We left Saigon, formerly known as Ho Chi Minh City two mornings ago at 6 A.M, mostly so we could leave with the tides. Most locals and travelers, though, still refer to HCMC by its former title, which I think makes sense since that was its name until the 1970’s. It’s been an exhausting, emotional, and exciting few days between here and Cambodia; I’m, of course, going to be splitting this up into two entries: three days in Cambodia and three days in Vietnam. Even though they have technically been considered the same port with the ship docked in Saigon, I’ve had two very unique experiences in each country, so they each deserve their own entries. They may even need more than one, much like India, because I’ve been tested so much while docked here and have had some incredible, eye-opening experiences. First order of business: Cambodia!
Unlike all of our other ports, Saigon is up a river. As such, pulling into it was vastly different scenery. There were many ships and factories along the banks, the water wasn’t as clear as the ocean, and the plant life was abundant. We had entered the jungles of Vietnam so often heard about when the war is discussed. The thought on a lot of our minds was that a war was fought here within our lifetime, which I think is understandable considering that’s what most Americans think of when they hear Vietnam. Anyway, my original plan was to join Nikki, Brian, Ali, Alden, and other folks for breakfast and a jaunt around Saigon. I decided against that, though, because I didn’t sleep that much the night before (again) and I hadn’t packed for Cambodia. So, I did what any SAS student with down time on the ship would do: I slept. When I woke up, I got my stuff together and headed up to the Union for my trip to Cambodia. Ask me what my first memory of Saigon was and I’ll tell you it was sleeping in my room. Some may say “Sam! What a waste! You should’ve gone out!” I say “Whatever. I needed it.” That’s my rationalization, and I’m sticking to it!
Cambodia was my first and only SAS overnight trip. Every other overnight I have done was with a third party company or was independent. I was skeptical at first because of what I have heard about some of their trips, but also eagerly awaiting my jaunt across the border into Phonm Penh and Siemp Reap. After gathering everyone together, we loaded onto the bus and made our way to the airport. Traffic in Saigon is ridiculous, but I’ll probably go into more detail on that in my Vietnam entry. It doesn’t seem appropriate for right now. Anyway, the airport in Saigon is really fancy and clean. It was also fairly empty for a major international airport. There weren’t nearly as many people there as there usually are at DIA or Dulles. Perhaps it has something to do with how there are far fewer gates, but that’s just a speculation. I had my first taste of the food at a restaurant in the airport—delicious spring rolls with pho (pronounced “fuh,” which is borderline obscene, but only if you have the maturity of a college-aged male). It felt weird being in an airport for some reason, but also exciting in a way because seeing the land from air is a totally different experience than observing it from a train, bus, taxi, shuttle, van, bike, rickshaw, ship, boat, catamaran, tuk tuk, camel, or any other land or water-based method of transport that I have taken this semester. Sure, those things are nice, but from the air, your vantage point increases substantially. I’m glad we didn’t have to waste half the day driving and instead opted for air travel.
When we landed in Phonm Penh, we had to go through visa acquisition, immigration, customs, and goods declaration before we could leave. The lines were shorter then other international airport lines I have stood in, but it took just as long because of how many steps we had to take. The visa cost 20 big ones, but it’s a sparkly green color, so it was worth it (because it got me into the country, of course, not because of its aesthetics). Getting through immigration required thumb and hand prints and a photograph. You see what I mean when I say it took just as long despite shorter lines? Just like the Saigon airport, it was clean, beautiful, and relatively empty. We need to have more airports like that in America.
Our first stop was a cruise on the Mekong River. We were told it would be a sunset cruise, but we lost the race against time and it ended up being a night cruise, which ended up being okay because we got to admire all the lights on the shoreline. Phnom Penh is a bigger city than I expected, so there was quite a bit of activity on the river. The cruise was fairly short; we basically did a giant loop that took only about 30 minutes. Following it, we returned to the bus and visited the Palm Tree Orphanage, a small orphanage that serves to aid children of Phnom Penh. SAS has had a long relationship with Palm Tree; they’ve been visiting for several years and there was even a student from a previous voyage helping out during our visit. The children put on a traditional Cambodian performance for us, complete with dancing, music, and singing. During the middle of the show, the power went out; electricity is limited, so at certain times throughout the day, it is shut off in the poorer parts of the city. They powered through the lack of power, putting on the rest of their show for us before taking us on a tour of the facility. The kids there are extremely friendly; I went around with one girl who wanted to be a singer and spoke very good English.
