Cambodia and reflections on South East Asia

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Simply said, Cambodia ticked all my boxes, flicked all my switches and pushed all my buttons. OK So I say it everytime, each country beats the last etc etc, but Cambodia just had it all, friendly people, beautiful sights, heart wrenching history, great food and good times had along the way. The fact that Cambodian people are so unfailingly genuine and kind after all they have been through just blew my mind. But in order to understand them, and indeed this country I need to tell you a short history lesson. Now History was never my favourite subject at school (mainly due to bring taught by a nun,Sister Winifred, who quite frankly viewed me as the Anti Christ) so I feel your pain, and this history lesson is not pretty or easy reading but it needs to be taken in. The blog for once will not be full of side splitting jokes and stories (some of you are now relieved methinks)as its hard to tell find any of the following funny really!

Like me, you may have a vague awareness of a guy called Pol Pot, and of some vague kind of atrocity that happened over this way at some stage in recent history. Its not your fault you didn't know, I didn't either to be honest, but after coming here and learning about it I was stunned that things like this can go on and not really be reported or understood in 'civilised' countries like the UK. Apparently after the ass kicking Western nations took during the Vietnam war people were reluctant to get involved in another such country or situation which could end badly, there was a vague awareness of something going on but nothing much done. What was going on was up to 2 million innocent people being killed, a quarter of the population at the time.

Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a Communist party which enforced a new regime to turn Cambodia into a classless society. As with most of these regimes of Communism, the vague correct idea was there, but how they went about it was horribly wrong. They attempted to isolate the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, confiscating all private property and relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labor was widespread with the goal of restarting civilization in "Year Zero". During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population, the combined effect of slave labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions had an estimated death toll of 1.7 million (approximately 26% of the population at that time), some reports even go as high as 2.2 million dead. One of their mottos was "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss." Charming. They also arrested, tortured and killed anybody who was an enemy. This included professionals and intellectuals-which basically meant anybody with an education, school qualifications, degrees, anybody who could speak another language, had a decent job, amazingly even people who just wore glasses were killed as it was viewed as a sign of intelligence. Between 1975-79, they had killed a quarter of the population through one way or another, leaving the population standing at 70% women, all in order to start a classless society with money not being a factor in daily life, despite the fact I saw a picture in the museum of good old Mr.Pot being driven around in a nice shiny Mercedes.This was only 30years ago, a generation is all, and the effects are still felt. Its said that the people are so warm, happy and always smiling because they live for today and now, because not long ago they didn't have a tomorrow to look forward to. They endear themselves to you in every way.

Phnom Penh
This is all brought home when you do the standard day trips that one simply must do on coming to Cambodia, its sombre, its depressing and moving, its definetly eye opening. Myself and Jade made the trip from Saigon to the capital of Cambodia-Phnom Penh which I think I covered in the last blog. As is the way, on the bus/boat we fell in with a couple of English guys and two English girls, so all of us joined together to do the two main 'attractions'. These were the Killing Fields and the The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, or S21. The Killing Fields are essentially mass graves, all those who were processed through the Tuol Sleng prison were sent here to be killed, and also anybody working on the farms who was no longer of any use, or found out to be intellectual, an enemy etc, were sent here to be executed. Hundreds of thousands of people were taken out in shackles to dig their own mass graves, then the Khmer Rouge soldiers beat them to death with iron bars and hoes or buried them alive, being shot 'humanely' was out of the question due to extermination directives ordering "Bullets are not to be wasted." So far, authorities have found 2000 mass graves of at least 170 people in each. The first thing you encounter there is a stupa, which is a large glass shrine containing 8000 skulls, its horrifying, fascinating and truly absorbing. As you move around signs point out different landmarks to you, the tree they used for tying down and beating children, the tree they hung a speaker from to play music in order to drown out the noise of people moaning and dying, the shed they used to store the chemicals which they poured on those in the graves to stop the smell and kill those who were buried alive. Of course there are also the graves themselves, pockmarking a large field was hole upon hole, large empty spaces at first sight, but each one representing a dark secret, at one point containing hundreds of innocent dead bodies. I'm not one easily affected, but walking around such a place was a sombre affair and very moving, there were men, women and children all buried in there, not even killed in a humane or dignified way, based solely on the say so of a party which came to power by overthrowing the government at the time, the people were powerless. Most of the skulls on view had large gaps and gashes where they had been simply smashed on the head and then thrown in the grave, regardless of dead or not.

