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Published: March 3rd 2006
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Royal Palace and funny French building. Arriving in Cambodia was a bit like coming home to the Asia I have come to love so much. There were a lot of smiles and "Hello"s again (In Vietnam people sometimes looked at me as if I was a retard when I used to greet them with a big smile).
Even the lady at customs gave me a big smile after she corrected a form I had filled out incorrectly.
Compared to Vietnam, the traffic is a lot more relaxed. Actually the biggest danger in Cambodia is to be run over by a NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) car/truck. They are all over the place and a lot of people have mixed feelings about them. Especially the mine clearance teams are getting a lot of criticism. It is said that the real dangerous work is all done by locals while the international experts 'supervise' and often earn a 100 times the salary of the locals... and I have heard this critism before while travelling.
Oh and it is so incredibly hot here. It seems worse than any other place I've been before. On my first day in Angkor I drank over 5 litres of water.
Phnom Penh
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Silver Pagoda. The floor is made of silver tiles. I noticed a lot of the travellers rush through this town on their way to the beach or the temples but I think it's really worth to stop and think here for a while.
This town has some of the most hardcore evidence of the Khmer Rouge revolution and genocide. It's a long story with a very complex history which I won't explain here (get on the internet!). Basically Pol Pot witnessed the terrible 'Cultural Revolution' in China and decided he could do worse.
When the Khmer Rouge got hold of the country he basically sent the whole population of the cities to the country side for slave labour. I saw some incredible images of a totally empty capital (only 50.000 high rank Khmer Rouges were left in a city that had a population of 1 million). But that's not all. All people who had worked for the previous regime or were for some reason 'contra revolutionary' were sent to prisons (see Hitler's concentration camps) for interrogation. Most of them confessed (after torture) 'political crimes' (they had often never committed). After which they were sent to the 'killing fields' (extermination camps) for execution. They were usually killed with bats,
Tuol Sleng
Tuol Sleng prison knives or swords in order not to 'waste bullets'. Children and babies were beaten to death against a tree...
Estimates vary but most recent investigations think 2-3 million were killed in the 'killing fields' or died from starvation in the work camps.
I went to the Toul Sleng Museum which was the prison in the capital.
It was hot outside, very hot (35 degrees or more) but I had cold shivers running down my spine. It was another terrible example of what man is capable to do his own kind.
The prison used to be a school in a calm suburb of the capital. A school building like you see so many here. But this school was to become one of the cruellest places in the country. The first 6 classrooms one enters 3 each have a picture of 1 prisoner. All 6 were tortured to death the night before the prison was liberated. The pictures showed the prisoners bound to a bed, the way the liberating Vietnamese army found them. Terrible, sickening images...
Another part of the building showed all the classrooms that were converted to small prison cells.
Just like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge (KR) had
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Pictures of some prisoners that arrived at the prison. a very good 'administration' of all their victims with pictures and a biography for each one. There were several rooms full of these pictures. Most of these beautiful but sad looking people (some of mothers holding a baby) would be killed during the KR regime. Another shocking display was the torture devices (most involving electricity, suffocation, snakes and the infamous forced water feeding). These were no devices of barbaric medieval times as you can see them in some museums in Europe. This happened only 30 years ago. The last classroom showed pictures of skulls of victims containing scientific/medical explanation on what injuries had been found and what the victim probably died of.
After that I was not in the mood to do some more sightseeing. I went back to my guesthouse and I watched the movie 'The killing fields' (try to see this one if you want to know more about this terrible time).
The next day, on a hot Friday morning I took a 'moto' to the 'Killing Fields' of Choeng Ek, 16 km out of town (I bumped my knees into cars 3 times because my driver forgot that my legs are bit longer than the
Killing fields
Stupa at the killing fields. Behind the windows is the column of skulls. average Cambodian customer).
The site of the killing fields is a very calm and peaceful place now. Only the displays and the big Stupa remind us of the horrors that took place here. The Stupa (temple) is made out of glass and inside there is a central column (about 2x2, at least 10m high) made of skulls of victims that were found in the mass graves here. Human bones are scattered all over the site. I heard that new bones appear every year during the rainy season.
