From Angkor Wat to the Khmer Rouge: Cambodia

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The journey to Siem Reap

After finally convincing Lucy and Dave to come with me, we arose one fine morning at the reasonably hour of 9am to grab a taxi to the northern bus terminal in Bangkok, where we were able to quickly grab a bus to take us to the border town of Araya Prathet. After briefly (and firmly) pushing off a Thai guy who was sitting next to me and being too friendly (he soon sat elsewhere), we had a reasonably quiet journey. Five hours later, we arrived at the bus station and manage to haggle a tuk-tuk to take us to the Cambodian consulate where we got our visas quickly sorted though to a chorus of: "where are you from? England. Ooo Lovely Jublee." We then proceed to the border where two Thai officers helped us fill out our forms, again to another chorus of "Lovely Jublee" (they watch far too much Only fools and horses out here!) We then manage to finally go through Thai exit and immigration and walk across to the Cambodia office to check in. And then we were in Cambodia and the disgustingly dusty and seedy town of Poipet.

Viva Poipet!! A town the lonely planet calls the "cesspit of Cambodia." Basically a dust bowl filled with Casinos (gambling is illegal in Thailand). However, we were not planning to stay long. Whilst we were leaving the Cambodian entry office, Dave asked the guard how far it was to the taxi port (or so I thought) to which he said 10m. So we left the office to be surrounded by hoards of people but being my determined self, I kept walking and walking, looking for the taxi rank. It was only half way down the road when the guy walking next to me said "why do you not want the free government bus to take you to the taxi rank?" So I turned around to find Dave, who just shrugged and said that the bus was back behind us but that I looked like I knew where I was going!!! Apparently Lucy said he tried to tell me but I did not hear him. I have no idea why they thought I knew where I was going though when I had never been to Cambodia in my life!!! Suffice to say, we all got on the bus a bit hot and bothered only to arrive at the taxi rank to be told that we also had to pay for the forth (and none apparent) person in the taxi. $60 later, we were off along what was to be the bumpiest and dustiest road trip of our lives!!

How do I begin to describe the road between Poipet and Siem Reap? In a word: abyismal. In Bolivia the roads were bad; bendy, potholed etc. However, at least there they existed! This made those roads look like a western countries highway. In places they had begun to tarmac it, but that was very few and far between. It was like being on a rollarcoaster blind because you could not see due to all the dust, beautifully called the "boulevard of broken backsides" by the Lonely Planet. Plus every 100m there was a "diversion" which essentially meant going off the road for a bit to avoid a massive ditch to go back onto it. According to the Lonely Planet (ahhh the backpackers bible), there is a rumour that an unknown airline (rumour again is that it is Thai Airways) is paying an unknown government agency to keep the road in bad condition so people will continue to fly from Thailand to Siem Reap!

Anyhow, three hours later we made it to the town Siem Reap and on the outskirts were transfered to a tuk-tuk to take us to our hostel. On the way into the city, we got to see all the amazing 5* resorts than have lined up this area due to the increasing value of Angkor Wat as a tourist destination. By about 8pm therefore, we arrived at our amazing Siem Reap hostel which had huge rooms, an indoor swimming pool, dvd room, book terrace, bar, restaurant, free internet etc, quiet possibly the best hostel I've seen in a while.

Siem Reap

The following day was a good lie in day after all the travelling and once up, we went for a wander through town and to have some lunch at, you guessed it an Irish pub (though the food was terrible). Afterwards, whilst walking back to the hostel, I heard somebody call out my name. Eventually I see Shane and Nikki, two more travellers from South America! After a quick chat, we arranged to meet up that evening when Tim arrived in Siem Reap. And so after chilling out for the day, we headed down to temple bar for dinner and some drinks, the six of us. However, it was not a late one as I had told the group (the four of us) that we were being picked up at 4.30am the following morning for our Angkor tour! They were not pleased with me but I was determined to see the infamous sunrise over the temples!

The temples of Angkor

So nice and early the following morning we arose, got ready and headed downstairs to wait for the tuk-tuk. We were not the only ones however and once again we bumped into the Spanish group that had been on our tour in Bangkok! Such a random world! Eventually we got onboard but I started panicking thinking we were going to miss the sunrise as we had to go all around the city trying to find an open ATM for Lucy. In the end we just ended up loaning her for the day and continued on to the temples. After going through the tickets office (you get your photo put onto your ticket, a good way to stop touts) we were on route to Angkor Wat. We travelled around what should be a river but is in fact a moat that makes moats around English castles look like puddles and crossed the bridge over it into the grounds of Angkor Wat for sunrise. When the sun was too high to continue taking sunrise photos, Tim and I went and had a look around Angkor itself before heading to one of the side stalls for breakfast. After we had spent several hours at Angkor, we headed back to the tuk-tuk and to our next temple: the Temple of Byron, famous for all the faces/heads it has built into the temple walls. Again it took a while to have a look around and afterwards Tim and I bought some canvas paintings from a stall of Angkor Wat at sunrise. We visited a further three temples before heading to what was to be our final of the day as it was now 1pm and we were tired. Ta Prohm, the most famous of the temples after Angkor Wat itself, has been used for several films sets including Tomb Raider and easily looks like something from the old Indiana Jones movies. It is an amazing temple as the forest has completely overrun it, unfortunatly though spoilt by the hords of Asian tour groups who we'd manage to avoid so far in the day but they descended on this temple in full force. As a result it was hard to get a good photo because every single person had to have their picture taken with every single tree root!! This mixed with my tiredness and the heat of the day made me very bitter! Finally after a long day, we headed back to the comfort of our air-conditioned room and had a little nap.

