Angkor Wat

Many people put Angkor Wat on their list of the worlds wonders and it is Cambodia’s biggest tourist drawcard attracting travellers from all over the world like moths to a flame, I visited the famous temple complex with a little trepidation, scared that this icon of the Khmer empire would be overrun by hordes of camera toting jetsetters. Angkor Wat itself is said to be the worlds largest single religious monument but the Angkor temple complex spreads over approximately 400 square km and includes many spectacular temples built by the Khmer empire between 800 – 1400 AD. The city of Angkor was also the worlds largest pre industrial city, at well over 1000 square km it had a complex water management system that supported a population of over 1 million people.

Angkor Wat is the temple that most people come to see, and for good reason, unlike the surrounding temples it was never surrendered to the elements and its architecture is simply spectacular. I arrived at sunrise hoping to get the iconic shot with the reflection of the temple in one of the surrounding ponds and of course I arrived to find hundreds of people waiting for the same thing. I’ve come to expect large crowds at popular tourist destinations but the beauty of the Angkor temples is that the area is so spread out and there is so much to see, apart from a few popular photo spots you don’t feel overwhelmed by large crowds. I spent a few hours exploring what is known as “the mother of all temples” and Angkor Wat certainly lived up to its impressive reputation, I was keen to see some of the surrounding temples however, hopefully with a few less tourists about.

Possibly the best thing about visiting the Angkor temple complex is that it is completely self-paced, it can be done in either a big or small loop by hired car, tuk tuk, bicycle or in my case motorbike, this gives exploring the temples a relaxed feel and allows everyone to have their own individual experience. The next temple I visited was also my favourite, Bayon temple, known best for its hundreds of huge smiling faces, said to be the image of king Jayavarman VII. When I arrived at Bayon there seemed to be only a few other visitors and I kind of felt like an intrepid explorer as I walked the stone passageways of the ancient temple. Within walking distance from Bayon were several other impressive temples and many smaller structures so I spent quite a few hours strolling from one to the next in absolute awe of each of them.

It was early afternoon and it had been a long day of sightseeing so I decided that I would make Ta Prohm my last temple for the day. Unlike many of the other temples of Angkor, Ta Prohm was largely left to the jungle, vines weave their way through moss covered stone creating a striking blend of nature and manmade architecture. Ta Prohm is also known as the tomb raider temple because scenes from the movie were filmed here and it’s not hard to channel a little bit of Lara Croft or Indiana Jones as you make your way through the ruins. Somebody told me it was impossible to take a bad photo here and perhaps they were right, there was certainly an opportunity for shutterbugs around every corner. Ta Prohm is possibly the second most popular temple in Angkor and as a result I found myself amongst groups of tourists again, all lining up at the 3 or 4 most popular spots for photos, barriers had been erected to protect the temple from the crowds, which is understandable but I was also a little frustrated that they got in the way of such great shots.

I arrived back at the temple complex early the next day and set about exploring the large loop which consisted of many smaller but still very beautiful temples on the road from Bayon to Ta Prohm. This was a really good day of exploring, most of the crowds were at the main temples so I spent the day with a handful of other tourists in tuk tuks who were moving along at the same pace as me. Each of these smaller temples had their own charm and at times I would be the only one visiting the temple so I could quietly reflect on the history that surrounded me.

I had heard about a temple 50 km from Siem Reap called Beng Mealea, it was described as the real Indiana Jones experience, it had been overgrown by jungle, however unlike Ta Prohm the jungle hadn’t been cut back so it was far more adventurous. I couldn’t resist visiting a place like that so I headed out of town to see if it was as good as what I was told. The chances of finding a unique travel experience are getting harder and harder and Beng Mealea certainly wasn’t it, my hopes of exploring a hidden jungle temple alone were dashed by the bus load of Chinese tourists that turned up at the same time as me. Having said that Beng Mealea was a lot more off the tourist path than the other temples that I had visited and far from the crowds of Angkor Wat. The beauty of this place can’t be disputed, personally I thought it was more stunning than Ta Prohm, large parts of the temple had turned to rubble so a raised walkway had been erected which offered a different perspective from the other temples I had seen. Beng Mealea is definitely worth a visit for anyone who has the time, it is also on the way to the Cambodian border for those travelling north with their own vehicle.

