Michael Peter Hartmann

In all I spent two weeks in Cambodia, a country that has seen a lot of turmoil (to put it as light as possible) in the last 50 years and one that interested me a lot. The US, in the South East of Asia fighting against Vietnamese communist forces also participated in large scale bombing of Cambodia as well. Approximately 150,000 civilians were killed by US bombing, most of which nver made the news overseas. As often happens in these cases, American aggression led to the rise of strong anti-imperial sentiment, and using this Pol Pot (the Cambodian Communist leader) gained considerable power in the country.

From 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge regime organized the killing of between 1.6 and 3 million people. Most of these people were ethnic minorities and monks. The population of Cambodia before this time was somewhere around 6 million, needless to say the genocide has had an obvious and lasting impact on the country. One of the starkest examples is that there are very few older people.

Today around 65% of Cambodians are under the age of 30, compared to about 35% in Canada. It’s not something immediately evident but once you learn the stats it’s hard to ignore. During the genocide most of the temples and cultural institutions were also destroyed. In Phnom Penh this manifests in museums that feel haphazard and half-baked, and a social climate that seems to be still learning how to walk. You can read more about the timeline of Cambodia HERE.

My time in Cambodia was also beset by some travel illness, some of my only on my trip so far. This might mean I didn’t get to experience everything there was but I have heard similar sentiments echoed by other travellers.

Phnom Penh

I arrived to Phnom Pen via bus from Vietnam, the trip was about 12 hours from Ho Chi Minh city. I stayed in a hotel next to the river which provided a much needed breeze and break from the 30 degree heat and high humidity. Going out in the heat of the day was pretty brutal so I tried to time my walks around morning and evening. Down the road from my hotel was a large market with fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit on display for locals.

In the other direction was the Royal Palace and the National Museum of Cambodia. The museum left much to be desired, as it felt like a random collection of broken statues and pillars that someone had just stumbled across. A lot of it was without dates or description which also did not help. The building itself however was beautiful, and probably the highlight of that visit however for the price of 10 Euros (very expensive) it’s not a must-see.

The highlight of my time in Phnom Penh was meeting up with teaching friends I had made in Egypt. I got to enjoy their company and rooftop pool and meet some of their friends there. Before the food poisoning took over in the second part of my time there we explored some favourite spots on the weekend. Unfortunately something I ate came back to bite me, and I ended up spending a lot of time between my room, the corner store, and the pharmacy. In all I’m glad I visited, but I wouldn’t say the experience was spectacular.

Siem Reap

Another 12 hour, overnight bus ride brought me to Siem Reap, where I stayed in a hostel on the ouskirts of the main town. Now battling a cold with all the medicine I thought wise I was able to explore more and enjoy the city. I visited the National Museum here which was a stark contrast to the one in Phnom Penh. It was well laid out and had informative signage that talked about the various artifacts, in fact it was so large I don’t know if all of it really was able to sink in.

The old town portion of Siem Reap is along a canal/river and while I was there there were some festivities going on so there were vendors and activities all along the way. The food was cheap and delicious and for entertainment they had kids riding bikes along a skinny wooden rail over the river. I never saw on make it all the way across. On the far side of the river to my hostel there were many coffee shops shaded by trees (and if that wasn’t enough, lots of AC) to enjoy.

Overall it felt quite touristy but not in an obnoxious way, and I enjoyed taking time to walk between air conditioned places to write and sketch people.

Of course the highlight of Siem Reap is the famous Angkor Wat temple. On my final day I booked a tour that would take us to several temples in the area, and while this was the only group tour of my entire trip it was well worth it and I met a number of other travellers. The tour started a couple hours before sunrise when we were driven to buy our tickets then to Angkor Wat itself to watch the sunrise.

The hundreds of other tourists watching actually aided in the experience in my opinion, all of us quiet as the dawn approached. Just before dawn you can feel the air start to shift and a heavy humidity bears down on you as the birds and insects start to wake up. The sky behind the temple grows brighter and brighter and just as you think the show is over the orange sun rises up directly behind the towers.

We spent probably an hour or so watching the sunrise, and I walked back and forth across the massive grounds, experiencing it from every angle. Once the sun has truly risen our tour ventured inside the temple to walk around all the nooks and crannies. The whole complex is massive, and from the top of the main tower you can see out over the manicured grass across the swamp land beyond.

After visiting Angkor Wat we also visited the Bayon temple, this one in a bit of disrepair but still quite striking as each pillar has massive faces carved into it. On our final stop we visited the Ta Prohm Temple, also known as the Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider temple. This one is unique in that it is mostly unrestored, and so the entire complex has trees and vines growing through, on, and around the rubble. Apart from the dozens of other people there it still feels quite authentic and how you might expect to stumble across a temple on a jungle expedition.