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Published: September 24th 2011
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If ever you were to say a country moved you, I would be prepared to put good money on big odds that you were talking about Cambodia. As the title of this blog suggests this is a country that has had a past that has taken it to hell and back, but they still smile. They still welcome you to their country. They still fight the demons of their past, and they still work
hard everyday to remember that past so that it doesn't happen again.
We drove an easy, luxurious six hours from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh over what could easily be described as the nicest border crossing since driving through them in Europe. A smile and a stamp and we were in! Immediately we knew we had just
changed country. Instead of the incessant beeping and car noises were carts being pulled along by very cute water buffalos (our new favourite animals) and farmers tending to their rice fields. There were no longer high rises and gaudy advertising boards, instead barely together wooden houses stilted above water and huge date palms.
Phnom Penh (which I will now refer to as PP) also reflected the
differences in the two countries. Set on the river this slow paced capital welcomed us all to join its chilled out nature. Even the tuk tuk drivers were different, in Vietnam they demanded you use their services, instead it was "Tuk tuk? No? Ok, maybe later! - (then cue big smile and wave goodbye)". We loved it immediately.
Unfortunately PP also had something we hadn't yet encountered - extreme poverty. Instead of the street vendors of Vietnam we now were faced with dirty faced streets kids who begged for a few coins as they carried their younger brother/sister on their hip. We were also faced a huge number of beggars with various limbs missing - another in your face sign of the country's war torn past. We were informed that there may still be around 2,000,000 land mines found in Cambodia's countryside.
The days in PP were fun, much of it was spent relaxing and enjoying the change of pace. Many a bar was visited and many a fish amok eaten (a traditional fish dish of white fish baked in a coconut creamy concoction). We even had time to have a very
fancy cocktail at the Foreign Correspondents
Club or FCC, famous for being the hunting ground of many a foreign journalist from the past.
The fun and smiles were soon wiped off our faces soon enough. It was time to visit the notorious S-21 prison and the killing fields which was made all too famous during the Kymer Rouge regime under Pol Pot. I was in two minds about going as I have
heard so many horrible stories of this past and wasn't too sure I wanted to spend my time around it, but like the general feeling of the Cambodians, face the past and learn from it.
S-21 was a former high school which was turned into a prison and torture centre for those deemed against the regime. This regime was part of the master plan by Pol Pot in which he wanted to create a Year Zero in Cambodia. To use his time learning from the Communist masters like Lenin, Stalin and Ho Chi Minh to create a purely agricultural society in his home land. Those deemed as opposition to the regime included most who lived in PP, intellectuals such as professors, lawyers and doctors, those who spoke a foreign language and those
who had any ties to the previous government and king. In short, if you had half a brain, someone who wore glasses, someone who wore colours or even someone who happened to live in the city your life expectancy was seriously shortened. The Kyhmer forces, made up mainly of boys and young men from the country, marched into PP and ordered everyone to leave and move to the rural countryside. In three hours the entire city was left as a ghost town as everyone marched out, grabbing what little belongings they could.
S-21 was used to house these so called opposition, in four short years over 20,000 people were tortured and killed in this place. The Khymer Rouge were not prejudice either, if you were a man you were photographed, tortured and killed. If you were
a woman you were photographed, raped, tortured and killed. If you were a child you were killed as according to Pol Pot, "To destroy the plant you must pull out the roots."
We walked around S-21 in silence. Some of us cried and some of us found solitude in the eerie classrooms which housed so many of these poor souls. Our guide
for the day was a young boy during the regime but he still remembers clearly the day when he was told to leave the city. He also introduced us to two of the seven only to survive the horrors of S-21. It was a sad experience, but it got worse.
About a 15 minute drive away was one of the killing fields. I say one of them as I was under the impression that there was only one 'famous' one, but how wrong I was. There are hundreds of these fields. Entire families were sent here from prisons such as S-21 where they were told to kneel, blindfolded and then beaten to death - beaten to death as bullets were too precious. The bodies were then piled on top of each and buried. It hit home when we were walked past a tree, infamous for being the baby killing tree. Babies were held by the legs and had their skulls smashed against the tree before they were
returned to their dead mothers.
I don't like writing about it, in fact I had to borrow the photos from a friend as I couldn't take any. Out of a population
of seven million over two million were killed. For what? Not agreeing with a madman? It's scary but this seems all too familiar. Have we actually learned anything? Nazi Germany, the former Yugoslavia, ex-Congo, Somalia, even Libya, it still happens. When will we learn, or will we ever learn? Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a human, make me a water buffalo, at least I know my kind hasn't gone around ignorantly following a madmen or been the victim of a madmen. What a waste.
Moving onwards and upwards as the population has, we left PP on a sombre note but were all eager to reach Siem Reap to see the world famous Angkor Wat, one of the unofficial seven wonders of the world. And we were not dissappointed! Boy, what a
place, it was everything we expected and more and we are only sorry we had one day there when I think you could stay for weeks and still not see everything.
The complex at Angkor was everything I thought it would be, sprawling, ancient and full of fascinating nooks and crannies. We visited Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider fame), the Bayan complex and of course, the big daddy
Angkor Wat. I took too many photos and could have taken a thousand more, but it's one of those places where none of my words will ever do it justice. You know what? Just get on a plane, and come visit.
Unfortunately we didn't get time to visit what is apparently the fabulous town of Battamberg or the idyllic seaside Sihanoukville but it gives us a good excuse to come back.
And come back we will - it will be fascinating to see how Cambodia develops itself. It is still a fragile country with so many cracks to fill. It could soon be at the crossroads - will it become too developed and attract even more of the seedy undertone? Or will it stay true to its heritage and remain a chilled out, friendly place to be?
Cambodia, I'm so sad about your past and all that you have had to endure, but I'm hoping on so many levels that you will continue to grow and flourish. I hope we see you again soon.
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Mumbo
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Trying for the second time to add a comment to your blog! I had to wipe my eyes several times reading this one - bet you did whilst typing too. How many times have you heard me say \'When will they (we) ever learn\' - was ever a song more accurate? It is so hard to believe that man can do such things against his fellows, but still it continues. I have always said too that animals behave better. I don\'t either you or I would make war Correspondents - do you? I think in Malaya and Singapore you should avoid all the war museums etc. - anyway in Singapore you have probably seen most of them. Enough is enough. I would just love to go to Cambodia, but doubtful now, it has been a treat to visit via you and Susan and your Blog - thank you girls. Love you xx