Asia: Cambodia 2007

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."

Unknown

*****

This is the continuing account of my 2007 trip to the Asian countries of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia (see other blog entries) with my brother, Wayne. 

*****

So far we've visited Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and now we visit.......

Cambodia

Cambodia, bordered by Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, has a fabulous heritage, warm friendly people and an untamed wild landscape.  The beautiful and extensive temple ruins at Angkor, now a UNESCA Heritage site, represents the glorious Khmer civilization and one of the most spectacular historical sites in Asia.

The divergent facets of the kingdom provoke both the serious and casual traveller, genreally charmed and sometimes bewildered by its mysteries.  Not only Angkor Wat, but other ancient holy sites draped in the roots of ancient trees, the graceful shapes of the Apsaras Dance, colourful pagodas, strings of pristine islands and beaches, but most of all is the splendor of the Khmer civilization and its people who have shown their friendliness everywhere you move in the country.

In Vietnam, we took a boat on the Mekong River Delta up river and crossed over the border into Cambodia......

Life along the Mekong.  This is someone's house with a nice convertable parked out front.

Fishermen deliberately plant vegetation close to shore, thus giving the fish a place to hide and feed...

Here a fisherman harvests fish close to shore.

Our river trip ends in.....

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, is situated at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers with the Mekong.  It was founded as a small monastery in 1372, by the rich Khmer woman Penh, after she had found four Buddha statues in a tree trunk on the banks of the Mekong.  She set up the monastery on a hill near the bank of the Mekong.   The Cambodian word for hill is Phnom.  Therefore the name of the town correctly translates as Hill of Penh.

On April 17, 1975, 20 years after the end of French colonial rule, the communist Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh.  Within weeks the city was emptied, its population forced into provincial labour camps; Phnom Penh became a ghost town.

After an increasing number of incidents at the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, Vietnamese troops moved into Cambodia and on January 7, 1979, took Phnom Penh.  Since then, many of the city's former residents have returned, and new folks have arrived.  The city now, once more, counts over a million inhabitants.



We go exploring around Phnom Penh.....

Phnom Penh is a contrast between the old and new, such as this site, which was surprisingly common.

A lone monk walks pass the Cambodian Royal Palace.

This brightly coloured tent was set up along-side the road and appeared to be housing a wedding.  No doubt, lacking a proper hall, this is probably the only place where the bride wouldn't get mud on her wedding dress.

This building was sitting next to the British Embassy.....I love it!

.....and the band broke into their rendition of Wish You Were Here.

Later that night we went for pizza....

Notice the little lizard on the sign and the Happy Green Sun looking at it like it's the "special" on the Happy Special Pizza.....well the "special" ain't the lizard!!!

Hmmmm pizza with a bowl of the "special" ingredient.

Thankfully the "special" ingredient had no effect on me........

....or Wayne!!

The next day we decide to walk on the darkside and visit the......

Cambodian Killing Fields

On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.  They forced all city dwellers into the countryside to labour camps.  During their rule, it is estimated that nearly 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution.

The Khmer Rouge literally turned Cambodia to year Zero.  They banned ALL institutions, including stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion and family.  Everyone was forced to work 12 -14 hours a day, every day.  Children were seperated from their parents to work as soldiers.  People were fed one watery bowl of soup with a few grains of rice thrown in.  Babies, children, adults and the elderly were killed everywhere.  The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn't like them, if they didn't work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed sympathy when their family members were taken away to be killed.  All were killed without reason.  Everyone had to pledge total allegiance to Angka, the Khmer Rouge government.  It was a campiagn based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance. The killing only ended when in 1979 the Vietnamese invaded and disposed of Pol Pot.

The Killing Fields Pagoda, which contains the skulls of 8,000 people.

Many of the skulls reveal deadly trauma to the head.  For instance, the front row skull furtherest to the left shows a deep cut whereas the same row, but furtherest to the right, shows what appears to be a bullet hole.

In Cambodia, 9 miles from Phnom Penh, the "killing fields" of Choeung Ek have become a toruist attraction, both horrifying and fascinating.  Choeung Ek is one of thousands of such sites around the country where the the Khmer Rouge practiced genocide during the late 1070's.

All around the baked earth of Choeung Ek's "killing fields" scraps of cloth and human bones poke through the soil from the mass graves below.

The Tuol Sleng Museum, once a high school, became a torture camp, prison and execution centre.  From the outside, Tuol Sleng could be a school anywhere in the world, but inside are weapons of torture, skulls, blood stains and photographs of thousands of people who were murdered.

