Travel Virus

Cambodia is a place that will touch your heart, both for its immense beauty of the Khmer temples and for the immense sadness of its recent history.
It’s a small country in south east Asia, in what was once called Indochina (by the French colonizers). Certainly more “indo” then “china” from what I’ve seen. It borders with Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and the waters of the Gurl of Thailand.
The well renown ancient Khmer temples of Angkor are considered one of the seven wonders of the world, and for a good reason. The beautifully carved temples spread over hundreds of kilometers in between luxuriant vegetation and small ponds. The grandeur of the Khmer empire of one thousand years ago, can only be imagined while walking through the temples nowadays. Despite 2 million tourists visit the site every year, it can still feel like a small Indiana Jones because the dimensions are so immense. Don’t think you can walk from one temple complex to the other, it might take from 10 minutes to few hours by motorized transportations!
I think that’s what actually makes Angkor so impressive: the immense quantity of extremely fine carved temples. They are all on the same kind of style, but each one very distinct from the other – sorry I’m not an art expert, I’m sure there are better words to describe this… as they say in Asia “same same but different “ The Khmer empire reached its best around year 1000 a.D. with the construction of Angkor Wat, the famous landmark and symbol of the nation (also in the flag).
And it never got better than that, actually it has been a constant decline since then (as an Italian I should say, like the roman empire!). Cambodia history reached his darkest point only a few years ago, in 1975-1979 with the Khmer Rouge, and it has not fully recovered yet. The Khmer rouge regime is one of the saddest page of world history, and if you go to Cambodia, don’t close your eyes to this tragedy, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
In Cambodia you will be amazed by the number of kids everywhere, going around in bunches, without adults, trying to sell you something or just saying “helloooo”. And you are right to be impressed because 50% of Cambodia population is under the age of 18! Be ready to be amazed…

Places to visit

ANGKOR: Top place to visit in Cambodia is Angkor, with its astonishing temples. You can stay at the city of Siem Reap and take a tuk tuk or a taxi from there to the temples. You can buy a ticket for one day (20$), 3 days (40$) or for a week. I suggest the three day pass (map).
The most famous temple is Angkor Wat, with the 5 towers and the reflecting pools, a perfect place for getting wonderful pictures! It’s also one of the favorite places for sunrise pictures: if you plan to be there for sunrise (around 6 am) don’t expect to be alone! It’s also a good time to visit the temples just after sunrise when the climate is not too hot and the mass of tourists is still in bed. It’s also possible to take a balloon ride to see it from the sky… beautiful!
My very favorite temple complex was Ta Phrom, wild and conquered by the forest… feels like Indiana Jones discovering forgotten treasures! It’s amazing to see the huge trees growing around, inside and on the top of the temples!
Bayon is also one of the must see temples, with thousand faces looking at you, very picturesque and offers the chances for very good pictures.
Banteay Srey, also called the women citadel, is a temple complex 38 Km from Angkor Wat, but worth the trip: it’s made of pink sandstone with very fine and minute carving, extremely rich in details. It’s one of the must see temples.

In Siem Reap you can also take a tour of the countryside horseback riding with the Happy Ranch. I would not advice to go to the Cambodian Cultural village.

PHNOM PENH: The capital offers staking contrasts between the Royal palace grandeur and the homeless people and kids sleeping on the sidewalk.
- Royal Palace and Silver pagoda: a must see, entrance 6$, for a guided tour add 2$ per person
- Genocide Museum (Toul Sleng, S21) and Killing Fields (Choeung EK)
- National Museum
- The riverfront is the best place for a walk and finding restaurants

BATTANBANG: It’s the second largest city of the Country but it doesn’t look like. A good place for exploring the countryside with a motorbike tour, you can visit the fish market, the rice paper making, taste the delicious local snack of bamboo sticky rice, see how they make rice noodles, and visit the mausoleum of people killed by the Khmer rouge. During the wet season it’s possible to take a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang

Other attractions:
- Sihanoukville: the most famous beach town, in the south
- Tonle Sap Lake and the floating villages

Hints
- US Dollars are the currency for tourist, all restaurants have menu priced in dollars
- Despite being very poor it’s a relatively safe country,
- There are no international airports, meaning that you have to land in Bangkok and take a local flight to Phnom Pen or Siem Reap. It seems not to be advisable to take a local bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap, while a local bus from Hanoi to Phnom Penh was good (aircon, adequate stops, manage the visa matters for a small fee).
- You can get a visa at the border for $20

Food
Amok fish: chunks of fish in coconut and curry sauce, steamed, usually served in banana leaves or coconut shells. It looks beautiful and tastes even better!
Bamboo sticky rice: the local healthy snack. It’s rice cooked in a bamboo, can be taken away very conveniently and lasts 2 days.
Loc Lac: stir fried cubed beef served with fresh red onions, served on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes and dipped in a sauce consisting of lime juice and/or black pepper

One of the saddest page of world history

Cambodia had the misfortune to lie geographically next to Vietnam (or actually historically Vietnamese people invaded Khmer territories descending from China hundreds of years ago). When the Vietnam War took place, both Vietnam’s neighbors (Laos and Cabodia) were – even if unwilling – involved. Both the Vietcong and the Americans used Cambodia territory for their own war, throwing a country with a very strong neutral position (held by the king, despite American pressure), into the war in 1970.

In that year Cambodia population was of 7 million people. In 1979 the population was 4 million. Almost half of the population of Cambodia was killed either by the war (est. 500.000), by the tortures and the mass killing of the Khmer rouge regime (est. 1.7 million), or by the famine and poor health conditions, consequence of the war. The Khmer rouge (or red Khmer, where red stays for communist) were lead by Pol Pot (meaning Political Potential, his real name was Saloth Sar) to commit a uncountable number of torture and atrocity to their own people.

Why? I don’t think there is any plausible answer.

“ They attempted to rebuild the country’s agriculture on the model of the 11th century” and they planned to do so by killing all the educated people of the country, all the people opposing the communist regime, destroying anything considered western (from libraries to medicine), all the schools and the hospital. They used schools as prisons and places for genocides. They recruited young teenagers of 10-15 years of age, brain washed them and trained them to torture and kill their people. The result of this sort of cultural revolution, influenced and backed by China, can still be seen today: 30 years later Cambodia remains one of the poorest and slowest developing country in south east Asia.

All countries contributed to Cambodia decline: in the east, in the west and Cambodia itself.

“The UN allowed Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge to occupy Cambodia sit at the UN general assembly until 1991, meaning the murdered represented their victims for 12 years” “In 2005 the government privatized the Killing fields of Choeung EK (Phnom Penh), and was paid an undisclosed amount sum by a Japanese company who’ll manage the site and charge admission fees. This has enraged relatives of victims, who feel the government is trading their murdered loved ones for profit” (Source: Lonely Planet, Southeast Asia).

Crossing the border from Cambodia to Thailand you can see a striking difference, that cannot leave you indifferent, considering that both countries were at about the same level of development just few years back.