As if this wasn't heart hitting enough, the next trip was to the area known as Secuirty Prison 21, or S-21, this was a high school before it was taken over and turned into an interrogation camp and prison. Its now a museum but most of the rooms and cells have been exactly left as they were when the Khmer were overun (by the Vietnamese eventually) and serves as a cold cruel reminder. Anybody suspected of knowing anything, intellectuals, policeman, government officials, possible rebel leaders etc, were taken here, the classrooms were converted to torture chambers and used appallingly. The torture included electric shocks, searing hot metal instruments and hanging, some prisoners were cut with knives or suffocated with plastic bags. Other methods for generating confessions included pulling out fingernails while pouring alcohol on the wounds, holding prisoners’ heads under water, and the use of other water torture techniques, the women were raped and beaten. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors. Walking these these rooms and realising they were once classrooms and a place of edcuation, except now seeing in each one a bed with the shackles and sometimes the instruments used to torture still lying around was gruesome. The tiny prison cells were also left as they were and showed the horrible conditions they lived in, possibly more heartbreaking was the row upon row of pictures adorning several of the musuem rooms, the Khmer photograped every single person who came into the prison and the look of fear, defeat and pain was there to see in all their faces, there were also many pictures of those who had just been killed, the wounds inflicted highly visible and graphic, as well as photographs of the mass graves being unearthed and the sheer number of bodies found. It was all very moving and shocking, especially when I realised I knew nothing really of this and consider myself fairly well aquainted with the world and its goings on and the news etc. Perhaps worse of all, no party members have been seriously held to account yet, there are show trials due to be held soon but Pol Pot himself died before he could ever be held accountable for his crimes in 1998, and of those who are due to appear, some of them at the highest end of the Khmer Rogue, claim to have no knowledge of places such as S21 or what went on there. So many people suffered and for something they did not believe in or want, they were not fighting a war just doing as ordered for fear of their lives, which was eventually taken from them anyway, and all because a poilitical party stole the power and tried to implement ideals only they believed in. Apologies for the length of this blog and that most of it has been depressing and a bit of a rant, but it brings to mind a quote (yup Marty I have one for this occasion too).. You can't trust any of 'em!

Politicans are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. Nikita Khrushchev.

To give the day even more of a surreal edge, and because we got it as part of a package kinda deal, we also took a trip to a firing range and shot some AK47's! Luckily we did this first so it was all fun and good times, I'm not sure we could have done the same had it been the last part of the day. We were basically taken to a range in the middle of nowhere, with huge guns lined up on the walls, and given a 'menu', no snake this time though people, instead it was the choice of uzi's, machine guns and shotguns. We have even heard that on another of the ranges you can pay money to fire rockets at live cows and blow them up, or pay for hand grenades which you lob into the duck pond, thankfully we didn't visit this one (or I may have been forced to take part, then slice the thing up and eat it raw, you know me now!) Myself and the 2 boys,after much consideration, weighing up of each gun to see which was coolest, manly grunts and nods, agreed to shoot AK 47's,the famous Kalashnikov. Now I've fired air rifles before, pellet guns,hell even spud guns but nothing prepared me for this, the power, noise, recoil and energy created by shooting these things was unreal and shocked us all. Flipping the switch to automatic fire and unleashing long bursts of them was even wilder, it looks so easy on TV when crazy Arabians etc fire them wildly and randomly into the air, I don't know how they do it as it was an experience enough just firing 40 bullets and took it out of you. Great fun though and had me strutting around like John Rambo for hours, double hard me. We then spent a couple of nights in Phnom Penh getting,well, very drunk and nearly being beaten up with pool cues by Cambodian prostitutes, ahh happy days.

