Okily dokily here we go with what will hopefully be the last of SE Asia and the first of South America in one fell swoop. Well, two fell swoops, as if I do actually get round to doing it all then it will definitely need to be in two chunks for slightly easier digestion! I am currently in Brazil at Foz do Iguacu, having been abandoned by Miss Carris Headland after a pretty darn amazing two weeks (which will be covered in the next one). She flies back to the UK today and I decided that I needed a day extra to rest, recuperate, recover the hearing in my ears and lubrication in my throat after two weeks of constant high speed conversation and research intensively for my next two months in South America. After several hours so far this morning on the internet trying to get through my to do list - something I foolishly thought I could leave behind me in the UK - I am giving myself a little respite to sit and fondly recall the very happy last month I have had, before getting back to trawling through websites trying to decipher the best way to get from a) to b) when really, there should just be a bus that goes direct!
Last time I wrote it was about our time in Saigon (goodness, that feels like a very long time ago!), which means that the next big thing I need to relate is mine and Mum's time at Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Well, what a place! A lost civilisation with a history all the more fascinating for the huge gaps where it was all but abandoned. The largest religious site in the world with beautiful and exqusitie architecture juxtaposed with equally beautiful but heart wrenching street children outside yelling "One dollar, one dollar, you buy from me, ok?!" outside every temple. The eigth wonder of the world, completely overrun by tourists, but somehow managing to retain the mystique and aura of a place with a past palpable in the present. As you may be able to tell...I loved it.
We had three full days of temple visiting, with some other local sights thrown in so clearly I can't tell you everything about it, or I will never get on to South America or leave this hostel! I'll get in as much as I can though, promise :)
On our first day we go up early so that we could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous temple) - a 'must do' as declared by the Bible. When I say early, I mean really early, we left our hostel at 5am so that we would have time to do everything we needed to and still be there before the sun came up. All was going according to plan; we were on time, had our tickets, and had prime seats by the water so that we could see the reflection as well as the actual temple, Mum even had a coffee, but then the unthinkable happened. The sun didn't come up. Well of course it did, but we couldn't see it due to a thick bank of cloud that completely obscured our view of it. Very inconsiderate of the weather, especially considering that we had paid $5 extra for the sunrise! All was not lost however, as we decided to abandon sitting watching clouds in favour of getting in to Angkor Wat before the crowds and I am so glad we did. It was magical. To wander round inside the temple in relative quiet (a few other clever tourists had had my idea - great minds and all that) in the dark and see it as it gradually got lighter and lighter was so evocative, and made you feel like just round the corner would be a devotee hurrying to the central sancutary to perform prayers; pretty special. The temple is very impressive. It is a Hindu temple and is set out as a microcosm of the Hindu universe, with the central sanctuary being Mount Meru (the mount of the Gods), the temple boundaries being the boundaries of Earth and the moat around it being the universe. All over the walls in the main temple grounds are bas reliefs which show scenes from Hindu mythlogy and carvings of apsara girls - scantily clad and rather seductive dancers who were clearly very popular!
We wandered around Angkor Wat for hours before realising that we were starving and so we went for breakfast opposite the temple. This was our first of many encounters with the one dollar brigade - the absolutely adorable but very persistent street kids trying to sell you anything and everything from postcards to flutes to bracelets to books. I told Mum that is was not a good idea to purchase anything at which she commented that I had become 'hearltess', a comment that I can understand her making but which I think is a bit unfair, as she realised after getting her purse out. She thought that once we had bought one set of postcards that that would be that and they would go on their way and let us enjoy our breakfast in peace. Obviously that was not how it worked, and once she had agreed to buy one set, they all wanted to sell one. It's always such a difficult call as I agree with her that it is lovely to buy something from these kids as you instinctively want to help them, but you do have to be careful where you choose to get your money out, otherwise it can be tricky to get away, and obviously sometimes it just isn't safe - a tough call.
