Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, was a city full of incredible highs and disturbing lows. The lows came from learning all about the genocide Cambodians faced in the 1970’s. A communist party called the Khmer Rouge killed thousands of people in attempt to turn Cambodia into a peasant-dominated country. Anyone suspected of having an education, spoke a different language or in some cases just wore glasses was slaughtered. Visiting the well-known prison S-21 and the killing fields was an educational but horrible day. The goose bumps and sick feeling in my stomach was as real as the hundreds of faces, mug shots, of the prisoners that were brutally tortured and murdered at S-21. It was sickening seeing photos of the tortured prisoners, lying dead or dying on the prison’s checkered floor, and then standing on that same floor as in the photo.
The killing fields were just as awful with it’s shrine to the victims made up of over 8000 skulls and seeing bits of tattered clothing and pieces of bones poking out of the dirt paths that lead to you the sites of the mass graves. A sign telling visitors “Killing tree against which executioners beat children” made the whole experience almost too much to take. Approximately 17,000 men, women and children were executed here.
I can’t begin to understand the mindset of people who could do that to another human being. How does a person or a group of people get to that point? Almost 2 million Cambodians died between 1975-1979.
On a brighter note I had one of my most inspiring and wonderful days on this trip visiting Phnom Penh’s Lighthouse Orphanage. To say I was greeted warmly would be a terrible understatement because from the moment I got to the orphanage I had a child glued to my side, clinging to my hand, eager to show me around. About 40 children ranging in ages from 18 months to 17-years-old call this place home. They spend their days going to school at the compound and playing volleyball or futbal in the courtyard. They sleep in tiny twin bunk beds, usually 3-4 children per bed and are each responsible for scrubbing their clothing clean using buckets and water from an old pump well.
On Sundays visitors are invited to come and play with the children. The older kids get all dolled up in make-up and costumes and perform traditional Cambodian dances while the younger ones gather around wildly clapping and smiling from ear-to-ear at the performance. The way these kids smile, laugh and play you would think they are the luckiest people in the world. They were so sweet and friendly that the second you sat down you had a child crawling onto your lap. It’s so amazing to see happiness in such a raw form. In reality they have very little to be happy about and yet their joy was so strong it was contagious.
I left Bangkok in a comfy air-conditioned bus headed to Siem Reap Cambodia- a 14-hour bus ride. 14 hours in a bus is a pretty daunting experience but due to the relative comfort and even movies playing on the TV I didn’t think I would be too miserable. However, as I crossed the Thailand/Cambodia boarder I thought I had been teleported back to Africa. Suddenly we were transferred from our “luxury” bus and piled onto a stuffy, old rickety bus cover in dust. On the Thailand side of the boarder the road was paved, buildings built properly- a relatively modern place. In contrast to the Cambodia side where the stores are made of scraps of wood and metal and the road became an endless stretch of potholes, pools of mud and loose dirt. Crossing the boarder was like crossing into a different world- suddenly all sense of order was lost.
The land here is extremely flat and rice paddies stretch across the landscape for as far as you can see. As the sun went down and it’s purple light turned to black hundreds of blue florescent lights were came on illuminating the side of our treacherous road. I thought they might be for the drivers but was then informed that they were actually cricket catchers- roasted cricket is a popular snack among Cambodians- as well as tarantulas, beetles and snails. At the bus stops women carrying trays full of cooked tarantulas try and hustle their snack sold by the kilo. You could buy yourself a very filling kilo for about 25 cents- Tempting- but surprisingly I declined.
Siem Reap is a major tourist destination because of all the ancient temples that surround the small town. I spent an exhausting day wandering through some of the favorites; Angkor Wat, Bayon, Preah Kahn… trying to imagine what life was like when people actually lived in these amazing stone palaces. It’s incredible that people are still allowed to explore these temples because many of them are crumbling pretty badly. In many places the jungle has simply taken over the temple, reclaiming its territory, as massive trees and roots grow directly out of the ruins. However, the heaps of fallen rocks and debris definitely added to the whole Indiana Jones ambiance. I kept imagining some tribal guys jumping out from one of the many dark corridors taking me into a secret room beneath the temple lit by torches and ripping my still beating heart out of my chest! Ummm not really- but it was still fun to imagine.
English. Kind, humble and very welcoming- their village is only a stones throw away from the popular Bayon temple and yet they said tourists rarely ever come to talk with them. I think people sometimes feel intimidated by monks. Like I said in Thailand they seem so pure, so other-worldly but in reality most of them are just kind young men who want to be monks for a few years and then leave and get married. They even asked if I had a boyfriend!?! Behind the saffron robes, pious existence and shaved heads they are still just men…
