It's been a little while since we've posted anything - sorry! A combination of weak WiFi and packed days has meant that we've not had the time to update you on our adventures as we should have. The below post was written a few days ago - another will follow soon!
J&g
The heat of the Cambodian day is slowly fading away. We're sat underneath the house we're staying in tonight, having just eaten a delicious feast - spring rolls that we made ourselves, amok (a kind of fish curry served in a banana leaf) and chicken curry along with a huge pile of Jasmine rice. We're nearly a week into Cambodia, and the differences with India are already striking.
Another world
Cambodia is in some ways very similar to India - and in other ways extraordinarily different. They're both developing countries, with a very poor rural community who essentially exist (not unhappily, it must be said) on subsistence farming. They also have a middle class who enjoy a little more wealth, centred around the urban areas, though Cambodia's is much smaller than India's. But it's taken us a few days to spot the similarities underneath the vast differences.
The humidity is new to us; our first few days out of India (which did include a brief stopover in Thailand) it felt a lot like breathing soup. The vegetation is lush, trees and plants bordering the roads. After two weeks of arid, dusty barrenness, it feels a little like paradise.
The people are different, too. They're still friendly, and speak English - though, perhaps understandably, not as well as the Indians. The traffic is MUCH better. We've seen queues of traffic forming in orderly lines; people don't overtake at the slightest opportunity, and lanes painted on the road aren't treated as mere suggestions.
But, perhaps inevitably, the most distinctive thing we've noticed about Cambodia so far is its recent history, and the impact it's had on the country.
A nation rebuilding
Before we arrived, we didn't know much about the Khmer Rouge, or the genocide they perpetrated. In just a few short days our eyes have been thrown wide open. The fact that it happened in the seventies, when our parents were growing up, is particularly shocking. In Siem Reap, our first stop where we awaited the Stray Tour bus that would take us through the country, we visited the local killing fields. Whenever people had urged us to visit 'the killing fields', we'd always thought they were a single site. In fact, there are around 20,000 mass graves that have been identified, and around 5 museums set up at key sites. The one in Siem Reap, isn't the more famous S-21 museum in Phnom Penh, but it was still a moving visit.
The first sight that greeted us was a stupa filled with bones and skulls of Cambodians executed by the regime; the exhibit told us that they've been placed there so surviving relatives and friends have a place to pay their respects.
The rest of the complex features a Buddhist temple, which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It's a single-roomed complex, which has since been reconverted into a temple, but walking around the room and imagining its brief purpose was an unsettling, visceral experience. The exhibit was touched off with accounts from survivors, including one who dragged himself from a mass grave after he'd been shot by the firing squad. We won't say it was a comfortable way to spend a morning, but we were both glad we saw it.
The people we met also show the scars of the regime. We read that in Cambodia, 70% of the population are under 40 as a result of the genocide, and 40% are under 16. Such numbers are mind-boggling to us, used as we are to hearing about the impending crisis of an aging population in the UK. Our tour guide told us quite matter-of-factly how three of his grandparents had been taken by the Khmer Rouge. His tone matched that of the exhibit we saw; simple statement of the facts, with no appeal to emotion, which was at once impressive and chilling.
In our first week, though, we've seen several initiatives set up to help tackle the aftershocks of the regime. One evening we saw a circus performance telling one person's experience of the regime and its aftermath. The circus itself is made up of young people who have come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, most as a result of the Khmer Rouge's legacy. It was an incredible performance that we'll go into more detail on in a separate post. But if they're ever in the UK (and they do tour internationally), we'd both urge you to go!
The temples
Of course, any stay in Siem Reap almost demands a visit to Angkor Wat and the approximately 200 temples surrounding it. We opted for the sunrise tour, waking at 4am for a tuk tuk which would take us to the three main temples. We arrived at the largest, Angkor Wat as the sun was starting to creep into the sky, and we were not alone. Hundreds of people from all over the world walked across the long stone bridge with us, and waited to be let in to the main temple complex.
To Jon this mass procession of tourists felt crass, but to Georgia the gathering, as if we were being called, felt quite spiritual. However when we arrived in the temple itself we were sadly quite underwhelmed. Angkor Wat is the third highest rated landmark in the world on Tripadvisor and we had high hopes. Jon has wanted to see it ever since he saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel ten years ago, during GCSE revision.
We appreciated the beauty of the buildings, and the charming way stones had been seemingly cobbled together to make such sturdy structures. But what you see from the outside is what you see inside. For us there was no joy of discovery or exploration. Perhaps it was the crowds around us but there was no sense of mystery, and the lack of information anywhere meant we struggled to feel a sense of history either.
The second place we visited was in Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom literally means Great City; it was once the capital of the Khmer empire and home to hundreds of thousands of people. We went into the temple at the centre of the city site, called Bayon - and we loved it. Here we stumbled through secret doorways, down dark passages and up and down steep staircases. The temple had 49 towers originally, representing provinces, most of which still stand. On each tower up to four huge stone faces gaze down, smiling enigmatically. It had everything we'd not found in Angkor Wat - except any real explanation of the site.
Our third and final stop on the tour was Ta Prohm, known to us as the Tomb Raider temple as it was used as a location in the film. This one was quiet and eerie - in a good way. It was in more of a state of disrepair than the others we'd seen so at points we had to clamber over piles of loose stone. Ancient trees had also grown into the stone at places, their roots pushing through walls - quite beautiful. It also, to our joy, had t the entrance a sign explaining the site, which helped us to understand the site as we walked through it.
