From 28 May to 4 June, I was in Cambodia with my wife (macik) and friend, Raymond Ng. A friend once told me that in our haste to see the World, we often overlook the jewels that exist in our backyard. Working on this and since Thailand is the only so-called Indo-Chinese country I have visited so far, I decided that it's time to see Cambodia. What's more with the World Heritage Angkor Wat Archeological Park and the famous Killing Fields to see there. I am scheduled to visit Vietnam in November to attend my brother-in-law's wedding and with Laos on my horizon, I should cover all of Indo-China soon.
Basing ourselves in Siem (pronounced "Seem") Reap, we visited the Angkor Archaeological Park there, the great lake named Tongle Sap and Phnom Penh, the capital, with its famous Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (the most famous Killing Field). People normally refer to Angkor Wat as though it were synonymous with the archaeological park itself. Angkor Wat is actually one of the temples within the park. I have captured painstakingly (because of trying to match pix of the temples to their correct names) my experience at the park itself and shown in the travelogue, which follows, the temples Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (which comprises Bayon, the temple at its centre, Baphuon, another temple, the Terrace of Elephants and the Leper King Terrace), Ta Keo, Ta Phrom, Prey Rup, Banteay Srey, Banteay Samre and East Mebon. Unless one has lots of time, it's virtually impossible to visit all the temples as there are scores of them. A one-day pass to the see the temples costs USD20, while a three-day one is USD40 and a seven-day one USD60.
My experience in and within Siem Reap, Tongle Sap and Phnom Penh is also captured. I feel very sad after my visit to the "Killing Field" not completely understanding why Cambodians (specifically Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge Regime) should, from 1975 to 79, put to death some 1.7 to 2 million Cambodians of Chinese, Vietnamese, Cham, or of other tribal or mixed ethnicity because of political ideology after having them tortured below human dignity. That wiped out about a quarter of the population then. It caused me to buy Dr Haing Ngor's book named "Survival in the Killing Fields", to which I was riveted for a week, to try and understand what happened in Cambodia during that era. Even today with aid pouring in from so many countries, Cambodia appears unable to pull itself out of the doldrums created by the right and left-leaning regimes that ruled the country.
Of course, I have also documented something about Cambodian food which will give an idea of what to expect there.
I hope that you will enjoy going through the travelogue as much as I have in putting it together for your viewing.
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