A bas relief at Banteay Srei, Siem Reap.Otago Daily Times
Tue, 5 Aug 2008
Kingdoms have come and gone in Cambodia, with mixed success. Former Dunedin man Richard Cotton surveys the legacies of a couple.
In Cambodia it's rumoured if you have more dollars than sense you can engage in activities involving cows and rocket launchers, or if your pockets don't run so deep, a rabbit or a chicken might suffice.
For the majority of visitors however, the key attraction is the ruins of Angkor; relic of an era when kings rode elephants, commanded huge armies and commissioned vast works in their own honour.
Also of historical interest are sites associated with the Khmer Rouge's brutal four-year regime.
I took a short tour of the country entering via the Mekong River through southern Laos and exiting into Thailand at Poipet.
Laos passport control was little more than a wooden shack just up from the river.
Passports stamped and "overtime fee" paid, we crossed to the Cambodian side for more of the same before entering into negotiations with the speedboat mafia for the trip downriver to Stung Treng.
The boat was noisy, uncomfortable and wet and the river scene little more than a blur as we hurtled towards our destination but it is, nevertheless, an interesting way to enter the country.
The Mekong River, which begins its epic journey far to the north, in China, expands into a vast flowing lake at its lower reaches before emptying out into the South China Sea.
The river is the home of dolphins near the town of Kratie, though sadly, their days may be numbered.
Stung Treng is the first port of call for many who enter Cambodia from the north, a dreary little town with little to offer the tourist other than a place to recoup before heading on to Kratie and Phnom Penh.
The ferry took me down to Kamphong Cham, where we transferred to minibuses for the trip into the capital.
Stopping for refreshments in the town of Skuon, I encountered local women circulating with platters of large black fried spiders.
Always looking to expand my gastronomic horizons I gave it a try.
Not too gross, but nothing really to write home about - your basic bush tucker.
They tasted more of whatever they were fried in than anything else.
The stuffed frogs weren't bad.
Pol Pot
In 1975 the communist Khmer Rouge took power and under the leadership of an ex-school teacher named Saloth Sar, better know as Pol Pot, attempted to build a cashless agrarian utopia based on Maoist principles.
Entire cities, including the capital Phnom Penh, were emptied into the countryside and their citizenry forced to work at gunpoint.
Dissent was dealt with harshly and immediately.
Those who weren't executed on the spot were taken to concentration camps for "re-education".
Others succumbed to disease or simply starved to death.
Leading figures of the Khmer Rouge are only now being called to account for their part in this tragedy while many, including Pol Pot himself, have escaped trial by simply dying of old age.
The Killing Fields
Hiring a motorcycle (only $NZ3, plus $NZ2 insurance), I took a trip down a bumpy dirt road to the "Killing Fields" at Choeung Ek, where the Khmer Rouge disposed of undesirables during their four-year reign of terror.
At the centre of the grounds is a large stupa which contains, on platformed layers, the skulls of more than 10,000 people murdered by the regime.
Many of the skulls have holes and cracks, as the victims were more often than not bludgeoned with blunt instruments to save the cost of a bullet.
There are still fragments of bones and clothing sticking out of the ground in places.
It's a sobering glimpse of humanity's dark side.
My most profound emotion was one of sorrow, for the victims, and for those who survived.
Back in the city, I visited the notorious Tuol Sleng concentration camp, previously a high school, which has since been converted into a museum.
Inmates here were routinely tortured and left without medical care.
Cells were hardly big enough to lie down in and most who went there would attain freedom only in death.
Siem Reap
The Angkorean period covered the years AD802-AD1452.
Four centuries of growth were followed by a period of decline in the face of over-expansion and the rise of more powerful neighbours.
When explorers such as Frenchman Henri Mahmout came across the ruins in the mid-1800s, they had largely been consumed by the jungle.
While some sites have since been reconstructed, others remain entangled, testament as much to the jungle's resilience as the transitory nature of man's dreams.
The entire complex covers a vast area and Angkor Wat itself may be the largest religious structure ever built.
Constructed during the reign of Suryavarman II (1112-1152) it honours the Hindu god Vishnu.
Many bas-relief carvings depict great victories and cosmic events.
Along the road a bit is the walled city of Angkor Thom, which has as its centrepiece the inspiring The Bayon, with its many representations of Avolokiteshvara smiling enigmatically back at you.
The city takes up about 10km square and includes the Temple of the Leper King, the Royal Enclosure and the Terrace of Elephants.
Other sites of interest within the inner cluster include the overgrown Tha Thon, which has been left to the jungle rather than compromise its integrity, and the temple mount of Phnom Bakheng, which is a popular site to view the sunset over Tonle Sap (Lake) and affords spectacular views of Angkor Wat reaching up through the jungle.
Tickets come in one, three or seven-day varieties.
Many claim to be "templed out" after three days but I was good for a week.
I explored most of it by bicycle and hired a driver for the sites further out.
As I had arrived in the rainy season, everything was lush and green.
The canals and swimming pools, once the sole domain of kings and their concubines, were full of local kids soaking up the summer, while vendors drove tourists to distraction with their incessant sales pitch.
In the wooded area between Angkor Wat and The Bayon is a sizeable population of monkeys, one of which took the liberty of making off with the bag of cashews I had left in the basket of my bike.
The road out to Poipet on the border with Thailand was a shocker, no less so for the effects of the wet season.
All part of the fun for the overland traveller.
