The Charms and Chills of Cambodia

Another month has come and gone and I realized that I still need to post a story on Cambodia. Six months backdating, forgive me my slothfulness.

It was in March when Air Asia took us to Siem Reap, a small town that hosts one of the world wonders and Cambodia's main tourist attraction, the temples of Angkor. Angkor is the capital of the ancient Khmer empire and the national pride to all Cambodians (also called Khmers). Images of Angkor Wat, the main temple, can be found on the Cambodian flag, currency notes, beer bottles, etc. The government charges USD 20 for a visa on arrival in exchange for spiritual enrichment (whether from the temples or the Happy Pizza, who would say?).

After a short taxi drive to our hostel, we prepared ourselves for a stroll through the cozy town. It was quite a hot day and as it was approaching the end of the dry season, everything was dried out and dusty. Siem Reap is booming, its borders are continuously spilling outward and new hostels, bars and restaurants are popping up like mushrooms in a forest to respond to the ever-growing demand of mass tourism. We walked around for a few hours, had lunch and beers, checked out the local treats (mostly fried insects) that we decided to pass on, inhaled the pleasant atmosphere that surrounded the place and were so happy that we were not sitting in the office.

The evening slowly came and we took a tuk tuk to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat, which according to the Lonely Planet is one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind. Obviously no tourist would want to miss its magnificent beauty so by the time we got there, we had company from several tourist buses, other tourists on tuk tuks and dare devils on bicycles. It almost felt like waiting in line for the last round of the roller coaster in a fun park. Pretty disappointing.

But we were compensated for this the next day. And what a compensation it was! At five in the morning we got geared up for a day tour at the Angkor area, starting with sunrise at Angkor Wat. Not as many visitors yet this time and we managed to get a decent spot to celebrate the birth of another day. The scene was truly mesmerizing as the sun slowly climbed upward, a ribbon at a time, reaching for its throne in the sky, changing all the colours of the world. We walked around the temple complex, marvelled at the countless bas-reliefs, carvings of gods and demons adorning the doorways and walls and wondered how man could ever build this without all the modern tools that are available nowadays.

The next destination on the list was the enigmatic Bayon - my personal favourite. This temple has 216 faces of the god Avalokiteshvara, looking down on you with a smile everywhere you go. As the sun changes its position, shadows and shafts of light change the faces still.

We proceeded to the enthralling Ta Phrom, made forever more famous by the movie Tomb Raider. Devoured by nature, collapsed walls and crumbling stonework decorate the place as gigantic roots of centuries old trees slowly strangle the man-made monument. We also explored Baphuon, the Terrace of Elephants, the Terrace of the Leper King, Ta Keo with its scarily steep stairways and Banteay Srei. Stunning masterpieces of art.

Somehow we didn't get enough divine inspiration and we decided to try the Happy Pizza, recommended by friends who had been here before, to gain some psychedelic experience. It's basically a pizza with whatever you like on it topped with "happy" ganja. The Dutch was intrigued. You could order your pizza i) a little happy, ii) medium happy, or iii) very very happy. We went for the mildest version and perhaps it was because we had been walking around in Angkor the whole day but the meal only made us mellow and even more sleepy.

The next day we took a six hour bus ride to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city. Population is around one million so it lacks the metropolitan feeling that one might have in neighbouring capitals like Jakarta, Bangkok or Manila. On the other hand, it is uniquely captivating like no other city can be. Cambodia is still recovering from the three year Khmer Rouge regime in the seventies, during which period thousands of men, women and children were killed. Phnom Penh is charming - behold the grandeur of the Royal Palace, the Independence Monument, Wat Phnom and its cozy streets with bars on the riverfront - as well as chilling to the bones - The Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek will erase the smile on every face and make you gasp for air. Those are not for the faint-hearted.

Our hostel is a short walk to the Royal Palace and Tonlé Sap, a river that runs through the city. The day of arrival was free and easy - short strolls through some areas, food and beer - as we wanted to prepare ourselves for the "horror trip" on the next day. A tuk tuk brought us to the Tuol Sleng Museum and I was initially reluctant to go in.

Tuol Sleng was formerly a school and was turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21) by Pol Pot's army in 1975. It had three buildings where former classrooms were turned into prison chambers and later into exhibition halls bearing witness to all the suffering that occurred. The rusty beds on which prisoners were bound and left to die, dried up blood stains on the floor, torture objects used by the army and thousands of pictures stand as testament to one of the most terrifying and cruel deeds ever conceived by the human mind. Haunting images of prisoners will follow you for some time, as well as the stories told by tour guides who are a living survivor or whose family was killed during the bloody regime.

The Killing Fields is situated a few kilometers outside the city. Almost every prisoner held in Tuol Sleng was later executed on these grounds. There are hundreds of mass graves, trees against which executioners beat children and a big white genocide memorial housing over 8,000 skulls found during excavations in the eighties. It has been more than two decades since the killings and one can still spot human bones and ragged clothes here and there in the churned grounds. It's almost unthinkable what despicable terror man can do to its own kind.

Enough trauma for one day so we went back to central Phnom Penh and visited the Russian Market to do some shopping. A sure way to cheer up a girl. Our flight back home was not scheduled until late afternoon on the next day so in the morning we went to the Royal Palace with its golden roofs and rich ornaments, lush gardens and different functional buildings. Then before we knew it, another tuk tuk took us to the airport and another plane sent us back home.

Cambodia is an amazing country and I vowed to go back there again one day to see more of it, to go off the beaten path perhaps and taste more of the Khmer cuisine (minus the fried insects). Its people are smiling, despite their suffering in the dark past. Even though the economy is now mainly being driven by tourism, the vendors and tuk tuk drivers are not as pushy or obnoxious as in other countries. Except maybe for the kids in the Angkor area, screaming "one dooollah, one dooollah" continuously, selling postcards, bags and other tourist knick knacks. It was definitely an enriching trip that made my soul yearn for more...

What touched me the most: a landmine survivor in Siem Reap, former policeman, having stumps instead of arms and scars on his body where mine pieces went through, carrying a box around his neck filled with books to sell to tourists. Instead of sulking and feeling sorry for himself until the end of days, he decided to make a living the best he could and giving all he got, not merely asking for sympathy from others, but sharing with them his life story, giving them perspectives and gratitude towards life.

What annoyed me the most: having to pay USD 25 for airport tax on departure. It costs more to leave the country than to enter it. The logic thereof will forever remain lost.