Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2009
Cambodia. Magic. Tragic.
I think it's fair to say that this is the first country we've visited where we've eagerly awaited departure. This is not to say it wasn't without it's highlights, in fact we found some islands off its shores with beaches and solitude that rival any we've stumbled across anywhere on the this little spheroid we call home. It is also home to Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples, a collection of acheological wonders which can surely only be compared to the likes of Machu Picchu or the pyramids at Giza, crafted almost 1000 years ago with an intricacy of detail that still, even after being dulled by the elements for centuries, utterly boggles the imagination. Built long before the likes of Machiavelli, Leonardo, and Galileo were dragging Europe towards the light, works to rival anything painted on the roof of the Sistine Chapel were being carved into stone on the plains of the Khmer empire on a scale that mystifies. Like Machu Picchu or Pompeii, it leaves you longing for a time machine. This is the good side of Cambodia, clearly this is not what we wanted to get away from.
In 1975, for reasons best
left to historians, professors, and psychologists, brother number one, or Pol Pot as he was better known, led his Khmer revolutionaries to downtown Phnom Penh, where he took control of the country, changed its name to Kampuchea, and began implementing an ultra Maoist revolution. I think any honest look at history will show that any political movement or ideology beginning with the word "ultra" has only one way of ending, this was no exception. In the ensuing attempt to destroy everything western, to kill everyone educated, and to force whomever couldn't flee into the fields where forced labour did to them what bullets and bayonets did quickly to their luckier countrymen, Pol Pot managed to ensure that his people would endure some of the worst that history has to offer. In the end, out of a population of 8 million, it's estimated that between 1 and 3 million were killed in the genocide, the ramifications of which are still clear today and will be far into the future. Today, the median age of the country is less than 21. Stop reading and think about that for a moment. Over half the population is
younger than 25, and most of the
Phnom Penh
lakeside sunsetrest are old, it's a country missing a generation. This, however, is also not what we wanted to get away from. This is history, this is real, this happens in our world, in our times, this is happening right now. This is one of the reasons we came here, to see for ourselves what went on. It leaves you feeling less than hollow.
I think what we, or I guess I (shouldn't speak for Lee here), wanted to get away from was the feeling of frustration, which became anger, which became guilt, which became a complete mind f*cking, if you'll
excuse my french. Everywhere you go you find children who should be at school, being forced into begging. On the beaches of Sihanoukville, as you sit with your mates having a beer, a constant stream of apendageless victims drags itself past you asking if you can spare a dollar. The elderly, instead of being left in peace to die are dragged from their death beds by family members and paraded around in an attempt to gain pity. Mothers drag their screaming, filthy babies up and down asking for food money. It makes you angry, not because they're doing it,
Koh Rung
we were so happy to find a beach this beautiful in Cambodia because it's done out of desperation, not out of opportunity. It makes you angry because it forces you to share, however briefly and however fractionally, in the very real and very visceral misery that is their existence. It makes you angry because it makes you feel so uncomfortable, it makes you feel guilty, and mostly it makes you angry because they rob you of your blissful ignorance. These people can't hide in the past, that's a very dark and scary place indeed. But they also can't find escape in daydreams of a better tomorrow; the current government is selling whatever future they have to real estate development funds and foreign investment vehicles. The people are getting forcibly removed from the land again.
Presently, over 55% of the country has been sold to foreigners, with the profits trickling straight into the pockets of government officials. These people are forced to live in the immediate present, with horizons that don't dare stretch beyond tomorrow, and they're adept, either consciously or not, at standing before you, with empty eyes and calloused souls, asking your well dressed and satiated body for nothing more than a dollar...and you have to say no or you'll
Angkor Beer
usually found for about 50 cents a glass be bankrupt in an hour. This is what we wanted to get away from, and that wanting to get away just serves to compound the guilt and the anger in a cycle that seems endless. People who go to places in the world like this to help build a better future don't deserve medals, they deserve statues.
Well, this has been an uplifting read so far 😊, how about some details...
We started of in the capital, Phnom Penh; back on the Mekong once again. We can't seem to get away from that river! We found a place to stay for 5 bucks a night in the main backpacker section of town "the lakeside," as opposed to the nicer $20 a night places of "the riverside." Not our favorite city, but far from the worst and comfortable enough to be sure. We met up with Eric and Eliza, who we keep bumping into but hadn't actually traveled with before and decided to stick together for a while. It's always a fun time with the two of them, this time being no exception. We decided we couldn't pretend to know Cambodia even remotely without a foray into the horrors
Phnom Penh
some local kids got hold of my camera. they actually took a few decent shots, which involved them lighting candles for some strange reason. of its recent history, especially as Phnom Penh was the epicenter of it all. This means a visit to Toul Sleng prison or S21 as it became known.