Two weeks in Cambodia, memories for a lifetime.
Tue, 5 Aug 2008
Kingdoms have come and gone in Cambodia, with mixed success. Former Dunedin man Richard Cotton surveys the legacies of a couple.
In Cambodia it's rumoured if you have more dollars than sense you can engage in activities involving cows and rocket launchers, or if your pockets don't run so deep, a rabbit or a chicken might suffice.
For the majority of visitors however, the key attraction is the ruins of Angkor; relic of an era when kings rode elephants, commanded huge armies and commissioned vast works in their own honour.
Also of historical interest are sites associated with the Khmer Rouge's brutal four-year regime.
I took a short tour of the country entering via the Mekong River through southern Laos and exiting into Thailand at Poipet.
Laos passport control was little more than a wooden shack just up from the river.
Passports stamped and "overtime fee" paid, we crossed to the Cambodian side for more of the same before entering into negotiations with the speedboat mafia for the trip downriver to Stung Treng.
The boat was noisy, uncomfortable and wet and the river scene little more than a blur as we hurtled towards our destination but it is, nevertheless, an interesting way to enter the country.
The Mekong River, which begins its epic journey far to the north, in China, expands into a vast flowing lake at its lower reaches before emptying out into the South China Sea.
The river is the home of dolphins near the town of Kratie, though sadly, their days may be numbered.
Stung Treng is the first port of call for many who enter Cambodia from the north, a dreary little town with little to offer the tourist other than a place to recoup before heading on to Kratie and Phnom Penh.
The ferry took me down to Kamphong Cham, where we transferred to minibuses for the trip into the capital.
Stopping for refreshments in the town of Skuon, I encountered local women circulating with platters of large black fried spiders.
Always looking to expand my gastronomic horizons I gave it a try.
Not too gross, but nothing really to write home about - your basic bush tucker.
They tasted more of whatever they were fried in than anything else.
The stuffed frogs weren't bad.
Pol Pot
In 1975 the communist Khmer Rouge took power and under the leadership of an ex-school teacher named Saloth Sar, better know as Pol Pot, attempted to build a cashless agrarian utopia based on Maoist principles.
Entire cities, including the capital Phnom Penh, were emptied into the countryside and their citizenry forced to work at gunpoint.
Dissent was dealt with harshly and immediately.
Those who weren't executed on the spot were taken to concentration camps for "re-education".
Others succumbed to disease or simply starved to death.
Leading figures of the Khmer Rouge are only now being called to account for their part in this tragedy while many, including Pol Pot himself, have escaped trial by simply dying of old age.
The Killing Fields
Hiring a motorcycle (only $NZ3, plus $NZ2 insurance), I took a trip down a bumpy dirt road to the "Killing Fields" at Choeung Ek, where the Khmer Rouge disposed of undesirables during their four-year reign of terror.
At the centre of the grounds is a large stupa which contains, on platformed layers, the skulls of more than 10,000 people murdered by the regime.
Many of the skulls have holes and cracks, as the victims were more often than not bludgeoned with blunt instruments to save the cost of a bullet.
There are still fragments of bones and clothing sticking out of the ground in places.
It's a sobering glimpse of humanity's dark side.
My most profound emotion was one of sorrow, for the victims, and for those who survived.
Back in the city, I visited the notorious Tuol Sleng concentration camp, previously a high school, which has since been converted into a museum.
Inmates here were routinely tortured and left without medical care.
Cells were hardly big enough to lie down in and most who went there would attain freedom only in death.
Siem Reap
The Angkorean period covered the years AD802-AD1452.
Four centuries of growth were followed by a period of decline in the face of over-expansion and the rise of more powerful neighbours.
When explorers such as Frenchman Henri Mahmout came across the ruins in the mid-1800s, they had largely been consumed by the jungle.
While some sites have since been reconstructed, others remain entangled, testament as much to the jungle's resilience as the transitory nature of man's dreams.
The entire complex covers a vast area and Angkor Wat itself may be the largest religious structure ever built.
Constructed during the reign of Suryavarman II (1112-1152) it honours the Hindu god Vishnu.
Many bas-relief carvings depict great victories and cosmic events.
Along the road a bit is the walled city of Angkor Thom, which has as its centrepiece the inspiring The Bayon, with its many representations of Avolokiteshvara smiling enigmatically back at you.
The city takes up about 10km square and includes the Temple of the Leper King, the Royal Enclosure and the Terrace of Elephants.
Other sites of interest within the inner cluster include the overgrown Tha Thon, which has been left to the jungle rather than compromise its integrity, and the temple mount of Phnom Bakheng, which is a popular site to view the sunset over Tonle Sap (Lake) and affords spectacular views of Angkor Wat reaching up through the jungle.
Tickets come in one, three or seven-day varieties.
Many claim to be "templed out" after three days but I was good for a week.
I explored most of it by bicycle and hired a driver for the sites further out.
As I had arrived in the rainy season, everything was lush and green.
The canals and swimming pools, once the sole domain of kings and their concubines, were full of local kids soaking up the summer, while vendors drove tourists to distraction with their incessant sales pitch.
In the wooded area between Angkor Wat and The Bayon is a sizeable population of monkeys, one of which took the liberty of making off with the bag of cashews I had left in the basket of my bike.
The road out to Poipet on the border with Thailand was a shocker, no less so for the effects of the wet season.
All part of the fun for the overland traveller.
Two weeks in Cambodia, memories for a lifetime.
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