As I was standing there I had that same feeling that I felt before when standing at Auschwitz in Poland. A feeling of desperation; "Will we never learn?" (Having Rwanda, Congo, etc in mind). I really think these kinds of places (Auschwitz, Killing Fields, etc) should be compulsory school excursions for kids around the world. If you've seen this once there is no excuse to support any extreme party (be it left or right wing).
It made me think of the quote from George Santayana, I read in Auschwitz: "Those
Who cannot remember the past is condemned to repeat it".
Luckily Phnom Penh is not only about the Khmer Rouge genocide
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National museum. otherwise I would have left the place totally depressed. It's a town with some nice temples and palaces and a really good art museum. It also has some good shopping. I went on a little shopping spree and bought 3 T-shirts and 1 pair of shorts for a total of 7.5 USD.
The riverside scene in PP is pretty nice also. The 'happy pizzas' (as in happy herb/space pizza) sold there are very popular. Not my cup of tea but I saw a lot of travellers are really into it.
There are also some good old black outs. All of a sudden no more electricity for a couple of hours. Immediately the whole place turns into a candle light party. Really nice.
Siem Reap and Angkor temples
Now that the dust of the war and aftermath has finally started to settle in Cambodia, you notice that the one thing they are all very proud of and brings everyone together are their temples at Angkor. Local people all over the country proudly wear the souvenir T shirts.
The temples have now become the 2nd most important tourism attraction in the world and I understand why.
My
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Sunrise above Angkor Wat plan was to spend 3 days exploring the temples. Two days by bicycle and one by 'moto' for the sites further a field.
On the bus to Siem Reap (the town closest to the temples) I ran into Sofia again. A Swedish girl I had met earlier in Vietnam. She was also planning on renting a bicycle.
So the next day we took off at 6.20 am and cycled the +/- 10 km to the temples through the country side while the sun was rising. Pretty amazing and we hadn't even seen a temple yet.
Well I read a lot about these temples and seen a lot of pictures but the 'real thing' was even more amazing than I could ever dream. I shouldn't even try to describe what I saw because my words will never do justice to the 'grandeur' of these temples.
As Sofia was only staying 1 day we did the 'grand tour' taking in all the big sites. The sites are often 4-5 km from each other and are pretty huge themselves. I calculated that we cycled around 50 km and walked at least 8-10 km. I was totally exhausted when after 12
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Causeway to Angkor Wat at 6.30 am. hrs we got back to the hotel.
Some high lights:
-Sitting on the third level of Angkor Wat at 7.30 am and watching the surroundings.
-Walking through 'jungle covered' Ta Phrom in search for the 'Tomb Raider tree'. We had been looking unsuccessfully at the wrong site before 😊
-Taking a rest at the Bayon and have 8 giant faces staring/coldly smiling at me.
-Just cycling through the Cambodian country side.
On day 2, I took a 'moto' (with driver that is) and we went out to some places further away. The first temple (Banatay Srei) I saw was pretty small but has the best carvings I ever saw. Incredibly detailed and beautiful and the whole temple was full of them. I didn't know where to look first. For me this little temple is up there with the giants of Angkor Wat or Bayon. If you ever come over here do not miss this one.
After that we went on 12 km on a very dusty and bumpy road to Kbal Spean. There it was 'welcome to the jungle'. This site is not really a temple but it has carvings made into the rocks of the
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Angkor Wat River bedding. The carvings were not as detailed as the ones I saw before but the location and the fact that some of them are hidden under water make it very nice. Unfortunately some carvings had been destroyed by thieves who cut out pieces.
It takes a bit (2 km) of uphill walking through the hot and humid jungle but it's another place I can recommend. One remarkable thing about this place is that the trees are marked with red paint. You always need to walk in between these marks if you don't want to step on a landmine. Yes this part of Cambodia is still infested with mines left there by the Khmer Rouge army.
I heard a guide say that there were also tigers around but I don't know if he was telling the truth or was just trying to scare his group back to their bus.
On the way back to town in the afternoon I checked out some of the places on the 'grand tour' that we had skipped the day before.
The 3rd day I got up at 5 am and got on my bicycle without light in the pitch dark ( I
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Climbing the steep stairs to the 3rd level of Angkor Wat have a good torch mom) to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It wasn't really that spectacular but it was still worth getting up for. After the sun was up and I had my bowl of breakfast noodles I took the 'petit tour' (it was the French who 'discovered' this site) and checked out some smaller temples and visited my favourites once again (discovering lots of details I didn't see before).
