Cambodia was everything I hoped it would be, and a little bit more. Amazing
ruins, beautiful forests, and a real "Cambodian experience" during an
encounter in Phnom Penh.
Zen and I were reunited in the Phnom Penh airport after having been apart for a
long three and a half months. While the main point of visiting Cambodia was to
see Angkor Wat, we decided to stop for a couple of nights to tour around the
capital city of Phnom Penh.
The dusty and chaotic streets had a distinctive third world feel to them,
although the large number of NGOs working in Cambodia meant that there was a
market for a few western luxuries as well. The trendy coffee shops brought back
memories of the routine Zen and I established in Mountain View and during the
cycle trip through Europe. In the evenings, we treated ourselves to some nice
meals at a French restaurant run by a couple of expats from Paris.
The tourist attractions in Phnom Penh include some macabre reminders of the
brutality of the former Khmer Rouge regime. However, Zen and I chose to focus on
more positive sights. We visited the national museum filled with art from the
thousand year old Angkor culture. We also stopped by the Silver Pagoda which is
a stunning temple named after the over five thousand 1.1kg tiles of solid silver
that line the floor. It also housed some amazing Buddhist icons including a
couple of diamond studded solid gold standing Buddhas.
On our second and final evening in Phnom Penh, we returned to the French
restaurant to sample more of the fresh pastas we had dined on the evening
before. Just five minutes after sitting down, we heard what sounded like a
vehicle backfiring outside. However, the regular bursts were louder and sharper
then they should have been, and they weren't stopping. When I saw the French
owner get down on his hands and knees and crawl towards the door, I began to
realize what was going on. After about a dozen or so cracks, they began to get
quieter as they faded off into the distance.
A brief bit of chaos ensued in the restaurant, after which things quickly
returned to normal. The owner casually asked us what we would like to order as
if nothing had happened. When we enquired as to what had gone on, he
nonchalantly stated that there was a motorcycle robbery just outside the
restaurant and that the Cambodian woman owner of the bike was shot and killed.
This was a little shocking, and was definitely a wake up call. It also made me
question my wisdom in deciding to visit Cambodia.
The owner also stated that things are "getting better" as it was four
months since the last gunfight he encountered. Obviously, this did little to
console us.
It took a little bit of time to compose ourselves, after which we were able look
beyond what had just happened and enjoyed another amazing meal. We refused to go
outside and check out the scene of the crime, quite happy to remain in the safe
haven of the restaurant walls, and not wanting any visual images to further
strike home what had just gone on.
As we left the restaurant, locals were gathering around the blood stains that
were located about 10 meters from the table we were sitting at. We briskly
walked past the gathering, although the half kilometer walk back to the hotel
through narrow unlit streets seemed to take longer than it should have, The dark
outlines on the street corners of men with machine guns were also a little
unsettling, even though closer examination revealed them to be police officers.
Quite happy to leave the episode behind us, we got on an airplane the next
morning and flew to Siem Reap, located a few kilometers from the ruins of
Angkor.
Upon arrival in Siem Reap, a taxi driver/guide was organized for the following
day, and at his advice, we were up at 5:30 the next morning to head to the
temples and enjoy the sunrise. As we rode to our chosen destination of Angkor
Thom and the "Bayon" temple, we were afforded an unforgettable
silhouette of the towers of Angkor Wat rising above the jungles in the eerie
misty pre-dawn light.
The temple of Bayon is famous for the large faces sculpted into its spires that
smile down eerily upon its visitors. Given our pre-dawn arrival, these faces
were not visible at first, but their realistic leering gazes from above were
revealed one by one as the first rays of light began to shine. As we walked
around, we seemed to be alone at the temple. The silence was only broken by the
hooting of monkeys, the shrieking of parrots, and the buzzing of the cicadas. As
we explored a little further, we realized we were not quite alone as a saffron
robed monk surprised us when he peeked out from around a corner, taking a break
from his morning routine of lighting incense sticks.
The next three days were spent visiting the many temples built in the Angkor
region. From the sunset views of Angkor Wat to the isolated temples of the
Roluos group, the three days flew by quickly and I could have easily spent
another week visiting the magical remains of the ancient Angkor civilization.
One of the more interesting visits was to the temple of Ta Prohm. Despite the
objections of some archeologists, it has been left in its ruined, overgrown
state. This gives it a sort of Indiana Jones atmosphere as you crawl over fallen
blocks and broken statues to climb into dark passageways, and duck beneath the
branches of the trees and their root systems that are swallowing up the ruins.
The Khmer civilization has alternated between the Hindu and Buddhist religions,
and this manifested itself in the temple decorations in a sometimes bizzare and
amusing fashion. My favourite was the conversion of meditating Buddhas into
bearded Hindu ascetics.
The one bright spot of the unstable political situation in Cambodia is that the
ruins have relatively few visitors. With the exception of when the occasional
tour bus would roll up, we would often find ourselves with the ruins all to
ourselves, even at the main attraction of Angkor Wat. It was easy to pass hours
examining the intricate sandstone carvings of Buddhas, Hindu ascetics, and
sensuous Aspara dancers, trying to understand the significance of the religious
and historical themes of the bas-reliefs, and then sitting on the top of a
pyramid absorbing it all while watching parrots flit between the trees and
listening to the soothing sounds of the jungle.
Unfortunately, the lack of tourists meant that the many hawkers were very hungry
for business. They had nothing better to do than follow you around trying to get
you to buy postcards, T-shirts, or cold drinks. The policemen even got into the
act as they would follow you in to some of the temples. They would start out
with small talk, and then would tell you about how poor they are. "I have
no money for clothes or even a clock ... by the way, that is a nice watch you
have." When directly asking for money didn't seem to work, they would
switch tactics and try to sell you their police badge as a souvenir.
Sadly, the short stint in Cambodia is rapidly coming to an end. Zen has already
left to return to Bombay, and tomorrow I will be getting on a plane to fly to
India myself as I head to New Delhi and the deserts of Rajisthan.
