CHAPTER IV OF THE
ANCIENT KINGDOMS OF ASIA
PHENOM PENH WITH SOFIA
Day 13, November 15, 2013
We left the Floating Fish Farm Village
by fast-boat from Chau-Doc, Vietnam, to Phenom Penh, Cambodia, along the Mekong River.
We disembarked twice, once to clear
out of Vietnam and then again to clear into Cambodia. At Phenom
Penh we were met by our first local guide for Cambodia, “Sofia”.
We had a glorious lunch at a waterside
restaurant,
with our first Angkor beer ($1 US).
The pleasant
waterfront, decorated with flags of many nations, is a hive of
activity. We passed the Independence Monument honouring independence
in November, 1962, and the nation's war dead.
Across the street is the Royal Palace
which we visited after lunch. As we walked towards the Royal Palace,
we were approached by young children begging. We were advised not
to give money to them as they rarely get to keep it for their own
needs, and to give to children beggars perpetuates their
exploitation.
In stark contrast to the begging on the street
outside was the ornate beauty within the National Museum, the
bejeweled Silver Pagoda, the Royal Palace and the Elephant Museum
with its towering tile roofs and ornate gilding behind protective
walls with beautiful gardens. We learned of buildings on site that
housed the King's concubines for centuries.
It was here that we witnessed guards
turning away visitors in sleeveless shirts. There are stalls selling
proper attire to visit the temple and palace.
We met a young monk who was happy to
practice his English and was generous to chant a blessing for us. He
admits that he will not be a monk for his lifetime. He is now taking
advantage of the educational opportunities of being a monk.
(sound not available at this time)
We checked into our hotel and later had
a tuk-tuk ride to the river front to see the local night life.
We enjoyed dinner at our Almond Hotel.
Catherine attended a pleasant traditional dance and music performance
depicting the life story of two families. She was invited to
participate on stage for the wedding ceremony.
Day 14, November 16, 2013
It is difficult
for us to comprehend why genocide is a so oft repeated activity of
human societies; over and over across the globe and across the
centuries, up to the present day. We visited some sites in Cambodia
seeking better understanding of this horrid behaviour.
We went to the Killing Fields of
Choeung Ek, outside Phenom Penh. En-route, Sofia gave us a
heartfelt lecture on the recent history of Cambodia. We learned that
this Killing Field, one of numerous in Cambodia, contained 129 mass
graves.
There is a large white stupa, or mausoleum, serving as a memorial to the more than 17,000 men, women and children who were executed here from 1975 through 1978. Behind the glass walls of the mausoleum are some 8,000 skulls found during excavation of the mass graves.
The Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot,
implemented a most heinous revolution. The purported goal was to
transform Cambodia into a Maoist, agrarian, classless society with no
rich, no poor, and no exploitation. To this end, they abolished
education, free markets, private property, religion, and traditional
Khmer culture. To establish a classless society, hundreds of
thousands of Cambodians, including the majority of the country's
educated, were relocated to the countryside, or executed. Those
speaking foreign languages, or even just wearing eyeglasses, were
executed as “elite parasites”.
One site of these atrocities was the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum that we toured. It was a local high school in the centre of Phenom Penh when it was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a detention and interrogation centre.
A sign displays the rules of behavior for prisoners.
Former classrooms now contain rusty bed-frames with shackles, and gruesome photos of the remains of the victims. These remains are now entombed in the courtyard. In another wing of the school building was a display of “mug shots” taken when the detainees entered the compound, not understanding what was in store for them. Most of the victims were later taken to the Killing Fields for execution.
We were fortunate to have met Chum Mey who is one of the last survivors.