Just a couple of Strays
As you can see, we've been busy! After the temples we hooked up with out Stray tour bus, and hopped on a three hour bus to Battambang, where we're staying with the local family we mentioned above. We've seen so much already, but it's provided as many questions as it has answers about Cambodia, its people, and its history. As we continue to travel through the country, hopefully more answers will be forthcoming.
J&g xx
J&g
The heat of the Cambodian day is slowly fading away. We're sat underneath the house we're staying in tonight, having just eaten a delicious feast - spring rolls that we made ourselves, amok (a kind of fish curry served in a banana leaf) and chicken curry along with a huge pile of Jasmine rice. We're nearly a week into Cambodia, and the differences with India are already striking.
 |
| The houses are built on stilts to protect them from floods during the rainy season, but also to help the cows keep dry - and ventilate the house more effectively in the dry season (which is now). |
Another world
Cambodia is in some ways very similar to India - and in other ways extraordinarily different. They're both developing countries, with a very poor rural community who essentially exist (not unhappily, it must be said) on subsistence farming. They also have a middle class who enjoy a little more wealth, centred around the urban areas, though Cambodia's is much smaller than India's. But it's taken us a few days to spot the similarities underneath the vast differences.
The humidity is new to us; our first few days out of India (which did include a brief stopover in Thailand) it felt a lot like breathing soup. The vegetation is lush, trees and plants bordering the roads. After two weeks of arid, dusty barrenness, it feels a little like paradise.
The people are different, too. They're still friendly, and speak English - though, perhaps understandably, not as well as the Indians. The traffic is MUCH better. We've seen queues of traffic forming in orderly lines; people don't overtake at the slightest opportunity, and lanes painted on the road aren't treated as mere suggestions.
But, perhaps inevitably, the most distinctive thing we've noticed about Cambodia so far is its recent history, and the impact it's had on the country.
A nation rebuilding
Before we arrived, we didn't know much about the Khmer Rouge, or the genocide they perpetrated. In just a few short days our eyes have been thrown wide open. The fact that it happened in the seventies, when our parents were growing up, is particularly shocking. In Siem Reap, our first stop where we awaited the Stray Tour bus that would take us through the country, we visited the local killing fields. Whenever people had urged us to visit 'the killing fields', we'd always thought they were a single site. In fact, there are around 20,000 mass graves that have been identified, and around 5 museums set up at key sites. The one in Siem Reap, isn't the more famous S-21 museum in Phnom Penh, but it was still a moving visit.
The first sight that greeted us was a stupa filled with bones and skulls of Cambodians executed by the regime; the exhibit told us that they've been placed there so surviving relatives and friends have a place to pay their respects.
The rest of the complex features a Buddhist temple, which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It's a single-roomed complex, which has since been reconverted into a temple, but walking around the room and imagining its brief purpose was an unsettling, visceral experience. The exhibit was touched off with accounts from survivors, including one who dragged himself from a mass grave after he'd been shot by the firing squad. We won't say it was a comfortable way to spend a morning, but we were both glad we saw it.
The people we met also show the scars of the regime. We read that in Cambodia, 70% of the population are under 40 as a result of the genocide, and 40% are under 16. Such numbers are mind-boggling to us, used as we are to hearing about the impending crisis of an aging population in the UK. Our tour guide told us quite matter-of-factly how three of his grandparents had been taken by the Khmer Rouge. His tone matched that of the exhibit we saw; simple statement of the facts, with no appeal to emotion, which was at once impressive and chilling.
 |
| He also taught us that in Cambodia, one says their surname before their given name. So we would be Aspinall Georgia and Oxtoby Jon |
The temples
Of course, any stay in Siem Reap almost demands a visit to Angkor Wat and the approximately 200 temples surrounding it. We opted for the sunrise tour, waking at 4am for a tuk tuk which would take us to the three main temples. We arrived at the largest, Angkor Wat as the sun was starting to creep into the sky, and we were not alone. Hundreds of people from all over the world walked across the long stone bridge with us, and waited to be let in to the main temple complex.
To Jon this mass procession of tourists felt crass, but to Georgia the gathering, as if we were being called, felt quite spiritual. However when we arrived in the temple itself we were sadly quite underwhelmed. Angkor Wat is the third highest rated landmark in the world on Tripadvisor and we had high hopes. Jon has wanted to see it ever since he saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel ten years ago, during GCSE revision.
We appreciated the beauty of the buildings, and the charming way stones had been seemingly cobbled together to make such sturdy structures. But what you see from the outside is what you see inside. For us there was no joy of discovery or exploration. Perhaps it was the crowds around us but there was no sense of mystery, and the lack of information anywhere meant we struggled to feel a sense of history either.
 |
| The only time either of us has seen this many people at 5am is when passing through an international airport. |
Our third and final stop on the tour was Ta Prohm, known to us as the Tomb Raider temple as it was used as a location in the film. This one was quiet and eerie - in a good way. It was in more of a state of disrepair than the others we'd seen so at points we had to clamber over piles of loose stone. Ancient trees had also grown into the stone at places, their roots pushing through walls - quite beautiful. It also, to our joy, had t the entrance a sign explaining the site, which helped us to understand the site as we walked through it.
Just a couple of Strays
As you can see, we've been busy! After the temples we hooked up with out Stray tour bus, and hopped on a three hour bus to Battambang, where we're staying with the local family we mentioned above. We've seen so much already, but it's provided as many questions as it has answers about Cambodia, its people, and its history. As we continue to travel through the country, hopefully more answers will be forthcoming.
J&g xx
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