Next I found myself in Cambodia's capitol, Phnom Penh. It's gorgeous here! Not at all what I was expecting seeing as Cambodia is one of, if not the poorest, countries in South East Asia. It is unlike most crowded and dirty cities in Asia. It has huge streets with beautiful trees and bushes, many many parks where the locals all gather in the evenings for recreation, or simply a picnic with family. There are many beautiful buildings here, some built with the colonial french look, but more that have the exotic elegance of Cambodian style. The royal palace is gorgeous not to mention the high court. There are also many monuments remembering the many significant political and historical struggles of the Cambodian people such as the Independence Monument and the symbol of beauty represented by the Vietnamese Friendship 
Monument. The city is exquisite!
For those who don't know, there has been much sadness in this country's history. A leader named Pol Pot 
organized a communist revolution in 1975 while the country was weak from the destruction they endured from the US as a side note of the Vietnam Conflict. His regime was called the Khmer Rouge and was said to be the worst communist faction in the world's history. All intellectuals were killed, including doctors, teachers, lawyers, anyone wearing glasses or anyone who spoke more than one language as they were seen as a threat to the Khmer Rouge's revolution. The paranoid Khmer Rouge ruthlessly tortured and killed every intellectual or government official from the past and all of their family 
members, inclusive of smashing babies against trees in order to prevent revenge for their parents in the future. Every other man, woman, and child was made to work from dawn to dusk while they starved. I have heard many figures for this next statistic, but the most widely accepted one seems to be that between 1975 - 1979, just less than 4 years, it is estimated that 2 million people were systematically murdered and that another 2 million people died as a result of starvation and disease. A total of 4 million people lost their lives due to the Khmer Rouge's brutality! They say the country reeked of death and decay during this time period.
Here in Phnom Penh I was able to visit the high school that was turned into a torture prison, labeled office S-21 back then or Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum now. The whole place was eerie and disturbing, but when you walked into one of the classrooms that 
had been used for torture, you could feel it right away. They were such grim and bare rooms, today displaying pictures on the wall of what the room looked like with a prisoner being tortured there. One of the things I personally found disturbing was when you walked around the grounds, or up and down the stair cases, it was undeniable that you were in a high school. A building 
built for learning and development. A building that was suppose to expand the minds of their youth. A building that was meant to be a safe place for young people to evolve and flourish. It looks like any other high school, classrooms still have their blackboards and you can picture teenagers eating their lunches or exercising with gym class on the grassy greens outside. To view the institution that was built to help grow and develop young minds but was turned into the exact opposite is a barbaric, but very real, display of what the Khmer Rouge was all about. Another 
disturbing but gripping must see are the killing fields where so much brutality took place. Here I visited many mass graves, the largest contained 450 people in it and there was one grave full of naked women and children. 
You can even see the tree where the baby bashing took place. Today when you enter the killing fields, the first thing you 
see is a huge memorial built to remember those who suffered here. The memorial contains shelf after shelf of skulls, bones, and clothes that were uncovered in the graves. In total there are over 9,000 skulls in this memorial. Most skulls you can see are cracked or completely broken in half. This is because the Khmer Rouge would not waist ammunition on those they wanted to kill. Instead they beat people over the heads with axe's and hatchets. Terrible!
But today I find Phnom Penh is quite a lovely place. It is a beautiful and bustling city with many kind faces trying to rebuild their communities. Everyone speaks English and the begging kids are so smart and show off their intelligence by betting you they know 
more about your country then you, and they are usually right. It is such a shame they don't have more opportunities, they are bloody brilliant. You do also see many people missing limbs that they have lost to land mines around the country side that the Khmer Rouge put in place over 30 years ago to kill those that tried to escape. But the Cambodian people get on with their life and are happy to greet you with a smiling face. They are truly amazing. My heart weeps for this country and yet the smiles I see all around bring tears of joy to my eyes. The energy and vibe the people offer is incredible! (To the right is my armless friend Tom :) )
A BIG thanks here to my friend Jared, the Canadian Journalist I met and traveled with in Laos. He lives in Phnom Penh and gave me a place to stay for the week while I explored this bewitching city.Next I moved on to Siem Reip. The other major city in Cambodia. Siem used to be the name for Thai people and Reip means victory. At one point, many many many moons ago, Cambodia used to be the largest kingdom in South East Asia and their borders extended well past the western and eastern limits seen today. When they conquered the Thai's, or Siem's, they renamed their capitol Siem Reip.
Now this is more the type of "city" I was expecting to find in Cambodia. Yes there are paved roads, but dirt ones too. Yes, there are many buildings, but none very tall. Half of it is a bit run down, half not. But it is a quaint city with an appealing vibe. The big attraction here is of course Angkor Wat and the other many surrounding temples from the Angkor time period.
