The Temples of Siem Reap

February 7, 2015

In order to get a geographic perspective, Siem Reap is the fastest-growing city in Cambodia, located near the center of Cambodia, with a population of about 250,000. It sits at the head of the Tonle Sap, which is a large, combination river and lake system that I’ll write about tomorrow. The Siem Reap area contains the largest collection of temples [Buddhist and Hindu] in the world. The Cambodian or Khmer region has been inhabited since 3,000 BC.  It was the largest, richest and most powerful culture in Southeast Asia. The 12th century marked the apogee of the Khmer dynasty and culture. It was during this time that most of these temples were built. This blog is not the best vehicle to describe the history and nuances of the various temples. That’s best left to the hundreds of books, photo-books, and web sites that are readily accessible. It is important to note that the temples are beautiful, with incredible, detailed artwork. It is just breathtaking and amazing how they were able to build things of this grandeur.  The wisdom of the rulers to find successful ways for Buddhism and Hinduism to co-exist is something I wish we could use to resolve today’s conflicts of religions.  Below, I’ve inserted a sample of the hundreds of photos we took of the temples.

The entrance to the temple across the moat, for the nobility.

Five Towers of Angkor Wat: Four Buddhist and One Hindu

Which mode of transportation do you want in Cambodia

Ta Prohm Tree wrapping the temple

The 3 Headed Elephant

Roselie is Nose-to-Nose with the Buddha

The Pink Temple

Today’s blog is focused on the contemporary and human dimensions of Cambodia. We met our guide, Sam, this morning,  and visited Angkor Archaeological Park, Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple, Terrace of the Elephants, as well as others.  We stopped to have a typical Cambodian lunch at an outdoor restaurant. Throughout the day, Sam talked about the recent history of Cambodia, the Vietnam War, and Khmer Rouge era…….mixed with his own experience and observations.  I believe some of it is factual, while other parts are anecdotal.

To set the stage, Cambodia is the poorest country in Southeast Asia and has suffered more atrocities than any other in this region. In the 18th century, Vietnam and Thailand appropriated large portions of Cambodia. To counter this aggression, Cambodia agreed to become a protectorate of France so as to stop the erosion. Not surprisingly, in the 19th century, the French grabbed resources, art, and wealth, but never put anything back. The country suffered through two centuries of religious wars, royal family wars, conflicts with Vietnam and Thailand, and the French.

The Khmer Rouge war is the centerpiece of Sam’s life. The Khmer Rouge, led by Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot, overthrew the government in 1975. He was a communist, educated and trained in France and committed to establishing Cambodia as a totally collectivized state. In order to achieve that, he was singularly fixated on increasing rice production. The only work he sanctioned was farming to grow rice. To that end, he murdered millions of Cambodians including all educated people, government officials, soldiers, wealthy people and farm owners. He killed monks because he thought of them as ‘worms’ eating the social infrastructure and rice of the country. He brutally conscripted children as young as 6 to 8 years old from villages that his troops terrorized – children leaving school, and children just playing. He placed them into ‘retraining centers’ where they were reprogrammed and taught how to use weapons such as the M16, AK47, artillery, grenades, etc. Very much like today’s Joseph Kony in Uganda, who has abducted more than 66,000 children and turn them into child soldiers to fight for his agenda of turning Uganda into a theocracy.  The Khmer Rouge would questioned these children about their parents, based on the belief that children always tell the truth, to identify adults and parents who hid their education or skills, for survival. They used the information gained from these unwitting children to summarily kill their parents or adult acquaintances. Most children never saw their parents again. Pol Pot used children on the front lines in battles. Children did not understand fear.  They were indoctrinated to follow orders without question. The more senior and trained solders stayed further back. Pol Pot argued that it was better to have these unskilled children killed rather than the more trained and valued troops which would join the fight later. We heard tens of similar tales from other guides.

As background, our guide Sam, is 43 years old, has a wife and two children. He survived by moving around Cambodia to avoid contact with other people – he wanted to be invisible to the Khmer Rouge. His family included his mother and father,  five siblings, and two uncles. His father and uncles were murdered by the Khmer Rouge using their signature method of killing: driving a large spike into the top their heads. Sam had not seen either of his brothers until one of them recognized him in a photograph. He doesn’t know what happened to his sisters. His mother survived and recently died of cancer. The brutality of the Khmer Rouge is beyond words. After the Khmer Rouge was defeated, Sam traveled around Cambodia, scraping for food and shelter. His family sold their property in order to send him to school, where he learned how to speak English and to become a guide. He is a very sweet and loving man. You can tell by the way he talks about his wife, his children, and his village. There is a whole other, lighter story about how he got married, but that will have to wait. The saga goes on, but I can’t. – it is too heart wrenching. We’ll see him again tomorrow.