february10

February 10, 2001

     We decided to tour the other temples by bicycle. The rental selection was limited and then made worse when Lady stated her desire to be a passenger. So we ended up with an apple red girl's bike ( with Snow White and rose stickers). Weighing in at 45 pounds, not including the white basket in front and cushioned seat in back. It must have been a picture because even the most jaded Siem Reapers smiled as we passed.
     We rode proudly for an hour or so, made lots of friends and then our tire was flat. Fortunately, this is a nation of bicycles and small repair stands are at regular intervals. In just a few minutes, a stoned Khmer Rouge soldier with a prosthetic leg had fixed us up. It was not a good omen through to see eight previous patches. As an aside, the most recent civil war left Cambodia with 8 million landmines, 50,000 amputees, and 2,000 additional accidents each year. Anyway, the short story is three more flats during the day and a long walk home.
     Oh yeah, we did visit several temples, too. Our favorite was Ta Phrom which is being reclaimed by the jungle.

Hotel - $6, Food - $15, Museum - $27, Random (Bike - $2, Repairs - $2)     Total - $52

February 12, 2001

     We left early for our trip to Phnom Penh, crammed in with fifteen other backpackers in a Toyota pick-up, and drove out to the boat landing. Here we boarded a long speed boat that resembled a submerine on steroids. Below was a claustrophobic death trap so we rode on the roof, only slightly less dangerous. As we travelled down the Siem Reap river to the Tonle Sap Lake, we passed through a scenic floating village complete with floating homes, school and shops.
     Five hours later we arrived in Phnaom Penh. We clearly overwhelmed out sunscreen because we awere already developing an unbeatable pink glow. We were also quite deaf from the giant engines although this proved helpful as we ran the gauntlet of hotel touts and taxi drivers.
     After Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok, we were unprepared for Cambodia's capital city. Many of the roads were unpaved, the biggest buildings were no moare than five stories and poverty was everywhere. According to the papers, so too was increasingly violent crime so we didn't venture out late at night.

hotel - $6, Food - $17, Trans - $48, Museum - $4     Total - $75

February 13, 2001

     Cambodia was essentially a French colony from the mid 1800's until the Japanese invaded in 1941. After the end of the second world war, France attempted to reassert its control, but ultimately was forced to allow independence in 1953. The governments that followed were inept, corrupt, and repressive. Meanwhile, Cambodia became a player in the Vietnam war. First, as the North Vietnamese used the NE territory of Cambodia to attack and supply the South. Later, the U.S. heavily bombed the area.
     The North Vietnamese funded a secretive, communist group in Cambodia which took advantage of popular resentment against the government and the U.S. By 1975, the communists, called Khmer Rouge, had won the civil war, and two weeks before the fall of Saigon, took Phnom Penh and the country.
     Within days, the Khmer Rouge had forced the entire population of Phnom Penh and the other provicial cities into the countryside, abolished money and private property, closed all schools and monasteries, and closed the post and medical offices. Pol Pot, the enigmatic leader of the KR, wanted to create an isolated, agricultural uptopia to break free from the inequaltites of capitalism. It was a complete misguided failure. Over four years, almost a million people died of starvation and mistreatment. In addition, another 100,000 were systematically exterminated- first the intellectuals (doctors, teachers, people with glasses) and later in a paranoia purge within the Khmer Rouge itself. The Vietnamese invaded in 1979 to overthrow Pol Pot and installed a new govenment. Dut to cold war politics, the U.S., Britain, and Thailand, funded, sheltered, and armed Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in their guerrilla war effort. This continued for over 10 years. Pol Pot's death in 1998 has finally allowed for peace in Cambodia.
     Today we visited one of the more notorious chapters of this recent history. The Khmer Rouge had converted a secondary school in a quiet, Phnom Penh neighborhood into an interrogation center called S21. Here men, women and children were tortured as anti-revolutionary suspects (usually ending in execution). The prison has re-opened as a museum as it was found - with blood stains on the floors and walls, torture rooms and cells. The Khmer documented in-depth and rooms are filled with picturees of the tortured along with memos detailing their crimes and "confessions".
     We sat in the school's courtyard surrounded by fragrant flowers, chirping birds and sunshine. It was simply beautiful and hopeful which didn't seem to belong to the horrors inside. Then again, maybe it does.

Hotel - $6, Food - $17, Museum - 44, Random (Clothes - $6)     Total - $43

February 14, 2001

     Believeing we hadn't yet found the real cambodia, we rented a motorcycle and drove out of the city. Cambodia remains predominately rural and untouristed. Just getting out of Phnom Penh was an experience as there are no rules governing the road. Somehow it works for them. We first stopped at the infamous Killing Fields. Here mass graves were found , a legacy from the Khmer Rouge era. A towering glass-cased monument of thousands of skulls stands to ensure that no one will forget.
     On the road we passed mile after mile of flat, dusty and almost entirely deforested land. Villages were no more than thatch or bamboo huts, most without electricity.
     With lots of stops and pictures along the way, we decided to overnight at the biggest dot on our map, Takeo. There were only two hotels and we unknowingly chose the one that also operates as the town's karaoke bar and brothel.
     As an aside, Khmer, the national language is written in script (like Thai, Malay, and Lao) not the Roman alphabet. Therefore, road signs, restaurant names, etc. are indecipherable to us. Touristy areas usually have English subtitles but not so much in the country. Fortunately, there was only one road and we knew we were going South. Also, ordering in local restaurants can be like Russian roulette.

Hotel - $5, Food - $9, Museum - $4, Random (Gas - $5, Internet - $1, Motorcycle - $6)     Total - $30