Killing Fields No More - One Week in Angkor, Cambodia

I agree with you K my friend -- it is a very moving great write up you did -- what happened in Cambodia is still unimaginable -- the killings of human beings for crappy ideologies and crappy religions.....and crappy American psychosis.....of promoting the Freedom for making complete ass holes of themselves...from Mekong Delta to Fallujah to Binte Jabal.....

Nasah Ji, let’s leave those to Kanay people who believe in crap like turning wine into water, or was it the other way around. But sure, go ahead and talk about Qana or Galilee or Darfur, or Bombay trains all you like, but this travel essay is about resolve of an ethnic group to overcome such a bloody past in a matter of years without looking for scapegoats or “foreign” policy whatever the hell that means. There are lessons to be learnt from that. But your concern is appreciated, and you wont find a bigger opponent of wars on this side of the Mississippi than me.

Zahra J Ji. Once I figure out how to add photos, I will share some photos I took on this trip.

Salim Bhaijan, it is a place that is totally out of here, you feel like you have come to a different world. Sadly, Cambodia has also been associated with child sex tourism, where older European and American men go to buy young children, but now, thank to a very active role the UN is playing, there are stiff penalties and very harsh sentences for such mofos.

let`s talk about the killing fields of Qana -- for a change....shall we.

Kulharee -

Thanks for sharing an interesting travelogue. It would have been really nice to see some pictures complementing your words. In any case, I am sure you will waste no time to use a musical instrument to transfer the pictures from a digi-camera to Chowk`s ``world/art`` gallery.

Good one!

Janab Maulana Hazrat Qutubuddin Bukbuk Sahib Axewalla,
Qibla,
Thank you for an extremely interesting article about Cambodia. I have watched the captivating movie ``Killing Fields`` several times. I have always wanted to go to Cambodia, but have been successful in getting only as close as Bangkok. One of these days, I will make it there, Insha`allah. I must commend you for visiting a place that not many people are able to reach - even nowadays. Great article.
I met some Chams in the states and they told me that a vast number of them were annhilated during the Pol Pot holocaust. Is that true?

I recently received a beautiful post card from Cambodia ...

Thank you.

Re: # 7

Atif, that’s great then. All the Indian restaurants that I saw (there were only a handful, 3 or 4 – specially in the town area) were owned operated by Indians. One Taj Mahal was owned by a Singaporean Sikh family. I didn’t eat any Indian food there, now that you mention, I do recall seeing Halal sign at one of them. There must be then some Muslims around. What also was very observable that there were only Asian (Korean, Japs, Taiwanese); Europeans (mostly French, German, Italians, Brits) and American tourists (I would guess Americans to be 5% of all tourists and Europeans to be 50%. I didn’t see a single Gulf Arab (while Thailand looks like mini Dubai in tourist season) or Desi tourists. The only Indian Sikh I met was working on restoration of a temple.

How long were in Siem Reap for? I was there only for a few days, so I could only see a little bit of that area.

kulharee sahib, in fact there IS a mosque in Siem Reap. It is in a house and regular prayers and juma is offered there. when you walk past that pub street, and walk towards where there is a row of cheap guest houses, there is a halaal indian / pakistani restuarant, owned and operated by a guy from faisalabad. i talked to him for a while. while in pakistan, he wanted to set up a business in vietnam but it was very hard to get vietnamese business visa. so instead he set up the shop in cambodia. he had about 3-4 cambodian waitresses (labor is dirt cheap) , all of them looking good in shalwar kameez. but the business wasnt that brisk, as the restaurant was a little out of the way from the main downtown drag - the pub street. i was also quite impressed that in 2 years he had learned khmer language.