After Angkor Wat our remork (a motorbike with a tuk tuk attached) driver Sunny took us to Angkor Thom, a sort of city of temples that was a huge metropolis compared to the London of that time which was little more than a village. We went in via one of the four gates of the city, the South gate, over which there was a giant head looking down over the road, which had a row of stone statue warriors lined along it. It was imposing even now when they have been weathered by many years; I can't even imagine how it must have looked back in the day. Our first stop in Angkor Thom was the Bayon temple. This is an amazing structure that looks completely higgledy piggledy until you look closely and see that it is built to a very complex symmetrical structure - quite amazing! It has something like 220 massive faces made out of rocks which look down over the temple. These faces were amazing, not just for the fact that they still retain their features after so long, but becase of what they evoked. One of our guidebooks said that they were benevolent faces, watching over and protecting the people whereas the other one said that they were stern faces, that acted as a warning to people to obey the king's wishes. I saw them as somewhere inbetween; impassive faces that symbolised the king's presence, and whether that presence was benevolent or angry depended on the subject. They created a very eerie atmosphere though, despite the crowds and sunlight.
We did several more temples that afternoon before visiting Ta Prohm which was my absolute favourite of the day, second favourite overall. It is the temple where they filmed some of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - the temple which has trees growing in it/out of it/all over it and around it! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, I just couldn't get my head around it as you would walk around a corner to see these gigantic tree roots cascading down over the stones in a wall, and when you looked up a tree that towered over the whole temple was existing on whatever nutrients it managed to glean from the soil beneath. The fact that the walls of the temple are still relatively intact as well was mind boggling - such a unique thing to see. I loved what I saw to be the symbolism of this jungle temple; two opposing forces warring for years for dominance, each vying to outlive the other to emerge victorious, only for them to have to reach a compromise, where both coexist, each all the more beautiful for its reliance on the other.
A very successful first day, if exhausting; we were out for 12 hours! Day two was no less packed, and started with a long journey out to Beng Melea temple. We took what Sunny described as a shortcut, but even if it took longer I am so glad we went the way we did, as instead of going on a main road the whole way where all you would see was other cars, we went on back roads where you drove through village after village and lots of farmland. It was incredible! The Lonely Planet is always harping on about how the 'journey is the destination' (and on many of my journeys I have pondered this, hoping that the actual destination must be better!) but in this case it was so apt. Nearly all the houses we went past were on stilts and had lots of Khmer (Cambodian) people outside going about their day to day lives. Pretty much every child that we went passed smiled and gave us a big wave and shouted hello...it was lovely. The actual destination was not too shabby either, in fact it was my favourite temple of the lot. If Ta Prohm is the jungle temple then I have no idea what you could call Beng Melea, which is Ta Prohm but bigger, and with nature on steroids! Here the jungle has completely taken over, and although plenty of walls remain standing and there is one or two covered galleries intact, the majority of the stones from the elaborate temples lie as rubble, having given way to the trees' progression. We were shown a path through the maze of stones and jungle by a local man and then Mum went to sit down while I explored on my own for an hour and it was phenomenal. To clamber over stones intricately carved that once formed the bricks of exquisite carvings, and then to balance along the tops of walls before jumping down to wander one of the few covered walkways remaining was one of my favourite experiences thus far, just incredible.
That afternoon we went to the floating village of Kompong Phhluk, an intriguing village built on very very high stilts because of this freak of ecology whereby the local lake changes from 2500km squared to 13000km squared in the rainy season, thus completely flooding the village! The people that live there know how to utilise it though and make the most of the fertile land left behind once the waters recede and of the copious amounts of fish in the lake (the Tonle Sap, incidentally). We went through on a boat before being paddled round a flooded forest by two young girls, which was really nice as the sun was just starting to set so it created some beautiful reflections on the water. Finally we went out to said lake (which by this point in the holiday we had already eaten lots of fish from) for the sunset which was stunning. Even though it was the dry season you couldn't see the other sides and so we had a perfect sunset - lovely jubbly! It was funny actually because Sunny clearly couldn't understand why we were so obsessed with seeing things at sunset or at sunrise, as lots of tourists clearly are as they are optional add-ons to tours. He asked us one day at lunch, "do you not have sunset in your country?" which I found hilarious. We had a chat about it and I explained that it works differently for us and that it is very hard to see a whole sunset, whereas in SE Asia the whole thing happens in about 40 minutes so you can sit from start to end and see it all. He still didn't get it though, and just said that he sees snrise every morning when he gets up..why would he pay extra for that? Amusing cultural difference but I'm definitely not fed up with sunsets yet!
