cambopedia

A Trip to South-East Asia Plus Cambodia

Traveling is all about planning. Making a trip to South-East Asia is probably one of the most exciting experiences as within the region visitors will enjoy exploring some of the great places in the world. From Indonesia to Malaysia to Singapore to Thailand to Vietnam to Laos, and of course to Cambodia.

I began my Cambodian vacation in Siem Reap, the town that serves as the launching off spot for the Ankgor temples and ruins. Angkor/Siem Reap is one of the hottest tourist spots in Southeast Asia, and it shows. The central part of town is booming with fancy buildings/bars/restaurants and there seem to be hotels going up all over the place. Siem Reap is a nice town and I wish I had had more time to spend exploring it…
I traveled to the National Museum (which is just fantastic), the palace, riverfront, Wat Phnom, Tuol Sleng, the killing fields, and some markets while I was in Phnom Penh. I had contemplated whether or not to go to Tuol Sleng (the former school where the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed tens of thousands of people) and the killing fields for many reasons – what if it was too overwhelming/overpowering for me? Then afterwards I would have no one to talk to about it (traveling alone) and might have a hard time adjusting. I also could rationalize that since I have studied so much about recent history in Cambodia and Southeast Asia in general that I was already far more well informed than the average tourist and thus didn’t need to see everything to know what happened there. But I realized that I had an obligation to the Cambodian people to see these things.

From Chiang Mai to Phnom Penh

Commercial flights have been developed in past recent years in South-East Asian countries. Taking flight from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is getting easier.
Chiang Mai to Cambodia:

Tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning Christy and I will be catching a flight to Phnom Phen, Cambodia. A country still trying to emerge from it’s history of war and political unrest. A county where in the late 1970′s Pol Pot was the leader and ordered the killing of more then a million of his own people. A country that doesn’t have a single ATM in the entire place. Cambodia will be a challenge for us but I know the chellenge will be worth it to see a land that is still largely untouched.

Feel the History of Phnom Penh

Is it difficult to spell the name of the Cambodian capital city? Would you say this: Phnom Phen or Phnom Penh? Phnom Penh has its history. That is the most interesting thing to read.

The first place we stayed in in Cambodia was it’s capital, Phnom Phen. This city is just overflowing with history, most of which many aren’t even aware of. From 1975-1979 approximately 3 million educated Cambodian people were killed by the Khmer Rouge Regime. Surprising that this could have went on not so long ago and yet not many people even know about it. We went to the Killing Fields where many of the people (women and children included) were taken to be killed and buried in mass graves.

Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone: Cambodia

Cambodia is no longer a nation at war, but a war-torn country. Recently the team of Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone has made their way to Cambodia in an effort to cover and report a number of news and stories about the country past and its struggle today.

Portraits of Pain
The Khmer Rouge killed as many as two million people during its reign over Cambodia. But at S-21 prison its leaders ensured the legacy of their genocide.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – By the sheer number of photographs now displayed at the former prison known as S-21, it is clear the Khmer Rouge was very good at two things: killing people and documenting the lives of its victims.

The Killing Field
Choeung Ek was only one of many killing fields during the Cambodian genocide, but its pagoda full of skulls has become the most poignant symbol of justice delayed.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The staggering crime of 17,000 murders could not be buried in the orchards of Choeung Ek for long, although the Khmer Rouge did try.

Forgotten Past?
As many as two million people were killed during Cambodia’s genocide. Why aren’t students there learning about it?

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – As many as two million people died during the genocide perpetrated by the Communist
Khmer Rouge regime and its leader, Pol Pot, which ruled the nation from 1975 to 1979.

The Dark Trade
The sex trade in Southeast Asia continues to boom, and Cambodia is at the center. A Hot Zone video appears to reveal a dark, and all too common, side of the industry.

The commercial sex industry bustles in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, with bars, restaurants and hotels often doubling as brothels. Many brothels are simply storefronts on Phnom Penh’s busy streets; pimps swing open the steel doors, revealing a room with women sitting inside, waiting for clients.

Year Zero
Nearly thirty years after Cambodia’s genocide, those responsible may finally be tried, if they’re not already dead or dying.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – When the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia in 1975, their leader, Pol Pot, proclaimed that it was “Year Zero” in the newly-renamed Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and that the society would not only be transformed from urban to rural, but recreated as a utopian agricultural paradise.

Good Work
In the Khmer Rouge genocide, Cambodians lost not just people, but important links to their culture. A local group finds creative ways to restore them.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Chantha uses an acetylene torch to cut a series of concentric rings from the large “vase” of copper.

The edges of the pieces will be polished smooth and intricate leaf motifs will be cut into the metal, following a familiar Khmer pattern found on Cambodia’s greatest national treasure: the ancient temples of Angkor Wat.

Phnom Penh: Toul Sleng – S-21 Prison

To many travelers, Cambodia is known for its infamous killing fields. The prison of horror of the past is not always the choice of every tourist, but perhaps it is where many of them can actually learn the history of the country.

The purpose of our trip to Phnom Penh was to visit the S-21 prison and the Killing Fields, two places were horrific events took place during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Our guide for the day was excellent and we learned more from him than we could have from a billion books. It’s amazing to me that a few times a week he spends hours walking through those places, remembering the things that he lived through as a young boy (like many people alive during that time he lost people to the Khmer Rouge). The prison was quite sobering and some of things you see and hear about you’d rather not. There are tons of pictures of people who were held there and executed at the Killing Fields, as well as lots of pictures of the (child) soldiers. There was also an excellent photography exhibit done by a foreigner where he took pictures of the pictures, capturing their reflections in the glass, with visitors in the shots, kind of “bringing them to life”. Hard to explain, but very cool, and it really does make you think about and feel the people that were lost.

Battambang: the Killing Caves

We went to the Killing Caves - in similar morbid style to the Killing Fields, these were caves where the Khmer Rouge threw Cambodian civilians into the caves and left them to die, if they had not already died from the fall.  The rock is actually still stained from all the blood shed at the time.

Phnom Penh: Shopping Spree

No surprise that big-brand name clothes at a very reasonable price can be found in Russian Market (Phsar Toul Tompoung). In this Phnom Penh market you can buy almost anything. What about Lee jeans for only $5? Perhaps this is what garment sector contributes to the whole nation.

I went on a shopping spree for clothes today. I bought all signature items – Gap, Lee, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Adidas, Anne Klein, etc.. Everything is original and brand new (not ukay-ukay). I bought five tops, two pairs of stretch jeans, and a pair of walking shorts. How much did I spend? The grand total is…. US$23! (And $0.25 for parking)…

What happens is that the garment factories sell their export overruns to merchants in the market, the most popular of which is the Phsar Toul Tompong or Russian Market where I went shopping (kuminsan siempre, ninanakaw din ang mga damit ng mga empleyado para ibenta sa palengke). They sell Gap shirts for $2 – $2.50, Lee jeans for $5 and so on. The prices get higher if the color of your skin is white and cheaper if you can speak Khmer. The clothes they sell in the Russian Market are all top quality. There is nothing wrong with most of them, except perhaps for the labelling of the sizes (the S, M, L are inter-changed).