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Published: October 22nd 2007
The first glance at my map promised a trip that was fairly short and painless, but over here, looks are always deceiving. I want you all to take a second and think of the worst road you’ve ever seen or been on. Alright...now smack yourself (that wasn’t hard enough!), because you have no earthly idea what I’ve been through. The bus ride from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was no big deal; I’ve been there, done that. The point from there after, well, that's another story.
The border crossing itself was no piece of cake, but at the same time very interesting. Our Thai operated bus had to stop roughly a quarter mile away from the actual immigration point. From there, the group had to walk from the Thailand side, through a between-border section (which is used as a gambling safe zone for the Thai and Thai only) and on past the Cambodian gates to the other side. The section of road from the border (Poipet) to Siem Reap (my final destination) was only about 90 miles, but it took us a grueling 5 hours to make the journey. A lot of it had to do with the poor conditions
of the road and the other had to do with a little scamming done by the bus company. What I learned, after the fact, was that the bus companies get paid off to stall and make the trip as uncomfortable as possible (like no A/C, dust blowing in through the windows, etc.) in order to deliver the passengers to a certain guesthouse (who bribes the bus co.) well after dark, totally worn out and away from other lodgings and transport. The scamming didn’t end there; after booking the room (which was actually really cheap) the guy who showed it to us (I’m sharing a room with my new Canadian friend Danny) was actually a tuk tuk driver who haggled us to book him as our escort through the Angkor ruins (which is what we were there to see) the next morning (which we did). I have to say that I was scammed or attempted to be scammed more times in Cambodia than I’ve ever been any where else in the world. It was to the point where it was almost comical. There are so many examples, but I really like this one:
Before crossing the border, our Thai driver
took us to an ATM and told us that we would need Thai baht to exchange when we crossed the border, because there were no money machines in Poipet (which is always normal in order for money changers to make a living). I didn’t do so because I already had some, so I just ignored that. Then when we crossed the border and switched to our new Cambodian driver, he took us to a money changer and told us that there was only one ATM in Siem Reap and that it was temporarily broken due to flood waters, so we needed to do our exchanging here (wow, what a nice guy looking out for us like that). Well, you can use American dollars here, but I really needed some Cambodian riel ($1 = 4,000r) for my smaller purchases like water, tips, etc., so I decided to change a thousand Thai baht ($30) for small expenses. The money changer quoted us an exchange rate of 3,400 riel to the dollar and said that was the best you can get. Unsure because the American dollar is dropping right now (for the first time in my lifetime, the Canadian dollar is worth more
than the American dollar - Danny is lovin’ it) I went ahead with the exchange. Well, to make a long story short (even though I have rambled for a while), when we arrived in Siem Reap, there where working ATMs everywhere and the exchange rate was really 4,000 riel to the dollar - man, those little conniving Cambodians!
I must say that Cambodia has a lot of things to love about the country and just as many things that will annoy the life right out of you. This country will pull at every one of your emotions and can be a bit overwhelming at times. There is such a history here that is so impressive, but at the same time a part that is utterly horrific. I started my visit off with a look into to the brighter past when the Khmer empire thrived in this region of the world (between the 9th and 13th century). The Khmer empire once stretched from Burma (on the other side of Thailand) to Vietnam and Angkor Wat (just outside of Siem Reap) was the political, social and religious centre of it all, so this was the perfect place to start my visit
to Cambodia.
As I mentioned before, I met Danny, a Canadian/Iranian fella (his family is from Tehran, Iran), on the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. The two of us stuck together for the duration of our time in Cambodia. It helped cut our costs in half for lodging and transport and the fact that he was 6’2”, 240lbs didn’t hurt our odds while in some of the more shady areas (and there where plenty). We spent three nights and two full days in Siem Reap and squeezed a three day tour of the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat into one action packed day. I taught Danny the Curl method for what I call “check-off site-seeing” (this is how I’m able to see all that I see). It is simply: speed walking through and around tour groups (occasionally stopping to listen to some background information on certain sites), jogging up and down stairs (the pyramids are best for the cardio), find the major and most impressive sites, then click and shoot and check it off. “Hey look at that temple…check! Wow, I bet this tower took a long time to build…check! Hey there’s the…check! And the…check! Well, that’s it…check!”
