We’ve cranked right through the small country of Cambodia en route between Saigon and Bangkok. As I’m writing, we’re in a minibus hauling west across the flats near the Thai/Combodian border. Last week, we bussed from Saigon to Phnom Pehn, stopping to pick up our $20 visas-upon-arrival. We emerged from Cambodian Customs and realized that our bus was gone, along with our fellow travelers, who’d each paid a $4 “Please don’t leave me behind” fee. A few kilometers on a motorbike only cost us $2 and we caught the bus with time to grab a bite to eat.
Our arrival in Phnom Pehn was starkly different than our days in Vietnam. First, we needed Riels (Cambodia’s official currency) and went to an ATM that could only dispense US dollars (the unofficial and solely used currency). Like in Panama and Ecuador last year, it can be a bit strange to get USD after converting all transactions back to dollars for 7 weeks. I find myself much more frugal in foreign currencies than in actual dollars. We grabbed a tuk-tuk over to the OKAY Guesthouse, set up shop in a nice room, ate and hooked up a tour through the bossman at OKAY.
Next morning, we were off to the S-21 prison where the ‘Pol Pot Clique’ tortured and killed Cambodians, by the thousands. From 1975 till 1979, communist rebels forced citizens out of the cities to work on collective, communal farms. On top of rampant starvation and malnutrition, religion, money and schools were abolished which seemed to have doomed any chance for even fundamental person freedoms. Pol Pot’s cohorts converted a school in downtown Phnom Pehn into a torture center where political dissenters, foreigners and anyone with an education were detained for 2-4 months, questioned and murdered. We saw the 10AM showing of the museum’s documentary describing the separations of all men and women during the years when the Khmer Rouge outlawed marriage.
That afternoon, we visited the International Genocide Memorial (also known as the Killing Fields). Prisoners weren’t typically executed onsite at the S-21 prison. Rather, they were loaded onto Ox carts at night, driven out of town, slaughtered and thrown into mass graves. In an trench maybe 15 foot square, the bodies of approximately 450 people had been excavated. Possibly hundreds of such trenches stretch all around the grounds of the memorial. A much larger section of the memorial remains unexcavated as its underneath a small lake, making it logistics more difficult. After long debate, excavated skulls and other remains were placed in a large tower, 20 levels high and standing maybe 125 feet above where genocide took place. Thousands and thousands of human skulls eerily stand watch over the killing fields as a constant reminder to future generations of crimes committed by men against all of mankind.
After an awakening, but depressing day in Phnom Pehn, we bussed up to Siem Reap, which is only a few kilometers south of Angkor Wat. It was in Siem Reap that we managed to meet up with Dave the Nomad, fellow traveler and my friend from college. Dave left home in August and has been in Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia, prior to our meet-up. We grabbed some beers, shared stories and talked shop about India. The next morning, we set out early for the temples to check out Preah Kahn, Bantay Prei, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup and Banteay Kdei. For $10-12, you can rent a tuk-tuk for the day and drive out to see oodles of ancient temples. They’re huge (might be hundreds) and most are spread miles apart. Angkor Wat, the largest and most expansive temple, is over a thousand years old and is the largest religious building in the world.
On Mary’s birthday, we woke up before 5AM to grab a tuk-tuk out to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The greatest part about getting up for sunrise is having the temple practically to yourself for a few hours while everyone is asleep back in town. We visited some of the more central temples, including the famous ones from the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider movies. The intricately detailed stone carving intensifies the awesomeness of the temples’ ancient architecture. Several temples are complete with huge moats that make European castles look like beachside child’s’ play. Mary had some delicious birthday curry, a massage and tasty brews to cap off her special day in Cambodia.
On our final day visiting the temples, we shared some Tuk-tuks with a merry band of travelers from the US, Holland and Finland. We headed WAY out of town to see the womanmade temple, consisting of miniature buildings with extremely detailed sandstone carvings. Afterwards, we went on a hike through the River of 1000 Lingas, where Angkorian people carved Lingas (sacred altars) into the stream bed. As a bonus, we could splash around a waterfall for some much needed cool down.
After the ride back to town, we turned our attention towards India and managed to change our tickets from Bangkok to Delhi instead of our original plans for Mumbai (Bombay). We’ve given serious consideration to the weather forecast while planning our itinerary and will spend the next 5 weeks dodging 105 degree days, as much as possible. We’ll fly into Delhi and work on getting train tickets to Agra, Varanassi, Darjeeling, back to Delhi and then up north to Rishekesh. Because we’re starting later than we’d planned, we’ll have to skip much of southern India and decided that Mumbai no longer made sense as an entry point. Tonight, we’re staying near the Bangkok airport and will hop a flight from BKK to Delhi on Jet Airways.
This officially makes tonight our last night in Bangkok.
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