Before the Khmer Rouge took over it was a high school, and ironically, probably the nicest one we've seen in South East Asia, perhaps that's why it was chosen. A place of education became a place of re-education, torture, and murder. The resulting museum, made possible by the keen record keeping of the Khmer Rouge, serves to shock the senses, bewilder the mind, and leaves you aghast at the potential and capacity humanity has to inflict pure horror upon itself. It initially served as a liquidation center for the old government's soldiers and officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc. Later, as usually happens with despots such as Pol Pot, paranoia wins the day, and the Khmer Rouge cannabalistically began liquidating its own. Only 12 of the 17,000 people detained survived. Once there was no more room to bury the dead at S21, the prisoners who had been tortured to the point where they had nothing left to confess, were shipped off to what became
Phnom Penh
cockles for sale known as the killing fields. Here, they were bludgeoned to death and buried in mass graves. We did the same journey in a tuk tuk, traveling down the same road as they would have, beaten and broken, seeing their last trees, the last green fields, the last blue skies they would ever know. You can't help but wonder what was going through their minds. If I had to guess, probably relief that it would all soon be over.
At the killing fields today, a monument has been erected and tourists are encouraged to make the trip. It's something that needs to be seen. The most disturbing aspect is that the area is still littered with human bones, teeth and clothing, lying just below the surface, but unmistakably there. You can't go more than ten metres without seeing a patch of shiny white marble, so out of place in the middle of a field, untill you realize it's some poor soul's femur. All this in a country that is 90% Bhuddist...talk about bad karma!
After all this we decided a few stiff drinks were in order, which indeed they were, and we made plans to head down to the
Phnom Penh
a common scene; motorbike helmets for kids could be a really good business in SE Asia beaches of Sihanoukville the next morning. The trip was the usual old bus, but did for the first time involve getting on the back of a motorbike with a backpack, something that happens as the norm down there. We found a place to stay near the beach and spent a day or two beating the heat with cold beers and dancing around the aforementioned state of affairs. In an attempt to find some solitude we headed out to an island called Koh Rung, which indeed was awesome, and only a 2 1/2 hour boat ride away. Beautiful, empty beaches, very chilled out, and a good bunch of people made for a great few days. I think we could have spent another week or two there if we weren't running into the tail end of our travel account. The trip back up north involved us saying goodbye to Eric and Eliza, or more appropriately, until we meet again. They were headed east into Vietnam, were were headed north to Siem Reap and the splendors of Angkor Wat.
Siem Reap actually means "the defeat of Siam," a pretty bold way to mark the Khmer victory over its ancient Thai neighbors. It
Phnom Penh
fish market was the capital of the Khmer empire for centuries and host to a series of temple complexes spread out over 200 square kilometers, Angkor Wat being the flagship. As I mentioned before, they are absolutely amazing in scope and detail and I can only hope some of the pictures will give you a more accurate idea than my fingers and this keyboard possibly could. We rented a tuk tuk for the day and saw a good few of them but to see them all in detail would take a week...at this point I think we were templed out!
From Siem Reap we made our way back to Bangkok...again, where they were nice enough to cancel the state of emergency the day we arrived. Nice to know we're finally getting some respect around here! Things are cool, and in fact, an empty-ish Bangkok is a wonderful place to be.
We're off again tonight, but have decided to beat the 120 degree heat of India and the imminent monsoons by turning left and heading back down to Southern Africa to finish this trip off where it all began. We like the symmetry of it, and decided to finish off on
Phnom Penh
Khmer New Year celebration. check out the big clock on the lawn a high. We will be spending a month living out of a tent amongst the animals of the Kruger Park, and then heading over to Mozambique to do some diving, beaching, and exploring of a country that has called me for a long time. We're very excited indeed! We'll be far from the internet, so the next time we chat will probably be in person over a drink. We're very excited for that too!
cheers for now,
Andy
p.s. Anyone hiring??? 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.206s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 67; dbt: 0.1096s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
dad
non-member comment
cambodia
well i must say that cambodia must have been very sobering in light of all the other wonderful places you two have been. thats the beauty of what you two are doing .really seeing the world ,the good and the bad.im sure theres nothing that either of you have seen that you would have wanted to miss.i cant wait for you guys to get home and tell us all about it.we just cant wait for you guys to get home period.be careful in africa.have fun, be careful of the animals .andy make sure she doesnt swing from any more trees and lisa ,if your going to swing from a tree let andy go first,i dont want anyone calling my son in law a wimp.love from all of us ,see you soon.