Cambodia

 Much like Vietnam, Cambodia has a war torn past that has shaped much of the country over the years.  Only a few decades ago, the country was ruled by Pol Pot and his horrific Khmer Rouge campaign which I will get into later.  I was eager to see this country, and was not disappointed from the moment I set foot on Cambodian soil.  Taking the night bus from Ho Chi Minh City wasn't too bad, although when buying the ticket we were informed that it was a 'sleeper bus' where the seats fold right down to a prone position, however this turned out to be false and we were stuck with a regular bus....pretty standard SE Asian mix-up...ah well

First stop, Phnom Penh.

As per the usual upon arrival, we stopped off an an ATM before checking into our hostel.  For reasons I still can't understand, Cambodia utilizes US currency for the most part, and instead of giving US change they give you Riel, their currency.  So there I am withdrawing my usual $100 at the ATM, only to receive a single crisp $100 US bill.  In most countries this isn't a problem, however in a country where the average resident makes $1 per day, this was a nightmare.  There was 4 of us traveling together at this point, so I broke the bill by paying for everybody's room!  We stayed at an amazing hostel right in the heart of the city, 11 Happy Hostel.  Why was it amazing?  The hostel's house rules of course....I will draw your attention to #4:

Any hostel that has a rule against bringing in prostitutes is classy in my books.  On a serious note this place had a phenomenal roof top restaurant/bar that was second to none.  Amazing food, music as well as a huge lounge area with a big screen TV and hundreds of movies to flip through equipped with bean bag chairs and loungers to chill out on...perfect.

Phnom Penh unfortunately is home to a few dark, but important cultural sites.  These are the killing fields and the S21 torture prison.  Both of these sites remember the horrible events that occurred during the Khmer Rouge campaign which lasted between 1975-1979 (only a few years after the US carpet bombed the crap out of them during the Vietnamese war).  You know I started to write about the details of the campaign and how terrible it was, but I decided to omit many of the facts....they're just too horrible to repeat to be honest.  If you want to read up on it, feel free to Google it.  In short the campaign aimed to create an entire self-sufficient country of non-educated farmers.  Similar to the holocaust, people of a certain 'type' were rounded up and killed.  Anybody with an education, who could speak more than one language or even someone with glasses were included.  Pol Pot (the leader of the campaign) also placed landmines surrounding the borders to force people to stay within the country.  Unfortunately those mines are still much active today and have resulted in a large amount of casualties (many of these children).  They even warn tourists not to step too far off the beaten track...scary stuff.

On the long bus ride into Cambodia I met a Brit, somewhere in his 40's who was completely against going to see these sites.  He said "why bother going, you know what's there and how terrible it is...why put yourself through that?".  My response was that although awful, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to these things that happen around the world.  I believe his attitude and general global nativity could possibly lead to further events such as this.  It's a massive chunk of history that we can learn from and we cannot simply ignore because it's hard to stomach.  Anyways, that's my thoughts...what do you guys think?  If you have an opinion leave a comment....

Right, so off we went to see the Killing Fields and S21 Torture Prison.  The sites are around an hour out of town, so the 4 of us hired a tuk-tuk for the day, for $15.  That's right, we had a personal driver for the entire day for less then $4 each!  Cambodians are very polite and modest people, as they don't have much.  When we decided to hire this certain driver for the day, he simply turned around with a huge smile on his face and said "thank you for giving me a job today".  His English was quite good, and we later learned quite a bit of history off this man as he took this job seriously....as he should because his father and family were directly affected by the Khmer Rouge.  But apparently he took his job only so serious as we ran out of gas 5 minutes into the ride! haha

They sell gas (petrol) out of 2L jugs at the side of the road throughout SE Asia

The Killing Fields are now set among a fruit orchard, so the property itself is very beautiful.  I only took a few pictures ...

The main memorial with viewing windows....

A closer look at what's inside....

After heavy rains small bones or scraps of clothing of the deceased sometimes rise up  from the ground

Mass burial graves....

I took a moment to capture some local women tending their rice patties just outside of the killing field grounds

I'll be honest for some reason this place really got to me, more than Auschwitz and the holocaust.  I'm not sure why but upon leaving I just felt grateful and lucky to be able to live free and to never have had to experience such tragedy.

Next it was on to the S21 torture camp (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum).  This place was a prison/torture facility used by the Khmer Rouge to force inmates to falsely name relatives and close friends as traitors so they could be brought in and do the same.  As many as 20,000 prisoners went through this place, many of them came from or went to the Killing Fields.

The unbelievable code of conduct that every prisoner was forced to abide by

Typical cell....the box in the corner was the toilet

Definitely one of the darker days of my trip, but the world is sometimes a dark place and I believe without seeing these types of things, you can't appreciate the brighter things in life as much.  The sweet isn't as sweet without the sour right?  right! :)

I wish I left myself more time in Cambodia, but it was important to get to Koh Phangan to get accommodation well before new years, so we only had a few days in Phnom Penh before heading up to our next stop, Siem Reap!  Most people go to Siem Reap to see the wonderful Angkor Wat and it's surrounding temples.  There isn't a lot of other things to do in the town to be honest...so we spent nearly 2 days exploring this place!

Starting with the main attraction....the grand daddy of all Angkor's, Angkor Wat!

Calling this place huge would be an understatement of it's size...

The classic Angkor Wat picture...too bad for the scaffolding! 

You knew this was coming...

Monking around......ooooh

Next up was Angkor Thom, famous for its' many faces...

And last but certainly not least, Angkor Ta Prohm which is famous for its' association with the Tomb Raider movie.  I think this was my favourite Angkor of them all....it was very unique and had beautiful strangler fig trees interwoven throughout!

Often the structural integrity of the ruins relies on these strangler figs to hold them up.  Although some say they have damaged the ruins severely over the years, I think they add character and beauty!

Enjoying my last evening in Cambodia with a cool, crisp, refreshing Angkor beer and a sunset!

Although I only spent a little more than a week in Cambodia, I truly loved this country.  I think I liked it the more than Laos and Vietnam.  Although the country has flown through some really dark clouds over the last few decades its' dusted itself off and is really becoming an amazing yet cheap place to visit.  I do wish I had more time to tour the country and head south to beautiful and exotic Sihanoukville, but alas Thailand was calling yet again...this time to the Gulf for some epic diving, amazing beaches and full moon parties!