Cambodia gained its independence from
France in 1953 after nearly 100 years of colonial rule. This was
followed by a civil war in 1970. During the Vietnam War, the US
bombed suspected communist camps in Cambodia, killing many innocents
with napalm and cluster bombs. Cambodians failed to defeat the
Vietnamese communist forces with invasion by South Vietnamese and US
troops, and Pol Pot was able to take over Cambodia. Phenom Penh fell
to the Khmer Rouge two weeks before the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Previously, in 1970, the Vietnamese
invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Millions of
Cambodians went on foot to flee the fighting and to search for their
displaced family members. Crops wilted and famine ensued, killing
thousands more. Meanwhile the Khmer Rouge, backed by China,
Thailand and the US, fought the Vietnamese-backed government in
Phenom Penh.
In 1991, Sihanouk once again became
king under UN-administered elections with Prime Minister Hun Sen, of
the CPP (Cambodian People's Party). Two decades after the end of the
Khmer Rouge, the UN and the Cambodian government created a court to
bring surviving members to trial, but bureaucratic nonsense has
stalled its opening. Pol Pot escaped punishment by dying at home in
1998, but there is some mystery as to the cause of his death.
King Sihanouk, who led Cambodia through
five decades of war, genocide and disorder, surprised the world with
his unconstitutional passing of the throne to his 59 year-old
relatively unknown son King Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer, before
his death in 2012. Cambodia now has a constitutional monarchy, with
the King as Head of State, adopting a policy of Liberal Democracy and
Pluralism. The monarchy has no real power, but nevertheless, it
remains a significant institution due to the reverence Cambodians
have for the royal family. With King Sihamoni being completely
apolitical, Hun Sen has no reason to act against the monarchy in its
present form. As the King has no heirs, the constitution provides
for an elective monarchy drawn from descendants of the 19th
century monarch, King Ang Duang.
The one eyed Hun Sen (his eye was lost
in the 1975 battle of Phenom Penh) is the longest serving Prime
Minister, having been re-elected for a fourth term in September,
2013. As Deputy President of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), he
was victorious in the past three elections, in spite of his
checkered reputation, being accused of being a Vietnamese puppet,
dominating mainstream media, selling 45% of total landmass to foreign
investors, and giving up concessions such as wildlife protections and
national parks. Cambodia is officially a multiparty democracy, but
many feel that Hun Sen rules as dictator.
Cambodia will eventually choose its
path: pluralism, progress and prosperity, or intimidation, impunity
and injustice. Of course, there is a tendency for entrenched elite
and officials to focus on their short-term position.
Before we said good-bye to Sophia, she
lightened our spirits with a show of the diversified uses of the
“krama”, a checked scarf that's great for sun and dust
protection, a doll, a towel, bandage, top, pants, etc.
We took tuk-tuks to visit the night
market. Some of our group had a enjoyable dinner and drinks in a
neighborhood restaurant and bar.
THE REST OF CAMBODIA
WITH NARIN
Day 15, November 17, 2013
Before leaving
Phenom Penh, we met our next guide, “Narin”, for the
continuation of our tour of Cambodia. One look at Narin's smiling
face, and we knew that we would be having a good time with him. He
did an excellent job of answering all our questions and teaching us
about Siem Reap, Angkor Thom, and many Cambodian highlights that are
now indelibly imprinted in our memories.
All
packed, we got up early for travel to Siem Reap via Kampong
Thom, Kampong Kdei Ancient Bridge, and a long bus ride which took us
along a narrow spit of land with the Mekong on the east and flooded
fields on the west.
During the rainy season from June to
October, the Mekong rises dramatically, forcing the Tonle Sap river
to flow northwest into the lake of the same name. The lake swells
beyond it's dry season banks, flooding much of Cambodia. Later in
the season, the Tonle Sap reverses direction, draining the lake back
into the Mekong River. Consequently, the Tonle Sap is one of the
world's richest sources of freshwater fish. We stopped along the way
to watch stone-cutters produce new Buddha statues and enjoyed a lunch
overlooking the water.
Ehru Musician played for us during lunch.
Bags of Coloured water attract hummingbirds while water buffalo lounges in the water.
Spean Prap Toeus (bridge) is an
important cardinal point crossing the Chikreng River. Located on an
ancient road that connected the capital of Angkor to the provincial
area to the southeast, it is the longest among the 22 bridges on the
route.