Sinhoukville
After the depression-OK and drunkeness-of the capital city myself and Le Jade relocated to Sinhoukville, a small beach area on the south coast, offering nothing but golden sands,relaxation,cheap food, beer and good weather, its a heavy burden I carry at times. We stayed 5 days and had a great time relaxing and getting on amazingly well as only me and Jade can, honestly I could wax lyrical now about the girl for paragraphs but I shall save you all the trouble and avoiding the sick bags,a special girl though who has made my trip, I miss her already. We hired a bike and used it for a couple of days to explore the area and its many beaches,watched stunning sunsets settle across the sea, had some of the nicest food of all our trip and even managed to squeeze in a drink, or ten. Seeing as most people call me a queen anyway, we decided I should really act like one and have two birthdays,Jade was ill for my real one so we celebrated it here instead, cue a beautiful meal, too much drink and being hustled by kids playing pool. Not a good mix. In one bar there was a kid selling your typical surfing/backpacker kinda bracelets,the deal was I win and get one free, he wins and I have to buy one off him. Of course I lost. Of course im a bad loser, with an ego, and dont like kiddies beating me. So I challenged him again, before long there were about 8 of the little (insert your own swear word) and of course me being me had to play them fricking all. And I was drunk. The result was messy but suffice to say myself and Jade are now the cliche stereotypical backpacker complete with bracelets et al. Great times though. Sinhoukville passed by too quickly and although it seems I haven't written loads on it it stands out as one of my favourite passage of time on the trip.

Siem Reap
Siem Reap, pretty much known as the gateway to The Angkor Archaeological Park and mainly the Angkor Wat, for those of you not in the know its a pretty significant religious structure in South East Asia, actually in the world. The fact that me and Jade could get it oh so wrong makes me cry with laughter looking back, such simpletons. Let me briefly explain, Angkor itself is massive, I don't have the exact figures as I sold the lonely planet but basically it is roughly 50 temples,stupas,tombs and monastries spread out across several kilometres of land and built by various Kings, built between roughly the 9th and 12th century. Of these, Angkor Wat is the biggest. You hire a tuk tuk driver and pay him to take you around as many as you can handle, he sits outside, you go in and view it, take 500 pictures, come out and move on to the next. Most people, like us, get up at 4:30 (yeh imagine my face) to get there for sunrise and see the stunning views.

In our defence there was a slip in communication between us and the driver, we thought he was taking us to another of the temples for sunrise and Angkor later in the day. So we were duly taken to our first spot for sunrise,and it looked impressive enough, kinda big, great carvings, all pretty cool,cue lots of nodding from me and I remember distinctly thinking 'Hmm not bad I guess, can't wait to see the real Angkor Wat though, that must be great". Allow me to quote directly from the Lonely Planet a moment and tell you what it says about it: "quite simply, it is the worlds largest religious structure" and superbly.. 'it'll blow your socks off, wearing sandals? strap them on tight!" oh theres more.. "some people believe a journey into the centre of the wat is like a journey into the beginning of time" WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WE WERE IN IT!! Only me and Jade could sit there for an hour and watch the sunrise, then wander around it for another hour, and not realise we were in the bloody thing and feeling underwhelmed by it all the whole time. We hardly spent any time in there preferring to move on earlier, get some food and save our energies for the 'real' Angkor Wat. Later in the day, around 4pm, I asked him to take us to Angkor Wat and he looked a bit funny at me but took us anyway (we now realise he was thinking, why in the world do these freaks want to go there again?!) and when he dropped us there we couldn't work it out, surely this was the same average place as earlier? Cue us asking a few people "Umm excuse me,where is the Angkor Wat?" and all of them looking at us like I'd just asked if I could perhaps feel up his mother, and pointing behind us at the massive structure dominating the skyline. It was then that the penny dropped... dense dosen't come close to it.
Overall though it was definetly worth a visit and we saw some very cool sights, I still maintain that all though Ankgor Wat was impressive, some of the others were better, most noitceably Bayon with its many faces and especially Tra Prohm where trees and the buildings are fighting a running battle, and the trees are winning-a stunning sight to behold and I hope the pictures do it justice. We rounded off Siem Reap with more relaxing, great meals, including more random eating when we had a Cambodia BBQ, meaning we had to cook the food ourselves, andshared snake(no heart sadly), crocodile, squid, chicken and beef. For the record crocodile is lovely and Steve Irwin didn't know what he was missing. And so that ended Cambodia, a bit surreal really as it is oficially my favourite country in Asia and yet I spent the least time here-just under 2 weeks- but this was due to my time running out, I highly recommend it to all random readers though.

