Cambodia
Cambodia – South East Asis
The next day we flew to Phnom Penh, the capital. We were surprised how well developed it was –skyscrapers everywhere. Like its northern neighbor, Laos, Cambodia has a varied and sometimes tragic history. It was the Khmer Empire until the mid-1800’s, when it became a colony of France. Rice and rubber became the backbone of the colonial economy. Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953. King Sihanouk attempted to lead the country on a journey to stability until the 1960’s when the Vietnam war spilled over its borders. In 1970 King Sihanouk was overthrown by General Lon Nol, supported by the U.S., who, in turn, was overthrown by the Cambodian Communists, aka the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. More about that in a minute.
On the way to our local digs, the beautiful just-opened Capri Hotel, where we were on the 24th floor, we visited the Champey Academy of Arts. After watching the children perform, some of us volunteered to learn dance moves from them. I asked if they could show me the wrist-bending move that had amazed me. They did. I tried to duplicate it, without success.
After lunch our guide Ling-er gave us a tour around our hotel to orient us to the area -best restaurants, massage places, etc. This useful activity happened in every city we visited. The afternoon was free to explore, go shopping or rest.
The next morning, we left very early to go to the Killing Fields Memorial at Choeung Ek with our local guide, 30-year-old, Ling-er, 1975 -1979 is known as the Cambodian Genocide. Pol Pot and his guerilla army, the Khmer Rouge, sought to turn Cambodia into a socialist, agrarian republic based on Marxism. Anyone who opposed these aims, particularly intellectuals and professionals – anyone whose hands were soft and not toughened by labor – was rounded up, imprisoned and executed. After 5 years of research of th grave sites, analysis indicates 20,000 grave sites with at least 1,386,734 victims of execution. Estimates of total deaths from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, it is estimated that during this period, a range of 1.7 to 2.2 out of a 1975 population of 8 million. In 1979 Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia and ousted the Khmer Rouge.
Ling-er spoke from deep experience of that time. During the Khmer regime she lost her father, grandparents, and 6 aunts and uncles – only her mother and aunt survived. As she explained her losses we could see her anger. She spoke with a quavering voice and an occasional tear. Another reason for her anger was that many members of the Pol Pot regime were still in the government, which is composed of the royalist party and Khmer Rouge leaders, who say they have “repented”. Ling-er kept saying “Where is the justice?” Being a guide seemed to have a therapeutic effect on her.
We walked through the fields, past many mounds. A memorial located at the museum consisted of 70 ft. tall slabs of concrete interspersed with rectangular columns of glass. These columns were filled with 1200 skulls. Also a monument of a woman holding a child which says “We will never forget”…”
After we returned to Phnom Penh and visited the infamous S-21 Tuol Sleng Genocide museum. A former school, it was turned into a torture center and security prison in the heart of the city. It was one of between 150 -190 torture and execution centers established by the Khmer Rouge. From 1976 – 1979 an estimated 20,000 people were held in S-21. We saw the torture rooms, the tiny open concrete cells where prisoners were chained to the floor. Most prisoners were simple peasants who had no idea why they were held and tortured. It is estimated that only 12 out of the 20,000 prisoners survived. See: www.britannica.com>topic>toul-sleng-genocide-museum. S-21 Tuol Sleng Genocide is named a Memory Register by UNESCO in July 2009.
Another thing unique to OAT is they always include the human factor. From S21 we went across the street to a small room where we met and spoke to two survivors of the Khmer Rouge terror. One, an older woman, had been 4 when she and her mother were taken to a forced labor camp. She told how late one night she snuck out, and dug up potato roots to eat as they were starving. She was caught by the guards. The next day they tied her to a post in the sun where she stayed for 8 hours while the guards covered her with red biting ants. The other was a man who had been orphaned by the war and put in an orphanage, where he was forced into hard labor. Both are now married with grandchildren but told us the nightmares never go away.
That evening we went to the Elephant Bar in the Raffles Hotel Le Royal to wash the sour taste out of our mouths. I had the best gin martini I’ve partaken in a long time. Jacqeline
Kennedy stayed here.
