Cambodia

So you've been to school for a year or two,
and you know you've seen it all...

Dead Kennedys, Holiday in Cambodia

For most Americans, Cambodia brings back memories of death and destruction. During my lifetime, the history of that small nation has been one of almost ceaseless tragedy. It does not need to be that way.

Cambodia was the jewel of Indochina. The southern beaches were resorts, and Phnom Penh was called "The Paris of Asia." Cambodia seemed to have escaped the violence of de-colonization that lead to the Vietnam War.

This changed. The Ho Chi Minh Trail extended into parts of Cambodia, and was used by the North Vietnamese to resupply their armies in the south. This lead to the "secret bombings" of Cambodia that were one of the articles of impeachment that passed the House committee before Nixon resigned as president. It also lead to the invasion of Cambodia in 1970, that sparked a spasm of protest throughout the United States that culminated in the shootings at Kent State University.

After the US military left Vietnam, the fighting continued in Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 13, 1975, and forced the government of Lon Nol into exile. This lead to one of the most brutal campaigns of genocide the world has ever seen: The forced evacuation of every city and the attempt to convert the entire nation into an agrarian society. The result was the enslavement of a nation. Any dissent was brutally crushed. The high school in Phnom Penh was converted to a prison where dissidents were tortured and killed.

In 1979, after several border incidents, the Khmer Rouge attempted to invade Vietnam, and the Vietnamese Army crushed the Khmer Rouge, and the reign of terror was over.

The terror, though, was replaced by famine. The Vietnamese were an occupying power, and the Khmer Rouge still controlled the remote countryside near the Thai border. The fighting continued into the 1990's. Eventually, the Vietnamese ceased their occupation, and allowed a Cambodian government to be elected. The balance of power was tricky, on one side was co-Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was allied with Vietnam, and on the other was co-Prime Minister Sihanouk, who sided more closely with the Khmer Rouge. (After my visit, the coalition fell apart, and now Hun Sen rules with almost dictatorial power.)

Meanwhile, back in the jungles of Cambodia lies one of the greatest man-made treasures in the world, the temples of Angkor Wat. The temples represent the pinnacle of Khmer architecture. Around 900 years old, these places suffer from decay and neglect. I have wanted to see them for over a decade, since I learned of their existence and saw old pictures of their beauty. When I started to plan my trip to Southeast Asia, I knew I had to add a trip to Angkor Wat to my itinerary.

In Bangkok, I packed a smaller travel bag for the journey to Cambodia. The remaining luggage I left at the Amari Airport hotel, where I'd spend one night on my return. This single bag I checked onto the Thai Airlines flight to Phnom Penh. This part of the airport was rather crowded, and primitive. The terminal area did not have modern jetways, but was essentially a large room where you'd board a bus for the drive to the plane. The terminal had departures for Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Pyong Yang, Lhasa, Katmandu, etc... The area also had very few seats. I had to check in two hours before the flight, and was bored.

The flight itself was uneventful. I was met at the airport by a representative of Dietholm Travel, who were my local hosts. A stop at the bank first allowed me to cash some travelers checks. I hired the guide to give me a tour of Phnom Penh. After checking into the hotel, the first destination was Wat Phnom, the central temple. The word "phnom" in Cambodian means "hill." and Wat Phnom is on the central hill of Phnom Penh. This temple has suffered from years of neglect. During the Khmer Rouge era, the temple was completely neglected and suffered from the elements. The Vietnamese also looted many Cambodian temples during their occupation, and this temple also suffered from some smoke and fire damage that has not been repaired. There were many children at the temple, and many pimps, attempting to sell the sexual services of other children.

Next, we went to the Grand Palace and Silver Pagoda. Prince Norodom Sihanouk lives in the palace, so many parts were off-limits. But, there were still some temples in the palace grounds open, as well as the pagoda. There were very few people in the complex, maybe five. Quite a change from Bangkok, where people were queuing at the temples. Cambodia has its own emerald Buddha, and there is also a "footprint" of Buddha in gold leaf. Huge.

