Cambodia

The Mekong

I have just spent 8 days in Cambodia and have loved it.  While I expected the majesty of Angkor Wat and the sadness of The Killing Fields both were more extreme than expected.
What I did not expect was the friendliness of the people, the value for money, the excitement of both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and the constant delight of being on the street.  Cambodia is a third world country but having lived in Bangladesh (another third world country) the gulf between the two in the day to day (and night) is huge.

Firstly the amazing!

Monks at lunch

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is without doubt incredible and should be on everyone's bucket list.  I saw the first temple and thought that's pretty good.  But it was only a fraction of the whole temple complex.  It is immense and I understand why there are multi-day passes.  Away from the main areas there are some very peaceful and reflective areas with few people.  The Buddhist influence in the temple is obvious and in many parts it is still a living monastery.  There were monks doing blessings and monks having lunch.  Young monks playing games and a baptism of sorts taking place.  Especially away from the package tour group areas it is a very quiet and thoughtful place.  There are also very little signage and a lot of freedom of where you can go.  Can't imagine that in other countries.

Royal Palace

Royal Palace

Other amazing places were the Buddhist temples with their amazing colour and statues.  The people were most welcoming and friendly into their space.  The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh is also an incredible place.  The National Museum also has wonderful examples of Khmer statues and has amazing figurines of Buddha.

Angkor, Anchor or Cambodia Beer

The food is also amazing though the insects and shellfish were a bit much but the local beer is good!

Lunch

Shell fish for eating

The really, really, sad!

The Killing Fields.  This has really affected me!  I have found the dichotomy between such wonderfully friendly people and the most horrific crimes hard to reconcile.  I have tried talking to some local Cambodians.  To them it is in the past.  Sad, but in the past.  None of them were born then.  It is difficult to meet older Cambodians but less than 40 years old they are easy to meet.  There seems to be  line drawn in history around that time.

The Killing Fields

I know the activities of the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) were affected by what was happening in the world and South East Asia at the time.  The carpet bombing by US forces produced disarray and disaffection at the time, the Maoist 'experiment' through the cultural revolution in China was seen as a powerful revolutionary and idealistic process, the internal anti-royalist view was dominant in many areas, the encroachment across borders by other nations fermenting nationalism.  All of these were significant!

But to kill a quarter of the population!

Liberation for the Cambodian people from the Pol Pot came from the the Vietnamese.  They seemed to have been very beneficent in their treatment of the Cambodians and were really liberators.  The western powers, including England, Australia, New Zealand, USA and most of Europe recognized Pol Pot as the legitimate rulers for several decades.  Even though the atrocities were known!

For Cambodia it still goes on!  There are trials happening now.  The present government has leaders who were part of the Khmer Rouge.

Buddha images are revered!

If the wonderful people of Cambodia can do this then it is possible anywhere.  We all need to think about protecting ourselves, society and the world from similar events.

Buddha at Angkor Wat

So Cambodia is weird!

• Beautiful people - friendly and fun loving!
• In eight days I never met a negative local person.
• They are so positive even though they have a tough life.
• Wonderful history
• Religiously powerful - nearly everyone is a Buddhist!

But!  Why, why, why!  The Killing Fields still haunt!

I have to come back to this place!