Thailand-Koh Chang and Bangkok
So I had just under a week left, the original idea being to go with Jadey to Ko Tao and maybe do some more diving. We realised this was out of the question as we had to go via Bangkok, so instead decided to head just south of Cambodia/Thailad border to an island called Koh Chang, which I didn't mind as its another island/part of Thailand I had yet to visit. As with Sinhoukville its hard to really write a massively interesting and thrilling detail of time we spent here, I guess it would be like trying to blog 2 weeks lying around a pool in Benidorm. But it was a thorougly enjoyable time, sleeping in a hut on the beach, relaxing, beaching it, seeing waterfalls, watching movies, eating well, exporing the island on motorbikes etc, and all with my Jade for company, sickeningly perfect really. We even had time to fall off the motorbike and live to tell the tale and laugh about it. We got stuck in a monsoon downpoor and with me driving tried to get back, but they were very mountaneous roads and twisty roads, and going down one despite taking great care and being on both front and back break simletaneously we came off turning a corner. Luckily we were only doing 20-30kms/hr or it may have been a lot worse, but we were both thrown off-me spectacularily somersaulting and landing on my less than fleshy ass! Neither us nor the bike was hurt though so it was more of an experience than anything.
The weather didn't improve after that so we headed to Bangkok early and spent a lovely couple of days there walking what seemed like 4 marathons, shopping(well Jade did, I was the dragged along male), eating some of the spiciest food known to mankind, drinking cans like chavs whilst walking the streets, and taking in the sights, sounds and people watching as can only be experienced on Koh Sahn Road. Sadly, eventually it was time for me and the wife to go our seperate ways, her to Koh Tao to do the PADI, then return home on the 14th, and myself to head to Canada. Again, I am going to spare you the in depth details of how much I am missing Jadey already, a look at our facebook emails would be enough to make most honeymooning couples cringe though. I am currently sat in Toronto awaiting Chris having spent 2 days getting here, and all without Jade who has been literally glued to my hip non stop for the last 6 weeks. Weird dosen't come close to it, its like I'm missing a leg, or a hip I suppose, guess I need some stronger glue. Suffice to say my trip would not have been the same without her, offically my longest travelling partner, she has made it, improved it, and I am forever thankful I met her and I couldn't have dreamed we would get on so well, a truly special person.

It also brings to an end my 3 1/2 months in Asia which have gone by quicker than traffic moves in Bangkok. It has gone better than I could have ever hoped and all the cliches about the time of your life, growing as a person, experiencing cultures and societies etc have all come true and I couldn't be more pleased. Looking back at approaching 19 months, some 564 days, it has all taken on a dreamlike quality, the 15months in Sydney with my crazy Irish brethren, now 3 1/2 months seeing a large piece of South East Asia, and still Canada, the US and South America to come, I'm a lucky boy and taking nothing for granted and cherishing each moment and day. I shall miss the sights, sounds, smells, people, hell even the cold showers, communication problems, dodgy buses, overcharging, poverty and having to haggle over even a bottle of water. For the record Cambodia wins, then I think Thailand-now Thailand itself isn't my second favourite place but the time I had there with Nick et al made it so, closely following is Vietnam and Laos. My time in Indonesia was memorable of course. I still have unfinished business here though, Philipines, Burma, even China etc are all on the list in the future, I will be back thats for sure.