At 3 pm I called it a day and got back to town for a power nap.
My last evening in Siem Reap was pretty interesting. The girls at the hotel asked me to join them to a local festival/fancy fare. It was a nice experience. They were the stars of the party dragging a tall foreigner with them and I got to check out some local traditions.
Actually the whole thing was pretty similar to the fancy fares ('Kermis') the way they were in Flanders in the past. First you go to church and after that there was the party with carrousels and crash cars etc.
In Cambodia first we went to the temple, burnt some incense sticks and donated some money to the Monks. Actually it
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How many faces can be seen on this picture? was pretty crazy seeing all the 100 Riel (about 2 euro cent) bills flying around. I also got the blessing of the monks.
After this spiritual intermezzo we went to the fancy fare grounds. The local versions of our fancy fare involve a lot of gambling, some musical/plays/dance, throwing darts at balloons (I sucked but won a bag of chips for my efforts) a snake show and lots of (sweet) food stands.
I couldn't be out too late as I was tired from all the biking and had to get up for the bus ride from hell back to Thailand.
Back to Bangkok
The 170 km from Siem Reap to the Thai border are supposed to be one of the worst roads in South East Asia (and the world according to some). I had heard that road conditions would be similar to those in Congo. A lot of travellers were not up for this and bought (often) expensive flights out of there.
I actually thought it was not that bad. Ok it takes 6 hours for 170 km and it's not comfortable (very bumpy) but it was definitely not the horror I was bracing myself for. Actually
Angkor Thom gate
Entrance to Angkor Thom I was more annoyed by the smelly (sweat/alcohol/etc) Frenchman behind me than by the road conditions.
So now I've come full circle and I'm back in Bangkok. From here I will fly into Burma (Myanmar), before moving to the south of Thailand.
I actually like Bangkok better this time around. Maybe it's because there are not that many tourists around as 2 months ago or maybe I have changed. There is so much cheap good food around and after Cambodia it doesn't even feel that hot here either.
I've spent some time exploring modern Bangkok this time, riding the air-conditioned sky train and checking out the giant shopping malls (only bought 1 item; budget budget!). I also took the river taxi down the river for a cheap cruise.
Yesterday evening I went to see one of the 'big national Thai box fights'. These fights were totally different from the ones I saw in Chiang Mai before. This was definitely a higher level but that made that the fights were not as spectacular (something that happens often when good fighters fight each other). There was a lot more blocking and technical fighting than last time. Only 1 KO
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Part of the 'Churning of the ocean of milk' sculptures. Native English speakers please let me know what I'm supposed to understand by that. out of 9 fights, but it was a beauty!!!! A downwards elbow strike (while jumping) on top of the head of the opponent. Game over. The losing guy was taken out on stretchers.
I was standing at the cheapest (still very expensive for Thailand standards) places in-between all the locals. There was a lot of betting going on. Some guys seem hardly interested in the fights. I couldn't figure out how it works. Everybody is signalling to everybody and in the end everybody gives money to everybody. Strange. The stakes are pretty high though.
So tomorrow I will fly to Burma (Myanmar). I have been thinking about this for a long time but decided (after getting well informed) to go anyway.
Myanmar has an authoritarian government and a European/USA boycott of the country is in place (check the black list my dear colleagues). Opinions on travelling there are mixed as travel finances the government and might give it some legitimacy. On the other hand independent travel is a great source of income for the local people in the country.
I decided I will go there and spend my money with the locals and avoid the government transport and infrastructure
Ta Phrom
The 'tomb raider' tree without Madame Jolie. as much as possible.
As the internet provider is government owned I won't be writing any updates until I come back to Thailand. Also if you try to email me at my hotmail address I won't be able to read this as hotmail and yahoo are censored by the government and can't be accessed.
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frederik
non-member comment
birma
dag Jan is perfect om je verhalen elke vrijdag te krijgen, zeker met dat vies weer hier, wat betreft Birma let op voor de zakken (echt waar !!!) wit poeder die u om de paar uur worden aangeboden en zorg dat ge overal uw paspoort bijhoudt en met wat dollars gaan de overheidsdiensten wel heel vriendelijk met uw om.