The Beaches of Cambodia

Nearing the end of our trip, Wes and I agreed it was time to rest and relax before returning to reality. Where better to go than a city known for its relaxed beach atmosphere, Sihanoukville.

Named after the ruling prince of Cambodia, it spawned the first Angkor brewery but more importantly boasts 8 stunning beaches. We gravitated towards the quietest and serenist, Otres, a 4-km stretch of soft white sand lined with basic bungalows to 5-star resorts. 

Red and white cabanas called our names, suiting round beds and mosquito nets, surrounded by a plethora of comfy spots to collapse.

The romantic retreat seduced us to stay for a few lazy days, accomplishing absolutely nothing other than swimming, hammock hanging and significant coconut water consumption.

The days were hot and the nights were hotter, reminding us that Cambodian summers are unlike anything you'd ever expect. It's southern islands are also unexpected; numerous yet deserted. While their Thai counterparts heave beneath the weight of identikit bungalows, dreadlocked revellers and full moon parties, the 60 plus islands that dot the southern coast of Cambodia have been largely ignored... until now. Hermetically sealed during the Khmer Rouge reign and resultant years of turmoil, the islands are now accessible to intrepid wayfarers longing to lay down a towel on their own private paradise.

Our private paradise ended up being Ko Ta Kiev, and this is how...

Meandering along the 'Otres strip' one night, Wes and I spotted a bar named Blame Canada. We didn't think twice about entering, how could we? After a few Angkor drafts with the Bohemian bartender, he randomly raved about his friend Liams' gig on Ko Ta Kiev. We couldn't think of a better way to wrap up our Cambodian experience, so he gave him a call. The next thing we knew we were sailing through the Gulf of Thailand, again, except this time on a private charter.

After passing several idyllic islands, our captain carefully navigated through a large coral reef and landed on an empty beach backed by nothing but jungle. Its preserved, pristine wilderness is inhabited by over 150 bird species but only 4 humans: an Australian campsite owner, his wife/chef and her brothers/fishermen. With not more than a scattering of tents, some humble grass-roofed huts and no electricity or running water, it's the ultimate jungle camp experience. There is no other place that gives you that sense of shipwrecked escapism, hence its nickname Crusoe Island. With our tent literally two feet from the high tide line, we dozed each night and woke each morning to the sound of waves lapping the sand.

With a beautiful sandy beach running the length of the island, trekking paths snaking through the jungle and a coral reef perfect for snorkeling and fishing, there was never a shortage of things to do...

Professional spear fisher

we came face-to-face with leopard-printed fish and paddled through flying fish,

we pet carnivorous hornbills that had been rescued from poachers,

we laughed at paranoid schizophrenic crabs,

we gawked at stunning sunsets,

and we ate mouth-watering meals featuring the freshest seafood you can get, 

prepared by Liam's wife, Vanna, shortly after being caught by her brothers. We named it, she created it... in her own Cambodian way of course. We were sad to leave Kiev for so many reasons, but we had to make time to indulge in 50 cent draft beers on Serendipity Beach before leaving the country. 

View through one of many $2 Ray-Bans purchased (a must)

It, and I mean all of it, doesn't get any better! After visiting so many getaways in Southeast Asia, I can confidently rank Southern Cambodia as amazing as Southern Thailand... and that's a lot to say after having lived in Thailand for 4 months! But we were headed back to the country where it all began, to the country that sprouted our love for this spectacular part of the world. Bangkok would be busy, a drastic change of pace, but we'd be in and out in 30 hours. Home wasn't far away, but there was still one more bus ride left... of 20 in the past 6 months. Coincidentally enough, it dragged on for 20 semi-conscious hours...

... stay tuned for the final frontier)

Phnom Penh

(Again, I must apologize for the lull in my posts but life back home has been hectic, with May containing more bdays than any other month... including my own :) A wet and muddy camp-out in our back 40 acres on the long weekend was a memorable experience for sure, but Phnom Penh is on another level...)

Our short busride to the capital of Cambodia was spent reflecting on the most magnificent architectural masterpieces we've ever seen. 17 times the size of Manhattan island, medieval Angkor's urban sprawl is astounding. But we were headed to the new capital and largest city in the country, once known as the "Pearl of Asia" for its lovely French architecture. However, our purpose was not to sightsee the modernisation ordered by King Sihanouk, it was to see the destruction ordered by Pol Pot on not only the city but the whole country. 