Seriously though, Angkor Wat was absolutely amazing. There are hundreds of structures that cover miles and miles of land. We hired a tuk tuk driver (that stayed with us the whole day) that zipped us all over the place. Instead of writing in detail about the many different sites, I will simply name my favorites and let my pictures explain the rest. The following are my favorite sites of Angkor Wat:
Angkor Wat: This was of course a favorite being that it is the world’s largest religious building. It is surrounded by a massive moat and contains large courtyards, pools, hallways, sculptures, hieroglyphs and giant towers. This place is a spectacular architectural achievement and I can’t imagine what it would have been like back then.
Angkor Thom: An area of temples, monuments and statues surrounded by giant walls with five monumental gates. Within the walls are the Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, the Baphuon and the temple of Bayon (there are 216 giant faces of stone throughout the structure).
Ta Prohm: This site is covered in rubble and giant tree roots have become part of the structure. It was such an impressive site
that it was used as the location to shoot the Angelina Jolie movie “Tomb Raider.”
Those are simply the most popular sites of Angkor Wat. Everywhere you look there are ancient temples that lay in ruin and statues missing parts; elegant carvings grace the walls and Buddhist monks bless the grounds. Many locals come to pray and walk where their great ancestors once did.
Besides the impressive architecture of Angkor Wat, there was another thing that was totally overwhelming - the crazed vendors. I have never seen anything quite like it. Many of the countries I have visited around the world have trained their local vendors in the art of “annoy a tourist to death until they give you all of their money.” Well, Cambodia put their citizens through the university and all of them got diplomas (with honors). If you were within 100 yards of a local, they were yelling in a screechy broken-English, “You buy T-Shirt, You buy drink, You buy …whatever!” And I mean whatever. On one occasion, Danny and I were approached by a Police officer and the guy actually tried to sell us his police badge and police hat…no joke. One lady said
she would sell her baby (I’m sure she was joking) and another her dog. I had never seen such persistent begging. This was not just at the ruins, but everywhere we went (the tuk tuk drivers were relentless). It was really very sad, because many were so desperate to get money to feed their family, but there were just too many.
The extreme poverty in Cambodia is a result of the dark past that plagued this country. I’d heard something of it before, but never truly understood the horrors and magnitude of what took place just after the Vietnam War. Between 1975 and 1979, nearly two million Cambodians died as a direct result of the policies of the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian (Maoist) revolutionaries lead by Pol Pot). During these four years, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians (mostly the educated) were herded out into the countryside and were tortured to death or executed. It was genocide and the country of Cambodia has still not fully recovered. An excellent movie I recommend you watching that will give you an idea of what went on here is
“The Killing Fields,” by Roland Joffe.
After spending a few days in Siem Reap,
Danny and I decided to catch a bus south to the capital of Cambodia - Phnom Penh. The main purpose of the visit was to tour the Killing fields and see the Genocide museum, which is actually the former prison camp - Tuol Sleng. The city of Phnom Penh was very dirty, crowded and chaotic. The area we stayed in was cheap, but very shady (we were offered drugs a dozen times). The plan was, spend a day touring the city and the Khmer Rouge sites, and then head back to Bangkok.
Walking through the Killing fields of Choeung Ek left me speechless. Mass grave sites were every few feet and signs posted the number of bodies recovered from the hole (86 excavated mass graves, 43 still covered, 8,985 victims recovered). Some graves held as many as 450 victims and others were selected for just women and children. There were still remains of clothing and fragments of bone and teeth that could be seen lying around. There was a giant stupa that stood just beyond the entrance that contained over 8,000 skulls found during the excavations. You could enter the memorial and look over the hundreds of skulls (many
with holes from strikes to the head or from bullets) and quietly pay your respects to the horrible loss of innocent life.
