Not really my idea of fun

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Battambang is quite lovely, go there. Everyone should visit. Nic says so. But they don't.

Despite a delightfully slow paced charm and such real enthusiasm on the part of the locals, Battambang, Cambodia's second city (city is a bit of a joke) sees less tourists than Dundee. The country famed for Pol Pot and Angkor Wat is developing at a frightening pace. Possibly quicker than anywhere else in South East Asia and as a result tourist numbers are skyrocketing - just not in Battambang.

Nor it appears in Phnom Penh. The capital and home to what appears almost the entire population doesn't have the malls of Bangkok or the culture of Hanoi. What it does have is a strange chaos that makes spending a few days here feel significantly more exciting than the stilted monstrosity of Saigon (we really didn't like it there). The traffic is suicidal, the kids are manic and the total lack of streetlights makes the whole place echo with unexplainable noises as soon as the unrelenting sun finally sets. Add to this a central market so confined you feel like your being crushed in a way you may never escape and the old ideas of South East Asia, that had so far been absent, start to spring back into your mind. This is sensory overload on the scale lacking since India.

This is a city on the move like no other place we have ever seen so far. During the reign of the paranoidly genocidal Khmer Rouge the population of Phnom Penh was reduced to a mere 40,000. Barely thirty years later and there are millions of Cambodians oozing onto the street form every cafe doorway and new shopping development desperate to be heard - oh and none of them know how to drive.

During our time there we also had the chance to ponder the nature of war tourism especailly with respect genocide and the strange desire to relive such heinous crimes against humanity. Why do so many people visit Auchwitz (I couldn't stomach the idea myself) and why do they need to walk on graves at 'The Killing Fields'. The idea of piles of skulls lining the roads doesn't really fill us with enjoyment nor in any way extend our knowledge of what actually happened. For this reason and the fact that we would have to ask a tuk-tuk driver (who was probably in some way effected by such tragedy - everyone here was) to take us there meant we gave it a miss.

Why do people revel in such misery? None of these 'experiences' can possibly convey the horrors or misery that the people involved went through - something those of us who are fortunate enough to have never experienced should be eternally grateful for. So how and why do people take photos of cells, torture equipment or the remains of those who have suffered while laughing and joking on their graves? What joy or pleasure is to be gained from this and how does it make the survivors feel?

Saying this, however, we did chose to visit the photo exhibition at S-21 (a major prison during the Khmer Rouge's time) to see to what scale the lives of all Cambodians were changed, both prisoners and guards. A fine line perhaps but when we heard that at The Killing Fields, the sight of such vicious slaughter, tourists are allowed to play with and fire weapons that had been used - we felt our stance was justified.

But anyway, back to Battambang. Home of the 2500 reil smoothie - that's 31p to you and me. Battambang is as relaxing as it is peaceful. Just don't try to get anything done because it probably won't happen. In Battambang there is always tomorrow and always another smoothie to drink today.

Actually scrap the beginning, Nic doesn't want any of you to come. She wants it all for herself just the way it is.

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Photos

Heave Lads, Heave
Temple walls in Battambang

Comments

[e]

another blogs viewpoint: Walking through these rooms and buildings with a local guide who herself lost her brother and father during the regime and worked as a slave in the rice fields with her mother, was a really powerful experience and makes you admire how this country has risen from the terrors it has suffered and how its people are able to keep a smile on their face despite the tragic past that affected, and still affects, every single Cambodian.