There were two places I always wanted to visit in Cambodia: Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields. Actually seeing the country fleshed out in its sweaty, dirt-road paved realities during my recent holiday however has revised my expectations and given me greater insight into its modern-day existence, scarred by the long years of war yet optimistically looking still to its ancient Angkorian heritage, as an example of its ability to build itself up again as a nation.
At Siem Reap,the hub where all tourists alight for the famous wats, we marveled not only at the technology and creativity of the architects and labour exerted during its construction during this classical age (Angkor Wat’s construction began in 1100 AD), but also wondered in amazement, how the Buddhist/Hindu monks (depending on which king was in reign) navigated the steep and dangerously narrow steps carved into these stone mountains. I had gripped tightly with both hands, to the railings provided for us modern-day weaklings as we laboriously climbed to and descended from, the top of these monuments, slabs of stone piled onto stone to resemble mountains for the inhabitation of gods. In contrast, the royal palaces were made out of wood which had long disintegrated since its construction, like its human inhabitants. Nevertheless, historical evidence of royal daily activities still exist in the fortified city of Angkor Thom (Great Angkor/City) such as the terrace of the elephants where the royal couple would view the procession of public ceremonies, and the now lichen-and probably mosquito-infested royal bathing areas, which were not unlike mega-sized swimming pools (I’m not just mosquito-paranoid, but malaria-wary in this country which has the highest incidence of malaria in the world). When asked to guess which belonged to whom, we, the women in the family, guessed correctly that the bigger pool belonged to the queen as our tour guide informed us that she held more power than the king at that time. I can’t help but wonder about the social role and power of women in Cambodia’s contemporary society after a family friend informed us recently that one of the social indicators used to measure the effectiveness of micro-finance initiatives was the calculation of the percentage of women who made up the bank’s borrowers in Cambodia. He worked for VisionFund, a profitable social enterprise of World Vision in Cambodia that lent money from $25 USD upwards to mostly rural villagers to relieve them from poverty, AIDS, drought, etc. The logic behind this social indicator though, had to do more with establishing NGOs’ priorities to improve the lives of children above anything else, which was demonstrably more achievable if wealth passed through the hands of women instead of men’s (interesting huh?).
Nevertheless, it was still a worthy thought to ponder during our observations, such as when we speeded away from several village sampans containing women with their children from the floating village of Chong Kneas who arrived to beg for money. Undoubtedly the development of tourism in Siam Reap has altered not only the ecosystem (the land around the boat docks appeared newly razed and cleared of trees, possibly for building more jetties/shops, and thus it was little wonder the water of Tonle Sap was brownish as a consequence from falling mud and endless tourist boats chugging up and down the channels), but the mass onslaught of tourists has also (lamentably?) changed the economic means of its citizens. Once primarily a fishing village that moves throughout Southeast Asia’s biggest lake depending on the season, Chong Kneas now receive countless tour groups wanting a break from the hundreds of temples that dot Siam Reap-leading to some of the villagers creating attractions in their floating shops such as crocodile and fish farms. A side-effect for tourists on the other hand, is the advent of beggars of all varieties (our boat bumped into a sampan containing a blind beggar and his seeing boat “driver” who lie in wait for tour boats). In Ta Prohm (of Tomb Raider fame), my sister and I were amused by a young girl who cannot be more than 3 or 4, who ran alongside my sister to show off hand-sewn bracelets, as the cajoling normally used to persuade tourists to buy was instead, an unintelligible mumble more like a hum meant to resemble the singsong version of English that most of these Cambodian beggars have. I told my sister to test the fluency of her “tourist” language, and sure enough, when asked “How much?” she answered back ’1 dollah’ and then resumed her humming monologue to my sister who was beginning to feel guilty by the minute for resisting. All the other child beggars we’ve encountered so far had surprised us with their command of English, sufficient to converse with tourists, “You borrow money from your wife-ah” retorted another young girl around 5 years of age at Bayon to my dad’s reply of “No money” to her cajoling.
We departed Siem Reap after two days, which left me with the impression of an economy solely dependent on tourists and our scenery slowly changed on the highway to Phnom Penh from images of rural poverty to fast-growing snapshots of urbanity. There were shoplots haphazardly strewn alongside the highway in between stretches of paddy fields, pigs riding at the back of motorbikes, huge haystacks strapped behind motorbike drivers, the dirt road changing to smoother tar ones : all of these images of Cambodia depicting a raw but promising economy with its eager labour market and developing infrastructure. (The same family friend did caution though that an adventurous entrepreneur should not jump headfirst at the opportunity of cheap labour but consider the cost of electricity, which was high-about three times the cost in Malaysia).
In Phnom Penh, the elegant and grand sights: its modern-day wats, Royal Palace, pagodas, and government buildings appeared to contrast sharply with the ordinary citizens’ daily existence of the capital: chaotic roads, innumerable food vendors on their motorbikes, overburdened with baguettes, spring rolls, and other unidentified objects…When we visited the Russian market (or Psar Tuol Tom Pong to the locals) on our last day, navigating its narrow alleyways chockful of stalls that offered a haphazard collection of all sorts of items(we bought a head lamp, Cambodian scarves, print skirts, and gemstones, topped by the best Khmer coffee we’ve had in our trip) it seemed to me to be the epitome of this city in its modern-day incarnation. The genocidal years of Khmer Rouge and famine cannot be easily forgotten however, as demonstrated by our tour guide who readily talked of the impact of the war on his country, and the red-rimmed eyes and hushed silence of fellow tourists when we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum. Formerly Tuol Svay Prey High School turned-largest centre of detention and torture under Pol Pot, we were confronted by the brutal and senseless killing under the genocidal regime when we saw pictures after pictures of tortured victims, and the brick cells quickly constructed in the school classroom to hold prisoners. It was only after visiting it, then did I feel like I could truly understand Cambodia and the struggles they have faced up to today. A whole generation of Cambodians had been massacred or exiled, particularly the intelligentsia, and as a consequence, the average age of Cambodians today is 22.
Our final activity in Phnom Penh before we departed was a visit to New Life, a vibrant church in the city, peopled by mostly young adults and pastored by someone who might as well be Cambodian by every other name except his skin colour (white). We sang translated versions of the songs sang in my church in London (Hillsong, HTB and the like!), and everyone around me looked joyful and brimming of hope. It was an excellent ending to my four-day visit as I gained an impression of a new future for this country, made possible not only by international aid and meaningful foreigners, but also by these young adults looking ahead to manifold possibilities.
Temples visited: Angkor Thom (including Bayon and Baphuon), Angkor Wat, Pre Rup (‘Turning the Body’), Banteay Srei (‘Citadel of the Women’), Ta Prohm (of Tomb Raider fame)
