Cambodia

Friday, November 6 continued. On the plane we went to fly from Bangkok, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was a short flight and after clearing customs and immigration relatively quickly, we were headed to our hotel for the night, an Intercontinental. During the drive to the hotel it became clear that Cambodia was still far away from being westernized and was not nearly as developed as where we had been in Thailand. Though there was one Kentucky Fried Chicken, other than a handful of buildings, there was no “shiny and new.” Our taxi driver's family had all been killed by the Khumer Rouge. He did say things were improving as more tourists were visiting the country, but it seemed like Phnom Penh still had a long way to go. The Intercontinental was quite nice. After checking in we wandered around the hotel and walked around a bit outside. Though there were many stalls with “stuff,” there really wasn't much to see or buy. Crossing the street was a bit challenging with mopeds and cars going in every which direction. We had dinner back at the hotel and called it an early night.

Saturday, November 7. Today was a bit of a lazy day. After sleeping in, we grabbed some breakfast and took a dip in the pool. Around 2:00 pm we headed over to the hotel where we would be staying for the next two days and where we would be meeting our tour. Though the hotel was not as fancy as the Intercontinental, it seemed to be in a little better part of town, right along the Tonle Sap River and close to the Royal Palace. We then hopped in a tuk tuk and went to check out Phnom Penh's only casino. Apparently there used to be many more casinos, but the government shut them all down after Cambodians lost their money (which, I'm guessing, was very little to begin with). The casino is only open to foreigners. I, happily, won $100 on the penny slots and called it quits. Keith did not fare as well. We then headed back to our hotel to meet up with our tour group. There are approximately 16 people in our tour group ranging in age from mid 20s to Betty, who just celebrated her 80th birthday. Once again we were the only Americans (though Nadia currently lives in Boston but is from the Ukraine). Most of the people on the tour were from Australia or New Zealand. We had a Cambodian guide name So On (sp?). He was a bit hard to understand at times, but had an infectious laugh. After having a meet and greet, we all headed out to dinner. We dined at a non-profit restaurant where all of the money goes to support an orphanage. Cambodia is extremely poor – it's probably the poorest place I have ever visited. Many families can't afford their children, or the parents have been killed by land mines or disease. During dinner the children of the orphanage put on several dances. It was heart-breaking on one hand but comforting on the other knowing that they weren't living on the streets. The children genuinely looked to be having fun and were quite good dancers. At the end of the dances they passed around sheets with a picture and the name of the different children available for adoption. It definitely pulled at my heart -strings. After dinner we headed back to the hotel where I called it night. Keith headed back to casino where he fared a little better.

Sunday, November 8. Our tour had officially begun. After breakfast we boarded a bus to go to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (aka S-21). Originally a high school during the reign of Pol Pot, his security forces turned it into a detention center in 1975 where over 17,000 people were tortured and either killed here or at the Killing Fields. It was pretty hard to imagine the atrocities that were committed here to men, women and children (many of whom had done nothing except for being the wrong profession or wearing glasses). My Lonely Planet describes it as the following: “Tuol Sleng demonstrates the darkest side of the human spirit that lurks within us all. It is not for the squeamish, but a visit here is instrumental in understanding Cambodia's past and present.” From there, we headed to Choeung Ek, otherwise known as the Killing Fields. People were brought here to be killed when they ran out of room for the bodies at S-21. 80 or so of the 129 mass graves were dug up in the late 1980's to provide proof of the atrocities that were committed by the Khumer Rouge. It was a solemn sight. In the center, they have a large monument which contains the skulls of the 900 people they recovered. As a side note, in the Cambodian culture in order for your soul to go to heaven, the body needs to be cremated. By having these mass graves and not cremating the bodies made the atrocities even worse. Next we headed back to the hotel for lunch and a little rest. In the afternoon we headed over to the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace was a stark contrast to what was going on outside. To get to the Royal Palace we needed to walk through one of the local markets. It was an experience (and not necessarily a good one). There was a strong smell of rot, there was hunks of raw meat sitting out with flies, half dead fish, it was hot, humid, muggy and very dirty. There were mopeds, cars and tuk tuks going every which way so you had to try hard not to get hit. Children begging everywhere. I was happy to get to the Royal Palace. Similar to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, it is a complex of temples and beautiful buildings (though not quite as fancy as Bangkok). From there, we headed to the National Museum which contained many pieces of Khumer art. We headed back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner. For dinner we all dined at a nice Khumer restaurant nestled in some of the back streets of Phnom Pehn. As a side note, Cambodia was once the center of the Khumer Empire that included much of what is now Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Unfortunately I was starting not to feel well so I didn't each much, but Keith thought the food was quite good.