On our last day we did Bantreay Srei temple in the morning, a very ornate temple that had beautiful carvings and lots of information about the temples in general. After lunch we went to the Landmine Museum, a strangely hopeful museum about one man's efforts to clear his country of landmines, many of which he actually lay when he was first a Khmer Rouge soldier and then fought with the Vietnamese army. He spent years clearing mines alone and now has set up a work force to do it, as well as a school/home for children who have been affected by mines exploding. It was upsetting to see how much damage has been done and is still being done to Cambodia by land mines but nice to learn about it from somewhere so positive and proactive. Our final stop was to see sunset (there it is again!) over Angkor Wat. This turned out to be a bit of a joke as we had to get there about 3 hours early to get a good spot as so many people go to this one temple for the sunset (it is on a hill so has good views). In the end, the sun didn't even set over Angkor Wat as we were expecting (although we could have known that had we checked a map), so it wasn't quite as atmospheric as we would have liked. Never mind though, it was a nice place to sit, and nice to see Angkor Wat from a different angle too.
And then that was it! A wonderful three days exploring some wonderful sights, and the company wasn't bad either! Next stop (and last stop with Mum) was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Our time here was slightly marred by the fact that Mum had gotten a poorly tummy, ironically enough from the most Western thing she ate all holiday (a chicken panini) and so was quite worn out. On the plus side our boutique hotel there was beautiful and had a swimming pool surrounded by comfy recliners and plants, so we didn't mind at all being 'forced' to relax by the pool for several hours each day! And to be fair to Mum, she didn't let the bug stop us doing anything and I don't feel like we missed anything out that we wanted to see, so it was fine in the end - just a shame she couldn't enjoy the food, which is amazing in Cambodia, like Thai but a bit milder and with lots of delicious coconut currys and sea food...yum!
On our first day we decided to get the horrible bits out of the way and so went to the killing fields of Chhoeung Ek and then to S21. These were horrendous but something I think you have to do if you are in Cambodia. The killing fields are strange because they have worked hard to make it in to a very peaceful and respectful tourist site, where you can learn about what happened there and remember the victims of the Khmer Rouge with an audio guide that takes you around. In a way it should feel wrong, listening to an audio guide at such a place but they have done it very sensitively and so it is a god way to ensure that it is quiet there as everyone independently digests the information provided. That doesn't make it any easier to be told that you are standing at the point where the trucks dropped off people destined to die there, or where hundreds of people were buried, or where babies were killed by being hit against a tree, and it was a very upsetting experience. They also had a section of stories from survivors and these were harrowing to listen to as well; the whole thing was just awful. The centre of the site is a memorial stupa that has been erected to honour those who dies there and for me it shows in microcosm the tone of the place. It is a beautiful stupa, but inside it is filled with all the skulls that they have found at the killing fields as well as some of the larger bones. It is a respectful memorial, but one that doesn't let you forget the chilling reality of what happened there.
Actually I might write a bit about what happened here, as I was completely ignorant of it until I visited so I guess if you are reading this you might be too. Basically Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was an extreme Maoist Communist who believed in the importance of farming on the land and thought that industry, culture and modernity were a plague on Cambodia. He was a supporter of what he called the 'old people' - farmers and rural people - and despised the 'new people' - people in the cities. He staged a take over in which the Khmer Rouge soldiers marched in to the cities of Cambodia and within three days had completely emptied them and sent everyone to work in forced labour camps in the countryside. Over the next four years over 3 million people out of a population of about 7 million died due to overwork, famine, disease, torture and murder. Anyone considered 'subversive' or anti the Khmer Rouge was sent to torture prisons and later murdered at various killing fields all over the country, and towards the end of the regime when Pol Pot became increasingly paranoid the number of people dying rose to terrifying heights. Eventually the Vietnamese army came in and liberated Cambodia in 1979 and since then the country has been working to recover from the 'social experiement' that left almost half its population dead and many more orphaned, homeless, starving and injured. In the years immediately after the regime, the UN was still inviting Pol Pot and members of the Khmer Rouge to meetings and was chaneling funds to them to aid Cambodia (obviously the Cambodian people never saw this). Pol Pot died of natural causes and others who perpetrated the horrors are only now on trial, a trial moving so slowly that many of them will probably also die without ever atoning for the wrongs they did.
