Thomas Cristofoletti for The International Herald Tribune
Johan Mars of Goteborg, Sweden, fires a semi-automatic rifle at a shooting range on a military base near Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
PHNOM PENH — Just after a Honda pickup truck screeched to a halt beyond the decommissioned Soviet-era Antonov aircraft, four resolute-looking Chinese men with a military escort climbed out, slammed the doors shut and neatly arranged a series of firearms they had been carrying on a nearby table.
Once the pistols' magazines were loaded with shiny golden bullets, they began emptying round after round into paper targets at a distance of 25 meters, or 82 feet.
Nearby, Johan Mars had just discharged 30 bullets from a K-50, a Russian submachine gun.
"That was quite badass," said Mr. Mars, a 28-year-old electrician from Goteborg, Sweden, striding toward a wall laden with Uzis, AK-47s and assault rifles like the M-4 and M-16. "It's a boy toy," he said of the K-50, which on full automatic fills the air with dark smoke and the smell of gunpowder.
Mr. Mars, who has been traveling in Southeast Asia, added: "I spent two weeks in Vietnam, and then I spend two hours here and I'm asked, 'Do you want to fire a gun?' Where else can you do that?"
Tucked inconspicuously between rice paddies and recently built garment factories, the operations base of the Airborne Brigade 911 is also home to an open-air shooting range.
There are other shooting ranges in Southeast Asia, like the one outside Ho Chi Minh City, close to the Cu Chi tunnels, and in the popular Thai resort of Ko Samui. Here, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Brigade 70 also has a public range on a military base.
But the Airborne Brigade's range is Cambodia's original and the only one where tourists can walk around with weapons and fire fully automatic guns.
A tuk-tuk ride to the range, about 15 kilometers, or 9 miles, outside the capital, takes a visitor along National Road 4, through Phnom Penh's industrializing outskirts.
Diesel-guzzling trucks spurt vast plumes of black smoke as they career past entire families of four and five traveling on single motorcycles. In the late afternoon, rickety old trucks move along, their flatbeds packed with scores of young female garment workers who, standing up, have squeezed themselves on for the trip home. And along the roadside, vendors sell sugar cane, fruit and noodles from ramshackle mobile carts.
Eventually, glimpses of Cambodia's serene countryside of rice paddies dotted with coconut trees start to appear through the concrete buildings on the city's edge.
A right turn off the main road onto a dirt track, and the tuk-tuk bounces along for nearly a kilometer past vendors and Cambodian-style coffee shops with plastic chairs. Eventually it stops at a walled perimeter, where, nearly 15 years after Khmer Rouge forces surrendered and peace officially returned to Cambodia, the distinctive crack of a Kalashnikov can be heard echoing into the distance.
The entrance to the operations base of the Airborne Brigade, a special forces unit, is far from what you would expect. On a recent visit, the entrance was unmanned, closed off by just a flimsy metal chain. This time a young soldier waves the tuk-tuk through.
Inside, children of the military personnel living in the base's modest wooden homes wave and shout "hello" to visitors, while cows and sheep graze the lush fields nearby. Before reaching the shooting range, visitors pass a rappelling tower, armored vehicles, some heavy artillery, and a cage of three crocodiles.
At the range, soldiers in fatigues escort guests to a wall of firearms that includes framed portraits of Prime Minister Hun Sen and Lt. Gen. Chap Pheakdey, who commands the brigade.
A few meters away, eight shooting booths face standing targets adorned with perforated beer cans and, behind, a five-meter-high earthen wall.
The firing range "was originally created to train the military, but sometimes we have guests, and sometimes we don't," Brig. Gen. Moun Sameth, the brigade's deputy commander, said by telephone.
Firing 30 rounds from an AK-47 costs $40, while a drum of 30 bullets for a submachine gun is $50. (Prices are in U.S. dollars, which is not uncommon in Cambodia.)
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
In Cambodia, a Shooting Range Open to Tourists
Dengan url
http://travelwisatawan.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-cambodia-shooting-range-open-to.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
In Cambodia, a Shooting Range Open to Tourists
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
In Cambodia, a Shooting Range Open to Tourists
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar