Cambodia, Angkor Wat and on to Bangkok
Trip Start
Apr 30, 2004
1
17
88
Trip End
Jan 28, 2005
Bangkok,
Thailand
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Three decades of civil war combined with a vast insane communist inspired experiment removed Cambodia from the tourist map. To me Cambodia was always associated with famine, refugees, war, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The long and bloody civil war is over, the Khmer Rouge are no longer terrorising the locals and Pol Pot is dead, so the country is open once more and mainly due to the temple of Angkor, Cambodia is a must do destination in SE Asia.
The mini hotel (that's what they like to be called)we're staying in is clean, well run and friendly. The room is a good size with tiled floor and skirtings (easy to clean and no cockroaches) en suite, western style toilet, shower, sink, a large double bed, a huge fan and cable TV (Euro 2004 with arabic commentary). All this for $5 / 3 pounds per night
Angkor Wat 1
. Incredible. I had spent months at home prior to leaving, trying to prepare Princess Rene for the flea ridden, cockroach infested, dodgy stained, prostitute prowling hovels we'd be having to stay in on our budget, but I've been astounded at the quality and choice available. The competition is fierce and the standards are high; many even have several computers for internet use.As usual there are hordes of moped stunt men waiting outside the hotel, we pick Mao who is solidly built and proudly shows us his new Suzuki. $6 for the day, bike and driver. With Mao up front and the delicate flower that is Rene in the middle, I'm pretty much sat on the exhaust. Once out of the city the roads resemble a motocross track, muddy and rutted all the way to Choeng Ek, our destination for the morning.
Since deciding to come to Cambodia we've read a lot about it, especially relating to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and having done so we were prepared that the day spent visiting the killing fields and the nortorious S21 prison would be harrowing and difficult, but all the reading in the world couldn't prepare you for the shocking brutal reality of these places.
The Killing Fields of Choenng Ek are 15km from Pnom Penh
Angkor Wat 2
. Between 1975 and 1978 about 17,000 men, women, children and babies (including 9 westerners) who had been held and tortured at S21 were brought here to be executed. Usually bound and blindfolded they were knelt by mass graves and bludgeoned with an iron bar, this avoided wasting precious bullets.In 1980 8,985 people were exhumed from these mass graves. Of the 129 graves discovered, 43 have been left untouched. Most of those killed were educated teachers or doctors and their families - anyone considered a threat to the revolution.
We hire a guide to show us round this one time orchard which is now full of pits still containing fragments of bone and bits of clothing. His parents were executed here and its a very moving tour. He has worked here a a guide for 15 years and I can't think of anything worse than having to relive the horrors he tells us about 10 times a day, everyday, but he says the world must know exactly what happened here and that it must never be allowed to happen again. In 1988 a large glass panelled memorial was erected, it's huge and contains more than 800 skulls arranged by sex and age. It's a powerful and haunting sight.
The Documentation Centre of Cambodia was established in 1995 through the Ya;e Universitys Cambodian Genocide Program to research and document the crimes of the Khmer Rouge
Angkor Wat 3
. They have spent years translating confessions and paperwork from S21 prison, mapping mass graves and preserving evidence. They encourage visitors to visit their website www.yale.edu/cgp.After heading back to Pnom Penh we visit Tuol Sleng museum (S21 prison).
In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey high school was taken over by Pol Pots security forces and turned into a prison known a security prison 21 (S21). It soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. It now serves as a tstament to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.
Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge were meticulous in keeping records of its barbarism. The 17,000 or so prisoners who passed through S21 between 1975 and 78 were photographed, sometimes before and after torture, it's these photographs that make up a large part of the museum and it's these photographs that stay with you. Room after room covered from floor to ceiling with photographs of men, women and children, some as old as nan, some as young as Tom and Finn, stare back at you. A few look defiant but most look scared. All but 7 of 17,000 were executed. The photographs of torture and the results of torture are too gruesome to llok at, but you have to
Angkor Wat 4
.Thol Sleng prison is a profoundly depressing experience. The sheer ordinariness of the place makes it more horrific: the suburban setting, the plain school buildings, rusted prison beds and iron shackles, instruments of torture and the harrowing black and white photographs conjure up images of humanity at its worst.
Deuch, who ran S21 is now in prison in Pnom Penh still awaiting trial on charges of genocide.
Expenses: Tuol Sleng $4 Breakfast $3.50 Bus $8 Killing Fields $8 Water $1 bike $6 Driver $6 lunch $6.50 beer $4
Fri June 18 - Day 50
As you've probably gathered, once we've seen what we want to see, unless we love a place, we move on. So at 7am we're on a nice aircon bus for the 8 hour trip to Siem Reap.
The scenery is similar to Vietnam, very green, but the dwellings are much more rustic and are all wooden stilt houses
Angkor Wat 5
. By Cambodian standards the road is good and we arrive uneventfully by mid afternoon. After a trek round we find a room with hot water. About 4pm the wind gets up then the torrential rain arrives and is set in for the night. We presume its going to stop but it doesn't. so we make a dash through the wet and muddy streets to get some food.Expenses: Accom $8 Brkfast $1 Dinner $7 Drinks $3.75 Laundry $1
Sat Jun 19 - Day 51
The alarm goes off at 4.30am. We planned to see the sunrise at Angkor but a quick look outside shows its still raining, so it's back to bed.
We realise when we get up that we've been joined in our room by a number of huge cockroaches, so we decide to change mini hotels. We book into Smileys guest home which turns out to be really nice. The rooms are basic, but there is a good cheap restaurant on site and four tiny resident puppies and several other dogs so Rene's in her element.
We arrange for a tuk tuk (a moped pulling a 2 seated trailer with roof) to take us to Angkor at 4.30pm for the sunset and the rest of the day is spent wandering and emailing
Angkor Wat 6
.At 4.30 Sukur, our tuk tuk driver picks us up and we head off for our first glimpse of Angkor. Buying a day pass after 4.30 allows you a free sunset, the tickets are $20 for a day pass, $45 for 3 days or $60 for a week.
The temples of Angkor are the heart and soul of Cambodia and a huge source of pride to all Khmers, everyone we speak to asks if we've been to see Angkor.
The temples were built between the 9th and 14th centuries AD, when the Khmer civilisation was at the height of its extraordinary creativity and are among the foremost architectural wonders of the world.
From Angkor the kings of the mighty Khmer Empire ruled over a vast territory that extended from southern Vietnam, north to China and from Vietnam west to the Bay of Bengal. Angkors 100 or so temples formed a spectacular religious and administrative centre, these were built of brick and stone which was always reserved for the gods. Its houses, public buildings and palaces were constructed of wood and have long since decayed. If you're really interested in the history look it up on the world wide webnet if not you'll be glad I've stopped waffling
Honda spare parts - Russian market, Pnom Penh
.The first structure we see is Angkor Wat which is the largest and undoubtedly the most breathtaking of all but tonight we drive past to the hilltop temple of Prom Bakheng, to watch the sunset, as do several hundred others. After a couple of hours exploring we head back to Siem Reap in the fading light, cloud obscured the sunset but our first look at Angkor was memorable.
Expenses: room $8 internet $2, 1,300 real, bracelet $1 money belt $3 + 2,000 real Supermarket $4 Thai lonely planet $5 tuk tuk $1 lunch $9 Angkor $40
Sun Jun 20 - Day 52
Sukur picks us up at 5am, it's pitch black and we're not sure it's him until a voice says "Mr Lee sir it's Suker". Suker and his tuk tuk is our transport for the day, there is miles between temples and miles to be walked exploring each one, so it makes sense to have a lift inbetween, he also knows the history of each temple nd how long we should spend exploring, which was odd, but he was usually right. Everything we saw was magnificant from the well preserved Angkor Wat with its superb bas relief carvings to the jungle overgrown temple of Ta Prohm where massive tree routes intertwine with the stonework
Killing Fields Museum, Pnom Penh
.The sun broke through at about 10am and it became swelteringly hot. By lunchtime Rene was knackered and all templed out so resorted to sitting in the tuk tuk while I explored. I was wet through but having a great time. A few more of the more remote temples had nobody about which was perfect, it's amazing how much you can see and do if you start at 5.30am. I finished off by returning to Angkor Wat for another look around. It was 33C today and by the time we get back to Smileys we are exhausted and have seen all we want to see.
