This is a
continuation of Ann’s description of her “Ancient Kingdoms” trip to SE
Asia. For the first entry covering
Thailand, click here, and for the second entry covering Laos, click here
Feb. 7th to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The next day we were on a one hour flight to Phnom Penh,
the largest city as well as the political, economic, and cultural center of
Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy but now under a sort of
democracy but according to our extremely forthright new guide, Leng, elections
are rigged so that the ruling power still retain corrupt people from the
original Khmer Rouge, which Leng referred to as the period of the Cambodian
Holocaust. It was in Phnom Penh where
almost every single person, a teacher or a tailor, were rounded up and marched to the
countryside, and there they were worked or starved to death. The city's small class of skilled or educated
professionals was systematically murdered by Pol Pot's henchmen, or fled into
exile. All money, homes, and possessions were confiscated and often burned and
family members dispersed. Even our guide, who was 4 at the time, said his
father left the house & never returned.
Despite being liberated from the homicidal Khmer Rouge by
the Vietnamese back in 1979, Phnom Penh hasn’t fully recovered. However, things
are slowly improving, although roads remain shabby, traffic appeared chaotic
and poverty was very evident many places we went. It appears that this
institutionalized government corruption has put wealth into the hands of a new
rich class who can afford the upscale restaurants and fancy hotels and
naturally the increasing numbers of tourists are helping to improve the
infrastructure as well as the developing economy. And it certainly seemed as if the young men
and women were grabbing life in bucketfuls to live as fast and furiously as
they could.
After checking into our hotel, we enjoyed a visit to the
Champey Academy of Arts, a sort of makeshift school where children ages 5 and
up can attend classes in music, dance and painting for free. The school was established to reintroduce
Cambodian’s songs and movement and instruments to the next generation since all
of this was totally destroyed under Pol Pot. We were treated to a dance
demonstration by a group of adorable youngsters and even participated in one of
their dances.
Today, February 8th, we entered into a very dark period
seeing for ourselves the results of a madman let loose. It was 40 years ago
that the dictator Pol Pot murdered his own countrymen in Cambodia, killing all
the doctors, teachers, Buddhist monks, nuns, engineers and anyone with a degree
or wealth. His idea was to create a
revolution to turn Cambodia into an agrarian style socialistic society. He literally forced these men, women and
children to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced
labor projects. The combined effects of executions, forced labor, malnutrition,
and poor medical care caused the deaths of approximately 25 percent of the
Cambodian population. In all, an estimated 1.7 to 3 million people, of
approximately a population of 7 million, died due to the policies of his
three-year premiership. In 1979, after the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, Pol Pot fled
to the jungles of southwest Cambodia, and the Khmer Rouge government collapsed.
From 1979 to 1997, he and a remnant of the old Khmer Rouge operated near the
border of Cambodia and Thailand, where they clung to power, with nominal United
Nations recognition as the rightful government of Cambodia.
We were told that the war nickname “Pol Pot” was chosen
from the following two words: Politique Potentielle or political
potential! The man was a pathological
egomaniac, xenophobic, and determined to show up the other communist countries
by his single minded goal of a pure communism on the fastest track ever
achieved! To do this, his power had to
be absolute & all means justified the ends.
He slaughtered in the cruelest imaginable way to achieve his goal! Hard to believe such a despot existed and in
our recent lifetime. If you wore
eyeglasses you were jailed & killed.
He was determined to eliminate anyone he suspected of having an
education!! Neighbors were tortured to expose neighbors, mostly with fabrications
and lies. Women and children ended up in
one of the hundreds of killing fields.
To achieve his goal of a utopian farm nation, all private property was
confiscated; there were no books, money, prayers or music and definitely no
expression of love or sex which was strictly forbidden. His was a paranoid drive to rid the country
in the service of his anti intellectual policies so that he would have only an
uneducated rural peasantry left to be indoctrinated with his "ideal"
ideology.