Obviously they weren't well liked

His Khmer Rouge soldiers arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former or foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese were also targets of persecution, as well as Cambodian Muslims, Christians and the Buddhist monkhood. Out of ~50,000 monks only ~1,000 survived to carry on their religion, and 95% of Buddhist temples were destroyed. Unable to tolerate so powerful an institution, Pol Pot was "the Hitler of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant." He sought a return to an agrarian economy, forcing all city dwellers to do labour on rural farms in conditions close to slavery. Failure to comply with his rules resulted in detainment, interrogation and torture at the Democratic Kampuchea's Security Office.

Tuol Sleng School was turned into the S-21 Prison Camp for these exact purposes, with it's classrooms turned into rows of small cells. Surrounding the grounds are 2 rows of corrugated iron fence covered with dense barbed wire, and the fronts of each building are covered in fishnet barbed wire to prevent prisoners from jumping to commit suicide.

Building A was used for detaining cadres who were accused of leading the uprising against Pol Pot's revolution, with paneled windows to minimize the sound of screams during torture. 

Building B, C and D were reconstructed differently: the ground floor was divided into small cells with brick walls; the upper floors were large cells to crowd multiple prisoners together. 

The central courtyard had a wooden pole that was once used for students' physical education, but was the perfect torture machine. Interrogators tied both hands of prisoners behind their backs and hung them upside down until consciousness was lost. To shock them back into consciousness, their heads were dipped into a barrel of filthy water and interrogation was continued. 

In 1975 there were 154 prisoners, 1976 = 2250, 1977 = 2350 and in 1978 a record of 5765. These figures don't include children, which is estimated at 20 thousand. Each and every victim was numbered, measured and photographed...

... with hundreds on display in viewing rooms where relatives have come, discovering that their long lost family member ended up there. This sign is a given...

The last 14 victims before the S-21 personnel fled in 1979, were discovered in Building A by the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea. They were unidentifiable due to bad decomposition so were buried in the courtyard. 

The UFNSK feels it mandatory to preserve the evidence of the bloody regime and remember the oppression, anguish and suffering caused by the Khmer Rouge. Keeping the memory of the atrocities committed on Cambodian soil alive is the key to building a new strong state. For this same reason, the Phnom Penh Killing Fields have been turned into the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. 15 km out of town is where the S-21 prisoners were taken, and also the most well known of over 300 killing fields throughout the country. 

In order to pay respect to the spirits of the 3 million victims all over the country, a memorial stupa was constructed where incense and candles are lit and flowers are offered. 

The clear glass stupa holds bones on it's upper shelves and around 8000 skulls on it's lower shelves, but about 20,000 people were executed there. 

  Half of the 129 mass graves have not been excavated, allowing the remains to rest in peace. 

However, some victims were required to dig their own graves and their weakness limited how deep they dug so clothing and bones frequently surface after heavy rainfalls. 

Notice how the executioners used everything BUT expensive ammunition,... 

even the sharp edges of palm leaves.

Certain victims were more frail, so a simple tree...  

was enough to get them in the adjacent pit.

Music was played over a loud speaker hung from a central tree...

to muffle the cries as acid was poured on those who wouldn't give up...

 Standing on these killing fields was a horribly disturbing experience to say the least. 

We needed a break from staring Cambodia's brutal history in the face, so we headed down to the relaxed beach town of Sihanoukville.

Siem Reap - ANGKOR

I must first apologize for my absence this past month; a result of lacking internet access in Cambodia and all that accompanies returning to Canada after 6 months. Family time came first, then there was some much needed friend time in Victoria, all the while moving into the suite with Wes and returning to landscaping. There’s never enough time in a day… especially when my biggest post is in the works. After all, the best deserves the most. Stretching over some 400 square kms, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire. The temples are highly symbolic structures, built as representations of the mythical Mount Meru, explaining why so many are surrounded by moats, built in a mountain-like pyramidal shape and topped by precisely five towers. There was also a political element to it all: most kings wanted to build their own state temples to symbolize their kingdom and power. Suryavarman II unexpectedly died while constructing the temple, leaving some of the sculpture decoration unfinished. Around thirty years after his death, Angkor was sacked by enemies of the Khmer and restored thereafter by a new king, Jayavarman VII. While these early structures were built under Hindu influence, he converted to Buddhism and embarked on a prodigious building spree, constructing the new capital city of Angkor Thom, the largest pre-industrial city in the world. His successor returned to Hinduism and embarked on an equally massive spree of destruction, systematically defacing Buddhist images and even crudely altering some to be Hindu again. Eventually overtaken by Buddhism for good, Angkor Wat is the only temple to have remained a significant religious center. It is also the best preserved of all the temples at the site, becoming a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag. It’s admired for the grandeur and harmony of the sculptures, decoration and most of all, architecture. Conservationists claim it attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It truly is a work of power, unity and style. The outer wall is over 1000m long, 800m wide and almost 5m high enclosing the 200-acre city.

