Cambodia

Asia » Cambodia
November 23rd 2008

Published: February 3rd 2009

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Krini

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Boat races on the Mekong

Unbelievable Cambodia

Cambodia is an unbelievable country to visit - in every sense of the word. My first impression of it was from the water festival and national day celebrations in Phnom Penh, where unlike Laos, people were really friendly and smiling and more than willing to tell me about what was going on. The Cambodians speak really good English! Although not as touristed as Thailand, their English is much better. I suppose with 70%!o(MISSING)f the population being under 15, many of them are learning English at school...
Considering the joviality of these festivities, it’s hard to imagine the hardship this country has been through, only recently! From the secret bombings during the Vietnam War to the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge regime which only ended in 1979 - the Cambodians have been through unimaginable horrors, and yet they seem to have more joie the vivre than any other country I’ve visited. I wonder if it’s a case of learning the hard way that you have to live in the moment, because there might not be a tomorrow… Carpe Diem!
The only downside I noticed to this mentality is that they don’t seem to have much concern for

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Boat races on the Mekong

the environment. Not that the other countries in Asia are full of recycling bins and eco-tourism companies, but nowhere else did I see a massive tower of foam where two canals on the outskirts of Phnom Penh ran together before continuing through the countryside next to fields of rice. I don’t even want to know what they’re throwing in that water! And the littering is the worst I’ve seen as well.

Bon Om Tuk and the National Museum

Bon Om Tuk (the Water Festival) celebrates the victory of the famous Khmer king Jayavarman VII over the Chams who occupied Angkor in 1177 --- once I got to Angkor I began to realise just how important Jayavarman VII really is! It also marks the natural phenomenon of the reversal of the current of the Tonle Sap River. It is a very important festival for the Cambodians and as many as 2 million people flock to the capital to watch the many boat races on the river. As you can see from the photos, these are fairly big boats being rowed by 4-0 rowers each. Two boats at a time race each other down the river which runs through the

Spectators and trash along the Mekong

city with millions of spectators spread along either bank. One guy I spoke to told me that the tradition is very similar to the boat races of the Maori people, and he thought the tradition might stem from the Oceanic region. When he mentioned it, I too saw the similarities and wondered why I hadn’t made the connection before. It would be interesting to look at the links between the sea-faring nations of the South Pacific and the river people of the Mekong…

After several hours in the hot, hot sunshine looking at the races and all the little booths and stalls that had sprung up along all the busy roads, I needed a break from it all and decided to visit the National Museum which houses many Khmer treasures in the shape of important sculptures from the Angkorian era. It was a beautiful space to house their cultural heritage: A terracotta building from around 1920 with four pavilions all facing the beautiful courtyard garden. Unfortunately there were no photos allowed, so I only have pictures from the courtyard. Mind you, the way the Cambodians were treating the rules of the museum, I might as well have! I have

A little down the river, there were more people and a better view

to admit that I at times found it hard concentrating on the beautiful sculptures because I was so distracted by the Cambodians touching all the most famous pieces in spite of numerous signs with ‘Don’t touch’ in various languages. The museum was very busy with all the visiting Cambodians in town for the festival who were taking the chance to see their heritage. On the one hand I felt like I couldn’t say anything. It is their forefathers who made these carvings, and they collectively own these sculptures. On the other, I was really struggling to keep my mouth shut, thinking of the potential damage they are doing to these stone forms - thousands and thousands of hands touching and wearing the forms sleek and oily with time. In the end I left the museum with the distinct intention of writing a letter with my concerns to the museum director! I’m still to find his details, but one of these days…

Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng

One of the things that struck me most at the Killing Fields and S-21 Prison, was the point they made that it’s hard to imagine how this genocide was allowed to happen

The stupa on top of Phnom Hill = Phnom Penh

Legend has it that a local widow found four buddha statues washed up by the river here and erected a temple on the hill to house them - around which the city grew up

considering that all the world leaders told each other “Never Again” after WWII - and yet, I saw mass graves, bones and skulls, cloth sticking out of the ground, pictures of thousands of people who had been captured, most of whom were tortured before they were killed - and the international society did not recognise the new Cambodian government when the Khmer Rouge were overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979, but rather allowed the Khmer Rouge representative occupy the Cambodian seat in the UN for 10 years!
I have no words to describe these horrible, but very necessary, memorials to the victims and survivors in Cambodia - except to say how impressed I am that the Cambodian people have retained their positive, smiling attitudes and have managed to embrace their future despite the land and their lives and families having lain in ruins less than 30 years ago.