The silver pagoda was fascinating, it has a floor made literally of silver. (I'm amazed the looters didn't take it.) Plus, one could see in several areas an amnesty program for looted relics. Prince Sihanouk is offering cash rewards to people who return relics.

After the temples came the more disturbing visits in the area. We next went out to Cheung Ek, better known as the Killing Fields. This is the location of one of the mass graves from the genocide by the Khmer Rouge. At the center is a temple filled with the recovered skulls of the dead, seventeen layers of them, with literally hundreds to thousands of skulls on each layer. Away from the central temple, one finds pits where bones have been recovered, and as the earth yields up the bones, it is inevitable that one is walking across the graves of the victims. At some places, there are pieces of bone still embedded in the ground.

I've never visited Auschwitz, or any of the locations of the Nazi extermination camps, but I sense that even these have had some effort to provide some amelioration to smooth over the most horrific aspects of the camps. The Japanese POW camps on the Death Railway have been sanitized. Cheung Ek has had no such effort, it displays the full emotional blow of how sick mankind can be. Because of shortages of bullets, the Khmer Rouge would take to smashing the skulls of their victims with wooden clubs to kill them, and when the executioners grew tired of their work, they joined the victims. You could see where this happened, as the shards of skull were part of the grounds on which you walked.

It would get worse.

The last stop of the tour was Tuol Sleng, the primary prison/torture center for the Khmer Rouge. As I mentioned above, they converted a high school into a prison -- this was the place. Political prisoners were brought here, tortured, and the lucky ones were killed. Scaffolds remain where they hanged some people. The classrooms were subdivided into holding cells, some were so small that a person could not lie down in them. A cell, four feet by three feet, no windows, just brick walls was the home for a prisoner. Boxes of photographs and records of confessions extracted are also present. The society just went mad.

Here, my guide told me a bit about his experience, as he lived through this madness. He was among the many who were forcibly removed from the cities, and his family went to Kampong Chhnang, and from there to Battambang. They could not return to his father's hometown, as his father was an officer in Lon Nol's army, and if that was revealed, he and his entire family would have ended up at Tuol Sleng, or more likely, Cheung Ek. The guide's name, Samrang, is Cambodian for "lucky" and he was indeed a lucky man. His entire family survived the experience, and he is now the father of three children.

I did not eat dinner that night, I was not hungry.

The next morning I woke early for the trip to Siem Reap. It was still dark when the guide met me for the ride to Pochentong Airport. Actually, it was as dark as in the country, there were no street lights in Phnom Penh, and at 5AM, no one was about. The area was lit solely by a few windows where people were already awake, and the shine of the moon though the clouds. When my ride arrived, the headlights were bright. Check in at Pochentong was quick, and the normal procedure of walking through a metal detector was not present. I'd have expected a greater threat of terrorism in Cambodia than in Albuquerque, so I'd have expected much stronger security. In terms of hostages for money, what could be better than a plane full of rich Western tourists? (A: Gjb cynarf shyy bs Jrfgrea gbhevfgf.)

There were actually three scheduled flights, each leaving about 2 minutes apart, from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Each plane was a Russian made propeller plane, probably dating back to the late 1950's. Each plane was full, the vast majority of passengers were European. I was told that there was another American couple on the second flight, making three Americans going to Siem Reap. A significant number were UN employees, and other relief workers. Also, a fair number of wealthy Cambodians were going to Siem Reap for the water festival.

At the airport, I was met by another guide, who would escort me for the next two days for $40. I checked into my hotel by 9:30AM and we set out for the temples of Angkor Wat.

It should be noted that the economy of Cambodia is quite different than that of any other country I've ever visited. The local government usually had enough wealth to support some economy. The currency was backed by something, whether it was reserves in the Bank of England, or the wealth of Malaysia. Regardless, the government could print some money, and it would be worth something. This was not the case in Cambodia. There is Cambodian currency, the rial. Approximately 2500 rials are worth one US dollar. However, merchants do not want rials, and very few prices are expressed in rials. Instead, the prices are in United States dollars. The banks provide US dollars, relief workers are paid in US dollars, and menus are in US dollars. The only time rials come into use are for fractional dollars and for government transactions, such as stamps.

