Merry Christmas Everyone!
I can hardly believe its already only a couple of days until Christmas - it definately doesn't feel like it here. Having recently arrived in Sihanoukville, in the very south of the country, I'm going to be spending my "Christmas" on the beach or snorkelling. (sounds good to me!)
Despite this, I'm kinda thinking snow would be nice right now. Its really hot, sweltering really, and I had a 3 hour nap this afternoon in a hammock, under a fan....after the bus ride from Phnom Penh. They always seat you at the back, over the engine, if you're not Cambodian. Fair enough...but HOT.
So...its been a while since I last wrote...and a lot has happened.
Cambodia...is definately a trip. This country has been through so much, so recently, and is only now getting back on its feet.
After seeing the endangered Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphins in Kratie, we made our way slowly to Phnom Penh, where 3 different groups of people were converging....found a beautiful guesthouse on the lake, with a common area that was really a deck over the water with hammocks, great food, and conversation well into the night. We went out to a club called "Heart of Darkness" the first night...felt like anytown, anywhere.
Phnom Penh....what will stick with me is definately the S-21 Tuol Sleng Museum, and the Killing Fields.
The Khmer Rouge used an old secondary school as a prison and interrogation (read - torture) site for the Cambodian people between 1975-79. When you visit it today, you can still see the cells, chains, bloodstains, and photographs of the victims on display there. When PP was liberated by the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge didn't have time to destroy their records, so the surviving documentation of their genocide is staggering in its precision. Detailed biographies, photographs before and after death, and signed confessions ( usually signed after torture) exist still for every person who went through s-21.
There are literally rooms of photographs .....people staring into the camera...and its absolutely sickening to realize how these people died. Those who were not killed outright by the torture or harsh living conditions were bused out of town to one of numerous 'killing fields' where they were made to kneel before huge mass graves, then knocked out with a blow to the back of their head. Just to make sure, their throats were then slit with palm fronds. Cheap and plentiful...no need to waste bullets which were so expensive...................
There is quite literally nothing to say as you wander through the museum, or among the massive pits. They have erected a memorial in the killing field - a pagoda filled with skulls they have excavated....there are still more bones and bits of clothing surfacing after every heavy rain. Incredible.
As a contrast, there are little kids running around..;..big smiles, yelling "one two three smile" because they want you to take their picture (and then, of course, give them a little money.....) And every Cambodian you pass on the street will most definately treat you to a huge genuine smile. Incredible to think that every person I see on the street who is my age or older, has lived through this ordeal. Not surprisingly, there are very few elderly. Hundreds of kids, but so few people older than 30. So sad. The fighting really only stopped in '98 so this country is literally still finding its footing.
Angkor Wat. Proof that a nation now struggling was once all-powerful. These temples are awe-inspiring. Massive, remarkably well-preserved (built between 800-1100) and once you get up close, the detail in the bas-reliefs is amazing. Life of royalty, peasants, wars, visits from chinese dignitaries...all carved into stone.
It cost $60 for a 3 day pass, but you could literally spend a week there...its quite far between temples, and you can spend so long exploring each one. What really impressed me is the fact that the temples are all that remain of a massive walled city, the ancient seat of Angkorian royalty, which was home to over a million Khmer people. Only the homes for the gods were built of stone; the rest of the structures were wooden, and long rotted away. It must have been so beautiful in its day.
Sunset at Angkor Wat was a highlight of my trip so far, for sure.
Despite the depressing realization that this is such recent history, I"ve found Cambodia to be an inspiring place.
It feels like time has stood still here....as you are driven by tuk tuk through the city streets, you see kids on bikes negotiating the roundabouts, people with everything and anything on motorbikes....pigs, laundry, bales of hay, baskets of baguettes, entire families....just careening through the seemingly lawless streets. There are no traffic lights..you rely on your horn, and I guess luck? to get you through each intersection. The roads are dusty and bumpy, and most Cambodians use a traditional checkered scarf, called a krama, to keep the dust out of their nose and mouth. Joining the traffic are oxcarts piled with bags of rice; the driver sitting high on top with a switch, and little ponies, with fancy headdresses, hitched to tiny flatbed carts and driven by kids maybe 10 years old, standing on the carts.
Barefoot kids play on the curb, the older ones taking care of the babies, no adults in sight.
Just a different world.
I'm headed to Vietnam in the new year.....hopefully I'll get some pix up before then....
I hope to hear from you all for Christmas, I've got a good group of friends going right now, but I don't know what to expect for xmas.....will be nice to hear from home......
xoxoxo lots of love, laura
