Phnom Penh and the Khmer Rouge

One of the big horror stories of Cambodia is the genocide that occurred not so long ago (1975-1979).  The Khmer Rouge (also known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea) tried to reform the country, while killing around 2 million Cambodians in the process.  

In Phnom Penh, we visited S21 (the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) - a school that was converted to a security prison where Cambodian were tagged, interrogated, and kept, before being executed.  We also rented a motorbike to visit the Killing Fields, where large numbers of Cambodians were brought to be executed and buried in mass graves.  The 2 genocide sites are now memorials filled with stories, photos, and artist depictions.  The Killing Fields also have an audio guide that lead you through the grounds, filling your mind with first-hand accounts and vivid glimpses of the horrors that took place here... not just to soldiers of war, but to millions of innocent villagers including women, children, and even infants.  Evidence of bones and clothing lay scattered in the mass graves of the Killing Fields.  Each year, the rainy season continues to uncover new artifacts from the massacre, which are carefully collected and stored in the various display cases at the site. 

We've been to several genocide museums in our travels now, yet each one continues to leave us astounded at how thin the line is between human decency and ravaging cruelty.

...the rest of the temples

We saw so many temples during our 3 days of exploration, but didn't want to create 16 separate posts… so here's a quick run through of the rest of the various Buddhist/Hindu temples around Siem Reap (in no real particular order)….

Ta Prohm (Temple 5 of 16)
This temple is probably the second most famous one as it's was used in the filming of Tomb Raider.  The best part of this temple is all of the huge trees that have grown on and through its walls over the years.  You can really see the power of nature at work.

Ta Keo (Temple 6 of 16)
This unfinished temple gives archeologist insight into understanding how the temples were built.  They figured out that all the stones were first put into place, then all carvings were chiselled directly into the walls.  The temple was unfinished because the king died before completion… according to their beliefs this means, poor him, he did not make it to heaven :(

Thommanon (Temple 7 of 16)
Just another small stop on the way to Angkor Thom.

Chau Say Thevada (Temple 8 of 16)
Another small temple just across the street from Thommanon.

Rolous Group (Temples 9&10 of 16)
On the way back to the fishing village we stopped at two temples: Bakong and Pa Keo.

Preah Khan (Temple 11 of 16)
Yet another temple.. but Jen got blessed and received a super power bracelet from an old lady here. Ok, it's probably bogus, but the old lady was so smiley and cute we just couldn't resist :)

Neak Poan (Temple 12 of 16)
This is a small shrine with basin of water around it, but it was being restored so we couldn't walk through.

Ta Som (Temple 13 of 16)
Popular of visit because of the big tree growing through the gate at the back of the temple.

East Mebon (Temple 14 of 16)

Pre Rup (Temple 15 of 16)

Bantea Kdei (Temple 16 of 16)
And this was the last Angkor temple we saw…. It was a LOT of temples.. but overall, a great experience that we'd recommend to anyone :).

Cooking Cambodian Food

The food in Cambodia is much like its neighbouring countries - Excellent!!  And like always, we could not resist learning to cook it. 

After a bit of research, we found a full-day cooking class where we learned (for lunch):
  • Cambodian Green Mango Salad
  • Fish Amok - this was probably our favourite Cambodian dish… so yum!
  • Sticky Rice Flour Balls with Palm Sugar,

… and for dinner:
  • Cambodian Curry
  • Fresh Spring Rolls
  • Nom Tong Nuyen (Crispy Crepes)

It was delicious and, as usual, there was WAY too much of it.  Fortunately, they gave us the option to wrap some up for take-out and we were more than happy to take them up on that offer! :)

Houses on Stilts and Floating Village

On the way back from Beng Mealea, we stopped at two unique fishing villages around Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia.  

Our first stop was Kampong Khleang, where all of the houses are on built on 10m stilts so that in the rainy season the houses don't get flooded.  The area of Tonle Sap Lake increases 5 to 6 times during the rainy season, causing the level of water rising dramatically.  Since we were here during the dry season, we could walk through the village to see all of the stilts, whereas during the wet season the water level reaches the floor level of the homes so they use boats to get around.

We then took a boat cruise to the second village - a floating village.  On the way, we saw locals going about their daily business along the river.

We finally emerged to see the houses of the floating village.  This floating village moves nearby the shore of Tonle Sap Lake as its volume increases in the rainy season and shrinks in the dry season.  The impressive thing is that all of the houses float on bamboo.. it seems to work!  

Being Indiana Jones in Beng Mealea

Our tuk tuk driver, Sam, told us about a cool unrestored temple 40km from Siem Reap that you can explore "Indiana Jones style"… we were sold.  So, for our second day of temple adventures, he picked us up in a car and took us to check out Beng Mealea (Temple 4 of 16). 