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En-route, we enjoyed another “learning
and discovery” adventure. We were introduced to an attractive
young lady who directed our Tarantula Cooking Class. She led us to
her back yard where she began the search for fresh tarantulas, using
a stick in their holes. She removed the “stinger” and collected dozens in a bucket filled with mulch.
We played with the tarantulas
for awhile before mincing garlic
and frying them for a delectable
snack!
Children were selling various edibles.
It was a memorable event.
There are numerous cottage industries
in the countryside. Brahma cows supply beef. They are quite docile,
as is apparent with Peter's companionable “Bessy”.
Rice, the
perfect food, is planted in flooded fields, harvested by hand, and
dried on tarps.
Duck farms are abundant.
Black market gasoline is sold in soda bottles.
Motor scooters pull huge loads of people in
trailers. The “Chinese Buffalo” does the heavy item transport,
and water buffalo are used for plowing fields and transportation.
We could not help but pass this on for our electrician friends.
We stayed three nights at the Angkor
Paradise Hotel with a happy hour cocktail bar, teak furniture in the
lobby and bedrooms, a stocked bar en suite, and attentive restaurant
staff. There were sandstone carved sculptures, a ranaat ehk
(bamboo-keyed percussion instrument resembling the Western xylophone)
played by a lovely young lady in traditional dress. Orchids were
abundant, especially around the refreshing swimming pool.
Yellow and gold chrysanthemums are
frequently placed before Buddha.
Our first night's dinner: green mango
salad with dry shrimp, chicken soup with lemon pickle, grilled fish
with lemon-butter sauce, steamed jasmine rice. Dessert was a Khmer
delight.
At the end of the day we went to Angkor Thom Gate to purchase our "passes". Highly efficient clerks take photos in one line and you receive the pass in another. It is reported that a wealthy Vietnamese owns this concession.
Day 16, November 18, 2013
The next day, en
route to Banteay Srei, we stopped for “learning and discovery” at
a rice noodle shop. The work that goes into this family business,
which is supplemented by tailor dressmaking, is nothing less than
phenomenal. Mother and her three daughters demonstrated the whole
process, which was time-intensive and the product delicious.
To see more about the making of the noodle nests, click on this video. Just like making pasta, and sanitary too!
The rice noodles we made were
served with chicken-based soup.
Umm!
The children are beautiful and Jean was a pro with angels of all ages.
We visited Banteay Srei, meaning
“Citadel of Women”, recognized as a tribute to female beauty. It
is one of the smaller temples in the area, built in AD 967 with
elaborate carvings around the doors and walls that have survived the
centuries better than some others because of the type and size of
stone for construction. The walls are covered in exquisite carvings.
Unfortunately, some of the exquisite carvings
are pocked with bullet wounds from various
conflicts.
The soft red sandstone can be carved almost like wood and allows for
incredible detail. It was carved in the 11
th century and
in use as a temple until the 14
th century. The temple
complex was “discovered” by French archeologists in 1914 and
became famous when writer Andre Malraux tried to steal four devatos
(goddesses) in 1923. During the 1930s Banteay Srei was the first
Angkor monument to benefit from a new process of anastylosis (the
archeological reassembly of ruined monuments from fallen or decayed
fragments, incorporating new materials when necessary).
In 1936, the
original condition was confirmed scientifically and proper placement
of each recovered component determined, establishing the true age of
the temple. Sadly, the temple has been looted several times,
depleting Cambodia's heritage. Even concrete replicas of sculptures
that had been moved to the Angkor Conservatory have been attacked.
We enjoyed Khmer Traditional Music
performed by the Handicap of Banteay Srey Temple, victims of
landmines.
I tried to play music using a leaf like the performing musician did effortlessly. I need more practice.
I bought a CD to support them.
The walls of temples in Angkor Thom and Banteay Srei are carved with foliage, geometric patterns and male and female divinities. The females wear such heavy earrings that their earlobes are elongated (“the better to hear you”).
After lunch, we departed for Tonle Sap Lake which translates into “Great Fresh Water Lake” for a boat cruise and visit to a most unusual farming community.
