Where can I begin?  Well I can say that Cambodia was a far more moving experience than I expected.  I would not leave Asia again without seeing Angkor Wat.  I expected to possibly just visit the various temples; spend about a week and just marvel at the architectural wonders of the Khmer civilizations of the past.

 

Siem Reap 

 

We were able to correspond our visit with Friends Without A Border, who are also working on a bio sand water filter project supported by Rotary Club International.  We were able to visit the village which received the pilot project filters.  I was used to Nipa huts from the Philippines, in fact, many of our Peace Corps friends lived in them.  This was different though.  Without electricity, without running water, and without any bathroom facilities; the contrast to the out lying village to Siem Reap is ghastly.  The water is rusty and cloudy.  This water is used for all purposes including drinking.  It was magic to see what a difference such simple technology such as the bio sand water filter can make.  I was really proud and moved that we will be involved with something that can make such an impact.

 

The Cambodian people seem so gentle and shy.  I was humbled to make their acquaintance, to know that they are the survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime where nearly 1.7 million people died because of starvation or systematic murder.  I can understand why the Cambodian people are more reserved.  There were unfortunately many landmine victims around Siem Reap.  Land mines are extremely cheap, devastating and difficult to detect. Long after the wars end, the land mines can remain.  It was really heavy to think of all the hardships that the Cambodian people have endured. We were able to visit the Landmine Museum, which explains the many different kinds and even has a display of thankfully inactive landmines to show you how difficult they can be to detect.  The museum also employs landmine victims and tries to give the children victims scholarships for school.

  

Not all was heavy though.  We got a 3 day pass to visit the spectacular temples (Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom, Bantaey Srey, the Bayon and the Baphoun) and managed to do quite a bit of shopping also.  A few of the restaurants offer a dancing show with your dinner so we also got a chance to see the traditional dances.

 

Phnom Penh

During our short time in Phnom Penh we squeezed in a visit to the S-21 prison which was used by the Khmer Rouge to interrogate and torture their prisoners.  To imagine a school, a sanctuary for children could be rapidly transformed into a makeshift prison.  Cells were hastily constructed with slabs of brick and concrete leaving room for fetal position only.   When a person was suspected of being against the Khmer Rouge, it was not just the individual who was taken but the entire family.  The regime photographed and numbered the people who passed through the prison, you see many women with infants and young children.  S-21 was just the gateway to the people then being taken to the killing fields.  There is only a handful of survivors, if even that.

 

It is humbling to think that such atrocities have occured, can occur and are on going through out the world.   I guess timing is everything.  The Vietnam War (or the American War as it is called here) spilled into Cambodia.  In 1975, as the American forces were leaving the area, Pol Pot and his troops claimed Phnom Penh and held it only until Vietmanese forces came in 1979 and unseated the Khmer Rouge.   In that short time, Pol Pot managed to kill more than one fifth of Cambodia's population.