Angkor Wat is a
magnificent site to behold. One could just marvel with admiration at it for hours. It took only 40 years or so to build they estimate, but took close to 400,000 slaves to build, not to mention the hundreds of thousands ox, water buffalo, and elephants. Stone was taken from the near by mountain and transported via road during
the dry season or river raft during the wet season. The detailed artwork covering the temple is superb and sure to dazzle anyone. A french explorer once said, "One of these temples—a rival to that of Soloman, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome." And a Portuguese monk said in 1586, "It is of such extraordinary construction 
that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world!" And both these statements still do not do it justice. How on earth someone could even conjure up the idea of such a building I will never know. It is divine! Originally it was built as a Hindu temple, but it was changed in the late 13th century, with little work, to a Buddhist temple. It and many of the surrounding temples and statues suffered small amounts of destruction during this time period. Many of the statues are missing heads. Then when the Khmer Rouge were in 
power they used these temples as a fortress and the statues they used for target practice. You can still see bullet holes in the walls. They wanted to destroy religion and they attempted to ruin some of these enchanting buildings. Today Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples are a protected 
UNESO World Heritage Site. Receiving money from many different European nations it is being conserved for all future generations to see. It really ought to be one of the World's 7 Wonders!
My favorite temple was Bayon. Not that Angkor Wat wasn't marvelous, because it was, but there are sooo many tourists around that it can be difficult to enjoy. Bayon was just a kilometer or so from Angkor Wat and is magnificent in 
its ruin. Much of it has fallen apart, leaving the path to the main parts of the temple a little bit of a maze. This temple is famous for its faces. There are something like 56 towers, each with 4 huge faces carved into it. Here there are also many tourists, but it is easy to get away from them as there are many hidden places throughout the maze. Plus, many of the steps are super steep, discouraging most from ever going up. I chose to go up into one tower with such steps. It was a little scary coming down, but well worth the peace and quiet I found inside.Another favorite of mine was Ta Prohm. Also known as "The Tomb Raider Temple" as this is where a lot of
filming occurred for the adventures of Miss Lara Croft. This temple is the only one that has been restored minus cutting out the jungle that has grown on and around it, cutting into it. They have preserved this temple this way in order to demonstrate to visitors how the jungle had overgrown, practically eating many of these temples. A lot of the destruction done to this area was done by the jungle. For hundreds of years it was only a myth among locals that the gods had a hidden city here. When it was finally found in 1586 the whole area looked nothing like today. One would easily get lost among all the overgrown foliage.
I visited many other temples as well. There was one with this 
enchanting little Cambodian band playing music for donations outside. The band was comprised of people all missing at least one limb, or handicapped some other way. There was one blind man. They did play the most beautiful music though. It was the first time I heard Cambodian tunes that I actually liked.
After spending three days among the grounds of the Angkor temples I decided to embark on a little adventure
off the beaten track. I had read about this temple at the Cambodian/Thai border to the northeast. Its name is Preah Vihear. This temple has a war being waged over it between Cambodia and Thailand. It is from the Angkor time period and obviously a Khmer temple which should undoubtedly belong to Cambodia. And currently it does. But the Thai's have a big problem with this as they want access to it from Thailand. Not only so that they may visit it more easily, but so that they 
could benefit from more tourism in this area. Presently there are hardly any tourists who make it here. It is at the front line of a war. But the war is not an active one usually. About once a year Thailand will start a shoot off with Cambodia that will last 1 or 2 hours and that will be the end of it for another year. Apparently no one has ever died on the Cambodian side, but they proudly claim they have killed Thai's.It is a difficult place to get to. I had to hire a car and driver for me for 2 days, not a cheap mission. I should have just hitch hiked. Then once you are at the bottom you have to hire a motorbike guy to take you up the mountain. You are not permitted to spend the night at the top as a military safety precaution. All though I did meet one gentleman up there who did sneak under the cloak of the jungle at sunset and then hung his hammock and slept up there at night, taking it down at sunrise.
When I arrived I was first led through the military camp set up at
the top. This was one of the most interesting parts to the whole visit. I met families who lived up there and a young boy, maybe 
about 7, showed me how to load a rocket launcher and point it at Thailand, "Cambodia shoot Thailand" he said with a smile on his face. I stared down the barrel of the rocket launcher across the mountain side to Thailand. A-mazing! Then the boy and his soldier friend showed me more weapons and ammunition. They took apart rockets to show me how they were put together. They brought me to their bunkers where machine guns were setup, 
pointed at Thailand. I also 
saw where many of the men slept in bunkers. But as there is not active war most of the time most of the soldier sit around playing cards at the border, or having impromptu English classes around the temple. I took a look at one of their English paragraphs they were translating. It read, "It's Okay to touch 
people with AIDS she said. You can't get AIDS from that. These people are ill and they need our love. So we much touch them, and talk to them, and listen to them too. There were pictures of Diana and the people with AIDS on TV and in all the newspapers. People loved her because of the photographs. And Diana was happy about the photographs too!" I tend to think these Cambodian military are not only benefiting from English lessons when they translate things like this, but learning worlds more about the content they are translating.