In many ways, S21, the torture prison that used to be a school, was more difficult to handle than the killing fields. I think that part of that comes from the fact that they have done very little to alter the prison and so it feels all too real as you walk around the rooms which still have the chains cemented into the walls from where numerous prisoners were crammed into one room, or rooms which have been filled with 0.8m by 2m brick cells for individual prisoners. In one of these rooms there was still a blackboard from when the building was used as a school (Pol Pot didn't believe in education as he thought it corrupted the purity of young minds) and the juxtaposition was haunting. Two of the buildings have been converted in to exhibitions, where they have displayed the mug shots of every prisoner who came in to S21. There are pictures of every sort of person; men, women, children, old people, babies, beautiful people, ugly people, scared people, angry people, sad people and maybe worst of all, resigned people, who were staring at you from the photographs with no hope, and the knowledge that they were probably going to die there. Amidst these mugshots were photgraphs of emaciated and naked dead bodies, with the simple caption "Dead after Torture" and to see the difference in the state of these people when they arrived and when they died was shocking; I can't even imagine what they went through.
The whole thing just made me so angry and terrified. This finished just ten years before I was born, in an age technologically advanced enough that there is a photograph of every prisoner: that's much too close for comfort. Even worse, it's still happening. Maybe not on the same scale, but in Burma ethnic groups are being methodically wiped out, something conveniently masked over when there is money to be made from the corrupt regime in power. In the visitors' book there was a comment from a Nepalese person who said that similar things are happening in Nepal. I can only hope that it is not too long before the world opens its eyes and sees and admits that horrible things like the Khmer Rouge are not just dark episodes of history, but they are hapening in the present.
We did also do some nice touristy things in Phnom Penh, like the National Museum, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were beautiful buildings and full of a much brighter history. It was a very special end to a very special three weeks with one of my very favourite people in the whole world and I am so grateful that she came to see me, and while there spoilt me rotten! It was really hard when she left but I soldiered on and went to Singapore, which I actually liked a lot more than I thought I would. It is very clean and safe feeling as everyone says, but I didn't find it 'sterile', just a nice change! It was very expensive though, or at least I thought it was until I got to Brazil! More on that to follow...
Lots of love,
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Last time I wrote it was about our time in Saigon (goodness, that feels like a very long time ago!), which means that the next big thing I need to relate is mine and Mum's time at Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Well, what a place! A lost civilisation with a history all the more fascinating for the huge gaps where it was all but abandoned. The largest religious site in the world with beautiful and exqusitie architecture juxtaposed with equally beautiful but heart wrenching street children outside yelling "One dollar, one dollar, you buy from me, ok?!" outside every temple. The eigth wonder of the world, completely overrun by tourists, but somehow managing to retain the mystique and aura of a place with a past palpable in the present. As you may be able to tell...I loved it.
We had three full days of temple visiting, with some other local sights thrown in so clearly I can't tell you everything about it, or I will never get on to South America or leave this hostel! I'll get in as much as I can though, promise :)
On our first day we go up early so that we could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous temple) - a 'must do' as declared by the Bible. When I say early, I mean really early, we left our hostel at 5am so that we would have time to do everything we needed to and still be there before the sun came up. All was going according to plan; we were on time, had our tickets, and had prime seats by the water so that we could see the reflection as well as the actual temple, Mum even had a coffee, but then the unthinkable happened. The sun didn't come up. Well of course it did, but we couldn't see it due to a thick bank of cloud that completely obscured our view of it. Very inconsiderate of the weather, especially considering that we had paid $5 extra for the sunrise! All was not lost however, as we decided to abandon sitting watching clouds in favour of getting in to Angkor Wat before the crowds and I am so glad we did. It was magical. To wander round inside the temple in relative quiet (a few other clever tourists had had my idea - great minds and all that) in the dark and see it as it gradually got lighter and lighter was so evocative, and made you feel like just round the corner would be a devotee hurrying to the central sancutary to perform prayers; pretty special. The temple is very impressive. It is a Hindu temple and is set out as a microcosm of the Hindu universe, with the central sanctuary being Mount Meru (the mount of the Gods), the temple boundaries being the boundaries of Earth and the moat around it being the universe. All over the walls in the main temple grounds are bas reliefs which show scenes from Hindu mythlogy and carvings of apsara girls - scantily clad and rather seductive dancers who were clearly very popular!
