A whirlwind tour of Cambodia

My stay in Cambodia commenced with a hangover – courtesy of a final “quiet drink” in Saigon which inevitably degenerated into mayhem. We crossed from Saigon into Phnom Penh by bus, and yet again, I was graced by the presence of a local bus driver sitting next to me. This time however, I maintained my cool (largely due to lack of energy), and the journey went through without any hitches.

We arrived in Phnom Penh itself in the early afternoon, and the temperature there was stiflingly hot. We spent the afternoon walking around the city, and eventually went into the National Museum of Cambodia. Here, we saw lots of ancient Hindu and Buddhist artifacts from in and around Angkor Wat – unfortunately, having had minimal sleep the previous night, and still recovering from a hangover, I wasn’t in the best position to absorb all that the museum had to offer.

The next day was yet another early start, as we paid a visit to S-21 (otherwise known as the concentration camp of the Cambodian war), and the Killing Fields. For those unfamiliar with Cambodian history, about 30 years ago, a communist regime seized control in Cambodia. This regime, led by a man named Pol Pot, aimed to institute a pure form of communism through destruction of the educated classes and empowerment of the peasant population. The result of this was the deaths of over 2 million Cambodians through both genocide [of educated persons] and famine. During this four year period, almost a third of the Cambodian population died.

So S-21 was a former school turned prison, where thousands of Cambodian prisoners were housed. Only seven of those prisoners survived. Particularly poignant were the thousands of pictures of all the prisoners that had ever stayed there – each prisoner was photographed at the start of their internment; some of these people were just children when they were imprisoned. In addition, we were supplied with information about the different torture methods used in this prison, and were shown a moving film about a Cambodian couple interned in the prison at the same time.

Understandably, everyone was quite upset and depressed after visiting this prison, and we made the short journey to the Killing Fields. As the name suggests, this was the place where thousands of people were slaughtered in the name of the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communist Party). The methods of killing were particularly cruel - bullets were deemed too expensive, so people would be killed with machetes, axes, and other farming implements. Following on from this, their bodies would be cast into the pits dug as mass graves. Thirty years on, the Killing Fields consists of a beautiful, serene grassy area surrounding a small lake. However, a closer look allows visitors to see fragments of bone in the ground, and lowered land where the graves had been dug. At the end of the visit, we were greeted by the horrifying sight of a tower of hundreds and hundreds of skulls that had been excavated from the site. It makes one think about the cruelty of humanity.

From the capital, we got a minibus to Siem Reap - famous for the Angkor Wat temples. I can't find any superlatives that begin to describe the magnitude and beauty of the Angkor Wat temples. The temples we visited were all huge, and there are literally hundreds of them! We started by visiting the main temple at sunrise - this was a sight in itself - the huge temple was reflected in the small lake at its forefront, and the sun was rising in the background. To be honest, I can't really do the complex justice in words, and if anyone's thinking about paying a visit to Angkor Wat - do it! We also saw one of the temples where the Tomb Raider film was filmed (I couldn't remember it - probably too busy watching Lara Croft!), and it was surreal - there were trees that had grown over parts of the temple, crushing parts of it - it was what I imagined ancient ruins to be like. In all, we spent 2 days at Angkor Wat, and due to the stifling heat, it felt like enough. We barely scratched the surface though, and some people can spend weeks exploring the lesser known temples.

In Siem Reap, I also had my finest meal in South East Asia. It was a traditional Cambodian curry called an "Amok". The food tasted like a cross between Thai, Malaysian and Indian, and it was a coconutty, creamy curry served in a banana leaf, accompanied by wild rice. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! On the whole, my culinary experience has been disappointing: after the highs of China, I have been resorting to eating "fried rice with vegetables", "fried noodles with vegetables", and if I'm lucky "noodle soup with vegetables". Despite the Buddhist traditions in these countries, the vegetarian fayre isn't very extensive which means that I have had to resort to rice and noodles in the extortionate travellers restaurants. Vietnam was slightly better as they did have a few pure vegetarian restaurants - no such luck in Laos and Cambodia. Its a shame, because I'm always one for trying the local cuisine, but I haven't been able to do so here.

I digress. From here, we got another minibus to Stum Treng (the town next to the Laos border) - arriving at 3am and leaving at 10am the following morning in order to get to Laos. From what I saw of the town, there wasn't much going on, so the 7 hours there was more than sufficient!

So I experienced the heady heights of Angkor Wat and the devastating lows of S-21 and the Killing Fields. It is strange to imagine that only 30 years ago, a genocide took place in that country, and yet the people were still so upbeat, and ready for a joke and laugh with you. Having said that though, the scale of the poverty there is clearly visible and very disturbing. We were also cheated a couple of times by minibus companies and enterprising tuk tuk drivers. Despite having spent less than five days there, I got a real feel for the country and its somewhere I'd like to revisit in the future.

I'm currently one country behind on my blogs (I'm in Laos), so I will update soon!