Cambodia is a country divided by history – the Khmer era, of which they are very proud, stretched from the 9th to the 16th century, and it was during this period that its now famous temple complexes were built; the other era, in our own lifetime, is the infamous Pol Pot atrocities where, in just over three years, a quarter of its population were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge, and it is only in the last decade that they will even talk about “the killing fields”.
Now a fraction of its former self, initially this country was huge, stretching from China to the South China Sea; but it has always been on a trade route and has had many visitors passing through, both from the north down along the Ho Chi Min trail and from the south, infiltrating from the sea. The Cambodians were not happy when they lost yet more provinces when the French, who were in power for 90 years, gave the Mekong Delta to the Vietnamese! The country has been invaded numerous times by its neighbours Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, China all wishing to secure for themselves its rivers, its huge fresh-water fishing lake Tonle Sap (the largest in South East Asia) and its very fertile agricultural lands in the last century and it is only in the last twenty years that it has had any peaceful stability at all.
It’s religion is a mix of Hinduism and Buddhism – in the 1st century AD there was a huge influx from India and Hinduism became the main religion; later the Buddhists arrived and the religions became intermingled and you will find within the same religious site both a Hindu temple and a Buddhist Wat and the people worship at either or both! They are still a deeply religious nation and one must take one’s shoes and hats off if one wants to enter either a temple or a wat and ladies are asked to have their shoulders and knees covered – so no shorts. In other words they ask that we, as tourists, respect their religious beliefs and not flaunt our Western standards of dress! It annoys me intensely to see so many overseas visitors flouting these simple rules.
The Angkor Wat complex was rediscovered in 1861 having been ‘lost’ to the jungle for hundreds of years. As a world heritage site it is probably the best preserved of the temple sites around Siem Reap and with the jungle cleared away it now sits in splendour in a grassed enclosure surrounded by a massive fresh water moat.
In the last decade Cambodia and Siem Reap in particular, has become very popular with tourists – in fact tourism is the main source of income for the area. Many visit the site at sunrise or sunset, but our guide advised us to visit in the late morning, but he did warn us that although there might be fewer tourists, it would get very hot in the mid-day sun! After a leisurely breakfast of freshly squeezed juice, tropical fruit, homemade yoghurt and croissants, we were collected about 10.00 a.m. by our very punctual and knowledgeable guide Saroun, who arrived with air-conditioned car and driver for the 7 km ride to the Angkor Wat complex. He purchased our 3 days temple passes which we had to produce periodically to show the tourist police for they won’t let you into a complex without them – in fact we forgot them on our third morning and had to return to the hotel to retrieve them.
The morning was already hot and we were very glad of our sunhats and shades. Handed the complimentary and compulsory ice-cold bottle of water by our driver, we started walking alongside the fresh rainwater moat that had been built around the complex. As it is currently the dry season, when the water in the moat gets too low from evaporation, the local population will bring water in all sorts of containers to keep it at a reasonable level.
There were families of monkeys to be seen sitting on the moat wall and they were not at all aggressive, nor particularly worried by the tourists passing by, not like those we have encountered in our travels elsewhere in the Far East.
Saroun, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the Wat and kept up a running commentary the whole way around this fascinating complex of ancient buildings. We learnt all about the Hindu / Buddhist religion, the battles that were fought over the centuries between the Cambodians, Thais, and Vietnamese, for despite the fact that they are a gentle and friendly people, they have their fierce side as well, which was well depicted in the bas relief murals that face the 20 metre long galleries on each side of the main Wat. 
Angkor Wat consists of many buildings; ancient libraries, dormitories for pilgrims; stables; communal eating houses etc., the main temple has a central tower taller than the rest, dedicated to the main god, surrounded by four towers, one on each corner, all highly decorated with the most incredible carvings. We found it fascinating that the serene features of the dancers carved in the 11th or 12th centuries are still today recognisable in the faces of the majority of Kmher girls and young women.
About to return across the moat we spied someone climbing one of the palm trees, apparently he was about to collect the morning’s sap harvest from his palm blossoms – within a few hours high up amongst the palm leaves both the male and female flowers will have given up their nectar drip by drip into a bamboo containers (guess which gives the most). These are collected by the farmer climbing the tree up a ladder, simply a long bamboo pole with stakes driven into each side for footholds. It takes about five hours for enough syrup to accumulate and this can either by drunk fresh or processed by boiling into Palm Sugar. It is a lucrative crop, for with half a dozen trees a farmer can earn about $US1500 a year, but they must have a head for heights as they become ‘monkeys’ scrambling about the palm leaves, and if the trees are close enough together walking across a bamboo pole tied between two trees, three or four metres above the ground.
Cambodia has two seasons – wet or dry. In the monsoon the land is very green and the cows are very fat – now in the dry season everywhere is covered in a fine reddish brown dust and the grasses have turned to hay so the animals are scratching around to find enough greenery to live on and the cows are very skinny although still look very fit.
Tomorrow is all about food. 😀
Family History Tours 
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