The people are trying to Westernize, but the country lacks the infrastructure. Streets are rarely paved. They have electricity, and telephones, but a public transport system is non-existent, and industry and manufacturing are rare. Their lust for Western luxuries leads to trademark theft. Two that stood out in Phnom Penh were McSams restaurant (burgers, with a logo sneakingly similar to that of McDonalds) and Pizza Hot (ditto, Pizza Hut). There are some computers, and in Siem Reap, I did see a store front for Compaq computers and "e-mail lessons."

Back to Siem Reap. The temple of Angkor Wat is actually a collection of temples, over 100, ranging in age form about 1400 years old, to about 800 years old. They represent the pinnacle of Khmer civilization, and stretch over hundreds of square miles. The most famous, and most beautiful temple is Angkor Wat. The wat is five miles north of Siem Reap. First, one passes through a park entrance, where one purchases a park permit for $40. Then, one drives about a mile further, where there is a tee in the road. In front is a body of water, about one hundred feet across. You follow this to the left for a while, and then the road makes a sharp right turn of 90 degrees, as does the water. A half mile down the road, and there's a raised causeway across the water that leads to a gate, two hundred feet long. Behind the gate, you can see three towers rising towards the sky. This is the entrance to Angkor Wat. We parked, and approached.

The causeway is about twenty feet over the surface of the water, and acts as a dam between the two sides of the moat. The island in the center of the moat is approximately a square kilometer. (I'm not exactly certain, the guide used "kilometer" and "mile" interchangeably, and while smaller than a square mile, the island certainly seemed larger than a square kilometer.) The causeway is as wide as a two lane road, and it is met by a gate at the far end. The gate extends along the inner shore of the moat until met by forests. The gate is actually a building, with rooms, and many ornate carvings.

The carvings were one of the great beauties of this place, very highly detailed, yet stretching for hundreds of feet. There were also Buddhas located in areas where the monks would pray.

The view of Angkor Wat unfolded before my eyes as I passed through the gate. Words do not exist to describe the feelings of awe I felt as I continued to walk down the causeway towards this temple. It was a long walk, as the temple seemed to grow in front of me. Beside the walkway, about one third of the way from the gate, were two buildings that in the past were the libraries of the temple. Further down were two dried out lake beds, which must have acted as reflecting pools for visitors.

Rather than enter the temple directly, we walked around the temple, to see it from different angles. I took many photographs, the best of which was from the west northwest, looking across one of the dried out pools. Nearby was a still functioning monastery, on the grounds of the wat itself. These monks used Angkor Wat as the temple it is supposed to me.

We walked all the way around the temple, and on the south side started entered the covered walkway surrounding the temple. The best carvings were preserved along here, those of the battles between Khmer and Siam. The detail has survived for hundreds of years, and finally some of the UN countries are making the effort to preserve this heritage.

After completing the circuit, we entered the wat itself. Again, we passed people praying at different locations. The temple is built on four levels, and the climb from level to level was fairly steep. Stairs were cut, but the steps were often as much as two feet in height, and the cut in was often six inches or less. My foot would only fit the cut sideways. To climb up to the top, I adopted a quadripedal approach, and scrambled up the staircase as if I were climbing rocks! It was efficient, and a surprise for the few Cambodians present in the wat.

Higher levels included areas for pools of water, and from the top, one had a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. The feeling of awe did not subside inside the building, but was joined by other feelings, including a little fear as I looked back down the staircase! Somehow, I managed to make it back down, and out of the temple.

Angkor Wat is a funerary temple, so it faces west, and the setting sun. All the other temples visited faced east, and at each I was met by many children attempting to sell toys and trinkets. Originally, the wats would have huge wooden doors, but as time passed, the wood rotted away, and the temples were open to the elements.

Before leaving for lunch, we quickly visited one such temple left for the elements, Ta Prohm. This temple was covered with vines and roots, and has been preserved in this condition. It still required climbing to get around.

