Sua s’dei! (hello)
We apologise for what is a rather delayed blog post. We have had an incredibly busy week and so have only just found time (now it is the weekend) to update you all! We hope this finds you well, we are thinking of you all, and all your support is much appreciated. We also apologise in advanced for the long blog but please do take time to read it and we hope you find some of the countries history as interesting as we do!
This week we had our first holiday to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We left CHO early on Saturday morning, where we caught a taxi to Siem Reap. The taxi driver was a little crazy, and spoke no English, so put our Khmer to the test! We paid $20 dollars for the back seat of the taxi, which meant the taxi driver can use the front seat for other passengers, as we found out. After a few minutes he picked up a lady, who sat in the passenger seat. Then later on in the trip, we pulled over and the lady got out, whilst two women and a baby with luggage got in her place. To which the first lady tried to sit with us in the back, but seeing as we had paid for the seat she walked round to the driver’s seat, and sat next to him. There was a total of five on two seats with the driver practically sitting on the hand brake. This was the case for the majority of the 2 hour journey!
On our arrival in Siem Reap we asked to be dropped off at the ‘Night Market’(Reatri p’sar in Khmer) though either he wanted to take us to the other side of town or our Khmer was wrong when we tried to tell him where to go; probably the latter of the two! However we did not realise we were in the wrong place until we walked for half an hour in what we thought was the right direction but turned out to be about 8km off track when we asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to our guest house! On our arrival at the Mitri Guest House we were shown our room and went in search of lunch. For the rest of the day we got our bearings and had a look round the central market, where we made some purchases. In the evening we chose to go to one of the many western restaurants, and went to an Italian one. The waitress was impressed with our few words of Khmer and this has really inspired us to make more of an effort learning the language.
On Sunday we visited the famous ‘Angkor Temples’, what an incredible experience. We went with Sarah and rose early to meet our tuk-tuk driver; Mr Long Mounipich, he would take us round the temples for the day.
After getting our day passes, we walked through the narrow south gate of Angkor Thom, it felt like we were entering an ancient world, despite the hectic circus of tourists, traffic and the occasional elephant. We walked to Bayon, a large temple with 54 faces ( lokesvara) in the tall towers. Instantly when you enter it, it feels chaotic, full of tourists and the deterioration of the temple just adds to it. As you move through the temple walking up flights of stairs and along narrow passages you get a feel for what it would have been like to be in the Angkor period. Everywhere you look there are so many Buddhas, at first they seem harmless but then we were struck at their presence in the temples, and the reaction people have to them; placing offerings and lighting incense sticks without much of a second thought, just following the tourist band wagon. When you get to the top of Bayon, it is an impressive and powerful building, we were baffled at the intricate detail and the fact that it was constructed over hundreds of years ago.
We then walked to the Baphuon, along a causeway bridge, connected to the terrace of the elephants. The Baphuon is a depiction of mount Miri, like many of the temples at Angkor. The temple is undergoing the continued reconstruction after the Khmer Rouge destroyed it and the original designs, which means that no one is entirely sure how it should be pieced together, which is such a shame, as it is such a unique temple.
After walking around the Baphuon we walked/climbed to the top of the Phimeanakas, a square based pyramid with steep stairs up to the top, the climb is worth it when you get to the top, there are some great views. On our descent we walked through several wall ruins to the Terrace of the Elephants, a 300m long wall decorated in Elephants, waddling geese and Angkor soldiers in relief on the wall. This led to the Terrace of the Leper King, inscribed with Khmer dancers and carvings. After this we crossed the road to briefly visit the North Kleang, which was more peaceful than the others visited, due to fewer tourists and a more tranquil and ‘leafy’ setting.
We rejoined our tuk-tuk driver and travelled down the road to two temples; Thomannom and Chau Say Tevoda – similar temples either side of the road with elaborate carvings were fun to look around. These temples were better preserved with less deterioration than some of the previous at Angkor Thom with more intricate designs not only on the walls as decoration but in the architectural design too. They were two temples very similar to each other and two that we all liked. On leaving we met our tuk-tuk driver and went to Ta Keo, an incredibly steep and tall temple which we enjoyed clambering up. This temple was much simpler than some of the rest as during construction it was hit by lightening so was believed to be unlucky and so construction was stopped unfortunately.
After a quick and rather expensive lunch, we visited Ta Prhom, the jungle temple, or more popularly referred to as the ‘Tomb Raider’ temple, as scenes from the first film were shot here. This temple is one of the few that is allowed to be overrun by nature, kapok trees literally put their roots in the cracks of the walls, its an epic battle between man and nature, and feels like there is a lot of built up energy within the walls. Parts of the temple are full of people and have been made very touristy, but we went on a bit of a mission to get away from the crowds. The temple is large, so as you get deeper in it reveals itself, less is roped off and it was fun to climb all over the ruins. This was one of our favourite temple as there is just so much to see and explore, the jungle is literally taking over the temple which makes is so different.
