Title – The Royal Palace
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
The Royal Family has remained an important factor in modern day Cambodia. The country is a fully fledged democracy and although it suffers from many of the afflictions of other developing countries in the region, it also has the added burden of the Khmer Rouge history still weighing hard on the politics of the country.
The Royal Family has had a roller coaster ride throughout the last century being in turn loved and hated by the Cambodian people as it backed various regimes and spent some time in exile.
The palaces in Phnom Penh however stand as a symbol of the old excesses of royal architecture to be found all over the world. On a sunny day the gold leaf reflects the light magnificently back to the blue sky it came for and is an interesting half day trip with the highlight being a glimpse of the Silver Pagoda at its centre.
Beyond The Blue run workshops that will open up the world to the intrepid traveller. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop can help you to enjoy the excesses the world has to offer and see many of it wonders, that number many more then 7.
Having the confidence in your own skills will allow you to complete your trip without all the constant headaches that can hold people back, simply through the lack of information they have access to.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – The Girl and The Elephant
Date – August 2000
Location – Siem Riep - Cambodia
Cambodia’s small army of hawkers will follow you from the moment you arrive till the moment you leave, to some they may be an irritation to others they add colour to the country. In Cambodia the kids will stare at you with their big brown eyes and all but the hardest will fall for it. But some believe that these kids have been taken out of school to do this work and in some cases this may very well be the case. If you take the time to speak to them (and they often speak perfect English) you can easily find out more about their lives and why they have to work for a living. Many go to school in the morning and work in the afternoons to supplement the family’s income.
Don’t jump to a conclusion just because you have heard a horror story once and think it applies to everyone. There are undoubtedly true stories of children being forced to work by press gangs, but thousands upon thousands of children work as a normal part of their lives, so they and their families can eat regular meals and some even work so that they can go to school. You might just be helping. Many a travellers’ house is full of souvenirs that they never meant to buy, but felt they ought to; is that a bad thing? You decide.
At Beyond The Blue as part of our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop we will give you the tools to deal with the permanent attention of hawkers and how to haggle with a positive conclusion to your negotiation. Simple rules and a little confidence will allow you not only to overcome the initial fears of this process, but can result in you enjoying the encounters.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – The best sales person in Cambodia
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
The best salesmen in the world had nothing on the determination of this young lady in selling her wares to tourists. Her persistence meant that were she to live in a western country, she would be the top sales person in any multinational company.
Hawkers generate different emotions in different people and some people object to having to haggle for every little purchase.
We believe in allowing individuals to make their own decisions as to how they react and how they approach these situations. However we teach individuals to respect people and to ensure that when haggling they have an understanding of the value of the product, as well as the effects your contribution can have on their lives.
Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops that offers advice on personal safety as well as useful information such as how to deal with hawkers and haggling round the world.
Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.com/
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – S21 - Toul Sleng
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
The Toul Sleng Museum stands on the grounds of the old Tuol Svay High School which the Khmer Rouge converted into the infamous Security Prison S-21. Here they held and tortured thousands of citizens and sent more then 17,000 to the execution camps, but these were only the ones who did not actually die during their torture.
The methods of torture really make you feel cold and now standing as a monument to the insanity of the time, a visit is well worth it just to experience the chill in the air that must have filled the country at the time.
Obviously nothing can ever come close to completely representing that time, but certainly people regularly leave and years later see the nicotine yellow colour in another location and are taken back to S-21, which is as near to hell as you can get on earth.
On our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop, we help people to gain a better understanding of the effect historical events have the culture of countries and how comprehension allows you to communicate better with your hosts.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – River of blood
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
In 1975 Pol Pot or 'Brother no. 1' as he liked being called tried to return Cambodia to the Year Zero. He moved all the towns’ people into the country and forced them into hard labour. The plan was to create a country that was completely self-sufficient through agriculture and remove all external influences. This meant that educated people were considered a threat to society and rounded up, tortured and routinely killed. The test to separate 'intellectuals' from normal citizens was often as simple as rounding up all those people wearing glasses.
The map in the Toul Sleng Museum (S-21 Prison) made from human skulls and bones represents this period where some 2 million Cambodian citizens were massacred over a 4 year period.
Beyond The Blue run workshops to assist those people planning to travel for the first time so that they can enjoy the surprises without so many of the shocks that can ruin even the best planned trips. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop help individuals take the first steps in confidence.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – The Killing Field Skulls
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
At various places around Cambodia Stupas can be found, some of these religious sites openly display skulls from the victims of the genocide during the mid seventies. The common attitude of the country is surprisingly open, considering that 30 years later the scars and wounds are still very open and closure on the period is still some way away as controversy surrounding Khmer Rouge trials continues. But Cambodia still believes that the way to prevent the genocide ever being repeated is for the country to face its own history openly and demonstratively and not to bury it as a historical atrocity.
Beyond The Blue examines as part of its Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop the subject of Cultural Awareness in order for those attending to have a better understanding, when visiting new countries, of what to expect and how to appreciate the experience of learning from your hosts.
Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.com/
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Killing Fields
Date – August 2000
Location - Phnom Penh - Cambodia
The New and the old. On the entry to the killing fields just outside Phnom Penh stands this sign, it reads:
“……. The method of massacre which the clique of Pol Pot criminals was carried upon the innocent people of Kampuchea cannot be described fully and clearly in words because of the invention of this killing method was strangely cruel, so it is difficult for us to determine who they are for they have the human form but their hear hearts are demon’s hearts they have got the Khmer face but their activities are purely reactionary. …….. they had educated and transformed young people and the adolescent whose hearts are pure gentle and modest into odious executioners who dared to kill the innocent and even their own parents, relatives or friends. ……”
Learning about a countries history recent or ancient will help you to understand it and its people. Cambodia has a very turbulent recent history resulting in the massacre of some 2 million of its citizens. The massacre by its own leaders was extreme and rapid, it took place over a period of just 4 years. The estimates of the number killed are still disputed with numbers ranging wildly between 1 million and 3 million.
Beyond The Blue run workshops to prepare you for travel. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop provides individuals attending with all the information they will require for their trip including personal safety, Destination and Travel Equipment advice.
Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.com/
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