The Angkor temples certainly lived up to their large reputation, I left Siem Reap with a sense of wonder at the beauty, size and sheer engineering genius that went into these masterpieces of the Khmer empire

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Phnom Phen, genocide museum and killing fields

While in Phnom Penh I visited the genocide museum and the killing fields to see the horrific legacy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It’s hard to comprehend that out of Cambodia’s 8 million population approximately 1.7 million died of execution, starvation, disease or overwork during Pol Pot’s Tyranical 4 year rule between 1975 -1979. It’s amazing that the world was either blissfully unaware or turned a blind eye as this atrocity was taking place and mind boggling that 15 years after their crimes were discovered the Khmer Rouge were allowed hold a seat in the UN and be the voice of the Cambodian people. After rising to power in 1975 Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge immediately set about turning Cambodia into his warped idea of what a maoist-commununist Utopia should be. The population was moved from the cities to rural labour camps where they worked strenuous 12 hour days with little food and no rest. In his effort to create a classless society Pol Pot banned schools, books, money, personal belongings, religion and even western medicine. People who spoke another language, were educated, had soft hands, wore glasses and even those that drank milk were perceived as intellectuals and were seen by Pol Pot as a threat that needed to be eliminated.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide museum is located in what was once a school but was converted into a detention centre by the Khmer Rouge. Known as S21 the prison was so notorious that only 7 of its roughly 20,000 inmates were known to survive, often inmates were just average people who were tortured until they confessed their crimes against the state (often fabricating a story to end the torture) and then murdered. Walking through the prison complex was very unsettling, the cells were on display as they had been found, some with a black and white photo on the wall of the last victim that was found there. Reading accounts from the few inmates that survived about the treatment of prisoners, especially the methods of torture was quite disturbing and the looks on the faces of the other visitors to the museum echoed my own feelings. The Genocide Museum was shocking, but I think it needs to be, so people can really understand the barbarism that went on in this place.

As more and more prisoners came through S21 and other similar detention centres throughout country the body count grew, to avoid suspicion the Khmer Rouge began moving prisoners by truck to the outskirts of cities to be executed and buried. Known as the killing fields, places like this were located throughout Cambodia, the best known being Choeung Ek which now serves as a memorial to those that were murdered there. When you begin the tour of Choeung Ek you can immediately see the very impressive memorial stupa, it’s not until you walk closer that you realise that behind its glass walls the tower is filled with 8000 skulls of the victims that were killed here. The Audio tour informs you of the horror that these poor people went through as they arrived and waited to be executed in the most brutal of ways (The Khmer Rouge preferred beating someone with a blunt object to avoid using precious bullets). The mass graves were very emotional to walk past but without doubt the hardest thing to stomach was the tree, upon which babies and young children were beaten to death and thrown in a nearby pit.

The leaders of the Khmer Rouge have much to answer for, but let’s not forget that China, The United States and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) all supported the Khmer Rouge one way or another after they lost power and that many of its leaders were only convicted of crimes against humanity in 2007 ( Pol Pot dying peacefully in his bed in 1998). I wonder how followers of the Khmer Rouge could have turned on their countrymen so viciously and I’m reminded of an experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority. The Milgram experiment had a volunteer ask a second volunteer (secretly an actor) questions, everytime a question was answered incorrectly an electric shock was administered, increasing in voltage everytime an incorrect answer was given.  The voltage went up to 450 volts, labelled “Danger: Severe Shock”, some people were horrified at being asked to do this but the majority continued on the basis that it was part of the experiment and they wouldn’t be held responsible. Even when the second volunteer pled for mercy, complained of a heart condition and fell alarmingly silent 65% of people went all the way. Perhaps this is an insight into what ordinary people are capable of in extreme situations and what we don’t like to consider is the possibility that normal people can participate in such horrible acts





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