On arrival, we climbed through the crumbled gate and encountered some local kids who started warning us where it was / wasn't safe to climb.  They started to lead us through the wreckage: Jen with a group of girls who showed her the "easy route", and Dom with the boys who jumped archways and went into... sketchier areas.  Shortly after our journeys through the rubble, they re-united us at the entrance... and demanded payment.  By following them, we sorta knew that we had entered into an invisible agreement that they were our "guides".  Normally, we refuse to encourage this behaviour and avoid giving money to, or buying from children (they should be in school rather than trying to make money off of tourists), but they did help us build up some confidence in navigating the rubble so we gave them a buck or two to share amongst themselves. 

Since we didn't yet have our fill, we re-entered the temple for further exploration.  Looking at the pictures, it's hard to get a sense of the temple size and all the climbing / scrambling we did, but imagine crawling into alcoves, on top of them, walking through boulders, and on walls… it was awesome.  You could really feel like an explorer.

This temple made our top 3 list because it was so much fun to explore.  One factor that played a big role in our appreciation is that we arrived super early (before the rush of tourist buses).  After an hour of exploring, we started seeing tourists arriving by the busload and the temple walkways started to clog up.  By the time we left, the temple was so crowded that it lost its charm.

Making a Buddhist Monk Friend

While visiting Baphuon, we had a unique opportunity to meet Khen Khoul, a Buddhist monk.  Khen recently started learning English and was excited at the chance to practice, by starting a conversation with Dom.  He was curious to learn about where we were from, what our home is like, and what we do for a living.  

Equally curious, we also took this opportunity to ask him about his family, what it's like to be a monk, etc.  To our surprise, we learned that he chose to become a monk at a very early age because it was a good means for him to become well educated, and his family didn't have enough money to send him to school.  He expressed that there were so many things about his life and being a monk that he wanted to tell us all about, but since he had just started learning English, he couldn't find the words to tell us everything he wanted to say.  

He carried a fluent conversation with us and we were shocked to find out he had only started learning English in the last 3 months!  He told us that monks spend a lot of time studying every single day... they only get a few days off per year, and Khen decided to use his 4 days of vacation to visit the Angkor Wat area with a few of his monk friends.  

Angkor Thom

Following sunrise at Angkor Wat, we checked out Angkor Thom - the last city of the Kmer Empire.  

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom were built by kings of different religions (Hindu and Buddhist, respectively), so the architecture and symbolism differ.  The Angkor Thom complex spans an area of 9 square kilometres, whereas Angkor Wat is only about 1 square kilometre.

Angkor Thom - Bayon (Temple 2 of 16)
Angkor Thom contains several temples including Bayon.  Bayon was our favourite temple because of the 200+ large stone faces carved into the temple towers.  Each face looks out toward each cardinal direction as though to watch the city from all directions.  We liked it so much that we actually even returned here on our third day, to see it again… the faces were just so cool :)

Ankor Thom - Baphuon (Temple 3 of 16)
Next to Bayon, was the Baphuon temple, a 3 tiered temple mountain representing Mount Meru.  By the time we climbed up, we were soaked in sweat and dead tired from the heat exposure.  One thing that you don't see from the pictures is just how hot it was - about 38 degrees Celsius + humidity…

Angkor Thom Gates
Angkor Thom also has other structures, but the last one worth mentioning are the gates.  You can enter and exit the complex through any of the 4 beautiful gates aligned to the 4 cardinal directions.  Each gate also has carved stone faces overlooking each direction, as well as angels and demons on either side of the bridge to protect the entry way.

Angkor Wat

If you mention Cambodia, most people will think of Angkor Wat, but few people know that Angkor Wat is just one of the many temples near Siem Reap.  In fact, it took us 3 days to explore about 16 of the major temples here.  Some were big, some were small, but most of them were impressive.  We had an incredible time, but by the end, we were definitely templed out ;)

Since we couldn't rent a motorbike (apparently it's not permitted in Siem Reap) to visit the temples ourselves, we instead decided to hire a tuk tuk driver.  This was surprisingly cheap: for $15 to $20, you get a tuk tuk and driver to drive you anywhere around Siem Reap for a full day (8AM to 6PM).  The price varies a bit based on the distance travelled.

Instead of saving the best for last, we started with the main attraction: Angkor Wat (temple 1 of 16).  We set out early (6:30AM) to get a glimpse of the sunrise over Angkor, and its reflection off of the lotus pond.

It seems we weren't the only ones to have that idea… by the time we arrived, there were already hundreds of tourists camped out in front of the pond, just waiting to snap that classic shot of Angkor Wat and its reflection at sunrise.

Built in the 12th century, Angkor Wat is now the biggest religious complex in the world.  This Hindu temple was built by king Suryavaman II as a royal temple and his future mausoleum.  Back then, it was really popular for Kmer (Cambodian) kings to build their own mausoleums - it was good way to redress their karma.  Historians estimate that it took around 35 years and about 1 million people to build Ankor Wat. 

Angkor Wat was really impressive, but it wasn't our favourite temple to visit… you'll have to wait to find out which was… :)  That being said, it's definitely worth seeing despite it only being a runner up on the New Wonders of the World list.  In our opinion, it definitely beats Big Jesus in Brazil.