Following the orphanage, we went out to a traditional Cambodian, or Khmer, restaurant. Think delicious fruit, pho, rice, and soup. We also ate amok, a fish dish. Fish dish is fun to say. We were given chopsticks, too; we’ve arrived in Asia! The restaurant itself had a stunning interior; there was a balcony on the level we were seated, as well as several fountains. Dinner ended and we headed to our hotel, another fancy venue with a beautiful lobby area. The biggest plus of SAS trips over independent travel? How they feed and house you, apparently. I had a single room that I’m pretty sure was the Presidential Suite because it was so enormous. There was a kitchen, sitting area, a giant bathroom, and a huge bed. I lucked out. We all met in the bar downstairs for a few drinks before heading out in a tuk tuk for a night out. Tuk tuks are basically a combined taxi and rickshaw, so they’re pretty fun to ride around. We stumbled across a club named Heart of Darkness; Joseph Conrad would be proud. There was no cover, alcohol was cheap, and the prostitutes were excited to see a bunch of white people. Yeah, that’s right, there were prostitutes. Several of us were approached by them for money. As far as I know, everybody turned them down. I was also approached by a pimp who told me he could get me “anything you want,” to which I politely declined. Casual pimpin’ at a Cambodian club—you know how it goes.
The next morning, the alarm in my room didn’t go off and I had accidentally set my watch forward, so I was under the impression everyone had left already and I would be screwed for the day. Turns out that nobody had received a wake up call, so we were all a little behind schedule. It ended up being that I only missed breakfast, but still, I was rushed so I wasn’t exactly completely a person right away. We began the day with a visit to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda in central Phnom Penh. The Royal Palace, as the name implies, is where the king lives. Did you know the official name of Cambodia is the Kingdom of Cambodia? As a constitutional monarchy, their system of government is somewhat similar to the UK in which the monarch is mostly just a figure with little to no political power. The palace itself is a giant complex that was built in the 1860’s to serve as the royal residence. Simply put, it is beautiful. Though I didn’t go to the Taj Mahal in India, many folks were saying it was even better, mostly because it was far less touristy. It seems I picked my trips correctly! The architecture is so different than everywhere else I have been to so far—there are tons of spires and giant roofs that stack on top of each other. The Silver Pagoda is part of the Royal Palace complex, located on the southern side. Housing tons of Buddhist treasures and gold statues, it’s a marvelous example of Khmer history and architecture. Its name comes from the floors of the building—they’re made of silver, so whenever you step on a loose piece, you can hear it creak underneath your feet. Outside of all this, the gardens were fabulously maintained; beautiful trees, flowers, and grasses were planted everywhere. It was early in the day, so we had the place almost entirely to ourselves.
Following the beauty and splendor of the royalty of Cambodia’s past and present, we headed for Tuol Sleng, formerly known as Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge, and before that known as Chao Ponhea Yat High School. For some reason, American schooling seems to gloss right over the recent genocide in Cambodia; I hadn’t really heard of it until relatively recently. In the simplest of explanations, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime came to power in April 1975 after scaring Cambodians into believing American forces were going to bomb Phnom Penh into oblivion. Their goal was to create a communist agrarian society in a new state named Democratic Kampuchea. To do this, they captured, tortured, and killed anybody they suspected of political treason and/or being an intellectual. What this meant was that anybody who lived in a city, had an education, wore eye glasses, was suspected of being a member of the CIA or KGB, was Vietnamese, or fell under a number of other “crimes” were sent to S-21 or any one of the many other prisons regulated by the Khmer Rouge. After three years, eight months, and 23 days of brutal rule, the Khmer Rouge were finally defeated by Vietnamese insurgents, which led to a war between the two countries. Only within the last 20 years has Cambodia begun to pick up the pieces and rebuild itself economically and demographically. Depressing, am I right?
We received a brief introduction from our guide when we arrived to Tuol Sleng before we were allowed to explore on our own. I decided to go around by myself to have my own experience and not get bogged down in waiting for someone else. Walking into the former bedrooms, jails, and cells of inmates was all very somber, but I had several moments that were particularly sobering. I’ll detail my feelings later, but I first ought to share what these moments were. At the beginning of my journey around the museum, there was a sign regarding former security regulations. On it listed ten different rules prisoners were forced to obey or face punishment:
1. You must answer accordingly to my question. Don’t turn them away.
2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that, you are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Don’t make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor.
9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.
Following that, when I was in the group detention room, I locked myself in a former cell for a few moments. Next, I read a brief history of the Khmer Rouge and what they did to the country, including their rise and fall to power. Finally, former prisoner Bou Meng was there selling his book, which I bought.
Our next stop after the museum was Choeung Ek, one of the many killing fields that dot the country and were the sites of thousands of executions during the Khmer Rouge. Mass graves contain thousands of bodies of those put to death for merely being educated. In the middle of the site is a Buddhist stupa filled with human skulls and bones as a memorial for all those put to death. Walking around was frightening and sobering, leaving all of us with mixed feelings about ourselves and the world we live in, but again, I’ll get to that later.