Banteay Kdei the next temple was much quieter and grew on us, as we spent some time just sitting and chatting in the building and taking in the surroundings.
After this we went to the main attraction: Angkor Wat. You approach Angkor Wat on a bridge over a moat, and can see the temple in the distance past the entrance gate way. When exiting the gateway, the temple is still 600m away yet didn’t seem as big as the temple is claimed to be! On walking up to the temple it strikes you at how imposing the great symbol of Cambodia is. The temple is arranged around a main structure of five towers dominating the surrounding area and when you arrive at the top floor, through galleries of incredible intricate carvings of the great battles of the past, it suddenly strikes you at how big and awesome this temple is. It has a real presence and awe. Unfortunately there was quite a lot of scaffolding on the temple, and the top gallery was closed but it didn’t stop the true colours of the building shining through and when the sun began to set whilst we were there it made it quite magical.
The temples are constructed from huge stone blocks, creating a maze of tunnels and galleries, the structures are huge in scale but at the same time the intricate detail is incredible. When inside the buildings you can see how they have made them with the pyramid like towers culminating into a point. Buddhist monks are highly visible visiting the various areas, swathed in brilliant orange and golden tan. People crowd around them as if they are tourist attractions almost; though saying that we were no exception, taking some cheeky pictures in the temple walls. When at the temples, we were amazed at how many young children were there either selling postcards and bracelet/bangles or begging. Your heart almost cries out for them as they are just so desperate to sell what they have to earn money; starting with one dollar for a bangle and within thirty seconds ten for one dollar; and although we did buy one or two things you can’t say yes to everyone and it is so hard. This is something we encounter all over Cambodia and is something we would love your continued prayer support on.
After a long day at the Angkor temples we went out for a meal and visited the night market where we bought a few paintings. Some of the Angkor art work, although nearly identical wherever you go in Siem Reap, are really quite amazing and we enjoy looking through them (well, we say ‘we’, but really mean Alex and Paul, much to Calum’s annoyance!)
On Monday, we took the opportunity to rest and had a very casual day looking around the city. Sarah introduced us to the ‘Plumeria’ tree and we saw over 200 of the biggest bats we have ever seen, more than 1.5m in wing span hanging in the trees above us! We had a nice meal in the evening and re-packed for Phnom Penh.
Tuesday was spent travelling to Phnom Penh on what was a rather long and boring 6 hour bus journey in a coach which at the beginning was air conditioned but by the end was circulating warm air and that ‘people travel smell’ more than anything else! On arrival mid afternoon, we were harassed by lots of tuk-tuk drivers offering to take us to our guest house – The Top Banana. We travelled through the city and on arrival at the guest house were shown to our room. Phnom Penh is a city quite different to how we imagined it, more westernised and less touristy but although we have mixed views on the city, it has character. It is full of people in poverty, beggars everywhere, street children and lots of mothers holding their young babies begging for food – this breaks our hearts to see and continues to be difficult, as after all, they are the people we are in Cambodia to help and yet, you almost just have to ignore them, as we have to help them through the right channels. We walked through the streets in search of a snack and in the evening had a Mexican meal at Cantina, a restaurant down at the river front, and then walked back to our room through a moonlit city. We did find it funny that, as we were walking along the river front, an older couple were eating at a restaurant called ‘Happy Pizza’ which is probably very different to what they think a ‘happy’ pizza is – for that matter, happy pizzas seem to be everywhere!
Once again we took the opportunity to lie in on Wednesday, but eventually rolled out of bed and walked to Toul Sleng (or S-21 as it’s more commonly known) via what was a rather round about route due to Alex’s misinterpretation of the map and although funny, Calum and Paul were less enthusiastic in the mid day heat! S-21 was the main detention prison that the Khmer Rouge used in the centre of the city. The Khmer Rouge was a regime run by Pol Pot who was trying to implement a new way of life in Cambodia to create a country that was entirely self sufficient. In order to do this they believed that the country needed to start again and that everyone should become a farmer/labourer in the fields. They abolished currency, schools/education, human rights, religion, communications, weddings, social gatherings, romance, no clothing other than the pyjama type uniform (black trousers/skirts/shirts/shoes) and scarves permitted by the regime. No friends, no families, no soap, no coffee/tea, no snacks, no toys, no radio, no TV, no music/drawing/painting, no creativity, no hospitals or heath care of any kind, no electricity, no clocks, no pictures, no hope, no life. If you were educated in any way you would be killed; a teacher, pastor, politician, if you wore glasses and anyone who was a family member of one of these people would also be killed. The regime started in 1975 and the ‘reign of terror’ lasted for 3 years, 8 months and 20 days ending in April 1979 when the Vietnamese army drove the Khmer Rouge out – the whole country became refugees and was left in havoc and continues to be re-built today. Although the Khmer Rouge still continued to run guerrilla attacks for many years (way into the 1990’s), the reign of the government ended in 1979.
