Oh, Cambodia!
Last night we arrived back in Bangkok after a very short, turbulent flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We spent the last week in the tiny country that lies to the east of Thailand, and it proved to be a big surprise.
I, being the ignorant Westerner that I am, assumed that it would be pretty much the same as Thailand; give or take some cultural differences, clearly some historical differences, and perhaps a palm tree or two, it must be basically the same, right? Nope.
Cambodia is a land that is entirely formed of contradictions and contrasts. It does not resemble Thailand in any way, except the fact that tuk-tuks are a vital form of transportation and their drivers will do virtually anything to take you for a ride. The land is made up of sprawling, dry plains, dotted with palm trees that play a huge part in their culture and society; immense wetlands are spread between these plains, providing the people with a place to plant rice and for water buffalo to roam; the jungle is home to countless flora and fauna – no matter where you are, you just have to look a little deeper and there is always some sort of cleverly disguised animal or thriving plant.
The contrasts of Cambodia lie in everything: the dusty cities and country roads force you to hold your breath, but a minute later, the wetness of the air seems to cling to your entire body; parts of the countryside are occupied with thriving farmland, while other parts are solely occupied by landmines; children in their school uniforms skip happily down the street with their books in hand, while other children lay hungry and barefoot on the concrete -every single aspect of Cambodia has a very evident opposite.
Watch towers around Angkor Thom
On our first day in Cambodia we went to our guesthouse, Boddhi Tree Umma, which is one of three Boddhi Tree locations. Boddhi Tree is a group of guesthouses in Phnom Penh that employ young, underprivileged Cambodians to provide them with training so they can have a better future. We met two Canadians at the airport in Bangkok and they came along with us to the guesthouse because they weren’t sure where to stay. That night we had dinner together, and planned the next day – we’d go to the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (more commonly known as S-21). Now, this guesthouse is an old French house from the 30’s, so it looks really neat, and it’s furnished quite nicely, but it has not been maintained very well. We didn’t have electricity most of the time and there was the most putrid smell imaginable coming from the bed. We decided after a sleepless night that we would catch a bus to Siem Reap after going to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng. The other Canadians agreed that it would be a good plan, and decided to join us in Siem Reap as well, so we ate breakfast and went on to the Killing Fields. Just as a warning, the next bit of this post is a bit brutal, so if you don’t want to hear it, I suggest you stop reading, and continue after the next two paragraphs.
One thing that I find shocking is that there is a massive amount of people who are completely unaware that there has ever been any sort of war in Cambodia, nevertheless one that occurred 30 years ago and resulted in the death of a quarter of an entire country. During that time period, there were hardly any journalists there, so there was very little documentation. We hardly even learned about it in school. When you arrive at the Killing Fields (specifically the one outside of Phnom Penh, the one that is referred to in the book – there are several Killing Fields spread throughout the country), you are engulfed/greeted by half a dozen children and mine victims begging for money. You walk through the lovely gate, pay your fee, admire the beautiful pagoda before you, and listen to the laughter of children at the school just outside the walls of the field. There are butterflies everywhere, flowers, roosters, and even a souvenir shop! Then, you realize where it is exactly that you are. You walk to the first sign, that tells you it used to be where they’d unload trucks of people from S-21. Nearby is where they’d document which prisoners were there, and you stop and look at a map of the layout of the field, as well as some photos of the prisoners. Continue on the path, and that is when it hits you – like a brick wall. You are walking on human bones. Not underneath the path, not near a graveyard, in a completely literal sense, there are human bones that you can see underneath your feet, as well as some pieces of fabric – victims clothing. You pass a mass grave – 450 victims – another grave – mostly headless women and children – all while walking on these bones. There was a tree that was used to mount a loudspeaker, so they could drown out the screams. There was a tree that was used specifically to beat children – that was the point that got me. After Chris nearly had to move me out of the way of stepping on someone’s jaw bone, I saw that tree, and just lost it. It just hits you – not only this specific war and the atrocities that were committed (atrocities that the entire country is still suffering from, and will for many, many years) here, but the fact that this sort of thing is going on all over the world as I type this, as you read this. We took a bit of a break and sat in a gazebo, and a Cambodian man and his friend came and sat with us. He was telling us about the war, how they killed all of the educated people – teachers, doctors – they made all the foreigners leave (there were a lot of European teachers there at the time), and how they would torture them at S-21, then take them to the Killing Fields to die. He just came and sat and wanted to share his story. You find that a lot there, people really want to tell you about it.