There is so much more, but it is impossible to relate it
all. We met this morning with one of the
last two survivors of the Tuol Sleng Prison where only seven people of the
16,000 imprisoned there came out alive after being repeatedly tortured, starved
and shackled in their cells. Mr. Chum Mey, a man 85 years old who lived through
the Khmer Rouge, the darkest time in his country was blindfolded, his hands
tied behind his back and accused of being a CIA operative, a lie told by a
neighbor. He spent only four months in
prison cell #22 but during that time suffered a broken finger from attempting
to defend himself during beatings. He
had his toenails pulled out and was tortured with electric shocks placed in his
ears. His wife & two children were
murdered, but because he was a farmer and mechanic who could repair tractors
and sewing machines, he proved useful in being able to fix typewriters in the
prison where coerced confessions were recorded.
He lost six of his siblings, only his youngest brother survives. In 1979
he remarried and had six more children and now has four grandchildren. He retired in 1993 and has written a book
about his experiences called simply, Survivor.
I have a photo of the jail cell he was locked in for four
months, shackled to the floor, before this prison was liberated by the
Vietnamese.
As you can imagine, walking through Choeung Ek, one of
the many killing fields used to exterminate men, women and children was
extremely painful. The murders took
place in the dead of night, people having been bused to the site, digging their
own graves and then being bludgeoned to death. To cover up the screams loud
speakers were strategically placed in tree tops blasting music so any neighbors
were unsuspecting of the crimes being committed. After walking through both the
prison and killing fields, everyone had very heavy hearts, but eventually even
the Cambodians are looking toward a brighter future. This city now has a vibrant urgency to make
up for the horrors & nightmare of the past. They recently built a huge
casino and are driving nice cars or
riding on their motorbikes, eating out & apparently enjoying
themselves. Life is returning to Phnom
Penh because it is a city of young people who have only read about or heard
from their families what happened in their country but are personally untouched
by it. It is only their parents and
especially their elderly relatives whose memories are still strong. I personally will never forget seeing bones
and bits of cloth rising up from the sandy floor of the killing fields and
especially the killing tree, so called because that is where children were
bashed to death. The inhumanity that can
exist in this world with a Hitler or a Pol Pot must never be forgotten.
Of course it was a very sad and somber group who left behind
these horrific images to continue touring that day and attempt to enjoy our
typical Cambodian lunch. Afterwards we
drove by air conditioned bus to the King's Palace, a very large compound which
was exquisitely kept & beautifully landscaped. The Cambodian King, King Norodom Sihamoni is
a figure head only, with no power at all, a man who was a dancer & dance
teacher in France, he is 62 years of age and unmarried, but currently residing
in the residential portion of the Palace grounds. Here we also marveled at the
extravagant Silver Pagoda, a structure with a floor which is covered with five
tons of gleaming silver! All of this
manicured beauty helped lighten a most sobering day.
Now back in the hotel, I'm enjoying my cool room and
trying to rest and regroup a little before joining everyone on our rooftop bar
for a drink before dinner. Several of us
are having a little tourist tummy, I’ve heard the words Pepto Bismol mentioned
more than once today. The temperature was over 90 degrees too, extremely hot &
uncomfortable. Not to mention such an
overwhelmingly sad day, we are all feeling the effects of witnessing so much
horror inflicted by one single madman.
We’re on our own for dinner again, but a group of us are
crossing the street for a bite and surprisingly, it turned out that even Ole
and Leng, our local guide, joined us as well and they were even more surprised
when our entire group insisted on treating them to their dinners! It was our trip leader Ole’s birthday
yesterday, so we were happy to do it.
This little restaurant is run by a charitable group called Friends who
take homeless boys & girls off the street & train them to be kitchen
workers or waiters! Their shirts say
student or trainer on the back. I had a
grilled piece of Mekong fish with steamed white rice. But first, fried tarantula was served as an
appetizer!! I have a great shot of it.
Dinner turned out to be a really light and fun evening, but by 8:45, we were
all ready to cross back over & head to our rooms or beds. I still had to pack.
Feb. 9th, Siem Reap
We had an incredible flight, on time & smooth,
landing just before lunch in Siem Reap where we will visit Angkor Wat
tomorrow. After lunch at a local
Tropical restaurant, we spent over two hours in the impressive, archeological
Angkor Wat Museum, which is dedicated to the collection, preservation and
presentation of Angkorian artifacts. This very modern building, built just 8
years ago, houses many of the antiquities from that historic period. Most beneficial was being able to walk around
the large scale model of the Angkor temple area which provided a very useful
reference prior to seeing the real thing the next day. Here we could easily
observe the overwhelming size of this immense complex. Plus, I had to admire the bountiful gift shop
which was so filled with tempting items for purchase; I could have spent
another two hours here just browsing and shopping!
