Post #11 - Cambodia

Hello Again Bloggers,

We love Cambodia!  It was a quick 8 days but they were amazing.

First up was Phnom Penh, about a 10 hour bus trip from Si Phon Don in Laos.  We were immediately struck by the cosmopolitan feel of the city.  It happened to be a Saturday night and parties were in full swing.  We got in late and were tired so we went across the street from our guest house, but the Khmer resaurant was bumpin'.  All of the young people were very fashionable, and we enjoyed the atmosphere as we watched Premier League football.  The next day was a relaxing walking day around the city.  We had lunch along Sithowath Quay, a pleasant stretch of boardwalk-esque boulevard along the Tonle Sap River (PP is located at the convergence of this and the Mekong).  There are loads of French restaurants and cafes from the colonial days as well as funky pizza joints and traditional Khmer food.  All of it was great.  As in other places around SE Asia this is another big expat town, and one can certainly feel their presence.  There are great little clothing boutiques everywhere.  At one point Shauna commented that this one street could just as easily be in Westport, Connecticut.  All in all we were pleasantly surprised by the city itself. 
The downside, of course, is delving deeper into the evil of Cambodia's recent history.  Because of the American war in Vietnam, Cambodia's existing pro-western government struggled to hold on to control from a rather nasty strain of communist influence, the Khmer Rouge.  The government allowed the Americans to bomb as they pleased and drove thousands to the KR side.  There was a civil war from 1970-75 before Pol Pot and the KR came out on top.  There are plenty of horror stories from this time, but it was nothing compared to the following 4 years.  The KR wanted to totally transform society faster than any other communist state had done up to that point.  Pol Pot, a French educated intellectual, proceeded to forcefully move the population from the cities to the fields and had them dig dams, ditches, dikes, whatever.  They were so fearful of other intellectuals they simply had them killed.  Doctors, teachers, lawyers, old government officials, and even people who wore glasses were simply taken to the city outskirts and murdered.  As with other paranoid regimes, this escalated to the general population, where ordinary citizens were branded traitors and thrown into prison to be tortured and eventually killed.  We saw the most notorious prison in Phnom Penh, S21.  It was creepy because it was an old elementary school.  We would go into rooms that looked like classrooms, but instead had just a single metal bed in the middle with shackles.  On the wall would be a black and white picture of the prisoner that once occupied the room.  There was usually a pool of blood underneath the bed and their bodies looked emaciated.  This gruesome scene was followed by a 10km tuk-tuk ride out to "The Killing Fields".  This was where the KR would take the prisoners of S21 and had them shot.  There are still remnants of clothing and bone coming out of the earth due to the wind and rain.  They think over a quarter of the population was killed.  Two plus million people before the Vietnamese liberated them in 1979.  Suffice it to say it was a sobering day.  It is a strange thing to go and see, but it's also important to realize what humans are capable of in the wrong situation.

On a much lighter note, we left Phnom Penh for the ruins of Angkor in the north.  After a six hour bus ride we arrived in Siem Reap, the lively town you stay in to reach the ruins by day.  Again we were shocked by the city as it was alive with energy.  We spent 3 dollars each getting "fish foot"massages.  You stick your feet into a large tank up to your shins, and hundreds of tiny (and very hungry) fish nibble off your dead skin.  Writing this it all sounds rather gross, but it's a cool feeling (once you get used to it) and they give you a beer to enjoy while the fish do their thing.  Enough about the city.  The ruins at Angkor are fantastic.  We bought a three day pass and hired a tuk-tuk driver named Vuth for all three days.  He's our favorite driver to date.  The Cambodians may be our favorite people as well.  They are amazingly friendly and the children are the cutest things in the world.  Anyway, back to the ruins.  All of the sites at Angkor are remnants of the greatest empire ever in SE Asia; the Khmer Empire.  This was its capital, and was at its peak from the 10th to the 14th centuries.  During its zenith in the 12th century, there were over 1 million people living within its walls.  Compare that to less than 100,000 in London at the same time, or 500 years before New York (technically New Amsterdam) was settled by westerners.  The first day we covered the most famous temples.  The sheer size and amazing detail carved into the rock make this a slightly more impressive site than the Taj Mahal.  This combined with the fact it's in the middle of dense jungle makes it unbelievable.  We were up at 4:30am to make the sunrise at Angkor Wat.  This was followed by the famous Bayon (look for the faces in the rock, Shauna's favorite) and finally Ta Phrom (Indiana Jones style, Pat's favorite).  The second day started later and we took in the sunset from the highest point in the area, a temple known as Phnom Bakheng.  The third day was a ride out to the farthest temple, Banteay Srei.  It's unique for it's pink color and intricate carvings, but is much smaller than the rest.  Needless to say the last three days have been amazing.  Pat should have his ruins fix settled for a while.

We're off to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) tonight, and we're flying!  It's only 263 miles to Vietnam, but it would take us 13 hours by bus.  No thanks.  We'll take the hour flight, please.

We love and miss everyone.

Until next time,

S&P