Monday, November 9. The day started very early for me. My upset stomach culminated at about 3:00 am and there were many trips to the bathroom from then on. Unfortunately today was also travel day – we were to take a 5 – 6 hour bus ride from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap. I wasn't looking forward to it. I took a couple of amodium ad and hoped for the best. Our first stop was at a market which sold everything from fruit to fired crickets and spiders. One young girl had a tarantula crawling on her (though the teeth had been removed). Apparently Cambodians eat everything – except rocks – I'm guessing because the county is so poor they have to eat whatever they can. The market was quite dirty and as soon as you stepped off the bus you had children trying to sell you anything and everything (a very common occurrence in Cambodia). Our second stop was a bridge that was build in the 4th century. There had been no restoration to the bridge and it was amazingly well preserved (and still in use). We then grabbed some lunch just outside of Siem Reap and checked into our hotel. Thankfully the ride went okay for me and I was starting to feel a little bit better. Driving through Cambodia was something else. The country is shockingly poor. People leave in run down shacks with little to no plumbing or electricity. There is garbage everywhere. Words are hard to describe the poverty that these people live in. A governor makes a good salary at $120 a month, a teacher, around $40 a month. The government seems not to care about the squander that the people live in. Children literally poop in a bag on the side of the street and toss the bag wherever. Back to the day - after a short rest we headed over the to the Temples of Angkor. They are, in a word, spectacular and are sometimes referred to as the 8th wonder of the world. If you've never heard or seen them before, its worth a google. Essentially between the 9th and the 13th century, the Khumer kings built a whole complex which contains a number of different temples and a walled city which at one time lived 500,000 people. It was abandoned in the 13th century during a war with Thailand. It sat untouched for almost 400 years. In the late 1800's it was discovered by a French naturalist and in the early 1900's the French made a huge undertaking to clear away all of the jungle vegetation that was overtaking Angkor and to restore and rebuild a number of the structures. A number of statutes and carvings had been stolen or lost, but overall, Angkor was amazingly well-preserved. Our first stop in Angkor was Phom Bakheng, one of temples. After a bit of a hike and climbing some steep stairs, we watched a beautiful sunset. We then headed back to the hotel Everyone was pretty tired from the long day, so we all decided just to have dinner at the hotel before calling it a night.

Tuesday, November 10. Today was a very early start as we meet our group at 5:00 am to go watch surise at Agkor Wat – the most famous of all of the temples. It's the largest religious building in the world that is surrounded by a HUGE moat. It was built by Suryavarman II, who reigned from 1112 to 1152. It was to honor the god Vishnu and it was to be his funeral temple. There is a large reflection pool outside of Agkor Wat and it provides a great place to watch the sun rise. After sunrise we headed to Ta Prohm (probably my most favorite spot in all of Angkor). It looks like something out of Indiana Jones and it in fact provided the set for the movie Tomb Raider. It's another one of the temples, but whereas the French untook huge measures to clear away the jungle that was overtaking Angkor, this temple was left much as it looked when the French found it years ago. There are huge trees and roots growing right in, over and through the stonework. It was incredible. After Ta Prohm we headed back to the hotel for some breakfast and a bit of a rest. We gathered back together around 1:00 pm to head back to Angkor for lunch. Next we wandered around Angkor Thom – the fortified city. Angkor Thom was built by Jayavarman II, who reigned from 1181 to 1219. The walls of the city are 12 km long, 6 meters high and 12 meters wide. Angkor Thom contained many wonderful and amazing sights. We then watched another beautiful sunset. After heading back to the hotel and a quick shower we went out to dinner where we watched traditional Cambodian dancers. Next we visited the night market, where you could buy wood and stone carvings, silk, silver and souvenirs. They even had fish massages where you would put your feet in a pool and fish would eat all the dead skin off the bottoms of them. We then called it a night.

