Highlights of Cambodia
‘Highlights’ is a hard word to use for Cambodia because not all you see is necessarily a ‘highlight’ but maybe a point of interest that exists only in a few places in the world and possibly not a good thing. Cambodia is rich in culture, Angkor Wat straddles Hinduism and Buddhism through time however, Cambodia is also is laden with mine fields and unexcavated mass graves and the local villagers know who is in the graves, their ancestors.
I left Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, in a hurried state because a storm had just ravaged the Philippines and was heading for Viet Nam. Fortunately it turned north but when I was north of Hue on my way to a tunnel network I had seen some damage from the previous storm to coastal rubber tree plantations where many trees had been snapped in half or lay down like a trail of fallen dominoes. I arrived in Phnom Penh while the textile riots were going on. Across town rumors were spreading about police brutality and shots being fired and some dead protestors. I was down by the river and not close to the activities until I went looking for them.
In Phnom Penh there is great food, a night life, and home to S-21, Tuol Sleng, a torture and death center under Comrade Duch where approximately 20,000 men, women, and children were arrested, tortured, and either blind folded and either shot or were hit with a stick to the back of the neck and fell into a mass grave. Others got a nail and hammer to the skull. This arrest, torture and kill could be set off by looking at someone wrongly, saying something about someone, or just plain village jealousy. The whole country turned paranoid from the ‘evil disease’ within their country whether fictitious or not.
When S-21 ran out of room for the bodies many were taken to a second location known as Cheoung Ek. At this site today there is a monument with approximately 8,000 skulls mounted in a spire tower. There are cases full of bones and loose teeth rest against the glass like dead flies on a windowsill. It is said all over the country that when it rains bits of bone and scraps of clothing get exposed. Lots of these mass graves are said not to grow trees still.
The highlight is Angkor Wat. Buy the three-day pass and take your time. It’s not just one building site; there are many and all with rich history. Angkor Wat was a Hindu temple first and then centuries later became Buddhist. All different gods, deities, and stories are present. You might want a guide at least for one day to show you everything and then go back and discover for yourself some of the intricacies of the construction and sculpted art forms.
I traveled primarily by boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and on to Batambang. The river had overflowed its banks and the rice fields were completely submerged and fishing was poor because the fish were not concentrated necessarily in the river anymore. To the east of Siem Reap a few hours by car, towards the Viet Nam border I came across a dead zone where nothing lives and the soil is scorched gray or black.
When I was in Phnom Penh I went to a bilingual bookstore where I picked up some folklore books in English and read them. One of the books told of China’s ceaseless desire to control Cambodia. In the story the Chinese considered Cambodia to be the breadbasket of South East Asia and sent emissaries to test the wisest men in Cambodia eventually coming to the point of a bet where the winner, if China gets Cambodia, and if its Cambodia get left alone. The story was told through watching an obnoxious poor slave boy becomes one of the brightest and beating the Chinese wisest at their own game. I only mention this because of the ‘dam’ situation. Laos, Cambodia and Burma are under threat of loosing control of their destiny if they give too many concessions to China. China will gain control of South East Asia’s future.