Toul Sleng is in the centre of the city and has 4 buildings which were previously a school but were converted into torture rooms (water boarding, pulling out finger nails, hanging, beating, drowning, starvation of food and water), small 0.8m x 2m cells (which look like pig sties or stables – places for animals to be kept, not people), detention and interrogation rooms. The walls are covered in barbed wire and at the entrance there were several ‘land-mine victims’, as in so many places all over Cambodia; here there was a man with no face as it was completely blown off and was covered in major burns – it really is so very shocking. We spent nearly 4 hours at S-21 and went round barely speaking a word to each other almost in utter silence, and for the 3 boys that we are, talking non-stop, it says something as to how shocked and appalled we were. Two building s are full of pictures of people killed by the Khmer Rouge regime, all of whom look so familiar to the people we know and love back at CHO: men, women and young children. Each person has a different story and you can visibly see the fear and how traumatised they are by the ordeal when looking into their eyes – a loss of hope. One building is covered in barbed wire to stop prisoners jumping off the top floors to a premature suicidal death. When Toul Sleng was stopped only 14 bodies were found still chained up in their cells. It is all so painfully recent (the regime stopped in 1979, but the country continued to be effected by guerrilla battles for years to come) and some of the main ring leaders of the regime are still undergoing trial.
After our disturbing morning, it felt odd to be visiting other ‘tourist attractions’. We went to Wat Phnom, a small temple at the north of the city and walked back to our guest house along the river front. In the evening we went to a restaurant called ‘Friends’ for a fantastic dinner. All food is prepared, cooked and served by rescued street children. It is run by an Australian charity and really is an incredible project – and was probably the best meal we have had since in Cambodia.
On Thursday morning we went to Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (The Killing Fields) which are south of the city. The central memorial contains exhumed skulls, clothes and bones, housed on a 17 tiered monument. There are 129 mass grave pits, 86 of which have been exhumed, and nearly 20,000 mass graves across Cambodia. It is estimated that 2,000,000 people were murdered as a result of the Khmer Rouge and Choeung Ek is where the main killing fields for Phnom Penh and all of Cambodia was situated. It is estimated that over 20,000 people were killed here including 9 Europeans; the Khmer Rouge planned for 300 people to be killed daily but the amount of people that were brought into the camp exceeded the rate at which they could kill them. Bones still stick up from the ground and pieces of clothing too. People would be brought in from all over the country, many taken from Toul Sleng after being tortured and interrogated, they were brought to the fields to be killed. They would have their hands tied behind their backs, be blindfolded and instead of ‘wasting’ bullets were beaten around the head with bamboo branches, farming tools and anything they could find to kill them. Often they would not be killed by this and would either bleed to death or were poisoned by the DDT that was used to cover the smell; killing those who were either buried alive by dirt or bodies. Any soldiers unfaithful to the regime would be beheaded when killed here and there is a tree which was used to smash babies against, after they were stripped from their mothers’ grasp. It is truly horrific and we can not imagine what on earth was going through a person’s mind as they did these awful things. The tour guide we had was one of the first people to relieve the situation here at Choeung Ek in 1980 and he himself lost his entire family here – his brothers, father, mother and uncle. This made it even more real and made us stop and think as to how many people this regime affected. Words cannot describe the atrocities that happened here.
On leaving the Killing fields, we went to the National Museum where we looked through the excavated remains of Cambodian Artefacts, many of which are from the Angkor period. You can imagine and picture them in the temples we visited just a few days previous at Siem Reap. We visited the Royal Palace after walking through the beautiful gardens and buildings as well as the famous Silver Pagoda – a building housing hundreds of Buddhas and the famous Emerald Buddah in the centre. We don’t fully understand the whole Buddhist religion, and want to learn more about it and the way it affects the Cambodian way of life. The day was overshadowed though, by our experience of previous ‘tourist attractions’.
We walked back to the guest house through the city (full of green open spaces with such charm) and later in the evening had a Thai meal together across the street – a really lovely way to end the ‘holiday’. We decided to come home to Poipet a day earlier than planned, travelling west on the Friday, back onto a smelly coach for a journey which ended up taking nearly 9 hours! We arrived in Poipet at half past five with a sore bottom but it was so lovely to be back home on familiar dirt covered, dust strewn ground.
We realise that this blog post is some what detailed and perhaps a little too graphic at times for which we apologise but even when we read this back ourselves, before posting the blog you read now, we didn’t feel we even managed to capture half of what the true effects of the Khmer Rouge had on this country and is something no one could ever explain until you have experienced it yourself. We had a fantastic holiday and was great to spend time together (aside from the work we do), see more of the country and learn more of the culture and the countries past. Sorry this has rather a delayed post – it’s just taken a little while to find time to write it all!
We all continue to be well and healthy and are enjoying our time in Cambodia. With love and God bless. Until next time, ciao for now!
