Cambodia

The Royal Palace built by King Norodum in 1866 is still the official residence of the Royal family but is only used for official ceremonies. The King and his family live in Siem Reap. The Silver Pagoda named because the floor is made up of 5,000 solid silver tiles. The museum in the Silver Pagoda is not very good but contains some priceless jewelry and statues. Most of Cambodia's valuables have been stolen during their rough history.

The Killing Fields of which the movie was named is located 45 minutes outside of town. This just happens to be one location that the government tried to determine how many people were buried in mass graves. The drive itself was an insight to daily living - very rough. We arrived at 5:30 PM to The Killing Fields and a guide was able to give us a late tour. The monument is a tall glass pagoda structure filled with crushed skulls, bones and collected clothes. The Killing Fields are acres of communal graves where the Khemur Rouge buried people in mass graves. They are still there and everywhere you walk you can see human bones in the ground. It was very sad and gave me a new understanding of why the United States Government gets involved in world wide peace keeping. Some countries just cannot protect themselves from terrible, sick people who sometimes come to power. This was a modern day tragedy and it should of been prevented.

The city of Phnom Penh was completely deserted for four years and people only began to move back from the countryside in 1980. Cambodia has a long way to go but the people are optimistic and are working hard for the future. The first election in Cambodia was three years ago and they have had a couple of uprisings since but the people are hoping the next election in July will put good leaders in place.

Our tour guide dropped us off in the tourist area on the Tongle River. Dinner was at the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club). This old open air building was filled with atmosphere, good pizzas and vino. Geckos and crickets seemed ready to take over the place, they added a nice touch. We took moped taxi's home to our nice room in the refugee camp area.

We had a 6:30 AM flight and our taxi driver wanted to pick us up at 5:00 AM. We forgot about the time change so we were standing outside at 4:00 AM. Major sleep screw up and we will try not to let it happen again. Once again we were the first ones at the airport including the people who work there. Angkor Temples are one of the seven modern wonders of the world. They are located in northwest Cambodia outside Siem Reap. They are over 1,000 years old and too big and intact to be called ruins. The whole area is 400 Sq.Km., there are 100 monuments including 24 major temples. It is an amazing place.

The flight lasted one hour and we only had 10 hours to see the ancient ruins so we hired a tour at the tourist desk. A car,driver and guide cost $40 US and we started our tour at 8:00 AM. First a quick stop in town at the market - tried rambutan fruit or hairy looking strawberries - pretty good. Then to the bank for more money and some aspirin at a pharmacy. We set out for the countryside to Angkor Thom. This means great city, it is a walled city built in the 12th century. It holds Bayon temple and elephant terrace. It is huge and awesome looking with Buddha faces everywhere. A short drive away is Ta Prohm, a temple that has been left largely in its natural state since its discovery by French Archeologists. Its hallways have been overgrown by tremendous old banyon tree roots. This temple is my favorite - wild and mystical looking.

The temperature today is about 100 degrees with jungle humidity - rough morning but now we are taking a lunch break. Nice open air restaurant with an extensive menu. I order a traditional Cambodian meal and Scooter orders a tuna sandwich making sure it comes from a can. My noodle lunch comes first along with a delicious banana shake - great lunch. Scooter's tuna sandwich comes to the table in a bun. Looking inside the sandwich Scooter finds a 3 inch fish complete with skin, fins and bones soaked in a red sauce along with five greasy fries. Scooter politely explains to a waitress that speaks no English that this is a local fish and not canned tuna. Then a gentleman comes out and tells Scooter that this mystery fish did come out of a can. Finally, Scooter gives in and orders a plate of noodles.

We enjoyed a little siesta on the side street, watching mopeds loaded with pigs, hay, chickens and four passengers per moped. Our guide picks us up at 1:30 PM and we head to Angkor Wat the largest temple in the world. It is unlike the other temples in that it faces west and was built as a Hindu temple. At the time the ruler of Cambodia was practicing Hinduism but Cambodia switched back to Buddhism. Angkor Wat symmetrical towers are on the Cambodian flag. It has been continuously occupied by Buddhist monks and is very well preserved. It is huge and we spent the next two hours roaming around and climbing to the top for the view. I think the three of us were close to getting sun stroke so we went running for a shady tree on the outside of the moat surrounding the Wat. Our guide, Mr. Lay Kovith is a University Student who loves his tour guide job. Most of the guides here are licensed by the country and have gone through extensive tourism training.

We took an interesting back trail to the airport through a hill tribe village. Siem Reap is getting ready to expand as a major tourist destination. It has some excellent hotels and many more plans for the future. It is quite surprising and refreshing that the Angkor Temples have not been more commercialized. The only hard currency in Cambodia is from tourist dollars and we found it very expensive to take taxis - entrance fees to the temples are $20 US each. We took another flight back to Phnom Penh airport and we were greeted by one of our moped taxi drivers from the day before. His name is Lorn and he is very enterprising. He takes us to the Sunshine Hotel which for $25 US is over priced compared to last nights accommodations but the location is better. We head for the FCC again for dinner again - why take chances.

At 6:00 AM the furniture we moved in front of the door was still in place. It never hurts to be cautious - but not paranoid! Our taxi driver, Lorn was waiting for us in the lobby right on time. Pnom Penh was in full swing at 7:00 AM - thousands of mopeds usually carrying 2-4 passengers. It is rush hour although it is difficult to say where everyone is rushing to. Check- in is uneventful yet expensive because the airport departure tax is another $20 US per person. The trip to Cambodia and the Angkor temples was well worth it and we wish the people of Cambodia a peaceful future.