We spent the first few days in Siem Reap, very close to what was once the centre of the great Khmer Kingdom. This gave us access to some of the incredible temples and palaces that are now circa 900 years old. We started at the most famous temple, Angkor Wat, boarding a bus at 5am local time to watch the sun rise.
It is interesting to see how the landmarks have been modified over the centuries to reflect the country's transition from Hinduism to Buddism and back again.
Ta Prohm may be familiar to those that have watched the Tomb Raider film.
This is also where we visited a slum containing families that are supported by the New Hope Organisation.
They offer free education, healthcare and will soon move the familes from the slum to new accomodation on a newly set-up farm complex in the city. There are many NGOs in Cambodia and some of them are apparently pretty dubious. However, even as a sceptic , it was hard not to be awe-struck by the work that the team (mainly western Ex-pats) at New Hope do.
From Siem Reap we travelled to the modern capital Phnom Penh. Here we got a much better understanding of the way that the country has been ravaged by war and oppression over the last 4o years. We visited S-21, a former school turned prison used by the Pol Pot regime to detain, torture and kill its enemies - often just normal educated people ranging from teachers and doctors to buddist monks.
We then visited the nearby killing field where it is estimated that in the region of 9000 men, woman and children were bludgeoned to death between 1977 and 1979.
There are many similar sites all over the country. Consider the genocide alongside the three Indochina wars and the impact of colonialism as well as the prevailing poverty and it is hard not to wonder how the Cambodian people function at all. They have an incredible spirit however and despite the ongoing difficulties, every local that I spoke to about the future had a positive outlook.
Kate and I had another early start to take a boat trip on the largest fresh-water lake in South East Asia. It is truly vast!
As I write this, we are in the coastal resort of Sihanoukville, a 4.5 hour bus ride from the Capital. This has provided much-needed light relief and we've had the opportunity to let our hair down. Kate and I decided to show the youngsters on tour that us older folk could still mix it with them. We certainly didn't let ourselves down; well we did actually but that was rather the point of the exercise. A good night was had by all at a beachide bar, with the power occassionally going off due to the persistant thunder storm. So, we're just about recovered now and about to jump in the pool.
One final point, Facebook friends of Kate may well have seen the posts about some of the unusual fayre we've sampled thus far (snake and tarantula.) Here's a pic of the snake:
Cheers,
T&K.x
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