My Travels in Books: Cambodia

I went to Cambodia as part of my big Asia-trip in 2009. To be honest I only wanted to go to Cambodia, because I wanted to see the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. And boy, did I?! We spent 3 days just touring the temples, and I took about a million pictures from every angle and then some more, just to be sure. I was worried that it would be completely overrun by tourists, but the place is actually so big that even though there are many tourists, it doesn’t feel too packed. 

The Angkor Wat Temple

One morning we got up at 4 to see the sunrise over the temples. Apparently our brains were not functional that early, so we didn’t bring a flashlight. Being brought up in a country with plenty of street lamps, you don’t think about how truly DARK it can get at night. So our poor tuk-tuk driver had to lead the way up to the top of the temple using his cell phone as a flash light. The sunrise was lovely and it was documented in great detail. 

The sunrise at Phnom Bakheng

The temple complex has a museum attached to it, the National Museum Angkor. We had bought 3 day passes to the temple complex for 40 US dollars, but you can also buy 1 day passes or, if you really want to get intimate with the temples, 7 day passes. The temple complex is open from 5 AM to 6 PM with some sites closing earlier. Check this website to be sure: http://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor.htm . They take a picture to put on your ticket, and you have to have the ticket on you at all times during your visits to the complex. I can’t figure out if the price for the museum is included in the temple ticket. 

More Angkor Wat

In Siem Reap (where the Angkor Wat temples are located) they had some great markets, but other than that, we didn’t really explore the countryside too much. We did go to a landmine museum, but that was about it for Siem Reap. 

We continued to the capital of Phnom Penh. Here we spent most of our time sorting out our visas for Vietnam, but we did manage to do a bit of sightseeing. You can’t avoid the turbulent history of the country and Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields illustrate perhaps the most violent period of this history. The Tuol Sleng museum was a high school, before it was taken over by Pol Pot’s forces and turned into a prison. Class rooms were turned into torture chambers and countless people were held here. Most of these people were taken to the Killing Fields outside the city for execution. The grounds look deceptively nice, but clothes and skulls are piled high in a heart clenching pyramid shape. It is perhaps not the most pleasant place to visit, but it is an important one, and shouldn’t be missed. We need to remember these atrocious acts, so we can take care that they do not happen again. 

The Royal Palace by night...

...and by day

The National Museum

After Phnom Penh we had planned go to Bokor Hill Station, but that turned out to be closed, so we ended up on the beach in Sihanoukville for a couple of days, while we waited for our visas to come through. 

Book review: In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

“In the Shadow of the Banyan” takes place in Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The main protagonist is a 7-year-old girl named Raami, and we experience the story through her eyes. Her family is of royal decent, so she has led a protected life up until the day a revolutionary soldiers comes knocking to let them know, that they have to leave their home and the city of Phnom Penh, where they live. Then follows a harrowing account of the family’s fate under the “care” of the Organization. We hear about the uprooting of families, forced labour, work camps, random executions and persecution of anyone deemed an enemy to the revolution for various more or less convoluted reasons.  

This is a fictional tale, but it is based on the real life experiences of the author. She herself was a child of 5 years, when the Khmer Rouge took control and many, if not all, of the incidents of this book is based on her own experience. This fact makes the tale even more heartbreaking than if it was “just” fiction. But even if the people of the book had been fictional, the setting and the events are not. Things like this happened to millions of people in Cambodia, and it wasn’t even that long ago. Which makes it even scarier to think about. 

I really liked this book. The story was fascinating, not just because it was based on true events, but because it was beautifully written and flowed well. Sometimes I find that stories narrated from a child’s point of view can be a bit boring, because they often just relate events without reflection. Obviously a child doesn’t usually have great powers of reflection and reason, but Ratner has found the perfect balance between a child’s innocent voice and the more mature reflections of the adult writing the book. Furthermore this particular child had to grow up quickly and deal with a whole slew of things that set her thinking about otherwise “mature” subjects like death, family and guilt. 

As mentioned above, Cambodia has had a turbulent history and this book is a good background to give you a feel for at least part of this history. Probably the part most people think of, when they think of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge uprooted an entire civilisation in an attempt to create the utopia dreamworld of its leader Pol Pot. They emptied the cities and sent everyone to work on the land. The city people had to learn from the peasants how to survive, and anyone with an education of any sort was executed. This is also shown in the book as first doctors, teachers and government leaders are executed, but later on even taxi drivers and people with glasses are not safe, as the Khmer Rouge relentlessly look for anyone who does not meet the standard of their utopian peasant regime. 

I think the book gives you a good feel for what it must have been like, living under these conditions. Even if it is seen through the eyes of a child, who does not necessarily understand everything that is going on. Tempered with the adult reflections from the author it gives a well-rounded perspective of the narrative. And the sense of confusion is universal, as no one but the Khmer Rouge soldiers, and often not even them, understood a thing about what was happening. 

So in conclusion I really liked this book, and I am happy I came across it, as I would probably not have found/read it, if I weren’t looking for books for this series. 

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. 

And now some more picture, because why not?

At the Bayon

Terrace of the Elephants

Ta Som

Ta Prohm

*All facts about Cambodia and its history are from Lonely Planet’s guide book: “Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong”.