We enjoyed our boat cruise to the
floating agricultural village, where families have lived for
centuries, fishing, farming, attending school and having fun. The
photos are worth a thousand words. We enjoyed some of the delicacies
that the boat women prepared and were surprised to see alligators in
a tank. The damming of the Mekong River has begun and threatens to
impact the residences and livelihood of thousands in Vietnam and
Cambodia.
Many people live, work, study and play here with their families. They have "corner stores" and produce enough to feed themselves and sell to visitors and other shops. There is a temple, of course, located in the centre of the village complete with monks.
The ride on
a water buffalo-drawn carte was memorable. These huge, docile
animals can be managed by children. They are ever-present as “beasts
of burden” in the flooded rice fields.buffalo carte ride. The ride on a water buffalo-drawn carte was memorable. These huge, docile animals can be managed by children. They are ever-present as “beasts of burden” in the flooded rice fields.
Back in Siem Reap, we enjoyed dinner at
a local restaurant with Tom Yon Chicken Soup, Fried Pork with Cashew
Nuts, Cambodian Chicken Curry, Fried Mixed Vegetables with Oyster
Sauce, Steamed Jasmine Rice, and a Seasonal Fresh Fruit Platter (Nom
Plai Ai).
After hours of touring, some of our
group went to a “fish spa” where tiny fish nibble away at one's
feet removing “dried skin” and relieving the tired feeling.
“Doctor fish” is the common name given to the species of fish,
Garra rufa.
Day 17, November 19, 2013
We enjoyed a full day at Angkor Thom, a
holy city that took centuries to build and whose scale is
breathtaking. We arrived before dawn, along with hundreds of others,
for beautiful views of the temple reflected in the lotus pool.
Angkor Wat is the largest religious
building in the world and the last great capital of the Khmer Empire.
It is the heart and soul of Cambodia, a source of national pride to
all Khmers as they struggle to rebuild their lives. It is a large
pyramid temple, built between 1113 and 1150. Without going into all
the detail, I will point out the highlights. There are 5 towers, a
central tower representing the Hindu mythical Mt. Meru, surrounded
by smaller towers, surrounded by lower courtyards and all by a moat.
The central temple consists of three elaborate levels, each which
encloses a square surrounded by intricately interlinked galleries.
The seven-headed naga serpent along the causeway is an emblematic
rainbow-bridge for human kind to reach the abode of the gods.
We had time to explore the intricacies
of these treasures. We saw young people posing in beautiful Apsara
dance costumes, and examined the historical art everywhere present.
The stairs at Angkor Wat ascended at a
steep angle and were closed for years after several accidents. Today
a less steep wooden staircase carries a long line of visitors to the
top of Cambodia's greatest monument and a world heritage site.
The surviving temples are but a
skeleton of the vast empire that stretched from Burma to Vietnam. At
one time, the population of Angkor Thom was one million when London
was a city of only 50,000. All the wooden homes and palaces have
decayed, leaving only those of brick and stone.
A group of archeologists and
philologists (literature, speech, and language researchers), mostly
French, made an arduous effort to clear away the jungle vegetation
that was breaking the monuments and to rebuild the damaged
structures, restoring them to something approaching their original
grandeur.
The crowing achievement of Jayavarman
VII, the greatest of Khmer kings, was the completion in the late 12th
century of Angkor Thom. It is spread over 10 square kilometres and
surrounded by an 8 metre laterite wall and a 100 metre-wide moat.
The Khmer aristocrats who built the temples and monuments were
motivated by their Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Inside there is a
large statue of Buddha, some large libraries and lotus ponds.
Breakfast and souvenirs were supplied
by abundant vendors. Catherine bought her “erhu”, a
two-stringed bowed spike fiddle originally from China. She
introduced her fiddling friends to this lovely rosewood and teak wood
with a small sound box covered with goat skin. It is played sitting
down with the sound box on the left thigh or on the floor with the
neck held vertically.
The ehru has some unusual features.