Next day, off by bus to Siem Reap. A unique part of OAT is that you never just go from point to point. Culture stops always along the way. This was a day of new tastes. On the way we stopped at a lotus pond to taste lotus seeds and roots. Not bad. Who knew?
We stopped to watch a lady operate a manual rice crusher – a method to separate the rice from the hulls. I tried it. I think I could do it for ½ hour followed by a ½ hour rest for about four hours total. It took some energy.
Tarantula Ranch. A rather attractive lady makes her livelihood hunting tarantulas, cooking them, then selling them at the village market. We followed her into the jungle. She stopped at a small hole in the ground and began to dig. About a foot down a spider popped out. She grabbed it with a gloved hand and carried it back to her kitchen. There she showed us how she pulled the fangs out with pliers. She then killed it by squeezing its head. She placed it in a frypan with quite a bit of cooking oil along with garlic, salt, pepper and a little sugar. After some minutes she removed it, let it cool, and offered it to the group to taste. I wasn’t the first to volunteer. After Petra took a bite, I followed. Not bad! Tasted like softshell crabs.
Arrived at Siem Reap and our beautiful hotel, Angkor Paradise. That night some of us chose to attend the Phare Circus. That evening, one of our most interesting evenings, was spent at a show of acrobats. Phare circus artists are students and graduates from Phare Ponleu Selpak (www.phareps.org) vocational training center in Battambang. The association was formed in 1994 by 9 young men coming home from a refugee camp after the Khmer Rouge regime. They were greatly helped through their PSTD during that time by an art teacher using drawing classes as therapy, and wanted to share this new skill among the poor, socially deprived and troubled youngsters in Battambang. They founded an art school, and a public school followed to offer free education. A music school and theatre school were next and finally, for the kids who wanted more, the circus school. Today more than 1,200 pupils attend their public school daily and 500 attend the alternative schools. Phare Ponleu Selpak also has extensive outreach programs, trying to help with the problems highlighted in their own backstories. See photo link attached below
The next day, off to a Floating Village. On the way we stopped at a small village where we rode in traditional buffalo-drawn carts. Then we moved to a pier where we embarked on a private boat. We cruised several miles to a huge lake, past several floating villages, until we stopped at a floating village, home to approximately 300 people. We visited the home of a fisherman and his family to discover how this isolated community went about building homes, gardens and schools on the water. His wife had been a midwife to those in the villages for 30 years, and was in the process of transferring her skills to her niece.
We continued on to Siem Reap and in the afternoon, and after checking into our hotel, we visited Wat Ta Prohm. Unlike Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm has been left the way it was found, covered by a dense jungle of trees and roots – just the way it was discovered by the French in the mid-1800’s. The site is most famous for its strangler fig trees, whose roots seemingly drip down over the temple. It was featured in the movie “Lara Croft – Tomb Raider”., recognized as a tribute.
The next morning, we went to Angkor Wat, a holy city that took centuries to build. The scale is breathtaking, sprawling across an area of about 96 square miles, encompassing hundreds of temples, each telling a story of the Khmer Empire’s grandeur and ingenuity The Khmer aristocrats who built the temples and monuments here in AD 800-1200 were motivated by their Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. We were greeted by a flock of Macquet monkeys and over 200 smiling faces of massive sculpted heads. The monkeys were all over the place. We looked up to an open window on the third level of a temple. There was a monkey gazing down at us. He looked as if he was about to give us a blessing.
Angkor Wat is a large pyramid temple built in the 12th century, surrounded by a moat 570 feet in width. The many bas-relief carvings are exquisite and in good condition, considering their age. Instead of only religious themes, they also depict scenes of everyday life. See attached photo link.
The next morning some of us toured the Banteay Srei, the “Citadel of Women”, a small 10th Century temple recognized for its beautiful, intricate carvings and dedicated to the Hindu gods Shiva and Parbati. On the way back we stopped at a local village where we visited a noodle-maker.
Next, we spent some time in the Angkor National Museum where we traced the history of the Khmer empire. Lots of interesting relics.
We then took a short trip to the opposite side of the Angkor moat. We gathered along the levee. Lada gave out glasses of wine, and we toasted Angkor, a nice final gesture.
After our toasting, we went to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, Vietnam. More later.
A la Prochaine,Chuck & Anzie
