Cambodia - Unbreakable Spirit

Cambodia Slide Show

We traveled through Cambodia as part of an Intrepid travel tour group. Intrepid is an Australian company that organizes small group tours "for travelers with a yearning to get off the beaten track". We met our group in Bangkok prior to taking off to Cambodia. After spending almost 6 months organizing everything on our own, we turned over the planning to Intrepid. Including our guide and the three of us, there were 12 people that traveled together. Italy, Germany, Australia, the UK, Canada, and the United States were all represented in our group.
We went from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia aboard a bus. The Thailand / Cambodia crossing took over an hour as we waited outside in a line on a very hot and humid day. Our bags were brought across the border in a homemade human pulled trailer. Cambodia is probably best known for the Temples of Angkor Wat and the fanatical rule of Pol Pot from 1975 to 1979. The Temples of Angkor Wat are just outside the city of Siem Reap. We spent 2 days visiting the temples that were constructed in the early 12th century by various kings. The 1,000 year old temples are very impressive, especially at sunrise.
The Temples of Angkor Wat are the best known, but we preferred the Ta Prohm Temples. When the temples in the Siem Reap were discovered, the forest had pretty much covered them. Most of the temples, including Angkor Wat had the forest removed to restore the temples to how they were originally built. Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found, with trees literally growing on, around, and through the temples. Hollywood also thought this site was pretty cool as they filmed "The Tomb Raider" here with Angelina Jolie. Our Cambodia guide seemed quite fond of Angelina.
Siem Reap is a wonderful town with leftover influences in the form of architecture and cuisine from the French, who occupied Cambodia from the late 1800's until 1953. In addition to the temples around Siem Reap, we took a boat ride on Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Asia. Entire floating villages are built on the lake, providing easy access to the fishing, which provides Cambodia 75% of their fish.
We really enjoyed the Cambodia people and the sites, but a visit to Cambodia is not complete without getting a first-hand view of what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did to this wonderful country. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge moved all the people out into the countryside and used them as slave labor. School, music, religion and any interaction with the Western world were all abolished. Anyone deemed educated was considered a threat, so they were executed immediately. In total, 2 million of the 7 million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1979, the time that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia.
Many of the children were forced into being child soldiers. A man by the name of Aki Ra was a child soldier that was trained to put land mines in the fields and forests. Now as an adult, he has made it his mission to remove the mines. He has personally defused tens of thousands of land mines, but millions still remain. The Land Mine Museum that he started is a fascinating look at his work.
There were 2 more sites near Phnom Penh that showed the results of the Khmer Rouge. The Tuol Seng Genocide Museum is at the site of the S.21 prison, where prisoners were brought to be interrogated prior to being executed. Only 7 people who came through this prison came out alive. The survivors were individuals with special skills that the Khmer Rouge needed. We were fortunate to meet one of the survivors at the museum. He told his incredibly sad story of being at the prison and of losing his wife and 6 children.
Many of you have seen the movie, "The Killing Fields" that came out in 1984 that tells the story of Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot. We went to a killing fields memorial which is built on one of the former mass burial sites. Seeing the depressions in the field where the mass burial graves were left a sick feeling in your stomach.
We found the Cambodian people to be quite resilient and some of the friendliest people that we have met. Our guide explained to us that they live for the moment and are always smiling. In a sense, I suppose they are just happy to be alive. This unbreakable spirit has allowed the country to prosper. We were surprised at how modern Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were. Our going in thoughts were that it would be a tough third world country to travel in, but that was not the case. Tourism and foreign investment have helped Cambodia recover from a difficult past. It was nice to share and discuss these experiences with other travelers in our group. Next stop with the group is Vietnam.
To see our slide show of Cambodia, click on the following link ==> Cambodia Slide Show