Sompiah Atif.. Good to know someone can relate to the place we visited. There were things that I could simply not put into words. Perhaps most awkward were the moments when visiting the homes and not knowing how to behave. Did my best. And no, we didn’t get a chance to see the sunset, as we did it backwards, visited the Wat in the morning and the Bayon in the afternoon. I am sorry that we missed it. Next time! And I also, like you, saw lots of musical groups composed of blind and maimed musicians, not just that, had the opportunity to jam along on Samphor with a group – fairly easy stuff from my point of view, but much pitchier than Indian drums but not as melodic, but offers a unique mix of Chinese (pitchy) and Indian rhythms. My son who plays electric guitar tried his hands on “Ek” (Xylophone) and figured it out in about 10 minutes and was playing simple melodies in not too long.

Bhatti Sahib, each place has its own charm. You can’t compare Cambodia to Thailand. They may be neighbors, but are very different in terms of what each place has to offer. And I am not a Jawan Punjabi anymore that I used to be a few months ago. I am feeling the pains of agedness now as well as worries about my kids’ college. So don’t rub it in.

Jang Ji. Ethnic Khmers make up over 95% of the population, the remaining are Chinese, Cham (Khmer Muslims) or leftover Vietnamese. I didn’t meet a single Cham muslim and asked many if there were any mosques in the area. None.

Mirza Singh Sahib bhai Qutabshahi sahib ji, it beats me why would a healthy Punjabi man like yourself go to Cambodia and that too for vacation? othey ki rakheya si? ehday naloN Thailand jaa aunday..kujh naah dhou aunday. Cambodia??
khair article raat nu paRhaNge...ghutt laa ke.

That was a well written travelogue. Hope you had a chance to go up the hill to watch Angkor Wat at sunset. It is beautiful and haunting.

You used the word ``sad`` a few times and I think it is a very apt word for Cambodia. I found it to be a sad country, with sad history and sad people. I thought poverty in Siem Reap was shocking. But that was before I visited Phnom Penh. The utter poverty and depravity of Phnom Penh stays in your mind long after you have left the city. To see the dirt baked children, picking up food from filthy heaps of trash is heart wrenching. A few sick european and american men take advantage of that poverty by engaging in child sex.

I have better memories from Siem Reap - especially those traditional eating places where the entire families seem to work from morning till evening. Every food item is priced from $1 to $5. God knows how many fresh coconut juices (50 cents each) I had each day. And my visit to floating village in Tonle Sap was made more memorable by the heavy downpour for about 1 hour, while I sat in an uncovered boat on the lake.

A moving moment for me was when I visited a surrounding village in Siem Reap one evening. I could hear beautiful Khmer music at some distance. I followed the sound and came upon a group of musicians who were blinded and handicapped by the landmines and bombs. There were old and young in that group, playing various types of instruments. The oddity of the moment - that these victims of the cruelty of humanity were now earning their living by creating the most beautiful artistic impression was ironic. It was their way of triumphing over the misery life had thrown them in.

I bet even God sometimes marvels at the unconquerable soul of human beings.

thanks for the article..i shall visit it soon inshallah. it is a surprise that you were so disturbed by children hawkers..dont you have them in pakistan?

are khmers different than larger combodian community?

Warrier Ji, tourism seems to be one area Cambodia can develop more of. Is Catherine Denevue still around? I did see that movie that you are talking about. But the Cafe Indochine has no connection to her. Like most other joints (sadly) Cafe Indochine is also owned and run by French. There is a pub street in Siem Reap, with around 50 pubs on both side of the street, most owned by the French.

There are tons of things Cambodia can do other than promoting tourism. They export a lot of timber and silk. They have a fairly strong agricultural sector. For now, they need to concentrate on creating jobs and setting up institutions, and they are doing the best they can. I was really impressed with how they are organized, in terms of slapping local taxes up front and how the native tour operators are only able to sell tours thru certain places. I think Cambodians are managing that sector very well.

Kul
Nice article. Did you meet Catherine Deneuve at IndoChine? -).
You as an economist, should be able to guess at , other than tourism, what can Cambodia do for its own economic growth? What is it attempting?