A Very Strange Country - and there is a reason for that

Quick trip to Cambodia

Unfortunately we were only able to make a quick stop in Cambodia - we were there for three nights.  But surprisingly, we didn’t really need more than that.  So far most of the Asian countries have had lots of temples and monuments which after a while get old.  Cambodia wasn’t much different.  We visited Angkor Wat which is the main temple complex in Siem Reap which is in the north of the country.  It is the second largest city in Cambodia.  Angkor Wat is build similarly to the Mayan temples and the Peruvian temples, almost like Macchu Picchu.  It is about 1000 years old.  Back in that time the country was ruled by kings.  Each king wanted to make a more grand and spectacular temple than the last, so they kept adding to Angkor Wat until the monarchy fell.  Angkor Wat is built on an island surrounded by a moat and the whole complex is surrounded by jungle.  Only the nearby area is a small field with a lake.  Angkor Wat is amazing because 1000 years ago everything had to be made with manpower.  The temples are quite tall and every single stone had to be lifted using pulleys or ramps.  

Cambodia has a terrible history.  It had a despotic ruler names Pol Pot.  He was so much worse than a dictatorship and definitely worse than Hitler or any other world dictators.  He had the idea that everyone in the country should be equal, and no certain person should be smarter richer than anyone else except for the leaders.  Unfortunately, he had a very violent way of doing this.  In just a few hours, he cleared out the whole capital city of Phnom Penh and forced everyone to work in the fields for up to 16 hours a day.  It didn’t matter if you were a child or an old person or disabled.  But, if you wore glasses they assumed that you were an intellectual, and therefore a threat, and you would be killed.  Now everybody, look down at your hands right now.  Are they soft, pink or squishy?  You would be killed, because that meant that you lived off the work of others.  Even if you did work in the fields, you had a high chance of dying anyway through starvation, disease or exhaustion from overwork.  You would only receive two small meals of rice every day, because the government sold 80% of it’s rice to other countries and gave only 20% to the people.  In a period of three years and eight months, one third of the population was wiped out.  But the even more amazing thing, was that this happened in our parents lifetime from 1975 to 1979.  And yet, the whole world didn’t know about it.  

Today when you visit Cambodia, the majority of people are easily confused and lacking in confidence.  Most of the population is young - 20 to 40 years old, because most of their parents were killed and they were born in the middle of it.

 Angkor Wat from the outside.

 This is me in the center of the main complex overlooking the outer ring.

 A funny sign directing tourists were to go.

 Gazing up at the temple.

A magnificent view of the whole complex from the outside.