Cambodia - Darryl

Wow, the past week or so has been very busy. The last time I blogged, we were in Bangkok, leaving for Cambodia the next day. Melissa and I had read in the Lonely Planet travel book that there are scams that occur on the bus ride from Bangkok to Siem Riep, Cambodia. The main one involves the bus taking its passengers to a travel agency a few kilometres away from the Thailand-Cambodia border, and making people pay more for their visa than if one went directly to the border to get it done. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened to us. Although our 6 hour bus ride only cost $12, and our visa cost $40 instead of the typical $20, it is more the principle of the matter. During this whole ordeal, we managed to meet 2 Canadian female backpackers (Pam and Emily) who were on the same bus, going through the same thing we were. It was nice to atleast have some Canadian support! So we arrived in Siem Reap with our new travel buddies and found a nice quiet guesthouse located in close proximity to many of the city's sights. We have actually been with Pam,Emily, and two others - Tom from Saskatchewan, and Wang from Red Deer, Alberta for most of this week.

Siem Reap is a very touristy city located in north-west Cambodia. The famous Angkor Temples, which we visted on Tuesday, are located only about 15 minutes outside of the city. The temples were simply amazing. It is almost unimaginable that these massive structures were built about 1200 years ago. The artwork and decoration was so elaborate. We actually visted 4 main temples, although there were so many more that we didn't get a chance to see. Angkor Wat is by far the most famous of all the temples for its size, and location (at the front entrance). My Favourite was the Ta Prohn, which actually has massive trees that are literally growing across the walls, and even through the walls. The mix of man vs nature is awesome.

On Wednesday we did a "floating village" tour, where we took a boat tour and drove through a little community consisting largely of Vietnamese refugees. They reside in boats that are built as homes, and literally are stationed in water. The community has similar services to a normal city, such as a police station, schools and shops. It was really neat to see people driving boats up and down the river serving as "convenience stores", or "gas stations". We even saw one house with a pool table!!! We were told by our tour guide that every year when the water levels get too high, these people are forced to leave their homes for a few months and they go live in the mountains nearby.

Thursday we left to come down to Phnom Penh, which is the capital city of Cambodia. The bus trip took about 6 hours. We have a great guesthouse right up against the water, and only costs $5 a night for the room! Phnom Penh is a really chaotic place. The city is about 1.5 million people large, and has a lot of history to it. Cambodia as a whole is a very poor country, and Phnom Penh really shows it. While there are nice parts to it, as a whole, the events of 1975-1979 have taken their toll on the city and its citizens.

Friday we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Killing Fields. For all you who don't know about the genocide, I'll give you a brief recap. The Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot overtook the government in the mid 1970s, and basically evacuated all cities for fear that the "educated" people would revolt. Pol Pot's utopia was to build an agrarian-based Communist society where everyone participated in forced labour. The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and more or less put an end to the Khmer Rouge regime. Tuol Sleng, formerly a high school, served as a prison and interrogation centre. The building was enclosed with electrified barbed wire and the old class rooms were turned into torture chambers. We had the chance to walk through the two buildings, which still have some of the beds that were used, and the cells where inmates were kept. Pictures of all of the inmates are on display, including many gruesome pictures illustrating the torture that these people went through. It is believed about 17,000 people were imprisoned here, with only 12 survivors throughout the 1975-1979 time period.

The Killing Fields, about a 20 minute drive from Tuol Sleng was where the prisoners were sent to die. It is believed that 20,000 people were killed here. Those who were executed were buried in these massive graves. We saw graves for women and babies, for those without heads, for those who were killed naked. They say that in order for the Khmer Rouge to save on ammunition, most of the people were killed by hammers, axes, sharp bamboo sticks, etc. Most victims were deemed intelligent, educated, or had some connection with former governments, and the majority of victims were Cambodian. Large craters are found everywhere throughout the site, and we could even see clothing, teeth, and bones in the ground - remnants of the events. A large stupa (a Bhuddist religious monument) was built to honour all the victims, with 17 levels high of skulls...

These two sites really gave me some chills. It is hard to believe that this only happened about 30 years ago, and that every Cambodian has likely been influenced by this event in some way shape or form. We noticed the other day that this country has a large percentage of its population that is under the age of 30, and this is likely one of the major reasons.

I have a much greater appreciation for the people of Cambodia and for what they have gone through. The people here are so nice and so pleasant that it makes it hard to imagine what this country experienced only 30 years ago. The emotional and psychological scarring from the Khmer Rouge must be so great, yet, does not seem that obvious in the people.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are headed to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (also known as Saigon). We will be in Vietnam for two weeks or so, and I'm really looking forward to seeing yet another country!

Talk soon.