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Published: September 27th 2008
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Cambodia Cambodia Cambodia, what can i say about a country that's been through hell and back? Well, to start things off it's totally different to it's neighboring country, Laos. I suppose this is unsurprising considering the history of this small country wedged between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. In fact, words cannot describe what these people have been through. Most young westerners don't know much about the atrocities the Khmer Rouge caused and the effect they had on the country (or at least, i didn't know much before i came here) and that's because it's one of those things that has been kept fairly quiet in the history books. Also, it was something that the west turned a blind eye on during the mass genocide that occurred. The Kumar Rouge totally destroyed the country 30 years ago and committed such awful crimes it's hard to imagine. Cutting open pregnant women ripping babies out of their womb was just one horror alongside others. They are up there with Stalin and Hitler but the difference is, the people have never had justice as the trial for those who committed these crimes still continues to this day and the leader, Pol Pot, allegedly died peacefully
in his sleep. The Kumar Rouge basically wiped out part of the nation who were remotely educated- i.e if they spoke foreign languages or wore spectacles due to the party wanting to create a rural state. About 2 million Cambodians died between 1975-1979 as a direct result of the Khmer Rouge's policies.
On the last few days in Cambodia we stayed in the capital for a couple of days and went to Pol Pot's secret prison. The Khmer Rouge deny they knew the existence of the prison after they had been overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978. However, it would have been impossible for them not to know as it was such a huge operation and there is so much evidence suggesting otherwise. The prison was originally a school but was converted into torture chambers. Walking around the grounds is incredibly eerie as nothing has been changed. It's like Auschwitz on a smaller scale and less like a museum. After staying in horrific conditions in the torture prison of Tuol Sleng (S-21) almost everyone was taken to the killing fields of Choeung Ek where a memorial full of skulls of the dead stands now to remember those who were beaten
over the skull to death in order to save precious bullets. Clothes and bones can be seen lodged in the ground as you walk through the grounds.
I was talking to my moto driver on a tour we did around visiting a few sites in Battabong travelling through typical rural cambodia and he told me that EVERY family in Cambodia knows someone who died during the regime. He was in his late 20's and he had an older sister who was 10 at the time and she died of starvation as they made her work in the fields and didn't provide food. This was the same story for many others. One of the places we saw was a cave where people were bludgeoned over the head and thrown down through the a rocky hole. We had a 10 year old as a guide who told us his grandfather was one of the victims due to him being a teacher.
Despite this sad and recent history underlined by the fact that there still has been no justice, the Cambodian people are looking toward a brighter future. This is being slowed down by the "Cambodian People's Party" (CPP) due to corruption and
their links with the Khmer Rouge but, as my moto driver said, ít's alot better than it was 30 years ago.'' The striking fact is, the people are so friendly. Incredibly friendly in fact, considering what they have had to suffer. A few times an older person has grabbed our hands and smiled at us and even hugged us. Anyone over the age of 40-50 are few and far between as so many people were killed 30 years ago. There are hardly any old people in Cambodia and you can't do anything but respect and admire them.
Anyway, on a lighter note our first stop, after 1 night in the capital Phnom Penh was Siem Reap- home to the beautiful temples of Angkor, Cambodia's pride and joy, which display a mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism through the architecture and were the capital of the Khmer empire between the 9th and 13th centuries. Angkor Wat is the most famous as it's the largest religious temple in the world and was built in the 1100's. However, although it is incredible, my favorite were the smaller temples or the ones that haven't been restored such as Ta Prom which was used in the
film Tombraider. Nature takes it's toll as trees grow into the rocks and create such a serial scene, it's like being on a purpose built movie set. Ta Prom was the temple the French decided to leave alone as they wanted to show to the public what all the temples looked like before they begun the restoration process.
We spent a couple of days in Siem Reap and met up with some friends we'd met a few days earlier in Laos and had a fun evening, witnessing the delights of Cambodian nightlife. On our last few days in the capital we also went to the palace which was reminiscent of Bangkok's stunning temples. I am now in Malaysia and having the most wonderful time diving and have seen turtles and sharks- but that can wait until next blog! I would love to go back to Cambodia sometime and spend more time as we only had a week. Due to the wet season, we couldn't go to alot of places in more rural parts of the country.
Bye for now!
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Faye
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Travel writer
Hi Emma You should definitely consider being a travel writer!!! Great blogs. I hope you are well. Take care f x x