We returned back to the airport to fly to Siemp Reap, another city in northern Cambodia and is the site of Angkor Wat, the famous temples that are portrayed on the Cambodian flag. The landscape of Cambodia is, again, incredible, but recent heavy rainfall in the region have led to serious floods. What appeared to be a lake was actually a large area of land covered in very deep water. Apparently, Bangkok is being hit pretty badly by the floods. When we landed in Siem Reap, we headed directly for a delicious buffet-style restaurant. Another SAS group was there! Our groups combined and we enjoyed a cultural dance show, similar to the one we saw at the orphanage in Phnom Penh, but more professional, obviously. Dinner theatre! Upon completion, I left with Christine, Liz, Brandy, Luke, Ali, and others to do some shopping in the night market. It was, perhaps, the most unique market experience I’ve had all year. It certainly gave Camden, Marrakech, and the Central Market in Malaysia a run for their money. The stalls were all outdoors and separated by little alleyways and columns. I bought a handful of things, including patches of every country I’ve gone to and will go to this year. I need to sew them on to something. I finished the night off with a $4 massage, which we were told was a must-do in Cambodia. It was totally worth it.
The next morning started early. By early, I mean 4:30 A.M. After loading back on the bus, our group plus the other SAS tour headed to Siem Reap’s main attraction of Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was an optional tour, but I am so glad I chose to go because the sunrise was beautiful. It reflected off the watery moat in front of the temple to cast a golden blue light on the actual temple. If you’ve studied world history, you probably learned at least a little bit about the ancient Khmer Empire. It was located in southeast Asia in present day Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. The greatest legacy of their rule was Angkor, which has now been called the largest pre-industrial urban center in the world. Angkor Wat itself has been both a religious center for Hinduism and Buddhism, and it is evident in the architecture and the people who visit. Carved into the walls are different Hindi deities and Buddha’s, and there were a large number of monks visiting while we were there. We all agreed that because of its enormous size, Angkor Wat would be the best possible place to play Hide and Seek. We didn’t have enough time to partake, unfortunately, but that may have been because we were too busy taking awesome pictures in all of the crevices, ledges, and stairs. After Angkor Wat, we visited Angkor Thom and several other temples. Angkor Thom’s claim to fame is that it’s the temple that was used for the filming of the Tomb Raider’s movie. I could almost feel Angelina Jolie’s presence. Many of the temples were built deep in the forest, so some of them had trees growing in and around them. If you go to Cambodia, make sure to visit more than just Angkor Wat.
During the flight back from Cambodia to Vietnam, I was lucky enough to sit in a window seat. While the flight was short, it was during sunset, so the view outside was breathtaking. I couldn’t help but think about the incredible contrasts of Cambodia and what I had seen over the past three days. I got to see the best of their history and their worst in a very short period of time. The massive infrastructure of Angkor Wat was a true testament to human ingenuity and hard work. It was truly inspiring to see what is probably the most amazing religious structure ever built. On the flip side, though, Cambodia has had an extremely rough half century, complete with genocide, war, famine, economic hardship and governmental instability. The eerie voices of children begging me for “just $1” as I would walk away still are echoing. Their money, the Cambodian riel, is not nearly as accepted by the people as the United States dollar. It felt strange and insensitive to be using my money instead of theirs, but the crippling effects of the Khmer Rouge and their classless society is still felt. While I stood in the jail cell in Tuol Sleng and in the fields of Choeng Ek, I felt death’s cold hand all around me; I was standing in some of the places where, quite literally, one third of the Cambodian population was slaughtered. You had to try to not break down while visiting. What frightened me the most, however, were three things in particular. First, the American government supported the Khmer Rouge because of their stance towards the Vietnamese. We provided assistance in the form of bombing the countryside to keep people from escaping to Vietnam. American history textbooks don’t talk about this enormous error in human treatment. Imagine that, huh? Second, though the country is picking up the pieces, there continues to be a collective sense of post traumatic stress that pervades the country. Although the population is young, just about every Cambodian has a family member that suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime. Psychological issues from depression and anxiety to severe OCD plague the country because of the dark scare tactics used by Pol Pot and his minions. Finally, and perhaps scariest to me, is what many Cambodians believe happened to those who perished during the genocide. In their form of Buddhism, it is believed that if a person does not receive a proper burial, their soul is left to wander forever. Since none of the victims received a burial, there are millions of souls aimlessly meandering throughout the land that once gloriously was the center of southeast Asia. I can’t shake that image from my head, and I probably never will, but I will remind myself of the incredible comeback of the country. One of our tour guides hated the government, the education system, the economy, but said he must stay in the country to help out. The people could be angry and bitter, but instead genuinely love Cambodia, being Cambodian, and want what’s best for their country and their people. Human resiliance—no place taught me that better than Cambodia.
I want to come back and provide humanitarian aid so that those lost souls and traumatized victims can find some form of peace, even if it’s nothing more than one single dollar.
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