Cambodia, a beautiful country of rich tropical scenery, some of the friendliest people you could meet and home to the the worlds most famous temple, Angkor Wat. Yet Cambodia is a poor country, still haunted by its recent political turmoil, where its own people were tortured under Pol Pots´ vicious rule. I will not pretend to have known much about Cambodian political history before, or even that much about the Khmer Rouge regime, but I was instantly intrigued by this country´s past.
We started off in the country´s capital, Phnom Penh. A bustling city and at times a little crazy. Tuk-tuks buzzing round street corners, scooters with livestock in the passenger seat, and street vendors every 50 meters selling non-descript meat goods; a familiar sight! Not the prettiest or cleanest city, but Phnom Penh has a thriving nightlife. We explored it in one crazy night, after drinking with new friends on a street corner and fending off the poor begging children, who we couldn´t help but be charmed by. The boys couldn´t handle the poor sweet faces of the skinny little girls, and bought them Coca Cola and crisps. They meant well, but it was a mistake, as they kept coming back for more! It made for a good laugh at the time, but you couldn´t help but feel sorry for these children, scrounging for food at midnight. Its just a signifier of how poor Cambodia is.
The next day, we dragged ourselves out of our pits, to become educated. It was tough with our hangover, but we were determined to learn about Cambodia´s recent turmoil, so that we could appreciate the country in context. Our first stop was S-21: the political prison for thousands of Cambodians. Here you can walk around the eerie, empty, bloodstained stone cells where the prisoners were tortured and starved, whilst under questioning. The blood splatters on the walls, and the stale smell that lingered around the wall made me feel cold and empty inside. A hallway full of mugshots of the blank faces of the victims sent shivers down my spine. The place reaked of death and suffering, and I couldn´t wait to get out.
It shocked me to discover that Pol Pot and the other Khmer Rouge leaders were only recently taken to trial. This happened in my lifetime, and I was completely ignorant, a thousand miles away.
Next on our educational, but emotionally draining tour, were the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. The eerily quiet and empty compound, just 7 km out of the city, was not so long ago, home to some of the worst human atrocities commited in the last 50 years. The compound laid out around the memorial stupa, towering high and stocked full of skulls of the thousands of Cambodians, killed under the Khmer Rouge Regime. Thousands of Cambodian people, including women, children and babies, were killed here and buried in mass graves between 1975 and 1979. Only ten years before I was born. Walking around the bunkers, with tiny pieces of fabric still visible in the ground from victims´clothing, was what I can only describe as harrowing. So much death, and so much injustice in such an ironically peaceful location.
It was fair to say that we were emotionally exhausted after that day of education. It became clear how much Cambodia has been through, and explained the poverty that the people still struggle with.Yet, we soon found that, especially on our next two stops, Cambodia does not let its painful past ruin the great things that it should be proud of: its beautiful country and its beautiful people.
At a polar opposite of our experience in Phnom Penh, we were blessed with 9 beautiful days in Cambodia´s beach bum paradise: Sihanoukville.
Sihanoukville, in my opinion, cannot be likened to any other beach town I´ve ever been to. Partly, because Serendipity beach is the backpacker beach...with lines of bars and restaurants on the beach where people bask in the baking sun druing the day, and which convert into an array of bars and clubs at night. The body clock of Sihanoukville is pushed back a good few hours, and the pace of life slows down by at least half.
Bells and I were lucky to meet a wonderful Aussie to share this lazy beach paradise with: Miss Nadine Spoor. Having just arrived in Cambodia for a couple of weeks, on the way to London, Nads was looking for the same thing as us: laid back, spoiling ourselves fun.
Well we sure got it! Having only planned to spend four or five days there, we left an impressive ten days later. We were in a Sihanoukville coma. We came out of it refreshed, tanned, and craving to take in some culture once again! The days really blended into one good time, but here´s a quick summary:
By day we´d have breakfast at our favourite baguette shop (you don´t know how hard it is to get a decent egg mayonnaise sandwich out here!) and hit the beach. We´d be pestered constantly by children and women pestering you constantly to buy bracelets, fruit, a pedicure, manicure, massage or anything else that they think you look like you need! It could get quite insulting, when women would stroke your legs and insist that you need to have them threaded. LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT TO BE HAIRY AND DIRTY!