After we left we went to S-21 – yet another contrast. There is a couple of courtyards with grass and flowery trees, and the classrooms were softly lit and had calming yellow and white checkered floors. Then you notice the graves in the courtyard, the rusty old beds and torture devices in the classrooms, and once you move onto the third building, it’s about as bad as one could imagine. The classrooms were divided up by brick or wood, into small, single prisoner cells (probably not even 1×1 metre). There are numbers carved into the walls, dents and cracks in the floor. The entire front of the building is covered in barbed wire (like one would cover something with chickenwire) to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide. There are photos of the prisoners – everything was carefully documented – some of them like mugshots, others in whatever position/condition in which they died. There were torture devices and jaws in glass cabinets; the entire place seems to rob you of your breath.
Chris at Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Monks
After that, we left. We took a 7 hour long bus to Siem Reap – mostly in a state of disbelief at what we had just seen – and then we took a tuk tuk to our guesthouse, Two Dragons. We spent the next five days exploring the Angkor Archaeological Site – and it was amazing. The whole place feels a bit surreal, like you’re wandering around a postcard. We toured Angkor Wat and the National Museum on the first day, then went to Angkor Thom the next day with some friends we met back in Koh Phayam at the beginning of our trip, and up to a temple on a “mountain” haha to watch the sun set. That night we went out for dinner and drinks in the Old Market area and fell in love with Siem Reap. It is such a beautiful city – it has a completely different feeling from Phnom Penh(though since we stayed directly across the street from the Genocide museum in an area full of tuk-tuk drivers and beggars, we got a bit of a distorted view of Phnom Penh), and is full of old French colonial buildings and Cambodian charm. The next day we really didn’t do much – had a bit of a sick day so we went to Blue Pumpkin (best bakery on earth) for breakfast, did a little wandering, and spent most of the day relaxing.
Cute girl at a temple
Orphan “Tien” and me
Abi and I
The next day we went to several more temples, our favourite being Ta Phrom (the one that is most famous for it’s tree covered temples). On our last full day (our favourite day!) we went to visit Harmony Farm (a little orphanage that our friends are volunteering at) then to Beng Melea Temple. The ride up there took about 1 1/2 hours, but it was the most beautiful rideever – the countrysidewas gorgeous, and full of little (most of them naked) kids waving at us from the side of the road. Everyone there rides bicycles, and there were several horse or water buffalo drawn wagons. The orphanage is really great – they’ve come a long way in a short amount of time and are working on providing everyone with education and making the community self sustainable (visit www.harmonyfarmcambodia.org for info). The temple in itself was kind of similar to Ta Phrom, but it was only de-mined a few years ago and is not touristy at all. They have not done any restoration or anything, so it’s absolutely amazing. At first, a police officer guided us through about half of it (climbing over walls and through windows and over the ruins!), then one of the local kids took us through more of it (I wasn’t entirely sure we’d make it… haha), and it was seriously incredible. At the end, we met up with one of the volunteers from Harmony Farm and some of the kids (they just went swimming in the river near the temple), and walked back with them – I made quick friends with one of the kids, Tien (spelling?), a beautiful 8 year old with amazing English. Afterward, we went back to the Old Market area and went for dinner and to the night market. It was the perfect day to end our trip. The next morning we caught a 7:30 bus back to Phnom Penh, then our flight back to Bangkok.
Chris at Angkor Thom
Angkor Wat
Cambodia was a place that really made us think – about everything really. It was such an incredible place, like I said, so full of contrasts and contradictions. It is a place that really needs all the help it can get, as there were entire generations of knowledge just wiped out – where do they go from there? Despite the poverty (so many people make only $1USD per day), there is so much kindness there, so much positivity despite their situation. It’s a frustrating, beautiful, sweaty, fascinating, filthy, enchanting place and we’d both go back there in a second.
And once again, here we are in Bangkok, at a sort of crossroads, trying to figure out what our next step is. We’re so excited for the next six weeks, but also can’t wait to get home to see everyone. We hope everyone is doing well, miss you, xo!
- Us 