Feb. 10th, Siem Reap
Over a million travelers visit Siem Reap every year to
explore the Khmer heritage with the primary attraction being Angkor Wat and the
Angkor Temple Region, which is the largest ancient religious site in the
world. Understandably, this holy city
has turned into one of the world’s premier travel destinations. The Angkor Temple Complex has been designated
a UN Heritage Site and consists of hundreds of structures from the 9th to the
14th century that tell the story of the rise and fall of the Khmer empire. This
vast collection of historical structures are decorated with intricately carved,
priceless Khmer artwork that provides an archaeological and a pictorial history
of an empire that ruled much of southeast Asia for five centuries. And it spreads over approximately 96 square
miles! These structures consist of partially renovated temples, pagoda and
imperial residences including recently discovered ruins which have been
virtually untouched for the past 500 years.
Basically it is impossible to do justice to the Angkor
complex in the short time OAT has allotted to us and no photo can do justice to
the Khmer temples or carvings. And in
fact, it is all so sprawling and breathtaking in its size and scope that no
attempt to capture it properly could ever be achieved by me, that I am sure.
But here is where OAT shines and our Leader, Ole, really
knows his business! We were up again at
5:45 and had a 7:15 departure from the hotel.
Believe me when I say this wasn’t a vacation. We needed to stop at a checkpoint, be
photographed and carry a personal Angkor Pass entrance card made to be
prominently worn for any inspector to see. Then we drove on to the East Gate of
Angkor Wat and began our exploration there walking toward the West Gate for our
departure a couple of hours later. The
best part is that we arrived there so extremely early, not only beating the hordes
of people who began arriving by the droves as we were leaving, but there was
still a bit of the cooling morning breeze before the heat became oppressive and
nearly impossible to bear. From there, we passed through the South gate of
Angkor Thom, the capital city of Khmer rulers and saw the Bayon Temple. But don’t worry; we were still far from
finished with temples that day.
Before we could barely catch our breath, we were dropped
off in a nearby village, Srah Srong , very poor, but boasting a few homes
recently constructed and in fairly good shape for this was where we were having
our home-hosted lunch. Many of us
brought little gifts to present to our hostess who was to prepare our meal. Here we were divided into three small groups
and I ended up with Margaret, Dr. Frank, Ed, a gentlemen from VA and the
artist, Hiroko. We later found out that
all three meals were identical but I believe in my heart that ours was the
best!
We were lucky to have the daughter of the house assist us
in communicating with her mother. Her
English was very good and so all of us were able to enjoy a lively
conversation. Prior to eating, I helped
her mother prepare our dessert, Plai Ai, very traditional and sweet. I began by placing a tiny lump of palm sugar
into a small patty of glutinous rice flour and rolling it into balls for
boiling in a pot of water. They are
ready when the balls float to the surface.
We began with a shredded chicken soup, followed by three stir fried
dishes, a vegetable dish, a fried fish & lastly, a stir fried beef, tender
& delicious. This was followed by the sweet rice balls. We could not stop complimenting both of these
very gracious women on their delicious lunch.
So now a brief return to our Angkor Paradise Hotel for a
quick rest which should go without saying was sorely needed by one and all. I
could hardly believe that we were shortly boarding our bus and about to see
yet, another temple. This time it was a
most unusual one and although I was happy to wander through this archeological
treasure, we walked and walked around and around until I thought I would fall
down. This was Ta Prohm or the Jungle
Temple, so named because the ruins are buried in a dense jungle of trees and
roots, discovered by the French in the 1800s, and today almost exactly as it
was first unearthed. Afterwards we
found an embankment to sit on just opposite Angkor Wat to watch the sun set
around it, although that evening was very overcast. Ole and our Cambodian guide brought all of us
some local snacks to enjoy (like snake and frog legs) and local wine to share
in a toast.