So here I am in Canada, suffering from a reverse culture shock, quite literally choking on my food as the Subway I just bought cost me the price of 3 nights accommodation in Asia, ouch. Give me a Pad Thai for 40p and a Cambodia beer for 25p anyday. Chris arrives in 2 hours, the excitement builds, its going to be messy. Initial plan is to see Niagra, take in Toronto in a couple of days, then head East and see Quebec, Montreal etc and then Go Weeeest across all of Canada. We will be joined initially for 2-3 weeks by our teaching/PGCE mate Dave, using his summer holidays wisely by not seeing his brother here but travelling with us instead, look out Canada. So long Asia, you shall be missed, hello Canada and the States, lets get it on. Love to all.

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Since I left Wales!

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Photos

Uh, yeh, don't mess with me
M16 i think, complete with grenade launcher

Just a section of the 8000 skulls
The Killing Fields, Cambodia

Lyn, Jade, Sarah and myself
Sinhoukville

Tra Phrom temple
Trees growing around the temple

Tra Phrom
Caused by birds dropping berries on the top of the roof and the roots growing from them

Cambodian BBQ
Top clockwise, snake, chicken, squid, crocodile and beef in the middle. Yummy.

Me on Koh Sahn Road
The quiet end, lovely meal on our last night, aww

Comments

[SJ]

End of Asia
What a country of absolute contrasts...It will be hard to beat. xx

[Dave]

Another great addition to the memoirs of M A Clements - SE Asia sounded wicked man and hope Canada matches it for you. Take it easy big boy - Dave,

[Julie]

Yet another great blog. Really Mike hope you enjoy every second. All sound like great fun and madness!

[Dicky]

Amazing
Skin, wicked blog mate and excellent history. Definately no place like Asia...I loved it and have so much more to see. If you are near Toronto, you are near the neck of woods I used to live in the US, Buffalo. Enjoy Niagara Falls, its a bit commercial and the Canadian Horeshore Falls are much better than the US side. Also, check out a little village called Niagara on the Lake....its very quaint. Toronto has a China Town from memory...so you will feel at home with your snake! Take it easy man, Dicky xxxx

[bill]

That's a great blog. I am going to Cambodia tomorrow,so good to know that you had a good time!

[khmerlander]

glad to hear that
I'm Cambodian currently in the US. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed Cambodia. You may have seen more of it than I did (it certainly feels different being a tourist in your own country). Also, hopefully more areas will be opened up and safe to travel after the long civil war and genocide. I've noticed that people in the states now seem to know Cambodia and Angkor more than before. Being a year away now, I really see the stark contrasts that doesn't exist for eg in the states. Since I've been at least a year away, your reflection gives me some clue of how things have changed now. Having an 'outsider' give such nice comments makes an 'insider' really appreciate his own country.

[MEEEE]

COOLIO
Jade is GORGEOUS!!! cant wait to hear a bout your further travels. Cambodia cannot even compare to canada...

[Denean]

Hey Mike, your travels look like you had so much fun. glad to hear you made it to Canada. you best be giving us a call when you get into town!

[daddy Reader]

Hi there daddy reader here glad to see your still travelling I really look forward to your bloge better than a travel programme Judith Chalmers eat you heart out. Your little sister jennie is about to go on her travels (Mats Fault) America, fiji. new zealand, aus, malaisia thailand and more she will be away for 6 months, can't wait for her to come bac Takr care Mike and looking forward to your lastest travel blog Yours Daddy Reader