Cambodian Army Shooting Range / Part 1

Not long ago, a local Khmer friend told me an Army Base outside the capital of Phnom Penh had an enterprising side business going on. Well...what on earth are they doing?, I asked. "You can shoot a bunch of big automatic guns and blow stuff up" was his reply. What kind of big guns? Blow-up stuff - with what? I asked. "Anything they have. Depends on your budget" he said. I was interested.

My driver, Sok Phea, began the rather large task of researching how to get to this Army Base outside of town, fringing the countryside. Finding things for the first time in Cambodia - even in the Capital - can be a real task. In town, street names are important, but often numerical addresses are useless. For God knows what reason, numerical addresses can rise and fall and rise again in the same block; 'Even' and 'odd' numbers can even be found on the same side of a street. Directions are all landmark based. You may ask, 'well how do they deliver mail?' There is no mail service in Cambodia. Monthly bills are delivered in person by the bill issuing company.

With direction details somewhat at hand, I recruited a couple good friends to join me in this adventure. Long and Terick. Long is a photographer, Terick owns a small ice cream manufacturing and distribution company.

Sok Phea at the wheel, we arrive in the vicinity. Knowing we are close, we make several more enquiries to locals along the way and given helpful hints and make our arrival. Upon our arrival, Phea tells the guard the purpose of our visit. Enthusiastically the guard gives us landmark directions of where to go further for a couple of miles now that we are inside the base. As we follow our base driving instructions, there are dozens of overgrown and fallow arduous training stations, clearly unused for years, if not decades.

Terick and I ready to take care of business.