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Published: February 23rd 2006
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Angkor Wat
My first impression through the gate - spine-tingling! It's been a busy few days with lots to take in, bouncing around like Tigger, often literally thanks to the bumpy roads. Much of this blog has been a bit rushedly (is that a word?) written, so it's not the best. Oh - and I should warn you now, this is not a completely happy blog.
Welcome to Cambodia, a country impossible to describe in a few words of this blog with an intense history dating back millennia. Coming straight to Siam Reap from the border, my first impression of this is the vast array of temples of Angkor, built over an incredible 900 years ago. It kicks Tikal's proverbial ass too! Many people spend up to a week exploring but I thought I'd go crazy on temple-madness if I did that, so instead I had 2 days. But with my trusty bike-with-basket, and my morning french bread and fresh pineapple, I leisurely cycled around and got to see all the local sights, and my favourites 2 or 3 times, including sunrise and sunsets.
The big daddy is Angkor Wat, which I'm constantly reminded of on the beers, place names, logos etc, and why not?! It's the world's largest
Bas-Reliefs of Angkor Wat
Over 1km of this spanned the walls! 100,000s of carvings of people in battles, representing heaven and hell etc.. religious structure, the ultimate in Homo Sapien construction, and breathtaking, with outer walls stretching over 1km in length, a maximum height over 50m, and adorned all over in sculpture and bas-reliefs. Other temples worth checking out were the unique Bayon, with over 50 towers and 200 cold-smiling face analysing my pineapple eating methods, and the atmospheric Ta Prohm, strangled in trees where neither can survive without the other (and for film buffs, where part of Tombraider was filmed), but there were dozens more in cycling distance.
Poverty is also evident everywhere, with kids constantly trying to sell you postcards and souveniers, and then when you buy one, like seagulls to a portion of chips, more appear out of nowhere offering a better price. It's tough as you can't buy from all. You walk out of a temple and the phrase "You wan waaatterrr ssiiirrrrr?" from 10 women caged to their stalls, in high-pitched irrititating tones erupts. After two days the smile you wear can go slightly weak at the edges..But as always, they have to make a living, and that's the only solution they have. On a separate note, there are Disney-like plans to install electric cars and even
escalators up to the temples. Solution? Get here as soon as possible! It's an amazing place!
After a horrible night's sleep (heatstroke?), I managed, what at the time felt like the impossible, and got myself on the early 'Fast-Boat' (hmm) to Battambang, Cambodia's 2nd largest city, and the size of Wisbech. Meant to be the most scenic boat trip in the country, we were however warned that the 'fast-boat' it is not...3 breakdowns, 1 missing passenger (resulting in a search party organised by myself and a whistle, to nearby village huts), and some narrow, navigated waterways later, we arrived 9 hours after we set off, in need of some serious back massages. It was a fascinating trip though, through the daily life of many river villages and some surreal, fully floating villages in the middle of the Tonlé Sap Lake.
Briefly, I hired myself a cool guide in Battambang for the day, showing me around a couple of temples and a ride on a bamboo train - which is basically just a bamboo raft with a couple of wheels stuck beneath, attached to an engine that goes along the tracks. Great fun - until you meet an incoming
The Bayon Temples
...with its many faces train... surprisingly, it's going to be shutdown in a year for being unsafe. He also had a knack of calling me 'Semen' rather than Simon, much to my amusement I assure you! All a good laugh, but what I'll easily remember most from this day was the stories from my guide, not only of the current political corruption such as the Prime Minister somehow being the 7th richest man in the world (and thus my guide will remain nameless for his own protection now that I've said that) but mostly for his first-hand accounts of the Khmer Rouge attrocities in the 1980s, after they were disbanded into the north. All I'll say is, I remained speechless for the rest of the day.
As I read up more about what has happened to this country, I've become a lot more sullen these last couple of days, especially now that I have arrived in Phnom Pen (by bus, I might add, as the 300km trip takes 16hours by train!!). Among other things, I visited the Tuol Sleng Museum, and ventured out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where those from Tuol Sleng went to be dumped. It's been a neccessary
The Bayon Temples
...with its many faces but horrible day. Over 17,000 people were tortured and killed at Tuol Sleng, what was previously a primary school in a suburban district, and became the largest detention centre under Pol Pot's regime. The bastards wouldn't even shoot them as it was considered a waste of bullets - besides those that died from disease or starvation, the majority were horrifically beaten to death.
It's hard to put into words the extreme anger and sorrow I've been feeling these last few days as I begin to descover the horror of Cambodia's last 40 years; not just with the genecidal atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, but the American bombings killing a quarter of a million people in the early 1970s, the West's political engagement with the Khmer Rouge, fuelling their strength into the 1990s, and the UN's complete failure to restore and maintain peace through UNTac (UN
Transitional Authority in Cambodia) while at the same time boosting Cambodia's AIDs epidemic through prostitution, now one of the worst in Asia.
Between 1975 and 1979, when the Khmer Rouge was in power, it is estimated over 2 million Cambodians were tortured and killed. 2 million. Within days of coming to power, Pol
Pot forced the entire population of all major towns and cities to march to the countryside to undertake 12-15hours of slave labour a day. Currency was abolished, every link with the outside world severed (post, planes, media) and the clock was officially turned to 'Year Zero' - 2 words that sends shivers down my spine at the implications of its meaning.
By 1979 the Cambodians had no strength or powerful people left alive to overthrow the regime, but the Vietnamese invaded on December 25th, finally causing the Khmer Rouge to flee to the jungles. Famine then ensued. Food arrived from the West, much secretely given to the Khmer Rouge by the Thai military, along with guns from China, allowing it to fight and kill for another 20 years. Furthermore, the US allowed factions of the Khmer Rouge to retain its seat at the UN Assembly, while the British trained guerilla fighters in land-mine laying techniques. Those responsible for the genocide thus went on representing Cambodia internationally, while at the same time, with a blind eye from the west, continued killing school teachers and administrators, blowing up bridges, planting thousands of mines in rice fields
and were allowed to control the very refugee camps that were the result of their atrocities in the first place, forcing 1000s more Cambodians into slave labour across heavily mined sections of land.
Since the 1st Democratic elections took place in 1994, Cambodia is on a slow move to recovery, but with over 95% of the educated murdered during the regime, things are slow, with only monks able to teach into the late 1990s. Now, even the smallest villages have a teacher, and when nearly 50% of the population is under 15, the future is very promising. There is peace at last, and Cambodians are enjoying life to the full, living as if there was no tomorrow, because once there wasn't. As a result (or not), Cambodians are wonderfully friendly, and a very vibrant people today.
Overall, this is one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century and must not be forgotten or ignored. I'm only beginning to understand that which I was never taught in school, or saw on TV. I'll finish here, having probably spoken too much as usual. I recommend and plea to you to find time to read more about the recent history
of Cambodia. It's a tragedy still little understood in the West and it really shouldn't be. One book I recommend is 'First They Killed My Father' by Loung Ung, which I'm currently reading, and is a harrowing account of one girl's ordeal.
Sorry to put you through this, but I'm grateful you have read this far. I promise to make the next blog happier as I start talking about what I've been up to again. Best wishes, Simon x
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Wow!
What an incredble experience.....I shall use the pics in my lessons, currently covering abuse of human rights with Year 11. Thank you!