The great temple cities of Angkor

Angkor Wat is really Cambodia's last laugh at the outside world - yes, the country has had a troubled recent history, but would you take a look at what the Khmer empire once was...

Angkor is displayed on the two most important symbols of nationalism - the Cambodian flag and the national beer. And rightly so - the scope and detail of the temples is incredible, joyful and captivating. Almost every available surface is embellished with detailed bas reliefs, from sexy dancing asparas (that's heavenly lady to you), to mythical creatures from hindu mythology (7 headed horse, anyone), to whimsical leaf patterns. There are a bunch of temples surrounding Angkor itself, some of which have been left semi-restored, and it's here amongst the giant bodhi and fig trees that the ruins come to life - huge sandstone blocks balance precariously on half fallen pillars, soft green moss carpets dim corners, and every maze-like turn is a new surprise.

We took the lazy/civilised option and hired a tuk-tuk to get around the 100 km square Heritage Site, which allowed for easy days and plenty of time for exploring. We'd heard some horror stories about kids selling and begging around the temples (like possessions ransomed and stones hurled at tourists who won't dole out cash), but we didn't have any problems, except fighting my own urges to buy something from every cute 5 yr old on the circuit. These little tikes were hanging out with their big sister who was maybe 10. All of them could count to ten in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai, and I bought postcards from a girl who knew more about Australian geography than me!

We actually spent quite a few days in the town of Siem Reap, as I very generously gave Blake my sickness from Battambang, and with much excitement about getting to China, we decided to fly from Siem Reap to Vientiane in Laos, get our visas, then carry on the Kunming by air as well - so we're officially flashpacking for the next week or so!

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

1. You must answer accordingly to my question. Don’t turn them away.

2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that, you are strictly prohibited to contest me.

3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution.

4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.

5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.

6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.

7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.

8. Don’t make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor.

9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many many lashes of electric wire.

10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.

From '75-'79, at least 17 000 people were tortured and killed in Security Prison S-21, a former high school which now stands as witness to some of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge during Pol Pot's genocidal rule over Cam. The story goes that Vietnamese photographers followed the stench of rotting bodies to discover what remained of the last prisoners of S-21, killed by their fleeing captors. The photographs taken that day are now the most shocking component of the museum's "exhibits", mounted in the same bare rooms that formed the prison's torture chambers: the bare iron bed frames, shackles and blunt shovels used on prisoners remain to this day, a simple and brutal display of the unspeakable acts that took place here.

Other spaces revealed wall after wall of documentary photographs of prisoners, piles of clothes never to be worn again (prisoners were stripped and often remained naked til their deaths), and plenty of the restraints worn even while sleeping by the men, women and children from all over the country who ended up here. Many of those tortured into confessions of espionage and treason were actually Khmer Rouge soldiers and their families, though "inmates" were drawn from all over the country. Again, it's claimed that S-21 was a clearing house for those Pol Pot believed were capable of raising a coup against him. It seems that as the regime became more and more extreme, no one was safe from suspicion. Children brought to the prison were sometimes recruited as guards, and one man escaped death to become an official illustrator of the torture techniques used at Tuol Sleng.

Though the sights within these rooms struck most visitors dumb (and one despicably dumb American asked her guide how they got the bones so neat - did they execute the people standing up? No, they moved the remains after they were dead, you idiot), the sun continued to shine though the corridors of the old school, the grass was green and palm trees swayed around the gallows erected in the grounds. It seems only yesterday that these events occurred, and yet a million miles away from present day Phnom Penh. The sheer youthfulness of the population creates a feeling of optimism - seize the day kinda stuff... I feel an uneasy but immense respect for the Cambodian people who live in the shadow of this legacy but move forward with a confident smile.

Arrival in Cambodia

Aside from the usual undignified squabble when we arrived at the dock, and the tuk-tuk driver who followed us halfway through the city ("I follow you! I know you say no, I wait for you, so you want to go now?"), we arrived in Phnom Penh without incident and took a shining to the city pretty quickly. The roads are wide, the river sleepy and the tall palm trees shady. After Vietnam, the people immediately seemed cooler, more confident and laid-back: they'd get our money soon enough, and in the meantime they had their own shit to do. I like that. We stayed on the lily-choked lake, in a true backpacker ghetto where a hamburger seems the easiest food to find (not that *we* ate hamburgers! we only eat bona fide local food. Like frogs, and duck embryos).

We were (of course!) offered dope by our hostel manager on check-in along with towels and toilet paper (we declined but most others didn't. the drugs, that is, not the paper).

So, first tourist stop was the bling bling Royal Palace, with its solid silver floors and manicured grounds. Then markets, and a few drinks at the Foreign Correspondent's Club, thanks to some unlucky bugger who dropped US$20 on the ground.



Despite the cool-as-a-cucumber attitude of the city, as a tourist violence and death is the top of the agenda. After two days of touts (in hostel and on street), tempting us with the delights of killing fields and shooting galleries, I was hoping to opt out of all Khmer Rogue related activity. Until I was asked bluntly by a rather stoned long term guest of Green Lake Hostel, what the hell I was doing to Cambodia if I wasn't going to try to understand the country's history.

Fair enough.

So while the excitement of shooting a REAL GUN would have to be skipped, we did visit the Genocide Museum...