Getting my re-entry permit into Thailand!
From one Kingdom to another!
We slept in the next day but then headed straight for Angkor Wat where we bought a three day pass. A tuk tuk drove us around from temple to temple until sunset and the temples closed. I was really excited, because Mel and I had watched a documentary about Angkor Wat so I felt a little more informed about what I was seeing. One fun fact, it is not just the quintessential temple that everyone thinks of, it is actually made up of hundreds of temples and is the largest religious monument in the world! It was constructed in 40 years by King Suryavarman II as a mausoleum for himself in the 1200s. Engineers say it would take 300 years to complete today! Crazy! It is mostly Hindu but with some Buddhist images when Cambodia would change their main religion.
We started at some of the lesser known temples, Preah Khan being one of them! It is interesting because it is built half Buddhist and half Hindu for four different Gods. The jungle is overtaking this temple and it has not been restored as much as others so it is cool to see the natural deterioration of this ancient temple.
Note: I played Indiana Jones where ever I could, it was a very "Indy" place! This is me swinging on a vine, a la Indy.
The next morning we woke up at 4 am and left for the temples at 4:30 to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat! We had heard extremely mixed reviews about whether to do it or not, whether it was worth it or not, but seriously, why not?! We walked across the moat and into the Angkor Wat complex. We were one of the first groups there and found great seats by the pond outside of the Wat. Our friend had come for the sunrise the morning before and told us the sun rises to the right of it so we knew exactly where to go. We got some coffees from some nearby stands and waited eagerly to see the sun rise! And you know what? It was totally worth it! It was my favorite part of the whole trip. We were all huddled together taking a million pictures of every different aspect of the sun rising and it was beautiful! One of those once in a lifetime experiences that I will never forget.
Look, ma! I made it!
The gang, Amanda, Mel, Me, Kate, and Mimi!
We had a little breakfast and then headed over to Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is made up of a bunch of temples, my favorite out of all of them being Bayon! It has 216 faces carved into it and is seriously beautiful! I walked around and stared at it for hours. It was hands down my favorite.
Can you make out all of the faces?
Lovin' it.
So cool.
After Bayon, we headed home for a nap and lunch. Then it was back out again! We went straight to Ta Prohm, where Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed! It is most famous for this and for the trees that are now growing around and within the temples.
Tomb Raiders.
Famous Angelina Jolie tree!
The next day we visited more temples and said goodbye to Angkor Wat! :-( It was quite an experience! The next day we got on a bus to the capitol city of Phnom Penh! This was really neat because we got to see the Cambodian countryside and the differences between Thailand and Cambodia. Let's just say, when we arrived back in Bangkok the next week, we were all super surprised at how CLEAN it was. Bangkok is not known for it's cleanness.
I havent talked much yet about how Cambodia itself was, it was very eye opening, to say the least. It is definitely the poorest country I have ever been to. There are piles of trash everywhere. Wherever you walk children are begging to buy their bracelets, women want you to buy their scarves and men are yelling "Hey lady, tuk tuk!" They were relentless. The whole country is still recovering from the horrific genocide that the Khmer Rouge inflicted on it's people in the 70's. I didn't know that much about it before so I watched a documentary about it and read as much as I could to gain a better understanding. I have been to a concentration camp in Germany and it was incredibly sad but it did not prepare me for what Cambodia had in store for us. The Khmer Rouge was a Communist Party formed by men in the late 60's who idolized and lusted after the idea of a completely self-sufficient agricultural society. The Khmer Rouge leaders wanted to purify the existing society and saw anyone who wasn't on board as a threat to their idyllic future. These alleged "threats" included educated people industrious people, anyone who associated with foreigners, and most tragically, any of the listed people's children. The reasoning behind eliminating these people and their families, children included, was that if anyone was left after the mass extermination they could grow to seek revenge up the Khmer Rouge. KR leader Pol Pot felt it was better to sacrifice an innocent by accident than to spare an enemy by accident. This meant that 1 in 3 people in Cambodia were killed between the years of 1975-1979. The country is still reeling from this, obviously, as everyone likely knew someone who was killed, and the population is still in low numbers.
In 1979, right after the Khmer Rouge was defeated, museums sprang up all over Cambodia to spread the word about this genocide so it would never happen again. We went to the Tuol Sleng High School, known during the KR reign as S-21. This high school was converted into a torture and interrogation center. It was incredibly eery because it looked so similar to our school in Thailand. We were all hit extremely hard by it.
A blackboard still up from it's classroom days...
The Khmer Rouge were extremely diligent with record keeping and took pictures of anyone who came through S-21's doors. This is just one of the walls of the thousands of pictures that stare back at you as you walk through the museum.
We were privileged enough to meet a survivor of S-21. He didn't speak much English but was able to tell us that he was deaf in one ear from the KR sticking something in it and causing him to go deaf during a torture session. He also had his toenails ripped off, and showed us his gnarled hands that had scars all over them. He was able to survive because he knew how to fix a typewriter for the KR, so they spared his life.
After the high school, we headed to the Killing Fields. After they were tortured at S-21 they were shipped to the Killing Fields, just outside of Phnom Penh and put to death. The KR felt bullets were too valuable to be wasted on these mass murders, so instead they ordered their soldiers to kill the victims with anything possible-gardening utensils, sheer beatings, palm branches to the neck, anything available in the fields. One of the most horrific additions to the death toll was babies. There is a tree among The Killing Fields where Khmer Rouge soldiers would take babies by their feet and smash their heads into the trunk of the tree. This is where I broke down and cried. The Killing Fields had an audio tour that lead you around the genocide museum and was very informative. It was really hard to hear survivor stories and see the memorial monument filled with skulls and bones that they dug up from the mass graves.
Bracelets that fellow travelers have left in remembrance and respect. I left one of my own.
The monument
I know this was a rollercoaster of emotions and not as fun as my other posts but I felt that I needed to talk about it and let people know about everything I learned. I never learned about this genocide growing up and it was so hard to hear first hand, but so important to hear. I feel so incredibly lucky that we were all able to go to Cambodia and learn all that we learned. It was a journey and an adventure I never expected to go on but indeed, did.
One last interesting thing that happened while we were there. Apparently the King of Cambodia died in October and he has been "on display" so his people can pay respect and mourn for him. We happened to be in Phnom Penh for the weekend of his cremation and burial. Every night the Khmer people would walk along the river's edge dressed in white, set off fireworks, and were all wearing pins to commemorate him. Although he abdicated in 2004 and his son took over, he was the King for most of the people's lives and it was a really interesting and once in a lifetime experience to be a part of. The night before his cremation thousands gathered at the Royal Palace and prayed and paid tribute to him. I felt honored to be even a little bit a part of it.
Thanks for everything Cambodia!
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