Wat a week! … Siem Reap, Cambodia

I didn’t know a lot about Cambodia until recently. I knew Angelina Jolie spent a lot of time there and had adopted at least one Cambodian child but embarrassingly that was about it. Ironically it was a Netflix film made by Angelina called First They Killed My Father which began my education. Based on the memoir of Loung Ung, a survivor of the horrific genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s, the film shocked and horrified me. How could I be so completely unaware of such atrocities when they happened so recently? It made me determined to visit this mysterious country whilst travelling Asia and learn more about its history, culture and people. 

Day 135-137 Siem Reap Our first stop after leaving Thailand was Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat Temple, the largest religious monument in the world. We didn’t get to see the iconic sunrise despite getting up at 4am but the temple more than made up for it. Like the Meenakshi Temple in India it simply took my breath away. The bas-relief carvings, Hindu and Buddhist decorations and beautiful towers and courtyards were all so ornate and well preserved. There was an ethereal atmosphere and despite the hoarders of tourists you couldn’t help but be captured by the magic of the place. 

After moving on to Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider Temple) and various other stunning sites we were all templed-out so in the evening we sampled the more modern culture of Siem Reap Pub Street. Early on in the night I was delighted to hear the strains of Kareoke escaping from a nearby bar and made plans to find it again and grace them with a touch of Lionel Ritchie later in the evening. After being painted with copious amounts of neon paint and taking part in several drinking games I escaped with Julia, the only other 30 something in my group, to find the kareoke. Unfortunately when we got there it turned out that the “kareoke” was actually a rather awful Cambodian cover band! 

Day 138 Phnom Penh The most memorable day in Cambodia was visiting The Choeung Ek Killing Fields and S21 Prison. The Killing Fields are a number of sites where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried in mass graves by the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian genocide between 1975-1979. At Choeung Ek the remnants of clothes and victims’ bones are still shockingly  apparent and seeing the memorial stupa filled with skulls and bones found there was the the most sobering experience of my life. I cannot express the feelings that overwhelmed me as I contemplated the ‘Killing Tree’ where so many babies and young children were killed in front of their mothers before they themselves were also disposed of. It is incomprehensible. In any world, how could any human justify this? 

We moved on to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or S21 Prison, a former high school which was used as one of 150 execution centres by the Khmer Rouge. Out of over 17,000 people prisoner at this hell hole there were only 7 known survivors. Everyone else was tortured and/or executed. Let that sink in for a moment…I met Bou Meng, an artist who survived mainly because he painted a flattering portrait of PolPot. I felt incredibly humbled and honoured. 

Day 139-140 Sihanoukville I never really associated Cambodia with the beach but Sihanoukville was a lovely surprise. The sand was smoothe and White and the water was pleasantly warm. After the intensity of our trip to Phnom Penh it was nice to have a few days to relax. Unfortunately Sihanoukville itself is just a rather shabby town that is now being over run by big new Chinese hotels and casinos which seem totally out of place but the surrounding area makes it worth the visit. On the last day we visited a remote waterfall and ended up being joined by a group of young trainee monks who were having a whale of a time playing in the water. It was so nice to see them laughing and enjoying themselves and it seemed to me to be symbol of hope. After learning of such tragedy in Cambodia it is heartening to see how this amazing country has survived, continues to recover and is not defined by its past. 

My trip to Cambodia was short but one of the most thought provoking of my journey so far. If you don’t know about Cambodia I would highly recommend that you watch or read First They Killed My Father or Google Khmer Rouge, PolPot and The Killing Fields. Now, more than ever, I feel that the events in Cambodia (like Hiroshima) must not be forgotten and should serve as a poignant reminder of what we humans are capable of doing to one another. 

Day 141 over the border into Can Tho, Vietnam