Blogs from Cambodia, Asia - page 850

The Temples of Angkor would have to be one of the coolest places I've explored. It takes days to see it all, but it rarely dissapoints. In the 12th century, at the height of the Khmer Empire, the population of Angkor (the capital) was around 1 million, while London, England was still only 40 thousand. How things have changed. Cambodia is quite an amazing place, considering its unimaginable circumstances just 25 years ago.... read more

The journey up the Tonle Sap River to Siem Reap should have been a sublime experience. It passes through a lake of immense proportion where upon about half way through you can look both port and starboard and genuinely struggle to see the riverbanks. Stoked by the confluence of the Mekong it's comfortably the largest lake in Indo-China yet it was marred by an act of pure folly. Somehow I lost a camera film in Phnom Phen and it was on this journey that I discovered such. For solace I instead purged my camera film with images of tanks and various munitions at Siem Reap War Museum. I would have probably done so regardless. Russian T-54 tanks are plentiful along with an array of heavy artillery and small arms. In the fore court they even have ... read more

The tragedy of Cambodia's infamous past is that it was a result of outside force, compounded by weak leadership, that permitted the atrocities of the 1970's to occur. In a case of paranoid whimsy Prime Minister Sihanouk committed his country to its nebulous take on communism because he thought the USA planned to assassinate him. His 'Peoples Socialist Communist Party' was no such thing yet its name was implication enough for the North Vietnamese to assume sanctuary on Cambodian soil. This, coupled with the CIA threat from across the border, and Sihanouk casually acquiesced ( Film making was his passion anyway). This was not enough. Sensing indifference to his political responsibilities and becoming increasingly aware of the military's desire to align itself with the American cause, there occurred a rural based insurgency forcing Sihanouk to back ... read more

The guy who sold me the tickets had told me that there was one place left on the minivan, and he was right in a way - there were only 3 of us with tickets on the minivan that would take 25 as I would find out later... The other two on the minivan were a couple from Australia and were good company as we traveled the extremely dusty road under construction across 5 ferry crossings. It was probably just as well that the road was under construction in that it had been flattened since some of the stories of huge potholes I had heard were made, but the dust was quite choking at times. At one of the crossings - I think the forth maybe - our bus wouldn't start so we gave it a ... read more

After returning from the remote jungles of northern Cambodia, a 3 day journey on horrid roads, sick with fever and diarrhea, thinking I was going to die, I arrived in Siem Reap and got some antibiotics to finally kick my recurring Ghiardia. I then spent three amazing days exploring the mind-blowing temples of Angkor Wat. From there it was anotger horrible day's journey on shit roads for an intense return back to Thailand... Nov 28 2002 Left it I did, my guitar, at the Cambodian border. I gave it, indeed, to one of the many begging Cambodian girls who followed me around the border area and shaded me with an umbrella as I walked. No matter how awkwardly I turned or how fast I walked those little girls kept their little friggin umbrellas directly over my ... read more