"If thou battle with Monsters, take care
lest thou become a Monster.
And if thou gaze into the Abyss,
the Abyss gazeth also into thee."

                           Friedrich Nietzsche        

In the chronicles of the 20th century horrors, Cambodia ranks high.  Here leg irons, which was just one of many torture devices, that was on display at the museum.

A lone monk wanders the halls, his presence adding a surreal feeling about the place.

The next day we take a boat up the Tonle Sap river to the.....

Tonle Sap Lake

The amazing lake and river system of the Tonle Sap is quite unique.  This vast lake; the largest in SE Asia, fills with the waters of the Mekong River each year, bringing vast numbers of fish and irrigation during the dry season.

The Mekong starts its journey in the Himalayas, flowing through China, Laos and Cambodia before discharging into the sea at its delta in south Vietnam.  During the monsoons the Mekong Delta cannot absorb all the river water, so in May, the river reverses its normal seaward flow and begins to flow up the Tonle Sap River.  The 160km long lake fills with water and, expands to 250kms long by up to 100kms wide over a 3 month period.

The fast express boat that ran between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap passed hundreds of fishermen on Tonle Sap.

Everything is built on stilts for the next time the Tonle Sap swells her banks.

Floating homes waiting for the next big flood, whereas they'll move these homes closer to the fishing areas.

We finally arrive in........

Siem Reap

Nestled between rice paddies and stretched along the Siem Reap River, the small provincial town of Siem Reap (means "Thailand Defeated") serves as the gateway to the millennium-old temple ruins of the Khmer Empire.  

Wayne strolling through the back alleys of Siem Reap looking for a good place to eat....

....OK this looks like a good place to have supper!

The next few days we visit.......

Angkor Archaeological Park

Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Angkor Archaeological Park, encompasses dozens of temple ruins including Bayon, Banteay Srey and the legendary Angkor Wat, whose artistic and archaeological significance and visual impact put it in a class with the Pyramids, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.  Unlike any other world class monuments, the ruins of Angkor are as yet unspoiled by over-development.  This may not be true in a couple of years.  Though the main temples are relatively well touristed these days, it is still possible to get away from the crowds, to explore the area and discover Angkor.

The massive archaeological complex that is commonly known as Angkor Wat (notice the airstrip).

First stop is the actual temple of Angkor Wat........

Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking.  It is a massive three-tier pyramid crowned by five lotus-like towers rising 65 metres from ground level.  Angkor Wat is the centrepiece of any visit to the temples of Angkor.

The Khmer people are the dominant ethnic group in Cambodia and the name "Angkor" refers to the Angkorian-era Khmer Empire.  As this is still a functioning temple, it is common practice for Khmer wedding parties to get blessed at the temple.

 The Angkor Wat temple is surrounded by a moat and an exterior wall measuring 1300 metres x 1500 metres.  Here Wayne is standing just inside the massive wall that surrounds Angkor Wat.

A view of the temple from inside the wall.

The temple itself is one square km.

Angkor Wat has three levels and this is the entrance to the third level.

During the 12th century, when the Khmer political and military dominance in the region was at it's apex, King Suryavarman II constructed Angkor Wat in the form of a massive 'temple-mountain' dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu (as seen here).

Although originally constructed as a Hindu Temple, it has continuously served as a Buddhist temple since Buddhism became Cambodia's dominant religion in the 14th century.

Light an incense and say a prayer and luck will be yours.....sounds like a good deal to me.

The inner court of the temple.

The walls of the temple are covered inside and out with bas-reliefs and carvings.  Nearly 2,000 distinctive apsara carving adorn the walls and represent some of the finest examples of apsara carvings in the Angkorian era.

It is the long exterior walls of the lower level that display the most extraordinary bas-reliefs, depicting stories and characters from Hindu mythology and the historic wars of Suryavarman II.  I'm standing in the middle of the depicted historical march of the army of Suryavarman II against the Cham peoples......

.....that battle is depicted on the entire length of this wall.  The temple has four of these walls!

Our next stop was to Ta Prohm......

Ta Prohm is a quiet, sprawling monastic complex that is only partially cleared of jungle overgrowth.

Ta Prohm is well worth an extended exploration of its dark corridors and open plazas.  This was King Jayavarman VII's first major temple projects.

Encroaching jungle!  Having flocks of noisy parrots skirting from tree to tree added to the jungle atmosphere.

Perhaps the most photographed strangler fig in the world!