Next came the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which was even more overwhelming. We walked through the former prison camp (S-21 - a former high school) and down the corridors where nearly 10,500 prisoners (over 4 years) were held, tortured and many killed. The thing about visiting a museum in a third-world country is that they hold nothing back. Graphic pictures were posted above the beds in the torture rooms that showed the remains of those who were beaten to death. In 1977, the prison camp killed 100 people on average per day. The prison didn’t just shoot and kill them, but also electrocuted, drowned, dismembered, hung and beat them (the museum had illustrations to demonstrate these horrific techniques). It was definitely hard to see, but really educates people on what really happened here and shows what evil the human race is capable of. I must say that the toughest part for me was walking through and looking at all of the inmate photos (there were thousands of pictures posted on the walls and on bulletin boards) and
seeing the innocent young girls and boys that were put through this hell. It put faces to the lives that were lost here. We should all thank God every day that we were born where we were born. We are all so truly blessed and many don't realize it. Now, I’ve posted more photos in this journal than I ever have before because the sites I saw called for it. I don’t know if you really want to see all of them, so I placed the worst ones on the last two pages of my photos (pages 4 and 5). I still didn’t post the really gruesome ones, but they’re still not pleasant to see - it’s your choice.
My time in Cambodia was both educational and entertaining. Although, I must say that I’m ready to get back to Thailand. The persistent begging and obnoxious tuk tuk drivers can really drive you insane. I really do like the country though and pray they have a better run of things in the future. It’s a very poor country and a lot of the people here are in bad shape. I have never seen so many people missing arms and legs
than I have here. There is a major problem with undetonated mines still scattered throughout the countryside. Also, the revenue generated from most of the major sites (like Angkor Wat, Genocide museum, etc.) don’t even go to the country (large investors from other countries), so money from tourism has to be made from transportation (tuk tuks), food and product sales (street vendors), and the competition is huge. For example: when we arrived in Phnom Penh, a massive crowd of tuk tuk drivers crowded outside the bus doors and as Danny and I exited (we were two of only three foreigners) we were swarmed and could not move. Drivers were yelling “Tuk Tuk, Tuk Tuk, use me!” and sticking out their hands to grab for us. Danny and I had to physically push people out of our way and yell at them to leave us alone. It was unbelievable the desperation in their eyes to get work (which was only about a dollar per person for transport). It’s very sad, but at the same time can be quite annoying. The children here are sent out by their families to sell books, bracelets, food, trinkets, or simply beg for money. Little packs
of children will follow you down the street and almost never give up. Even if you give them some food they will still persist on getting that cold hard cash. I paid a few kids for pictures and bought lots of fruit, but there are just way too many and you can’t help them all.
Well, that’s one more week past and another country down. I’ll be back in Thailand soon and then I head to the northern section of Thailand (Chiang Mai) or up to Laos. I haven't quite decided yet. I'll make that decision after I get back to Bangkok, do some laundry and go see a freakin' doctor. My staph infection has flared up again and I have no idea how or why (I swear I didn't touch anything). I guess the 15 days of medication didn't work too well. It's back to the drawing board. It looked fine for a few days, but then a small blister suddenly appeared. It is nearly impossible to keep stuff clean around here. I am constantly sweaty because there's no air conditioning, I can't put a warm compress on to draw out the infection because, first, there's no hot
water where I stay and the tap water is full of germs. The good thing is that the sore is much smaller and less inflamed, but I've taken medication for 15 days and don't know if my stomach can handle any more meds. So, I guess I'll go see a doctor and hope that he can understand me or if any of you doctors or nurses back home have any advice let me know. But, besides being alone with a nasty dose of staph in a third-world country, I'm all good. Until then, take care and say a prayer for me.
Food Note: Over the past week, Danny and I have tried out some local foods that one doesn’t frequently find in the states or Canada. We’ve now eaten frog, grasshopper, beetle, cockroach and tarantula - delish!!!
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Zac
non-member comment
Holiday in Cambodia
Well, I must say, you're learning a lot. Maybe when you get back you should teach geography or cultural anthropology. Pol Pot actually holds the world record for the fastest collectevization of a country (I did a paper on Cambodia in college). I love that you're getting to see and experience all this, maybe you can get some more college credits for your "studies." Anyway, until next time, stay safe.