Motorcycle diaries - Cambodia: Killing fields

Last day in Phnom Penh (December 24th) we visited one of the Cambodia's Killing fields, were people were killed and buried in the mass graves by Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. The one we visited, Choeung Ek, is located 15 km away from Phnom Penh. Over 20 000 people were killed and buried there.

It is very hard to grasp what happened in this country during that time. We, in Europe, study those events in our history classes, but it seems to be so abstract - something that happened in this small country somewhere far away in South East Asia. We seem to be more concerned and touched with World War II events, and it's understandable in a way - this war had such an impact on almost every family, at least in my home country.

However, the scale of crime of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia is horrifying: out of 7,7 Mio. population in the 1970-ies, 3 Mio. were killed as enemies of regime during just few years, or died from tortures, starvation and deseases...

Meanwhile we also watched 2 movies about those times. One is called "Killing fields", it's a movie based on true story about American journalist, who worked for NY times, and his friend and colleague from Cambodia, who happened to be in the middle of the bloody events of the 70-ies in Cambodia.
Another movie is a documentary "S21", about those people who worked in the prison and execution site Choeung Ek. Many of them, who worked for Khmer Rouge that times, are now in their 40-ies or 50-ies. They were just young boys or teenagers, when all this was happening, and they were a part of the regime...

We also went to eat with family of our new local friend, who helped us a lot with our motorbike papers. We went to some restaurant outside the city, and our friend told us, that only rich people come to eat there. We paid 17 USD for 4 people's delicious lunch. Our friend works in the boat ticketing office, and earns 150 USD per month. He pays 80 USD for his apartment, and 50 USD for English school for his kid Pet. The rest is left for living.

No further comments.

Little Pet

Motorcycle diaries - Cambodia: Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh

After it took us some time to cross the border, we finally entered Cambodia. What struck me here was poverty and spirit of sadness I could sense in people. All the way to Siem Reap on both sides of the road we saw empty unharvested fields, shelters and slums, and few local people moving along the road either on foot, or by bicycle, or on horse carriages, or - very few - on small scooters...

And than, all of a sudden, in the middle of nowhere arises Siem Reap, a strange city full of hotels, hostels, restaurants and shops. Everything here is devoted to tourism and tourists. But locals don’t seem to be happy. Sad faces and forced smiles are all around… 

Temples of Angkor

My first blurry memories about temples of Angkor are connected to the movie ”Lara Croft – Tomb Rider”. Then, my dear friend Darya told me about those incredible temples back in 2006 in Germany. I remember how excited she was telling me about Angkor Wat. I got interested, but not excited. Today, when I stood overwhelmed in front of those temples, I was thinking of her. I know she will make this journey to Angkor one day very soon…

Smiling Buddha at Angkor Thom

Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and other temples indeed overwhelm with their anciety and majesty. Surrounded by water and jungle forrest, they melt in the sun and loud jungle sounds. Remnants of  extinct Khmer empire…They are definitely worth visiting at least once in life!

Watching sunset at Angkor Wat

Road to Phnom Penh

Both road and area from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh seem to be more developed that the one from Thai border to Siem Reap: green fields, decent houses, more happy looking people, more traffic on the roads, more cars and motorbikes…

But it seemed to me, that local people struggle... struggle to find their own cultural identity. Is it because of their recent history, and all those terrible crimes that were commited towards own people in the 70-80–ies? Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime has thrown the country to the worst agrarian state, and country's intellectual elite was literally extinguished… Poor people… It is really heartbreaking what happened here…

All in all, Cambodia leaves quite daunting impression… The news headlines in the local newspapers report only bad or terrible news, business part of the newspapers doesn’t mention Cambodia at all, only other countries of the region… All this adds on to this spirit I could sense here: hopelessness and despair…

What would this country need to establish itself and to help those people to raise their heads? A long-term program of development, stretched for at least 50 years, or 2 next generations, to give people example, and hope, and make them believe in themselves and their future… There must be potential in this country, as in any other one, it just needs to be discovered and developed...

Update: Now leaving Cambodia to Vietnam with very mixed feelings...

Another update: Spent some time in Phnom Penh today. Here people are a bit more cheerful. Maybe because capital is somehow developing, and there is a hope? Who knows...

And yet another update: Spent some more time in Phnom Penh. And no, they are not more cheerful, at least the vast majority. They have desperate look of trapped animals in their eyes, those poor people. And all those huge golden temples and enormous official buildings which look like palaces... Those remind me on Soviet Union and all its monumental constructions... And those corrupt officials driving Lexus all as one... I didn't feel myself comfortable at all here. Just wanted to write it all down, before I slide to political correctness.

 

Little kids from Cambodian border