Wednesday, November 11. Today was yet another early start (though not as early as the day before). Our first stop of the day was the actual inside of Angkor Wat. The central temple consists of three levels, each of which encloses a square that are interlinked by galleries. Lonely Planet says, “it'll blow your socks of!” It did not disappoint. Wandering through there you could imagine the splendor of what it looked like back then. The carvings and etching in the walls were amazingly well preserved. The only downside to the visit was Keith getting pooped on by one of the thousands of bats that live up in the ceilings. After a few hours wandering around Angkor Wat we got back on the bus and stopped at a small silver shop where the silver is 92.9% pure. I of course bought a small bowl. Next we visited Artisans d'Angkor, an artisan's school where they make (and we watched them make) wooden and stone carvings, silk weaving and silk paintings. It's was neat to be able to see how much work goes into all of the items they sell on the street. Back to the hotel we went for lunch and a bit of a rest. For the afternoon you had a your choice of a number of things to do. Keith and I opted to go see a traditional Cambodian floating village (along with 4 other people). After a 35 minute bus ride and a 45 minute boat ride, we arrived at the floating village -a very cool sight to see. There were about 100 houses all built about 8 meters off the ground. Approximately five months of the year the ground is flooded and hence the need to build the houses so high. There was just a handful of tourists there and it provided a real insight into Cambodian life. We then hopped in an even smaller boat where we spent 30 minutes or so paddling through the mangroves. On the way back, we were treated to an incredible sunset. For our last evening we all dined together and then had some ice cream. It had been a really good group of people and we had many laughs. I was sad to say goodbye to them.

Thursday, November 12. Our tour officially ended after breakfast. Keith and I had one more day and night in Siem Reap before flying off to Laos. We spent the morning at the Angkor National Museum. It wasn't too crowded and it wasn't too big, so it was a perfect way to spend a morning. After the Museum we checked out of our hotel and into the hotel where we would be spending the next night. We took a dip in the salt water pool (which was quite fancy) and had some lunch. Around 2:00 pm So On's brother-in-law picked us up in his tuk tuk and Keith and I went to go see a few more of the sights of Angkor. We started with a short helium balloon ride (we went up approximately 130 meters). It provided a spectacular view of all of Angkor Wat. Next we visited a few more temples and feed some monkeys . We headed back to our hotel around 5:30, showered and headed out for the evening. I did a bit of shopping at the night market and Keith got his feet eaten by the fish. We then both got back and shoulder massages, followed by dinner. We then called it a night.

Friday, November 13. After breakfast, we checked out and headed for the airport. We encountered a parade which were welcoming back soldiers who had been stationed by the Thailand border. They shut down the road for a bit and I have to admit I got a little nervous that we were going to miss our flight to Laos. Fortunately after about 20-30 minutes, the parade was over and we made it to the airport with plenty of time. We were off to Vientiane, Laos. More on Laos later. A few final thoughts on Cambodia. The Temples of Angkor were truly one of the most spectacular places I've ever been. For being under the jungle for 400 years, it was amazing how well everything was preserved. Cambodia however was shockingly poor and I saw a few things that I wish I hadn't seen.