The kids that we met were great too. At first we were irritated by them harrassing us all the time, and some could be quite rude, but we made a group of friends with bright young girls who sold mugs like us little plaited bracelets, to afford their evening English schooling. We came out of Sihanoukville with our wrists covered in the little bracelets, but they make us look "well travelled" I guess.
If the weather was poor, or we were too sunburnt, there were the sofa-cinemas, or even scooters to rent! Surprisingly, my first experience of riding a scooter was a success! Apparently I´m the Sebastian Vettel of scooters, zipping down the road away from the other two, wind in my hair and grin on my face. Not even being pulled over by the Cambodian police could spoil my fun. Brilliant. Plus Bells got a flat tyre, to truly add to the authentic experience!
By night, Sihanoukville came alive along the beach. All of the beach bars would open up for BBQs and drinks deals. The two main competetors for the nightlife, Dolphin Shack and JJ´s, had their backpacker reps out in force, flyering all day, and luring drinkers in for free shots and Happy Hour. We´d either drink on the beach, watching fire poi, or dance on the tables and poles to Rihanna and Far East Movement. We had a good group of people with us; the Canadians from Halong Bay resurfaced, as well as the English lot from Phnom Penh. No wonder we got stuck in the bubble so easily.
We loved Sihanoukville, and had some great times, but eventually it was time to break away and get on the move again. The next stop was Siem Reap, for our Angkor Wat experience.
Siem Reap was a great little city. Small as cities go, but compact full with a good market, and its famous drinking haven: Pub Street. The main reason for visits to Siem Reap, however, is Angkor Wat, and I was so excited!
Angkor Wat is the name given to a temple complex spread out over a large area, built in the early 12th century for King Suryavarman II. Angkor Wat is the name of the main walled temple that is most famous, but the tour takes you around Angkor Thom which is much bigger. Many say that Angkor Thom cannot be fully appreciated in less than 3 days, but we lacked the time and money to follow this advice. We paid a tuk tuk driver to take us to see the sunset on the first night, and then had the whole of the next day to explore the many ancient and ruined temples. We weren´t disappointed!
We woke up at 5am to be driven to the temple, for the sunrise over the famous 4 towers. There were crowds of tourists waiting for the perfect Kodak moment, of which we were maybe the little less enthusiastic, due to the early morning start. Yet when the sun peeked out from behind the towers, and the sky went peach, I was hooked. My finger clicked non stop until the sun was in the sky, when we went into the temple itself and wandered around the ancient stone arches. The first thing that struck me, and continued to throughout the complex, was the detail of the carvings in the stone. Carvings of Buddha, Devatas (deities) and faces, more than eight centuries old, still cover the temple structures.
We spent the best part of the day driving round, and stopping at the main sites. The huge stone faces of Bayon Temple and Ta Phrom (annoyingly made more famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider) were my highlights. I especially loved Ta Phrom, as one of the few temples that have been left as it was found. The old ruined stone temple, was in my opinion, the most photogenic of the temples, with the huge white tree roots growing out and over the stone ruins. It was another moment when I felt so small, compared to the immensity of the trees, and the age of the temples. I loved it. I will also admit to running around, climbing the stones, pretending to be Lara Croft, even if I am against that sort of tourist attraction!
It was a long day, full of climbing, and wandering around in awe. I'll forever have fond memories of Bells, Nads and me chanting "Angkor WHATTT?!?!", whilst walking up the path to the entrance of the temple, just as the sun was rising. Classy, maybe not, but memorable.
I could maybe have done another day exploring further afield, but we were exhausted afterwards. It was one of the most impressive man-made wonders I have seen, on par with the Mayan temples. So top that with some authentic Cambodian street food, and some nights out on Pub Street...Siem Reap was also a big hit!
It is fair to say after that rushed summary, that Cambodia has been a highlight. In fact, it is probably my favourite country so far. I felt safe, happy, relaxed, excited, educated, in awe, hungover, and completely free to explore in a beautiful and complex country. Maybe I didn´t expect so much from it, or maybe I was just unaware of it, but Cambodia deserves more fame, and I hope that it thrives.
No comments:
Post a Comment