On the long bus ride back to the hotel, a few of us
decided we would attempt to go to dinner if we could still stand. One of the choices was the Raffles Hotel, a
taxi ride away or the Foreign Correspondents Club which sounded so exotic. However, an hour later, when we were meeting
downstairs for a drink, we all looked at one another and threw our hands in the
air in surrender! After getting up at the crack of dawn, walking around three
ancient temples in the broiling heat, miles and miles of walking, climbing and
straddling over treacherous rocks and boulders, root strewn paths, up and down
uneven steps every five feet, it was a miracle that no one fell down and broke
their head or twisted an ankle or slipped on the rocks. I especially felt very lucky to have escaped
that day uninjured. But we were all so
beat that six of us ended up crowding around a table for four and ordering
dinner in the hotel and shortly after, totally collapsing.
Feb. 11, Siem Reap
Still reeling from our prior exhausting day, we
nevertheless were awakened at 6:30 as we were about to embark on a cruise on
the Tonle Sap Lake, roughly translating to “Great Fresh Water Lake”. This took us on a part of the Lake that
eventually empties into the Mekong. Here
we went past a floating village, the inhabitants so terribly poor,
(approximately 80,000 people live on the water permanently, spread over 170
floating villages) with many hundreds of families in this village, living in
shack-like structures bobbing on the water, eking out a subsistence living
solely by fishing. These floating huts
have no doors, no electricity, and no plumbing, only rudimentary apparatus for
cooking their family meals.
Although this is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia,
it creates severe hardship for families to live in one place all year
round. The water levels drastically
change in size all through the year, in the rainy season between June and
October; the lake is massive, flooded with water from the Mekong River. In the
dry season, from November to May, the lake shrinks to such a degree that its
flow reverses to deposit water back into the Mekong. So the poor villagers we saw actually have to
move their floating “homes” four times a year, they hitch their flimsy
makeshift shacks to their small fishing boats & tow their houses away so
they won’t be swamped by flooding waters.
They are used to their hard lives as this is a multi generational way of
life going back hundreds of years. The
little children go by boat every morning to school but only through
elementary. After that, they have to
travel much farther for more schooling depending on the ambition of the child
& parents, but mostly if the parents can afford it.
Unlike much of the Cambodian job opportunities, the
income is also reliable, but life on the water is difficult. Among these families, there is a high infant
mortality rate and many children are orphaned or malnourished from lack of
fresh fruit and vegetables. Fishermen sometimes travel two days to reach the
middle of the lake and spend up to a week at a time out fishing. Large waves, limited food and dangerous
conditions take their toll. The life expectancy of a fisherman is 54 years.
Still it is one of the world’s biggest inland fisheries, producing over 400,000
tons of fish and feeding over 3 million people!
Of course we couldn’t miss one more temple, this one
still beautifully preserved and very ancient, called Banteay Srei, or Citadel
of Women. It was build in AD 967. The temple's modern name, citadel of
beauty—is probably related to the intricacy of the bas relief carvings found on
the walls and the tiny dimensions of the buildings themselves.
Later, I sat in an original handmade oxcart (with totally
no suspension, believe me) driven by two snorting harnessed oxen for about a
fifteen minute ride on a bumpy cart path abutting a narrow canal. At first I thought I can't do that, and as I
was the last still on the bus Ole yelled over to me, "come on Ann you'll
have your own wagon!"
Today, those of us who didn’t already own pants with an
“elephant” design on them hurried to catch up as we all decided tonight was the
night we would wear them to dinner. And
indeed that is exactly what we did, as you can see from the photo and a shot of
all the women, minus one.
So tomorrow we are leaving Cambodia behind after many
days of intense experiences. It appears
to me as if, as I mentioned earlier, the people are running to catch up with
the pleasures denied their parents and grandparents, they are rushing as fast
as their motorbikes and cars will take them, setting up roadside picnics where
food is prepared all along huge stretches of highway with carpets strewn about
replacing tablecloths, eating out and celebrating a renewal of life. Although still a horribly poor country, with
a life expectancy of 65, you can see construction going on all over the city
and countryside with the wealth still concentrated in the hands of a very few.
Well I’m almost packed once again for our last flight tomorrow
to Ho Chi Minh City, no need to put suitcases into the hall at break of dawn,
and blessedly for the first time there is no need to set my clock. We are not leaving the hotel for the airport
until 11:30! Looking forward to the last leg of the trip, Vietnam.