The Cambodians would take a long lunch. Probably, this is more related to the mid-day heat of the sun, and the lack of shade by the temples themselves. I was taken back to the hotel where I'd read a few short stories and have a quick lunch for $4. I had beef with garlic and peanuts. I talked the driver into keeping lunch down to three hours, he wanted a four hour lunch, from 11-3. I was met again at 2PM, and we then went to Angkor Thom.

Angkor Thom is even larger than Angkor Wat, and had a wall surrounding it. Thom is (probably) the word for City, as there were many temples inside. Our first destination was the Bayon, a temple renown for the forty nine "four-face" columns, or Bayons. These feature the smiling face of one of the Khmer Kings. Anywhere within the Bayon you go, at least one face is looking down on you. The number of columns, 49, was the number of provinces within the Khmer Kingdom.

At the Bayon, I was joined by a small troop of children, who followed me everywhere. Instead of begging for money, they were fanning me with fans, but only when my back was turned. I recall one was a particularly vigorous, and violent, fanner, her strokes against the air with here fan were quick, strong strokes, more reminiscent of how one might beat the air.

At the end of the visit, I tipped the leader a dollar.

On the Bayon were carvings describing a war between the Khmer and the Siamese. This war was a four year affair, fought from 1177 to 1181 AD. The Siamese defeated the Khmer and occupied Angkor Thom. It took four years from the Khmers to recapture their capitol. The Bayon is a temple dedicated to that victory. The local town, Siem Reap, is also named after that victory. In English, "Siem Reap" means "Siam Defeated."

While in the Bayon, one of the monks offered me the opportunity to pray. As I am not Buddhist, I declined the offer, politely. I would not feel comfortable praying at any religion I did not normally practice. (Hence, I also did not ring the prayer bells in Bangkok, either.) I don't think it is fair to treat others beliefs as an exhibit for tourism.

After the visit to the Bayon, we visited the Bauphon. This temple was further back from the road, and the causeway had the two surrounding pools of water intact. We were only able to see the outside of the temple, as the inside was being restored.

So, we next went to the Royal Enclosure. When Angkor Thom was the capitol of the Khmer Empire, the royal family lived here. Today, only two temples, and some forest, remain. The two temples were Phinacalcos and Preah Palilay. These were older temples. Heading back to the road, we visited Tep Pranam, a newer temple that houses a large Buddha.

Back at the road we went to the royal terrace. This includes the parade of elephants and the terrace of the leper king. The parade of elephants included ornately carved trunks along the wall. This terrace was where the royal family viewed parades.

The last stop of the day was Preah Kahn, a temple just east of Angkor Thom. This temple was built to honor the king's father, and each doorway gradually became smaller, until the visitor was properly supplicate before the Buddha at the center of the temple.

This represented the end of the day. I was taken back to my hotel, where I rested and then headed out to the Bayon Restaurant for dinner. This was about a mile from my hotel, walked on foot. The guidebook recommended another restaurant, but it had closed, so this had become the place where people went to eat. The society restaurant of Siem Reap, as it were.

I had a lovely dinner of spiced prawns and frogs' legs. The prawns were tasty, but were cooked entirely in their shells, so the flavor of the sauce did not join with that of the meat. The frogs' legs were good. After dinner, I walked back to my hotel and went to sleep.

The next day began early, and featured the most exciting part of my adventure. The day was Bon Om Touk, the Water Festival.

In the middle of Cambodia is a large lake, called the Ton Le Sap. This lake is fed by the waters of the Mekong River. As the Mekong flowed out of China, the overflow would spill out and fill the Ton Le Sap, until it flooded the surrounding fields and rice paddies. Bon Om Touk celebrated the day when the direction of the flow changed, from filling the Sap to draining. This occurred in November, as the monsoon rains ended and the dry season begins. Eventually, the water drains the sap to a low level, and the monsoons begin again, starting the cycle all over.

Today was the day were the waters' flow changed direction. To celebrate, the Cambodians held boat races in the moat around Angkor Wat. We'd be in attendance.

Before the celebrations, we had more touring to do. The destination for the morning was Bantay Srei. Bantay Srei is the most ornate carvings surviving the troubles in Cambodia. The detail and exquisite workmanship are unequaled. But, Bantay Srei is much closer to the Thai border, and the refuges of the Khmer Rouge. To reach the temples, I needed to hire a bodyguard.