First, the sound is made through the vibration of the goat skin by
bowing. Second, there is no fingerboard. The player stops the
strings by pressing their fingertips onto the metal strings. Third,
the bow is played between the strings. Lastly, the inside string
(near the musician) is tuned to D4 and the outside string to A4.
After lunch, we visited Bayon, Baphoun,
and Ta Prohm temple and returned after dinner to see Angkor Wat by
twilight.
Bayon, encompassing 37 towers with 200 faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokitshvara, an analgam of the faces of Buddha and King Jayavarman, makes you feel you are being followed by a “Khmer smile”. The most famous appeal of this temple comes from the bass-reliefs on the exterior walls with historical battle and domestic themes.
And then there was Ta Prohm!
Ta Prohm is one of the most popular
temples for reasons that the photos clearly illustrate. This temple
has been left as it was found by French archeologists in the mid
1800s, overgrown with huge Spung trees. The state of ruin is truly a
state of beauty.
Angkor Thom is a national park and a
good illustration of how Cambodia was once endowed with magnificent
hardwood trees, such as ebony and rosewood, so popular for creating
the beautiful hand-carved furnishings and sculptures of Siem Reap.
The forest was splendid, cool and we shall remember it as long as we
live.
Today the decline in the coverage of
old-growth forests has endangered native species of tigers and
elephants. Corruption and rural poverty have delayed effective
action to check the decline of native species of plants and animals.
Before leaving Angkor Thom we were
treated to a surprise Happy Hour by Pe and Narin. We enjoyed
Cambodian snacks and wine while we watched night fall from atop the
wall of the Angkor moat.
Dinner was on our own. We walked to a
dinner theatre where we enjoyed watching apsara dancers. I
especially enjoyed the coconut dance and the costumes with
Avalokitshvara smiling behind them.
We were fortunate to encounter unusual foods
throughout our trip. Some of these were duck
embryo, crickets, durian (fruit), prahoc, tarantulas, dog, cat,
blood-duck soup, offal or fish bladders, algae, brains, frogs, and
cobra. We didn't try everything!
Day 18, November 20, 2013
As this was our final day, we had to
get last minute gifts. We always managed time for the markets. We
visited the Angkor Artisans (
www.artisansdangkor.com
) for a guided tour where handicapped Cambodians are being trained to
create lacquer art, paintings on mulberry paper, carve stone,
woodworking, jewelry production, and weaving silk. Items can be
purchased online or bought in their gift shop where they display
samples of lovely handmade items.
Other desirable items include “Tiger
Balm”. It can cure everything. There was also the checkered
“krama”, a versatile scarf often made of exquisitely dyed
silk-cotton blends. Other attractive items included paper-mache
masks, stone copies of ancient Khmer art, brass figurines, silk,
sarongs, silver, gems, table place mats and runners. We did our part
to help the Cambodian economy.
Sadly, we too soon departed Siem Reap,
Cambodia, to return to Bangkok on our way back to North America.
So, we have taken you on a wonderful adventure to the Ancient Kingdoms of Asia, in four parts: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. You may want to look at a map of our travels.
Perhaps some of you will be encouraged
to take this trip yourselves. In the meantime, we hope that you
enjoyed our rendition of what was for us a wonderful trip.
Catherine and Peter
As a postscript, I would like to share
a bit of wisdom from Mark Twain:
Life
is Too Short................
Break
the Rules,
Forgive
Quickly,
Kiss
Slowly,
Love
Truly,
Laugh
Uncontrollably,
and
Never Regret Anything That Made You Smile.
Life
May Not be the Party We Hoped For,
but
While We're Here,
We
Should Dance.
On our final day
of hiking we entered The Battery overlooking the town of Harpers
Ferry. The remains of the Civil War trenches and battlements were
intriguing. As we were contemplating these, a Civil War Re-enactment
commenced in the valley below, complete with cannon fire. It was a
magical time to be standing among the overgrown remains of The
Battery with cannon fire echoing up from the valley below. It was as
if we had been transported back in time!
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