Day 4
Phnom Penh – the capital of Cambodia – a city of total contrasts – now a noisy, bustling place, but during the cruel regime of the Khmer Rouge between 1974-78 the city was deserted – it had been evacuated by the Pol Pot when they tried to transform the citizens into a society who knew and understood nothing apart from bending head and knees to the Ankar (Kampuchea Community Party). This small minority gained huge power by eliminating schools, hospitals, all religious practices including pagodas, mosques and churches; any signs of culture or entertainment were destroyed; they burnt the market places; abolished the monetary system; the public and private transport; executed the intellectuals and professionals; turned adolescent children into informants and some into ‘killing machines’, all in the hope of changing the whole of Cambodia into a rural, classless agrarian economy focusing primarily on massive increases in rice production
We were moored near the city and taken by bus to “The Heart of Darkness” – the “Killing Fields” of the Khmer Rouge situated 15 kilometres from the city centre. Once an orchard, this is where the heinous genocidal act of massacring over 17,000 men, women and children was carried out by the Pol Pot regime. The area is covered in dry grasses and spindly trees with large holes and ditches where the remains of nearly 9,000 people, many of whom were bound and blindfolded, were exhumed in 1980 from mass graves – apparently 43 of the 129 communal graves have been left untouched. We were told by our guide that small bones and teeth still regularly appear on the surface, no doubt disturbed by the numerous feet that pass by.
After exploring the site we were then moved onto the Genocide Museum and the Toul-Sleng “S21” Prisoner Camp – the two photos below explain both sites. Many of those executed at Cheung Ek were held here for at least 24 hours before being taken to the ‘Killing Fields’ where they were beheaded; killed by a blow to the head; or had their throats cut – in order to save bullets!
The morning was a very moving experience and one is left wondering how much psychiatric help has been given to those affected by these deeds which, after all, occurred only 45 years ago!
In total contrast, after an ‘on-shore’ lunch in a local Restaurant we visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda in the centre of the city.
After which it was back to our floating hotel by ‘Clyco’
That evening we were entertained by Apsara dancers (Khmer Angels) on the terrace deck in their elaborate silk costumes, accompanied by a singer and two musicians.
Day 5 – ‘River Highway’
A lazy day on board with no shore excursions but as we motored down the river towards the Vietnamese border, for those who were interested there was a tour around the ship including the galley, (immaculately clean) the wheelhouse with the First Officer in charge and the hot and noisy engine room where the diesel engines and the water salination plant were working flat out in the mid-day heat. In the afternoon there was a demonstration and ‘hands-on’ cooking class where we learnt to make Vietnamese spring rolls and Khmer Chicken Amok in coconut milk.
(if anyone wants these recipes contact me)
Lazing around – time to catch up with some reading.
The “Jayavarman” anchored in the river near Kampong Chnang, a busy rural port town complete with bustling markets. It was a motoriaws ‘sampan’ ride to the shore and then a short drive in three or four rather ‘clapped out’ mini-vans to to the Khmer-style pottery at the Aundaung Tussey village.
The Jayavarman, built about 6 years ago is run by the Heritage Line, and takes eight days to cruise between Siem Reap and Saigon (or vice versa).
On both banks the vegetation comes down to the rivers edge, and sometimes one sees a string of bamboo fishing poles extending into the river, or a long, low and sleek looking wooden boat that’s used by the family of a fishermen. These boats are very narrow, and with their slightly raised pointed bow they look a little like Chinese dragon boats.
Higher up the bank are usually single story wooden houses on stilts, with rush or palm leaf roofs and walls of corrugated iron or of sawn planks of local timber. Many of the flat areas around them are used for rice cultivation, or alternatively for fruit such as jackfruit, dragon fruit or pineapples. Further away there are forests of bamboo which are being cleared to be replaced with rubber trees, the latex from which is collected and which becomes a very valuable crop. It takes about eight years before a new rubber plantation becomes harvestable. So, only companies, or quite rich people can afford to take up this line of work.
Travelling in Cambodia by elephant or ox cart is one thing, but it would appear that until his push bike, scooter or truck is severely overloaded, no ambitious entrepreneur in Cambodia will start his journey. On the 200km journey to Kampong Cham, five hours south east of Siem Reap along Highway six, we saw how ingenious are the people of Cambodia in their making the most of what as Westerners we would define as inadequate resources.
(photo – traditional Cambodian cooking pot over charcoal burner – one of these burners will last about three years. They have an outer zinc coating and cost the family about $3 and can been seen both inside and outside the family house, by a market stall and are most common form of heat for cooking)
Food here is very colourful, all shades of reds, greens, yellows in abundance – the food that looks out of place are bags of imported purple grapes, but they do add to the kaleidoscope of colours that greet you as you walk through the market. The Old Market in town carries a lot more in the way of tourist goods than food, so where possible its better find a local market where the Cambodian people buy their own produce.
The warm and moist climate encourages most fruit and vegetables to grow quickly, and now that the Khmer Rouge have been seen off, the land is once more productive, with small family farms supplying the towns and cities with vast quantities of freshly harvested produce on a daily basis. It’s transported by road, often precariously balanced on the back of a small motor bike, sometimes squeezed between the driver and his pillion passenger, or in a cart powered by the ubiquitous motor cycle.
In this country you think of food miles as something less than forty, and little needs to be imported. Their main crop, of course, is rice and as you travel round the country road you see it laid out on vast sheets of blue tarporlan drying in the sun. We think in the UK of only having one type of sticky rice – here there are at least three or four varieties and in the market stalls you still see the ladies sitting squat legged with a huge sieve, throwing and sifting the rice with amazing grace and skill (unfortunately my photo of this action was blurred).
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.
When going through security at Hong Kong to get onto our Dragon Air flight to Cambodia my hand baggage was thoroughly searched. It appeared that it was something specific the customs agent was looking for, as he ignored my change of clothes, my Kindle and iPad; my bag of computer cables and travel plugs, he peered into my make-up bag, shook his head, looked at his buddy huddled over the x-ray machine, discarded the make-up and my little bag of travel toiletries, and concentrated on my clear plastic pencil case.
Family History Tours 
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