ on the left, and I could clearly see several men urinating. Doesn’t bother me!” From there we went to see the buildings in the northern half of the site. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:01:38 Heading to the northern part of the Royal Palace complex Janet found it a bit too hot, and stayed in the shade as much as possible when I was photographing things. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:02:30 Victory Gate (right) and spire of the Moonlight Pavilion (left) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:02:40 Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:03:26 Preah Tineang Phhochani (Banqueting Hall) (right) and Stupa of King Norodom (left) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:05:20 Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) (left), Preah Moha Prasat Khemarin (Royal Residence) (centre), and Hor Samranphirun (Royal Rest House) (right) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:05:28 Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:05:40 Hor Samritvimean (Bronze Palace) (centre), Preah Reach Damnak Chan (behind it, right), and Pavilion of Napoleon III (under wraps, left) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:05:56 Preah Tineang Phhochani (Banqueting Hall) (ahead, left), Pavilion of Napoleon III (under wraps, right), and Temple of the Emerald Buddha (behind) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:09:12 Preah Reach Damnak Chan (administrative centre) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:09:24 Hor Samritvimean (Bronze Palace) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:09:42 Preah Tineang Phhochani (Banqueting Hall) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:10:00 Preah Tineang Phhochani (Banqueting Hall) (detail) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:10:24 Preah Tineang Phhochani (Banqueting Hall) (detail) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:20:20 Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:20:34 Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:21:40 Four-faced head of Brahma on the central spire of the Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (Throne Hall) I’m not sure which of the structures we entered to see a display of royal regalia and costumes: Hor Samritvimean, perhaps. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:24:54 Exhibition: attire of royal attendants, a different colour for each day of the week 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:25:26 Exhibition: royal robes 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:25:42 Exhibition: royal robes 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:25:52 Exhibition: royal robes 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:26:22 Exhibition: “Gold artefacts for royal ceremonies” 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:26:12 Exhibition: “Gold artefacts for royal ceremonies” Then we proceeded to the southern half of the site, entering by the north gate in the bounding wall. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:29:00 Heading to the southern part of the Royal Palace complex As we made our way to the “Temple of the Emerald Buddha” (or “Silver Pagoda”, as it’s also called), we saw a procession of monks. I had the impression that most of them were meditating upon their iPhones as they went by; but the photographic evidence seems to belie it, so perhaps I should say “some”, not “most”. The photo “15:41:22” does in fact show two of them staring at their handheld devices; and “15:42:28” shows one. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:36:40 Procession of monks 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:36:40 (detail 1) Procession of monks 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:36:40 (detail 2) Procession of monks They all sat in two rows — except two of them, who stood — in front of a model of Angkor Wat, which itself was in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, to be photographed. It wasn’t an ideal placement, because they were in the shadow of the west gate in the bounding wall, while the temple was in bright sunlight. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:40:26 The monks in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:40:26 (detail 1) The monks in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:40:26 (detail 2) The monks in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:40:26 (detail 3) The monks in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:41:22 Stupa of King Suramarith and Queen Kossomak 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:41:22 (detail) Monks with modern technology 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:41:22 (detail, highlighted) Monks with modern technology 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:42:28 Model of Angkor Wat in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha We had to take our shoes off before entering the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Photography wasn’t allowed. “It was even hotter in there,” Janet wrote, “so I stood in front of as many giant fans as I could, to cool down temporarily.” She added: “What an indulgent place!”… It’s called “Silver Pagoda” because it is inlaid with 5,329 silver floor-tiles, and “Temple of the Emerald Buddha” because one of its Buddha statues is a small one of green crystal. There’s some dispute as to the origin of this, Adam told us, and indeed what it’s made of, whether of emerald or Baccarat crystal. In front of it stands a life-sized Maitreya Buddha (“Future Buddha” in Buddhist eschatology) weighing almost 200lb, and encrusted with 2,086 diamonds including a 25 carat diamond in the crown and a 20 carat diamond in the chest. 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 15:57:44 Temple of the Emerald Buddha 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 16:01:06 Equestrian statue of King Norodom (left), stupa of King Norodom (centre left), and stupa of King Ang Duong (right) We left by the south gate of the bounding wall, and stopped at a café in the passage between the two walls on the way out. I had a Magnum (chocolate-covered ice-cream on a stick) for $2. There were also gift shops and exhibitions in that location. There was a beggar at the gate, and I didn’t want to be conscience-stricken as I had been yesterday; I’d just spent $2 on ice-cream, so I gave him $2 also. We went back to the coaches for the short trip to the ship. We had to say farewell to Adam in the level area in front of the steps down to the “pier”, because tomorrow we’d be crossing into Vietnam. “He is a very kind and caring man,” Janet wrote, “and it was a pleasure to meet him. I hugged him and told him that; and, as is often the case, I shed a tear. How quickly you can become attached to someone!” It was ca.4.30pm; we went first to the Saigon Lounge, sat with P and Y, and had a drink. Then we went to the cabin. It’s my normal practice to shower in the morning, and Janet’s to do so in the evening; but because of the heat of the day, we both showered, Janet then I, and changed clothes. We went back up to the Saigon Lounge, perhaps 5.45pm, where P and Y had saved seats for us. “MSH” (“metallic Stephen Hawking”, as I’ve dubbed the Cruise Director) gave us a short briefing on tomorrow’s programme: we’d be dropping anchor at the border for the formalities to be completed, after which our passports would be available to be picked up at reception. “I find it virtually impossible to keep a straight face when he is talking,” Janet commented. The Daily Cruiser for today said, “Khmer Traditional Dances are performed in the Saigon Lounge by the adorable children”; but I would have styled them “young adults” or “youths”. It was on the basis of The Daily Cruiser description that Janet had bought colouring books and pencils. She’d also bought packs of exercise books, though, which would do for any age. The musicians and dancers were on for 40 minutes or so. I was pleased I’d seen them because I missed the similar performance on Monday evening. Janet wrote: “The girls performed a couple of dances (one of which we’d seen on Monday night. The way they bend their fingers back is both amazing and sickening!). Then the boys and girls performed the coconut-shells dance, which we’d also seen. There were a couple of other dances; all were accompanied by children playing instruments, and there was a singer.” Friday 17 February 2017 — 17:54:26 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 17:56:48 Khmer traditional dances: musicians 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 17:56:58 Khmer traditional dances: musicians 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 17:57:08 Khmer traditional dances: musicians 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:11:42 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:12:46 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:13:36 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:14:30 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:14:52 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:16:20 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:27:08 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:27:22 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:28:26 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:31:08 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:32:52 Khmer traditional dances 
Friday 17 February 2017 — 18:35:10 Khmer traditional dances We went down to the restaurant for dinner ca.7pm, and sat at our usual table. The sun had set almost an hour ago, so the lack of a decent view from the window was neither here nor there. “We left at 9.15pm after having a good laugh with Y and P…” Janet wrote. “We were both tired. I was so glad I’d already showered, so was in bed around 10pm.” I transferred 126 items from the camera to the WD Elements HDD (21:47–21:54), 123 photos and three videos; looked through them and rotated seven that needed it, using Windows Photo Viewer (21:58–22:00); transferred the 42 of these photos that were taken yesterday to a new folder (22:03). Then I too got ready for bed. [Saturday 18 February 2017] |
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