Scott and Jen in Southeast Asia: May 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Temples of Angkor, Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap after a 5 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh. Siem Reap is the jumping off point for visiting the many temples of Angkor, the remnants of the Khmer empire that flourished there from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries.

As there are literally dozens of sites spread over many square miles, we hired a tuk-tuk driver, Brannak, to cart us around for a 3-day tour. (map of temples).

Using our guidebook and Brannak’s extensive knowledge of the sites, we started with some of the older, less-preserved ruins on Day 1 and worked our way up to the real gems by Day 3--Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.

We kept a good record of which places we visited on what days/times, etc… but it will take us quite a while to sort it all out once we get home. The pictures below are a little of everything, intermixed…

Our Itinerary (and links for more background)

Day 1:

Tham Neak

Ta Prohm (featured in the movie Tomb Raider)

Day 2:

Banteay Srei (30 km outside Siem Reap)

Ta Som

Preah Neak Pean

Prasat Prei

Day 3:

Terrace of the Leper King

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Thom North Gateway: one of a handful of intimidating entrances to the massive walled compound of Angkor

Our tuk-tuk driver, Brannak

The palm tree landscape between temple sites…

And flooded fields of rice, with water buffalos…

We’re constantly amazed at what can be transported by motorbike

The town of Siem Reap

Nature reclaiming the jungle after hundreds of years

Kids riding home from school

Brannak picked us up at 4:30am on Day 3 so we could watch the sunrise over some temples.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

At 6 in the morning, our shirts are already soaked with sweat… it was HOT!!

A family of monkeys playing in a nearby field

The Bayon complex

One final picture with Brannak… we would be heading back into Thailand the next morning.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The capital city of Phnom Penh was not originally on our itinerary… but it became a necessary stop-through on the way from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap. We decided to stay a couple nights to try and better understand the atrocities of recent Cambodian history.

Between 1975 and 1978, under the rule of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of 2 million men, women and children… about 20% of the population of Cambodia at that time. Any citizens (and their entire family) who were educated, or religious, spoke another language, had ever travelled to another country or had any degree of wealth were collected (tricked into believing that they were being selected for a job in the newly-created government), taken to one of the 189 prisons where they were tortured before being killed in one of the 380 killing fields. Pol Pot sought to create a “peasant race” incapable of rebelling. It wasn’t until Vietnam defeated Pol Pot that the genocide finally ended in 1979.

In the spirit of moving forward, most of the 380 killing fields have been cleared and re-purposed as farmland. However one killing field, Choeng Ek, was left to serve as a museum and a stark reminder to future generations of what can happen if a government is allowed to go unchecked.

We had an excellent guide for our visit here… he said that everyone in Cambodia today has a close friend or relative that was killed by the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia tries its best to be a forward-looking, developing country… but with so much history and knowledge lost (the Khmer Rouge destroyed all schools, libraries and religious institutions), there is a difficult road ahead.

It was a poignant and moving day to say the least.

Choeng Ek Killing Field

It’s estimated that 17,000 people were killed here… mostly using hand tools to save money on ammunition. About 9,000 have been exhumed so far.

A quick summary of what happened here.

A stupa was constructed to honor those found at Cheoung Ek

Within the stupa are nine levels housing the remains of the 9,000 people exhumed from the Choeng Ek killing field.

Their clothes piled on the first level.

Some of the empty mass graves at this site.

Tuol Sleng Prison

Tuol Sleng is one of the 189 prisons that was used by the Khmer Rouge. This one was a high school before all schools were abolished.

With just empty rooms, at first it was difficult to imagine the horrors that went on here not long ago. However, exhibits showing some of the thousands of prisoners (many were women and children) who came through here made it quite real… truly haunting and heart-breaking images. Almost all were executed a short distance away at Choeung Ek killing field.