For more information about this chapter in Cambodian history please see Wikipedia’s links on the Tuol Sleng and Cambodia

Royal Palace

Apart from making a quick note on the stark contrast between the surrounding decay of the city of Phnom Penh and the display of riches and glory at the

Inside the Phnom Penh Temple

Royal Palace, I’ll let the photos tell of my visit there. If you’re interested in knowing more about it, here’s a link : Cambodia’s Royal Palace

Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville for me was a time to relax on a REALLY, REALLY nice beach after having been quite active all the way down through Vietnam. I also needed some time to digest everything that had happened to me, and all the things I’d seen. It was really nice to be alone for a few days, and not worry about where to go or what to see, but just allowing myself some time to relax and read my book and get up to date with my blog. I don’t know if I didn’t do Sihanoukville justice, because I didn’t even think about renting a motorbike and driving around - my sole focus was the beach.

And it wasn’t a dull place at all. All along the narrow strip of sand, the bars were shoulder to shoulder with different kinds of beach chairs and recliners on the beach, which turned into chill out bars, restaurants or party scenes when dusk settled. I found a nice bar about midway down the beach, where they had

Flower and insence sellers

some very comfortable beach chairs with a view out over sea and where they made a wicked coconut shake! There were quite a lot of tourists, but almost as many Cambodians, although not on the beach chairs, rather walking up and down between the tourists, selling fruit, seafood, bracelets, ‘threading’ (which is hair removal with a piece of string that rips the hairs out) or massages. Although I didn’t want to buy anything, I got sucked into a conversation with a young girl who wanted to sell me some bracelets or to ‘thread’ my legs. She was very engaging and spoke very good English - obviously practicing every day with all the tourists helped - but she also had English in School, and would then come down to the beach after school to try to make money for her grandmother who was raising her and her sister. I don’t know how much of what she told me was true; she seemed very genuine, but after a couple of days of talking to her on and off and eventually buying a few of her things, she then asked if I would give her money for a new school uniform. Now that’s

From the top of the hill there was a good view of the festivities below

a clever trick, if you ask me. They only cost around £10 - but the chances of this money actually buying her a new uniform are probably pretty slim. If I remember correctly, someone told me that an average salary of say a policeman is $200 pr. month in Cambodia - and considering that some of these girls were selling massages for $10, most of the women and girls on that beach probably make more money a month than most public servants in Cambodia.

Siem Reap and Angkor

I spent a few days in Siem Reap, but didn’t do much in town except eat dinner, as I was so tired after walking around the temples of Angkor all day. Angkor is probably the only reason most people go there anyway. It has a nice relaxed feel to it, with decent food and decent prices in spite of all the tourists.
I bought a 3-day pass to the Angkor area and hired a motorbike driver to take me around the first two days. You are not allowed to rent motorbikes yourself in Siem Reap, and considering it’s 6 or 8km out to the first temple and then the small

Girl having her palm read

circuit is 17km and the big circuit is 26km, I decided to save my energy for walking around the temples themselves. It was really hot and humid and I was happy for the bit of air I got on the back of the bike between the temples.
I did the small circuit on the first day seeing: Baphuon, Thommanon, Chau Say Tevoda, Ta Keo and Ta Prohm (the temple featured in the Tomb Raider film) before taking in the sunset from Phnom Bakheng.
On the second day I did the big circuit and met a very nice Brazilian girl along the way who was also on her own, and we ended up going around at more or less the same pace. That day I saw: Baphuon, Preah Kahn, Preah Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, Banteay Kdei and Sra Sang, before watching the sun set from the top of Pre Rup. That night I went to dinner with the Brazilian girl, Karen, at a very funny restaurant called Dead Fish Tower - yes they served a lot of dead fish, but I managed to find something veggie, and we both sampled some Cambodian specialties while taking in some traditional dancing

Fortune telling

The method of fortune telling seemed to include sticking a stick between pages of a loosely bound set of cards with advice or words written on them,

from their stage. Very touristy of me, I thought :-)
In order to not get bored with all the temples (it’s hard to imagine spending three days in a row looking at temples until you’ve been there and realise just how different they all are), I had saved the best for last so it wouldn’t overshadow all the others: Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, I’m not a morning person, so I never managed to get out to Angkor to get some of the supposedly amazing shots you can catch at sunrise - but I did borrow a bicycle from my guest house and cycle out to the temple myself!
And it was truly spectacular. Is it part of the Seven Wonders of the World? If not, I think it should be. It’s so big and so delicately detailed everywhere, it must have taken years to build. And seeing it in the sunset was very special too, although you don’t get the photo ops with the temple in front of a blazing sky, like you do at sunrise. In any case, it was a very special experience, and a nice way to end my stay in Siem Reap and Cambodia as well: On