Once across the 350m long sandstone causeway and through the literal ‘elephant gates’, libraries and ponds line the sides of the equally as long causeway to the temple itself. Angkor Wat stands on a terrace raised higher than the city grounds. It is made of 3 rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. The lower gallery has pavilions at each corner and is open to the outside of the temple with columned hallways. 

Its connection to the next gallery is a cruciform cloister called the “Hall of a Thousand Gods”. Buddha images were left by pilgrims over the centuries, as well as inscriptions relating to their good deeds carved in Khmer, Burmese and Japanese. 

Within the three cruciform-shaped halls are four small courtyards that were originally filled with water.

To the left and right of the cruciform cloister are beautiful libraries.

At the points of each cruciform are the entrances to the second gallery, with towers in each of its four corner. These form with the central tower to create the five striking features protruding 700ft into the sky.

 The area between the second gallery’s enclosed hallways and the central tower was originally flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru. The steep stairs to reach this raised central shrine represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods.
 

The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. The pit beneath was excavated only to discover sand and water in place of its treasures. However, a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf was found 2m above ground level. Surrounding this innermost gallery are hallway ceilings decorated with the motif of a snake’s body with a lion’s head. But virtually every surface on each level has miles of extraordinary detailed carvings depicting numerous battle scenes and mythological decorations. It’s all so alluring, but the artistic legacy of the monument cannot be fully appreciated until one is peering from the terraces off these hallways over the magnificent structure and its surrounding grounds.

 It’s unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected at one point it was never completely abandoned. Its preservation is due in part to the fact that its moat provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle, at a mind-boggling 8 km by 2.3 km in size. However, Angkor Wat still required considerable restoration, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. This work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 70s and 80s, with many other structures left to the jungles. This makes them even more fascinating, adding an eerie rustic appeal. These jungles inhabitants include the Bayon, Baphuon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and Banteay Kdei among others inside and around the walls of Angkor Thom. Encompassing 9km², elephants were the common form of transportation around this city and are still available for tourists. However, Wes and I had hired a tuk-tuk driver to accommodate our 5am pick-up to see the Angkor sunrise. He then gained our entrance through the south gate to the city, stopping at the second most recognized temple in Angkor, the Bayon. 

Its multitude of giant stone faces adorn all 54 towers, and with four faces on each tower, 216 faces stare back at you as you wander around the top level of this three-tiered temple. 

As you take in the baffling uniqueness, you also notice its imperfections. The Khmer architects commonly used a corbelled arch that often proved unstable and collapsed, unlike the Romans curved arches. As a result, many of the distinct features on Angkor Thom temples have crumbled to ruins. Fortunately, reconstructive work has allowed visitors to reach the topmost tier of the Baphuon, one of the largest and grandest structures in the ancient city. 

The Tower of Bronze has more than ten chambers at is base with a long causeway between two ponds to get there.  

 Not so fortunate with receiving restorations is the Royal Palace, across from which you can walk along a 500m long platform. This intricately carved walkway is split into two, the first and most extensive called the Elephant Terrace and the second the Terrace of the Leper King.

King Jayavarman VII used them as platforms from which to view his victorious returning army. Exiting through the north gate of the city, you hit Preah Khan overrun with strangler figs crawling up the walls and spread with excellent carvings. Left just as it was when rediscovered, in no way did we regret getting lost in its labyrinth of ruins. It was the first capital before Angkor Wat was completed, crushed by the weight of history.

Through the east gate of the city is Ta Prohm where trees have been left intertwined with the stonework, probing at its cracks and crawling around its corners. Large sections of the temple are unstable rubble and have been blocked off in real danger of collapse. For these reasons some may consider it in a state of disrepair, but I think it’s a stunning display of the embrace between nature and human handiwork. Some may also recognize a few scenes from Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider! 

 The enormous amounts of sandstone used to create these monuments is overwhelming, and the skills required to carve the sculptures were developed hundreds of years before the Khmer even came to power. Tourism is providing enormous funds for conservation efforts to protect these breathtaking sites, and more people are realizing that the Angkor temple complex deserves a spot in the Seven Wonders of the World.