We wandered around Angkor Wat for hours before realising that we were starving and so we went for breakfast opposite the temple. This was our first of many encounters with the one dollar brigade - the absolutely adorable but very persistent street kids trying to sell you anything and everything from postcards to flutes to bracelets to books. I told Mum that is was not a good idea to purchase anything at which she commented that I had become 'hearltess', a comment that I can understand her making but which I think is a bit unfair, as she realised after getting her purse out. She thought that once we had bought one set of postcards that that would be that and they would go on their way and let us enjoy our breakfast in peace. Obviously that was not how it worked, and once she had agreed to buy one set, they all wanted to sell one. It's always such a difficult call as I agree with her that it is lovely to buy something from these kids as you instinctively want to help them, but you do have to be careful where you choose to get your money out, otherwise it can be tricky to get away, and obviously sometimes it just isn't safe - a tough call.
After Angkor Wat our remork (a motorbike with a tuk tuk attached) driver Sunny took us to Angkor Thom, a sort of city of temples that was a huge metropolis compared to the London of that time which was little more than a village. We went in via one of the four gates of the city, the South gate, over which there was a giant head looking down over the road, which had a row of stone statue warriors lined along it. It was imposing even now when they have been weathered by many years; I can't even imagine how it must have looked back in the day. Our first stop in Angkor Thom was the Bayon temple. This is an amazing structure that looks completely higgledy piggledy until you look closely and see that it is built to a very complex symmetrical structure - quite amazing! It has something like 220 massive faces made out of rocks which look down over the temple. These faces were amazing, not just for the fact that they still retain their features after so long, but becase of what they evoked. One of our guidebooks said that they were benevolent faces, watching over and protecting the people whereas the other one said that they were stern faces, that acted as a warning to people to obey the king's wishes. I saw them as somewhere inbetween; impassive faces that symbolised the king's presence, and whether that presence was benevolent or angry depended on the subject. They created a very eerie atmosphere though, despite the crowds and sunlight.
We did several more temples that afternoon before visiting Ta Prohm which was my absolute favourite of the day, second favourite overall. It is the temple where they filmed some of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - the temple which has trees growing in it/out of it/all over it and around it! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, I just couldn't get my head around it as you would walk around a corner to see these gigantic tree roots cascading down over the stones in a wall, and when you looked up a tree that towered over the whole temple was existing on whatever nutrients it managed to glean from the soil beneath. The fact that the walls of the temple are still relatively intact as well was mind boggling - such a unique thing to see. I loved what I saw to be the symbolism of this jungle temple; two opposing forces warring for years for dominance, each vying to outlive the other to emerge victorious, only for them to have to reach a compromise, where both coexist, each all the more beautiful for its reliance on the other.
A very successful first day, if exhausting; we were out for 12 hours! Day two was no less packed, and started with a long journey out to Beng Melea temple. We took what Sunny described as a shortcut, but even if it took longer I am so glad we went the way we did, as instead of going on a main road the whole way where all you would see was other cars, we went on back roads where you drove through village after village and lots of farmland. It was incredible! The Lonely Planet is always harping on about how the 'journey is the destination' (and on many of my journeys I have pondered this, hoping that the actual destination must be better!) but in this case it was so apt. Nearly all the houses we went past were on stilts and had lots of Khmer (Cambodian) people outside going about their day to day lives. Pretty much every child that we went passed smiled and gave us a big wave and shouted hello...it was lovely. The actual destination was not too shabby either, in fact it was my favourite temple of the lot. If Ta Prohm is the jungle temple then I have no idea what you could call Beng Melea, which is Ta Prohm but bigger, and with nature on steroids! Here the jungle has completely taken over, and although plenty of walls remain standing and there is one or two covered galleries intact, the majority of the stones from the elaborate temples lie as rubble, having given way to the trees' progression. We were shown a path through the maze of stones and jungle by a local man and then Mum went to sit down while I explored on my own for an hour and it was phenomenal. To clamber over stones intricately carved that once formed the bricks of exquisite carvings, and then to balance along the tops of walls before jumping down to wander one of the few covered walkways remaining was one of my favourite experiences thus far, just incredible.