Battambang

The following day it was time for us all to finally part company after a great month of travelling together. I was heading off to Battambang in Cambodia and Tim, Lucy and Dave were all heading back into Thailand once more before their flights home. So, downstairs we waited for our different buses, said our goodbyes and off I was on a five hour bus journey to Battambang which was unbelievably hot due to a lack of air-con on the bus. We soon arrived in Battambang and luckily there was a rep from the hotel I was planning to head towards at the bus stop. So a quick scooter ride later, I was all checked in.

My time in Battambang was about as eventful as this little section of the town I am writing up here. It was pretty quiet as there was not a lot to do and I was feeling a bit lonely by myself for the first time. so I just chilled out for a few days and walked around town before heading towards Phnom Phen.

Phnom Phen

It was yet another 5/6 hour bus journey to Phnom Phen but luckily on an air-con bus this time! Once I arrived, I got a tuk-tuk straight away to a hostel that I'd read a great review for online. However, when I got there, despite being brand new and having great staff, I was the only person there!! My first few days were spent organising my travels i.e. visas and visiting some of the local sights in town such as the Royal Palace which was very pretty. I also decided to venture out one evening to see a local performance of a mask show with Khmer dancing which was fascinating, save for the really uncomfortable seating! Travelling there was an interesting experience in itself seeming my tuk-tuk driver had no idea where we were going! Eventually, after being his map reader we found the place! He was a nice guy though, and he waited for me until the performance was finished (it was right in the middle of nowhere so that was a relief) and took me back to town to a restaurant for dinner where he also waited for me to take me home.

After a few days in Phnom Phen, I decided to move across town to another place called Okay Guesthouse after talking to some girls at the palace who were staying there. For a mere $5 a night I got a single room, despite it being only a bed, four walls and a fan. My first day there I decided to give myself a day of luxury and went across the road to the 5* resort Hotel Cambodiana to use the swimming pool for the day which was great, although very expensive! That evening, I went to have dinner in the guesthouse and had a nice chat with an English girl and a group of Irish girls before heading off to bed.

The horrors

of the Khmer Rouge

The following day was my tourist day and I got up fairly early (for me) and headed out of town on a tuk-tuk to the most famous Killing field, Choeung Ek, where the Khmer rouge in the late 70's killed and buried people in mass graves. It was a pretty haunting experience. As soon as you enter the grounds, there is a huge monument to the people who died which is filled from bottom to top with skulls of the bodies that were found here. The buildings that used to be here are all gone but the graves, though most excavated are all still present. As you walk around, you can read about everything that happened here. In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. Some victims were required to dig their own graves; their weakness often meant that they were unable to dig very deep. They also had several trees where they used to tie children and beat them infront of their parents. And once the executions were carried out, a certain type of acid was poured onto the bodies to kill off anyone still alive and to get rid of the smell so nearby villages would not be aware of what was going on. All very traumatic.

My next stop was to an even more haunted place: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This place is in the middle of the city and pre-khmer rouge used to be a high school. It then became the site of the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) used by the Khmer Regime. The buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire and the classrooms were converted into tiny prison and torture chambers. The prison was used primarily for interrogation and torture of prisoners who were then usually exterminated out at the killing fields. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors and numerous foriegners were also imprisoned there including Britons, Americans, New Zealanders and Australians.

The prison today is preserved in the way it was left by the regime when they fled in 1979. One of the blocks houses photographs and stories of both people affected by the khmer rouge and those who worked for them. Several rooms of the museum also contain black and white photographs of some of the prisoners who passed through the prison. Other rooms contain only a rusting iron bedframe, beneath a black and white photograph showing the mutilated body of a prisoner, chained to the bed, killed by his fleeing captors only hours before the prison was captured and found by the Vietnamese. Other rooms preserve leg-irons and instruments of torture.

So, all in all by the end of this day I was felling pretty miserable!! Luckily, that evening I found the Irish girls again and had a few drinks with them which cheered me up some. The following day was to be my last in Phnom Phen. After five days there, I could finally pick up my passport with my Vietnamese Visa inside.

Come 8am the next day and I was on the bus heading towards the border with Vietnam. I had planned to travel the scenic route by boat to Chau Doc but in the end I decided that for the time being I'd had enough of travelling and wanted to get to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) as soon as possible! And so, after 10 days I was leaving Cambodia. It was such a refreshing change to the touristy nature of Thailand but the infrastructure of most of the country is still so poor. However, as with the rest of this area pf the world, in another 10 years time or so I am sure it will become another Thailand. The culture is also fascinating though the history is so devastating. It is definatly a country still on the mend but still very worth seeing.

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Photos

On the steps
Me sat on some of the steps inside Angkor Wat

Tree attack!
Trees attacking the temple of Ta Prohm

Monument full of Skulls
The Killing fields

The lost people
Photographs of those imprisoned at Tuol Sleng