How Much Happy Do You Want?

4/8

It's always surprising to me when I actually do what I say I'm going to do, so the fact that I actually got up, ate breakfast and left the guesthouse early felt rather shocking.  My headache was almost completely gone, and after how little I'd done for the past few days, I had tons of energy so I decided to walk over to Tuol Sleng (the former high school that had been turned into a torture/prison under the Khmer Rouge) and see it and pay my respects.

The only problem with this plan was that, despite the horrors that occurred here, I could think of little besides the wildly crass and inappropriate jokes about torture and high school that I wanted to make.  This urge was not helped by the fact that the signs kept referring to Pol Pot and his "clique" and that part of the main things used for torture had previously been part of their P.E. program (a series of ropes, presumably previously used for climbing, that were used to turn prisoners upside down and dip them into filthy (like, portapotty filthy) water). 

It was actually really sad though and while I'd thought it even more at the Killing Fields yesterday, it really did make me consider the horrors of war and man's inhumanity to man.  At the same time though, it made me remember that there are things worth fighting for (Tuol Sleng was largely populated with political prisoners) and that the people who are fighters have to fight.  Once again, I'm getting all convoluted and confusing my original point and making it sound hard and bad in a way it isn't, but that's life. 

There was a series of photographs of the prisoners and some of what they went through.  Many of them were mugshots or otherwise uninteresting, but I did really like this one.

 

Another thing I was forced to consider was the inaction of other people and countries.  Several of the signs said things to the effect of "so that it may never happen again" and similar, which made me think: a) haven't we heard this before? (In regards to the Holocaust, in particular,) and b) how are we still allowing this to happen now?  And it is.  I'm thinking of the situation of the Sudan in particular, but any instance would do.  I don't even really mean this in an accusatory way; obviously I'm not doing anything to help the situation there either, but just that it should perhaps make us think.  Maybe as human beings, we really aren't made to think of much besides ourselves.  I'm not some exemplary example of a person; the truth is that unless I saw something as likely to immediately affect me, I probably wouldn't go far out of my way to stop it, even when I do understand that it's a terrible injustice.  That's a hard truth to accept.

On the other hand, there are those who are true idealists and try to really solve the problems of the world.  Don't worry though, Tuol Sleng showed how those people just sucked and are enablers as well.  In what was actually the most interesting of their exhibits, the curators had collected a series of photographs taken by a Swedish man who'd been a serious Vietnam War protester and had been part of a very small party allowed into Cambodia under Pol Pot's rule in an attempt to show how well his extremist Communist revolution was working, and showed his comments from the time and his thoughts now.  It was really interesting and helped you to understand more how people can let themselves believe what they want to believe.  His thoughts seemed foolish and naive, and I couldn't ever imagine myself being weak-willed enough to believe in any of it.  At the same time, it made me a little bit sad and perhaps wistful because I also couldn't ever imagine myself [being young, naive, passionate] believing in a cause that strongly, and sometimes I wish I could.  Believing just seems so much easier sometimes.

So either you're cruel (strong) and uncaring or you're kind (weak) and foolish.  Either way, or even if you're something else, what I learned today (and really knew already,) is that you still suck.  Hope that helps!

One thing I have to add however, was that part of these exhibits and my experience in Cambodia in general left a really bad taste in my mouth in its anti-Americanism.  I'm not suggesting here that everything going on in that period in our history was perfect or even that we've always done such a great job regarding foreign policy, but the anti-Americanism here just felt harsh and a bit unwarranted, especially since the previous French war was completely, COMPLETELY, ignored.  It felt like propaganda, and Cambodia is one of the most corrupt countries in the entire world. 

Wooo, okay, breathe now.  After that, my day really did get much happier.  I went over to the National Museum and looked around at all the cool stuff (and some of it was really was very impressive, like the intricate wood creation that was a shed).  After that, though, I was starving, and my whole day went to pot.

Technically speaking, marijuana is illegal in Cambodia, but kind of barely since it's widely used in traditional medicine.  At worst, even if you got caught, it would be a minor fine (like $20-$50 tops) and probably more of a bribe fine than an actual one, so it's pretty gentle, unlike Singapore or Malaysia.

Every once in a while I enjoy a bit, but really rarely.  Most of the time, it just really doesn't appeal to me.  Part of this is because I don't want to pay for it, part of it is because usually when there's pot, there's alcohol, which I prefer, and part of it is because when I get high, the one stereotypical aspect I follow is the munchies route: I will eat 5,000 calories in an hour when I'm high.  So basically, I only smoke (or imbibe) pot about once a year on average.

All the same, it's probably been over a year since I have, and, if you add in the fact that there's actually a restaurant that serves it here, it's almost inevitable that I would get high.  Happy High Herb is a chain, and in Australia anyway, they sell only a legal alternative.  In Cambodia, it's Happy High Herb Pizza, which apparently they've been serving since 1994.  I was embarrassed ordering it- I won't lie- especially when the (very sweet) waitress asked me "How much happy do you want?" and I said "Not too much, I don't want to get high" and she suggested medium, which I agreed with.  So I had a supreme-style pizza, which was decent, not great, and felt just a little calmer, though not high.  Here's the ground-up pot:

So after that, feeling calm about time and well, most things in life, I went over to see the Silver Pagoda.  There were actually several temples to see, some of which were really very cool.  Unfortunately, photographs were mostly forbidden and I was a bit disappointed to see that even in the Silver Pagoda, which is famous because the floor is made of silver tiles, the best parts were covered.

I walked over to the Foreign Correspondent's Club for their "famous" Happy Hour, which was nice to see, but made me slightly consider how nearly all Correspondent-type clubs are super Western or Colonial style oriented.  It was nice, though, but I eventually headed back over to Metro Cafe again looking for raspberries, after visiting this temple:

At the bar, I studied their menu and this seemed to offer an even greater concentration of raspberries, even though it was non-alcoholic.

It was ridiculously amazing.  I ate it halfway with a spoon, and I don't care that I was in a bar and eating my drink like a three year old, it was crazy good.  Afterwards, I headed back to my guesthouse and hung out there before leaving at around 8:30 for my 11:55 p.m. flight.

I think I may have made Cambodia sound like a kind of crappy place, and while it certainly wasn't my favorite, and was very hard, I don't want to leave it without admitting that Angkor Wat was incredibly, blow-your-mind awesome.  They call it the "8th Wonder of the World," as do many other places, but I think it's one of a few places that truly deserves that title, it really was incredible, impressive and amazing.