Giant fig tree roots crawl over the temples like large anaconda snakes.

The strangler figs and toppled structures give this place a surreal feeling, something like being in a live Salvador Dali painting.

Ta Prohm was originally constructed as a Buddhist monastery unfortunately, the Khmer Rouge knocked many of the heads off of the Buddhist statues.

This was definitely my favourite site in the park.

Our next stop was the Bayon Temple complex.....

The road leading to the Bayon Temple.

Bayon is known for its huge stone faces of the Bodhisattvan Avalokiteshvara Buddha, with each face keeping watch over each compass point.  There are 51 smaller towers surrounding Bayon, each with four faces of its own.

Dubbed by some as the "Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia".

Built as a square, the sides of which run exactly north to south and east to west.  Standing in the exact centre of the square is supposed to represent the intersection between heaven and earth.  Who knew?

Detailed bas-reliefs surround the temple square.

One smiling face deserves another!

Well that's it for Cambodia, we fly out of Siem Reap to Phuket, Thailand for the remaining portion of the trip.  Check out the previous blog series on my travels to Southeast Asia.

Cheers......

DIARY ENTRY:  Monday December 17, 2007  5:12PM:  The bus/boat ride to Chau Doc was long, but because it was broken up it remained interesting.  We went to a rice (crispy's) factory and also saw how they make rice paper for spring rolls.

Chau Doc, as a town was boring and we had trouble finding a restaurant.  The hotel we were staying at was dirty and didn't have any windows in the room.  It was a good thing we were up at 6:00AM.

The next day (Saturday Dec. 15/07) we took a slow boat (although it was supposed to be an express boat) to Phnom Penh.  Crossing the border into Cambodia went well and we continued on up the Mekong.  We arrived in Phnom Penh at around 2:00PM and found a nondescript hotel.

Later that night we went to the Lakeside area and found a bar where an English guy was working.  He gave us a couple of draws and Wayne and I got pretty much wasted.  By 11:00PM we were munching out and heading home!

Yesterday (Sunday Dec 16/07) we slept in some and got on the go around 10:00AM.  We had decided that this would be a day we would do the dark side and head for the Killing Fields and prison.

The Killing Fields are kinda laid back as most of it is simply grassed over.  There is a pagoda with thousands of skulls from exterminated Cambodians.  The prison was much more grotesque, as you could put faces on the victims (1000's of pictures).  There was also a fairly good description of the way things were for the prisoners.  Uncle Pol was a real sick mofo.

Today we were up early and took the fast boat up the Tonle Sap lake to Siem Reap.  Grabbed a hotel  but can only stay one night, so tomorrow we have to find another hotel before we head for Angkor Wat.

DIARY ENTRY:  Friday December 21, 2007  10:58AM:  On a flight to Bangkok now.

We spent three days in Siem Reap.  After getting up on Tuesday (Dec 18/07) morning and finding a new hotel, we took a tuk-tuk out to Angkor Wat.  It was very hot and muggy walking around the ruins but this site is truly amazing.  It is right up there with my previous visits to Tikal and Euphesus.

The Angkor Wat is the national symbol and was spared destruction from the Khmer Rouge, as well it is still a functioning temple, so the jungle has been kept at bay.  It is the largest temple in the world covering almost two square miles and it has more stone blocks in it then the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

After about a hour and half of this we were ready to move on and the next site was To Prohm.  This temple was not spared from the encroachment of jungle and even now Strangler Fig trees drape themselvfes over the stone faces.  I liked this site better than Angkor Wat because of the way the jungle has taken hold.

Later that night we had Happy Herb Pizza but didn't get a buzz.

On Wednesday (Dec 19/07) we had a chill day.  Decided to get laundry done, banking and shopping.  I bought a bedspread and chop-stick holder.

On Thursday (Dec 20/07) we were again ready to tackle the ruins.  This time we were heading for Angkor Thom and on to the Bayon.  Upon arrival, after the tuk-tuk driver let us off at the main gate, I discover that my camera wasn't working.  Ended up buying a disposable camera - pissed me off because the photo's here were by far the best.  On top of it all, the cost to fix my camera was $35.00.  And I bought a nice painting at the site and ended up losing it......not my day.

After getting back to Siem Reap and getting the camera straighten out, we met up with Carlos (from South Africa).  We had met Carlos on the boat from Saigon.  Carlos still had some of the draws we had purchased in Phnom Penh and he dropped over at around 8:00 to smoke us up.  So now today we're in transit to Phuket, Thailand to go diving before Wayne heads home.