That afternoon we went to the floating village of Kompong Phhluk, an intriguing village built on very very high stilts because of this freak of ecology whereby the local lake changes from 2500km squared to 13000km squared in the rainy season, thus completely flooding the village! The people that live there know how to utilise it though and make the most of the fertile land left behind once the waters recede and of the copious amounts of fish in the lake (the Tonle Sap, incidentally). We went through on a boat before being paddled round a flooded forest by two young girls, which was really nice as the sun was just starting to set so it created some beautiful reflections on the water. Finally we went out to said lake (which by this point in the holiday we had already eaten lots of fish from) for the sunset which was stunning. Even though it was the dry season you couldn't see the other sides and so we had a perfect sunset - lovely jubbly! It was funny actually because Sunny clearly couldn't understand why we were so obsessed with seeing things at sunset or at sunrise, as lots of tourists clearly are as they are optional add-ons to tours. He asked us one day at lunch, "do you not have sunset in your country?" which I found hilarious. We had a chat about it and I explained that it works differently for us and that it is very hard to see a whole sunset, whereas in SE Asia the whole thing happens in about 40 minutes so you can sit from start to end and see it all. He still didn't get it though, and just said that he sees snrise every morning when he gets up..why would he pay extra for that? Amusing cultural difference but I'm definitely not fed up with sunsets yet!
On our last day we did Bantreay Srei temple in the morning, a very ornate temple that had beautiful carvings and lots of information about the temples in general. After lunch we went to the Landmine Museum, a strangely hopeful museum about one man's efforts to clear his country of landmines, many of which he actually lay when he was first a Khmer Rouge soldier and then fought with the Vietnamese army. He spent years clearing mines alone and now has set up a work force to do it, as well as a school/home for children who have been affected by mines exploding. It was upsetting to see how much damage has been done and is still being done to Cambodia by land mines but nice to learn about it from somewhere so positive and proactive. Our final stop was to see sunset (there it is again!) over Angkor Wat. This turned out to be a bit of a joke as we had to get there about 3 hours early to get a good spot as so many people go to this one temple for the sunset (it is on a hill so has good views). In the end, the sun didn't even set over Angkor Wat as we were expecting (although we could have known that had we checked a map), so it wasn't quite as atmospheric as we would have liked. Never mind though, it was a nice place to sit, and nice to see Angkor Wat from a different angle too.
And then that was it! A wonderful three days exploring some wonderful sights, and the company wasn't bad either! Next stop (and last stop with Mum) was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Our time here was slightly marred by the fact that Mum had gotten a poorly tummy, ironically enough from the most Western thing she ate all holiday (a chicken panini) and so was quite worn out. On the plus side our boutique hotel there was beautiful and had a swimming pool surrounded by comfy recliners and plants, so we didn't mind at all being 'forced' to relax by the pool for several hours each day! And to be fair to Mum, she didn't let the bug stop us doing anything and I don't feel like we missed anything out that we wanted to see, so it was fine in the end - just a shame she couldn't enjoy the food, which is amazing in Cambodia, like Thai but a bit milder and with lots of delicious coconut currys and sea food...yum!