This, we did. The army wanted $100, we negotiated down to $70 for four hours for a bodyguard. The guard was a private in the Cambodian army, armed with an AK-47, and supposed to defend me if we were attacked by the Khmer Rouge. Just six months previous, the Khmer Rouge had kidnaped two British relief workers and held them for ransom, so the threat was very real. Ownership of the area surrounding Bantay Srei changed regularly, so at times the area was off limits.

We passed several checkpoints on the long drive to the temples. Once there, the guard stayed near the vehicle as we examined the ruins of Bantay Srei. Some others had also hired guards, and were already there, so it was fairly safe that day.

I spent almost as much time at Bantay Srei as I did at Angkor Wat, even though the temple itself was much smaller. There were so many finely detailed carvings it was amazing. (For those familiar with Venetian art, picture the kind of carving work Canaletto would have done had he been a sculptor and not a painter.)

After spending time there, we stopped by Pre Rup, a very decayed temple. We then dropped off the guard.

I gave the guard a five dollar tip. At that point, my guide informed me that the tip was almost two months' pay for the guard; the Cambodian Army pays them $3 per month as privates. I was shocked. No wonder the guard was so grateful! I knew Cambodia was poor, but the magnitude of the poverty was not apparent until that point. I think nothing of a $40 purchase, to the guard, that's more than a year's wages.

We had a couple more stops before lunch. First was the East Mebon, a temple with many carvings of elephants. Also at the East Mebon were sheep, live, wild sheep. The last temple was Ta Som. It was old, and we walked the ruins. Lunch was shorter, as we had to prepare for the races.

The boat races are the sporting event in Siem Reap. Most of the people in the province lined the moats. In attendance was the governor of the province, the commanding general, and one of Prince Sihanouk's sons. They were seated in the VIP stand.

Also invited into the VIP stand was James Armstrong. Yep, I was one of the few Westerners who watched the races, and I brought my camera. (None of the pictures were that impressive, I was working on some multi-exposure experiments. A couple other Westerners were invited into the VIP stand, we filled the bottom rows.

There were 27 boats in the boat races, 26 were from different Cambodian teams, and one was made up of Westerners from the UN visitors. The UN boat was the only boat to have women at the oars, all the rest of the boats were men. They certainly looked out of place, but were clearly having a good time, along with everyone else.

The boats have no standard size. The smallest had 11 oarsmen, the largest had 43. The pairings also were never explained. Instead, there were a series of races, each race a head-to-head heat between two boats. It wasn't even a direct knock-out competition, as sometimes, the losing boat with race again. My guide assured me that there was a championship involved, but how they reached a champion was never explained.

The boat races continued for two hours then the crowds broke up. I was told that the races would continue the next day. This concluded my last day at Siem Reap. I had dinner at the Bayon again, this time chicken with cashews, beef noodles, and Cambodian rice. Decent food, but not as highly spiced as I like. Overall, the food in Cambodia was bland, when compared to other places I had visited.

I was met the next morning for my plane to Bangkok, and then Beijing. I had a long wait at the Siem Reap airport for my flight, then again, another wait at Pochentong airport. I really enjoyed my visit to Cambodia, and need to go back. I never visited the Roulos group, or the Western Barray. Two days was not enough time to even scratch the surface of the treasures hidden in the Cambodian jungles.

Because of the unreliability of the schedules for Royal Air Cambodge, I was booked with a four hour stopover in Phnom Penh. As I had no transport, I went to the Royal Thai counter, to see if I could fly standby back to Bangkok. I waited, and waited. Eventually, I was called, and the standby space was available. It was a middle seat, but the flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok was short.

Once I boarded the flight, I found an empty aisle seat, so I moved, anyway.

I arrived back in Bangkok mid-afternoon. I debated whether or not to take a taxi into downtown, for a last visit. Knowing Bangkok traffic, that was a bad idea. Instead, I ventured to some shops, and bought a few gifts. Dinner was a buffet, which was OK. I slept well that night, in anticipation of a visit to the People's Republic of China.

Duck on into China.