Expenses: tuk tuk 10$ breakfast $3.50 tshirt etc $4.50 internet $2
Mon June 21 - Day 53
A day of complete opposites on the bus journey front. The bus from Siem Reap to Thailand costs $10 and comes in 2 parts; part 1 is Siem Reap to Poipet, which is the border town, part 2 is Poipet to Bangkok. The trip to Poipet is by inibus, the journey to Bangkok is by coach.
The minibus that turns up at our hostel is, not ot pu too fine a point on it, a heap of shit
Killing Fields Musuem
. It doesn't look as if it will reach the end of the road, never mind Poipet, it's the sort of vehicle you see abandoned in the corner of farmyards with nettles growing out of it and chickens living in it. The front windscreen has a top to bottom crack but plenty of duct tape to keep it from falling out. The back windscreen has a spider web crack, also taped together, the bumpers are twisted and bent and there isn't a single panel undented.On board the scrapheap challenge the seats are worn through with the stuffing showing on the edges, they all seem to be out of line with each other and sitting on the back seat was impossible as the seats in front had been shunted back so far you couldn't squeeze your legs in. This space was utilised by filling it with backpacks.With a groan from the engine and a crunching of the gears we leave Siem Reap. We stop at the first garage we come to, the driver jumps off, 2 minutes later he returns with a spare wheel which he places in the aisle of the bus. He does a thumbs up sign to everyone, sits back down and drives on. Any fears of not making it to Poipet vanish immediately now we have a sapre wheel on board.
There was no way our minibus could go more than 30mph, luckily it was impossible to do so. Once out of Siem Reap the roads quickly deteriorated from bad to worse
Memorial - Killing Fields, Pnom Penh
. The road to Poipet cuts through the middle of huge flat expanses of paddy fields interspersed with small villages of stilt houses and coconut palms, the road is just soil built up and rollered flat until it's a few feet higher than the water in the fields. It's just wide enough for buses to pass each other and it looks like its been bombed. The ruts and potholes were deep and continuous. We spend a third of the journey in mid air, the rest of the time we were just holding on tight to the seat in front. It was like being on the medium setting of one of those bucking bronchos. Six bum numbing hours later, safe and raw and covered in a thick layer of red dust (all the windows that would open were as there was no air con) we arrived at the border.We had passed several breakdowns and another minibus full of backpackers who's wheel had fallen off in one of the big potholes and 2 wagons that had crashed off the road into the paddy fields. The road is also busy with pick up trucks which act as people taxis, 15 people and their belongings piled high bouncing along makes you look twice and count.Our minibus delivered us sore but safe and in retrospect was perfect for the job. A new vehicle would be wrecked in weeks on these roads so they patch up and repair the wrecks they already have.
The border crossing into Thailiand was a breeze and 2 hours later we're sat on a double decker coach, with reclining seats and air con., gliding towards Bangkok on a smooth dual carriageway.
The first room we look at in Bangkok has carpet, circa 1976 judging by the colour and stain build up. Carpets = cockroaches + creepy crawlies so we move on. The second room is straight off prisoner cell block H, tiny with metal frame beds, concrete mattresses, I love it, or more to the point I love the 42" screen TV downstairs thats showing the England V Croatia game at 01.45am. Rene's not convinced but is too hot and tired to argue much. After a shower and a venture out for a meal I set the alarm for 01.30.