As I walked down to the fence that separates Cambodia from Thailand I came across a little 
village built up there to support the military men. You could get noodle soup from one of the street 'cafe's' (I use that term loosely) that play WWE wrestling matches on TV that they receive vie their Satellite TV hookup. Even here satellite TV is possible! Unbelievable! I also met many of the children who live here. To be honest, they were some of the dirtiest and most beautiful kids I have ever seen! They all were caked in dirt (I do believe water is a 
precious commodity up there, especially at the end of the dry season), they hat bugs flying all around them and insects in their hair, plus most had snot coming out of there nose just resting there, no one was bothering to wipe it off. And then snot was transferred to everything they touched, in their hair and clothes. But the smiles were angelic and the excitement to see a foreigner was uncontrollable. I would take their pictures and they would all grab at my legs and arms to see the image, their grubby little hands smearing all over the LCD screen. But I didn't mind, 
they were so happy to see pictures of themselves. I don't know if they had ever seen a camera before. It was an astounding experience for me to feel their love and attention and bring smiles to their faces. I met one boy of extreme interest. He was probably about 3 years old. 2/3rd's of his face was covered in black 
skin. Except it wasn't skin, not like ours or the rest of his body's. It was a rough, cracked, hard exterior. Like that of a gorilla. And there were little tiny black hairs protruding from this area, like a thin fur. he allowed me
to take pictures of and with him as I was doing with all the other children. But I was careful not to make him feel any different from the other children hanging about me. But you 
could tell he knew he was different. The kids would all play fight with each other, but when he got lightly kicked or pushed, he didn't push back. His eyes had a sad wisdom behind them. But I think he enjoyed the time and attention I gave him, no more or less than the others and he too got to see a picture of himself which put a smile on his lips. His mom seemed happy.
The actual temple itself was certainly out of this world. It is by no means 
anywhere near as grand as Angkor Wat, but the energy was electrifying. I mean it just felt good to walk around it, to sit on the ground near it, and lay on its benches. I had tea and pineapple there during sunrise with the guy who was sneaking in his hammock to spend the night up there. The energy he felt was so intoxicating that he could not pull himself away from the temple for days, and I could understand why. It felt rejuvenating to just sit up there. So peaceful.
On the way back to Siem Reip my driver and I stopped at a town called Angleng Veng. This too was an out of body experience. This was the stronghold for the Khmer Rouge. Even after 1979 when they were thrown out of government, it was here that Pol Pot and his cronies lived and worked. This town was refuge for many of the Khmer Rouge soldiers who still considered Pol Pot their leader. Its a bit of a tripy place. It was still heavily dominated by Khmer Rouge presence until 1998 when Pol Pot died. He died comfortably in his bed under house arrest on the Thai border across from this town. To good a death for him I think, but many also believe it was a conspiracy theory and that he was drugged, either as a murder or as an escape to persecution for his war crimes. But it is weird here. I visited the house of Tamok, his right hand man. Believe it or not, the UN Security Council kept this man as the representative of Cambodia on the UN Council up until 1993! In their ignorance they refused to recognize the new government of Cambodia because it had been set up by Vietnamese! WTF?! So because Tamok held this UN position, the government could not get to him or the town of Angleng Veng, helping to explain why it stayed so dominantly Khmer Rouge territory for so many years after the fall of Democratic Kampuchea (what the Khmer Rouge called Cambodia). When visiting Tamok's old house I met the people who lived next door. Some of them had been servants for Tamok and Pol Pot. It was so interesting to hear what they had to say about these men.They loved them! I couldn't believe my ears. My face must have had an expression of disbelief on it because
the gentlemen chuckled a bit and tried to explain themselves. How could I not be in disbelief? There were cages only 30 ft. from us that used to house up to 5 men, all the way un
til 1993! They were so glad a westerner was interested that they sat me down to their afternoon feast (one of the men was head of this region now). They shared their roasted chicken and beer with me and I actually ate an ant omelet. That is right, an 
omelet cooked with hundreds of tiny little ants in it. You couldn't really taste the ants, but my omelet was a bit crunchier then normal. The Cambodians eat EVERYTHING! After years of starvation, they are not picky! These men shared with me their experience during the Khmer 
Rouge. Most of them were about 10 or 11 when Pol Pot took over and they remember it all well. They had tears streaming down their face while they talked of lost loved ones, and almost in the same breath they would tell me of their love for Pol Pot. It was surreal. Still crying over the pain Pol Pot caused them, they would tell me how they loved him! I didn't understand. They laughed and said they knew it was confusing. One man offered this quote, "We love him, but hate his politics". Apparently he was such a nice member of their community. The woman who used to be his servant had the biggest smile on her face whenever she heard us use his name. They said if you commented on how you liked his watch, he would take it off right then and there and give it to you (a bit odd he had watches since that was the first major thing to disappear under the Khmer Rouge, then again he killed hundreds of thousands of teachers when he was a teacher himself, I guess sense and logic do not prevail when your crazy). They also said if you ever needed money or a cow or anything, he would give it to you. He really took good care of the people in Angleng Veng and they still remember and pay their respects to him today. Crazy!Following Angleng Veng I made it back to Siem Reip, had a quiet night at the hostel and made my way the next day to Bangkok and my cousin Will!
Cambodia, you are enchanting to say the least. The warmth, love, and strength of your people is unma
tchable and awe-inspiring! Thank you for an unforgettable time and a glimpse into your history!
More photos can be viewed at
http://picasaweb.google.com/find.barlow/EnchantingCambodia#
