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CAMBODIA
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The bar seemed ordinary enough at first glance, nothing
unusual about
rolling across dirt roads and past fortified checkpoints to partake of one 's favorite libations. And so
it was that I began my visit by havinga pint of Angkor beer with my former colleague and now Pnnom Penh xpatriate, the illustrious
Alexander Lemon. Nothing strikes the casual
observer as unusual about the menu until one gets to the heavy firearms section.
Yes, not only can you imbibe the local brew, you can also brush up on your armor piercing bullet technique. It reads like
a fine wine list¡ÄAk-47¡Çs,M-60¡Çd, hand grenades, rocket propelled grenades, and on and on. And so for a not so nominal fee,
Alex and I tried our hands at Antonine Kalishnokov¡Çs great harbinger of peace, the tried and true AK-47. As an aside, Alex
relates that a local minister of the Cambodian People¡Çs Party recently banned that time honored tradition of annihilating
live cows with rocket propelled grenades (apparently this rather obscure form of leisure was particularly popular with Japanese
backpackers).
The city of Phnom Penh is an interesting juxastaposition of striking
poverty and splendid opulence.
Grand 19th century French collonial
mansions manned with armed guards sparkle against the backdrop of
sweatshops, slums,
and refuse ladden dirt roads. Wild dogs forage for
food while the appendage challenged beg for money. Indeed the intrepid
backpacker must take care to avoid unexploded landmines that still litter the country. As such it is advisable never to wonder
off well trodden paths and roads on the outskirts of cities. Even up until 1991 before the United Nations took over, Cambodia
was a bloody civil war zone. Furthermore, chilling reminders of Pol Pot¡Çs brutal regime are everywhere. Almost anyone you
talk to in Cambodia has had a relative killed by the Khmer Rouge. By 1979 when the Vietnamese came to liberate, Phnom Penh
was virtually abandoned thanks to Pol Pot¡Çs agrarian delusions. A visit to Tu Sulong Prison Museum provides a graphic glimpse
into the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.
On to Angkor Wat
And so I bid Alex adieu and headed north to the city
of Siam Reap near
the tepmles of Angkor Wat. Getting there was not without excitement.
Cambodia doesn¡Çt exactly have
a world class FAA and this is why they can sell tickets for the aging dinosaurs they variously describe as planes. The particular
plane I took is a chinese knock off of an old Russian Plane called the Yakovlov. To its credit it did land safe on the way
there despite the rain (although on the way back it died on the
tarmack, so all the passengers had to wait for another
plane to be flown in from Phnom Penh). Anyway, to articulate the sheer grandeur and immense scale of the temples of Angkor
is well beyond the scope of this letter if not
impossible. Suffice it to say they were simply amazing. The temples
were
¡Èdiscovered¡É
by a french explorer in the 1870¡Çs half swallowed by
the
jungle. Built between the 9th and 14th centuries, the enormous
temples
burgeon high above the jungle thicket. Trekking through the enormous
temples by foot and motorcycle is an exhilaration
I have seldom known.
The fickle Khmer rain occasionally ameliorates the sweltering heat. One
almost expects to see Indiana
Jones traipsing through the ruins.
Gargantuan centuries old tree roots meander through the ancient
temples,
having
long ago pushed 2 ton slabs of finely decorated sandstone aside
like building blocks. The vistas from the soaring towers
at sunrise
defy
description.
Well Cambodia has been quite the experience but now its off the land of
the
rising sun. Japan¡Ä¡Ä
Cheers,
Nabeel
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