|
CAMBODIA One can read the following in the
Lonely Planet guide for Cambodia: "Cambodia is still recovering
from two decades of warfare and violence, including almost four years
(1975-79) of rule by the genocidal Khmer Rouge, which killed as many as
two million of Cambodia's seven million people. However, the tortured past is history and Cambodia today is relatively safe and peaceful. Thanks to this stabilization process, the country is slowly becoming a tourist destination. Most visitors are coming to visit Angkor, the center of the former Khmer empire (9th-14th century), which during its most successful time included southern China, most of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Quiet (so far!) and beautiful beaches along the south-western coast of Cambodia are also becoming popular. The landscape of Cambodia is mostly flat. There are mountain regions along its south-west and north-east borders. The most interesting topographical features of Cambodia are the Mekong river and the Tonlé Sap (Great Lake). The lake is linked to the Mekong by a 100km-long channel known as the Tonlé Sap River. From mid-May to October (the rainy season), the level of Mekong rises, backing up the Tonlé Sap River and causing it to reverse its flow. During this period, the lake swells from around 3000 sq km to more than 7500 sq km. Thanks to this extraordinary changing of the direction of its flow, the channel is one of the world's richest sources of freshwater fish. BANKGOK - SIEM REAP (August 20 - 23) On the 20th of August, we cross the border between Laos and Thailand and take a night train to Bangkok. We spend two days in the city taking care of travel logistics. We prepare for our trip to Cambodia, write web site diaries about Thailand and Laos, take care of mail, etc. Marek is successful at trading our two used Lonely Planet guides (for Thailand and India) for a new Vietnam guide. We also buy two books about Angkor. On the 23rd of August, we take a
bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap in northeast Cambodia. (Siem Reap is only
7km from Angkor). One of the four back tires has a hole, so we have to
stop for a one-hour repair along the way. At the border, we experience a
game the local tourist agencies play with their clients. (Fortunately,
we heard about it.) A new guide arrives at the bus and tells those of us
who do not have a Cambodian visa yet to fill out his immigration forms.
He asks $30 per person for this visa service. One can see the difference between the more developed Thailand and still very poor Cambodia right away. At the border, there are beggars waiting for tourists and children are also asking for money. (One should offer them food instead, because somebody else who sent them will otherwise get the money.) Villages are very similar to those in Laos - wooden huts and rice fields. The paved road ends a few km from the border. From there, it takes us 5 hours to cross the distance of 100km to Siem Reap. The dirty road is very very very bumpy. ANGKOR (August 24 - 26) The famous Angkor Wat is the most
beautiful temple in Angkor, once the capitol of the Khmer empire. During its peak times, over 1
million people lived in Angkor. Its temples spread as far as 50km from
its center. Only temples and other religious structures can be seen
today, as houses and administrative buildings were built from wood and
are long decayed. We do not know much about daily life in Nobody can describe and no picture will do justice to the beauty of Angkor temples, especially the two most beautiful structures, Angkor Wat and Bayon. In order to fully appreciate the old city, one has to visit it and spend several days wandering through the majestic temples. (Just Angkor Wat is 1300m wide, 1500m long and 65m high). We visited about 25 temples within three days, some of them several times. We rented bikes for the first two days and then hired a small 2-seat carriage pulled by a motorcycle with a driver to visit more distant areas. Seeing Angkor was an amazing experience. For more photos and descriptions, visit our special Angkor edition. PHNOM PENH (August 27 - 28) Phnom Penh is the capitol of
Cambodia. We arrived in Phnom Penh by bus on August 27. The journey took 7 hours. Most of it was again on bad dirty roads with many, many huge holes. We enjoyed the last hour, the smooth ride on a new road into the capitol. On August 28, we visited the Royal Palace. We were pleasantly surprised by its wonderful temples, palaces and gardens. The Silver Pagoda is known for its floor made of over 5000 silver tiles (each weighs 1kg). There is also a beautiful Buddha statue on display in this temple - it is made of 90kg of gold and several thousand diamonds. We left Cambodia and entered Vietnam on August 29. NOTES ABOUT CAMBODIA Popular sports are soccer, volleyball and table tennis (like in Czech Republic!) Cambodians drive on the right side
of the road. Streets are full of bikes and 100cc motorbikes. Thanks to French colonization, many older people still know a few French words. Young generation is learning English. We saw many English courses offered by locals as well as local branches of a few American universities in Phnom Penh. All south-Asians seem to be very nice people by nature. They also love to laugh. It is true about young Cambodians as well. But one can notice a shade on the faces of the older Cambodian generations. It is probably due to the recent past - they witnessed the horrible acts of the Khmer Rouge. Cambodian food is not very exciting. We liked Lao cuisine better and Thai the best..
|
Cambodia Population: 12 775 000 Population growth:
2.2% Literacy rate: 35%
|
The Khmer Rouge may be
finished as an organization that can threaten the state, but their
legacy lives on in broken families, the law of the gun and a serious
landmine problem."
We tell him that per our
information, we can obtain the visas ourselves by talking to the
immigration officials at the border directly and paying only the
official fee of $20. He is upset and wants to make a bet that we are not
going to succeed without paying at least $40. It is an old trick. Many
agencies offer really cheap bus tickets (about $5), but then try get
more money through commission for this visa service and also for
bringing tourists directly to pre-selected guesthouses (rather than
dropping them off at the bus station). Well, this trick is not going to
work with us! We take our courage and walk up to the immigration office
at the border. The correct $20 fee is posted there, but - to our
surprise - the immigration officer is asking for $25! We continue to try
and he finally accepts our passports with only $20 notes, but shows us a
sign that reads: "Wait 3 hours." I see! That is how they
pressure tourists! But we are not going to support corruption. OK, we
are going to wait. (Just wondering how long the bus will wait for us.
For now, let us pretend that we have enough time.) In 10 minutes, they
hand us our passports with new Cambodian visas without us paying $1
more. Patience worked. This time.
The
Khmer kingdom was established by Jayavarman II in year 802 and further
extended during the 9th - 13th century. Most temples were built during
the reign of Jayavarman VII (end of 11th - beginning of 12th century).
The empire's system was based on the king-god. There was no written law,
the king himself made decisions about all cases. Sometimes he would
empower a few judges to act in his name. There was an extended
irrigation system in place (including huge, several km long water
tanks), which was essential to the existence and survival of the
kingdom. It allowed the Khmers to manage a densely populated and
strongly centralized empire. Religion has changed as the kings changed -
from Hindu (India had strong influence on all of Indochina) to Buddhist
(during the reign of Jayavarmana VII) and back to Hindu. Today, Angkor
is mostly known for its beautiful architecture and delicate carvings,
which later influenced art in the whole region.
Angkor, as
such notes and stories were written on decaying palm leaves. Information
about religious topics and king's actions (such as wars) were carved on
stones and archeologists were able to read some of those.
It became the capitol of the Khmer empire in the 15th century
(Angkor was abandoned due to frequent Thai invasions). Today, Phnom Penh
is a city of contrasts - with nice wide streets, parks, and a beautiful
river side walkways on one side and dirty roads, ugly metal huts and
dirty corners on another. This mixture of old and new gives it an
interesting feel.
It is not
unusual to see 2 people on a bike and 3 people on the motorbike. We even
saw a 5-member family (3 kids) on one motorbike! We also saw two men
transporting a large pig on this small motorbike.