Despite the demonstration at Freedom Park, razor-wire barricades, blocked streets and clashes between citizens and police in the past two days, it appears that the camp-in and security presence in the city are merely a novelty for some tourists.
On Monday afternoon, one couple, Australians John and Barbara Keane, sat on the riverfront sipping cocktails unperturbed, just as they had on Sunday during a clash between protesters and police on Sisowath Quay.
“We had a front row seat,” said Ms. Keane, 64. “We could see the anger in their [the demonstrators] eyes.”
A British couple posing for photos in front of the National Museum said they also witnessed the clash on Sunday when protesters on the riverside tore down razor-wire barricades and threw stones at police.
“We were watching yesterday and we took loads of photos. You wanted to be the one to get the great photo, not for the money but to say: ‘Hey, if you [authorities] are going to assault these people, we will have a record of it,” said Emma Barnes, 26.
“[The demonstrations] don’t put me off, I was in New Delhi when there was rioting [in the wake of the bus gang rape and murder in December]. It’s part of experiencing the culture; I can go home with a small insight into Cambodian politics rather than a photo of some nice beach,” she said.
Walking along the riverside Monday, a pair of newly arrived Israeli citizens with no inkling of the current political atmosphere said the chance of violence might cause them to reschedule their holiday.
“We know AK-47, we know war,” said Oleg Chernichau, 47. “We are Israeli and we were born in Russia—we know all of this.”
“We were going to leave for Sihanoukville [on Monday] but maybe we will stay now and become familiar with the local reality. You know we have so much politics in the Middle East, I am now interested to see what happens here.”
At a guesthouse near Freedom Park on Monday, four Finnish tourists preparing to board a bus said they regretted that they had pre-booked before realizing there was a demonstration in Phnom Penh this week.
“[The demonstrations] have made Phnom Penh so much more exciting and we have been able to see everything from our hostel,” said Gisse Rajanaki, 21.
“[On Sunday night] we got in the middle of the crowd [in Freedom Park] with four cameras and got some amazing footage. When we get to Sihanoukville, we will package the footage and send it to the newspapers back home. Nothing like this ever happens in Finland.”
Mark Leary, a 26-year-old from New Zealand traveling alone, took it to another level.
“I just arrived [on Sunday night] from Bangkok and came to the demonstration. It’s like a party. Bangkok was good but this is awesome. There is free food, free drink and the people are so happy; they are genuinely happy. It’s not really like a protest.”
One traveler who didn’t have a good experience on the first day of the CNRP demonstration was 31-year-old Scot Joel Eddie, who was traveling to Phnom Penh from Kampot in a taxi late Sunday night.
“I woke up in the taxi, no idea where we were, and we were being searched” by police, he said.
“It was scary, alright. They had masks across their faces but when they finished searching they took them off and were just laughing with us like kids. They looked like they were teenagers. It was surreal.”
Some tuk-tuk drivers, it seems, took the opportunity to try and make an extra buck amid the confusion.
Yasmin Bradley, a 21-year-old Briton, said that when she arrived in Phnom Penh via bus on Sunday afternoon, her tuk-tuk driver told her it was impossible to go to her hostel, which was on unimpeded Street 302.
“He told us that it was impossible to go there but I had no reason to believe him because I had no idea what was going on,” she said.
“In the end we got a different tuk-tuk and he took us to the place we had booked with no problems.”