On our first day we decided to get the horrible bits out of the way and so went to the killing fields of Chhoeung Ek and then to S21. These were horrendous but something I think you have to do if you are in Cambodia. The killing fields are strange because they have worked hard to make it in to a very peaceful and respectful tourist site, where you can learn about what happened there and remember the victims of the Khmer Rouge with an audio guide that takes you around. In a way it should feel wrong, listening to an audio guide at such a place but they have done it very sensitively and so it is a god way to ensure that it is quiet there as everyone independently digests the information provided. That doesn't make it any easier to be told that you are standing at the point where the trucks dropped off people destined to die there, or where hundreds of people were buried, or where babies were killed by being hit against a tree, and it was a very upsetting experience. They also had a section of stories from survivors and these were harrowing to listen to as well; the whole thing was just awful. The centre of the site is a memorial stupa that has been erected to honour those who dies there and for me it shows in microcosm the tone of the place. It is a beautiful stupa, but inside it is filled with all the skulls that they have found at the killing fields as well as some of the larger bones. It is a respectful memorial, but one that doesn't let you forget the chilling reality of what happened there.
Actually I might write a bit about what happened here, as I was completely ignorant of it until I visited so I guess if you are reading this you might be too. Basically Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was an extreme Maoist Communist who believed in the importance of farming on the land and thought that industry, culture and modernity were a plague on Cambodia. He was a supporter of what he called the 'old people' - farmers and rural people - and despised the 'new people' - people in the cities. He staged a take over in which the Khmer Rouge soldiers marched in to the cities of Cambodia and within three days had completely emptied them and sent everyone to work in forced labour camps in the countryside. Over the next four years over 3 million people out of a population of about 7 million died due to overwork, famine, disease, torture and murder. Anyone considered 'subversive' or anti the Khmer Rouge was sent to torture prisons and later murdered at various killing fields all over the country, and towards the end of the regime when Pol Pot became increasingly paranoid the number of people dying rose to terrifying heights. Eventually the Vietnamese army came in and liberated Cambodia in 1979 and since then the country has been working to recover from the 'social experiement' that left almost half its population dead and many more orphaned, homeless, starving and injured. In the years immediately after the regime, the UN was still inviting Pol Pot and members of the Khmer Rouge to meetings and was chaneling funds to them to aid Cambodia (obviously the Cambodian people never saw this). Pol Pot died of natural causes and others who perpetrated the horrors are only now on trial, a trial moving so slowly that many of them will probably also die without ever atoning for the wrongs they did.
In many ways, S21, the torture prison that used to be a school, was more difficult to handle than the killing fields. I think that part of that comes from the fact that they have done very little to alter the prison and so it feels all too real as you walk around the rooms which still have the chains cemented into the walls from where numerous prisoners were crammed into one room, or rooms which have been filled with 0.8m by 2m brick cells for individual prisoners. In one of these rooms there was still a blackboard from when the building was used as a school (Pol Pot didn't believe in education as he thought it corrupted the purity of young minds) and the juxtaposition was haunting. Two of the buildings have been converted in to exhibitions, where they have displayed the mug shots of every prisoner who came in to S21. There are pictures of every sort of person; men, women, children, old people, babies, beautiful people, ugly people, scared people, angry people, sad people and maybe worst of all, resigned people, who were staring at you from the photographs with no hope, and the knowledge that they were probably going to die there. Amidst these mugshots were photgraphs of emaciated and naked dead bodies, with the simple caption "Dead after Torture" and to see the difference in the state of these people when they arrived and when they died was shocking; I can't even imagine what they went through.
The whole thing just made me so angry and terrified. This finished just ten years before I was born, in an age technologically advanced enough that there is a photograph of every prisoner: that's much too close for comfort. Even worse, it's still happening. Maybe not on the same scale, but in Burma ethnic groups are being methodically wiped out, something conveniently masked over when there is money to be made from the corrupt regime in power. In the visitors' book there was a comment from a Nepalese person who said that similar things are happening in Nepal. I can only hope that it is not too long before the world opens its eyes and sees and admits that horrible things like the Khmer Rouge are not just dark episodes of history, but they are hapening in the present.
We did also do some nice touristy things in Phnom Penh, like the National Museum, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were beautiful buildings and full of a much brighter history. It was a very special end to a very special three weeks with one of my very favourite people in the whole world and I am so grateful that she came to see me, and while there spoilt me rotten! It was really hard when she left but I soldiered on and went to Singapore, which I actually liked a lot more than I thought I would. It is very clean and safe feeling as everyone says, but I didn't find it 'sterile', just a nice change! It was very expensive though, or at least I thought it was until I got to Brazil! More on that to follow...
Lots of love,
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