Two weeks in Cambodia

Chhom reap suor (hello) everyone!

Jon and I are now about half way through our adventures and have now travelled through two countries, India and Cambodia. We have loved both of them but they are very different places. They are both very hot but Cambodia is more humid (there's more water in the air) which makes it feel hotter. While the places we went in India were dry and desert-like, Cambodia is very green with lots of jungle and creepy crawlies! Whilst we have been here, we have learnt a lot about Cambodian history, which unfortunately is very sad, but it is now a much happier place.

One beautiful early morning in Khmer (what people there call Cambodia).

History
About 40 years ago, when the first Star Wars films were coming out and Queen was a popular band, Cambodia had a civil war. This is a war that happens between people in the same country (the UK had a civil war in 1639). A group of Cambodians called the Khmer Rouge decided they wanted to take control of the country and everyone in it. They marched into the capital city (Phnom Penh) and told everyone there they had to leave. The people in the city scrambled together some belongings and left their homes, having to stay with friends (if they had them) in the countryside.

People having to leave their homes in Phnom Penh.

The Khmer Rouge then said the country had to grow more food than it had before - 3 times as much! This meant that everyone had to work as farmers. Out in the hot sun all day they worked, trying desperately to produce a lot of food, otherwise they would get in trouble with the Khmer Rouge. Most of the food they grew got taken from them so with the combination of working so hard and having little food, sadly a lot of people died.

This is the saddest part of the story. The Khmer Rouge were scared of the people in the country in case they tried to take control back. So they arrested people who had a good education or job - such as teachers, lawyers, doctors or anyone who could speak another language. They put these people in prison or, shockingly, they killed them.

The Khmer Rouge were in charge for four years, 1975 - 1979. During that time, about 3 million people died, either because they were killed, or because they were made to work so hard. 3 million people was 1/4 of all the people in the country.

We visited a place where lots of people were killed. Visitors have left friendship bracelets to remember them and show that peace is better than war.

The people nowadays
The people we met on our travels through Cambodia were all very happy, friendly people. We didn't meet anyone old enough to remember the Khmer Rouge, but lots of them had sad stories about people in their families who had died. What struck us though was that the people we met were all looking forward to the future and working hard to achieve their dreams.

This is Coco. He's from Battambang in the north of the country - his dream is to open a hotel.

Like in India, people in Cambodia take school very seriously. The children go to school six days a week and only have Sunday off. Because there are not enough teachers, children either go to their local school for the morning (7am - 12pm) or the afternoon (1pm - 6pm). However their parents usually pay for them to have extra lessons, such as lessons to learn English. So children are usually at school for about 8 hours a day - not including homework!

Many people in Cambodia are big fans of English football and have a club they support. It was funny to walk round villages and see all the children wearing English football shirts! Another big sport here is volleyball. Jon had a game and got very worn out - thankfully he was on a beach so could go jump in the sea to cool down.

Our activities
Ancient temples - Our first stop in Cambodia was a town called Siem Reap which is nearby to an ancient set of temples in the jungle. The biggest temple there is called Angkor Wat and is a very famous landmark across the world. We were told that the best time to visit was sunrise, so we got up at 4am and got a tuk tuk to the temple. Even that early in the morning it was so busy! People from all over the world gathered to see the sun coming up behind this beautiful building. It was quite a magical moment.

Me gazing at Angkor Wat as the sun came up.

Inside the temple there are lots of steep stairs and towers.

We then visited two more temples which were even more exciting because there weren't so many people around, and these temples had more mysterious routes to explore. If you've ever seen the Tomb Raider film you may recognise these temples - some of the movie was filmed here!

Look at how this tree has grown on top of the temple!

Bamboo train - Throughout Cambodia there is a railway line, but instead of a normal train, most people travel along it on a Bamboo train! This is basically a flat surface made of bamboo, with some cushions on it, and a motor on the back. You place it on the track and start the motor. It goes incredibly fast and is a bit of a bumpy ride - more exciting than a roller coaster! If someone comes along in the opposite direction, you just stop and take the train off the track to let them pass.

It was very windy riding the Bamboo Train.

Taking it off the track to let some people past.

Beaches - Cambodia has a long coast line with some beautiful beaches along it so we've managed to spend some wonderful days chilling and swimming. One day, we visited an island off the coast called Koh Tunsay (Rabbit Island). There were no rabbits on the island but there was a lot of other wildlife!

My view of the crab fisherman from my hammock.

We stayed for the night in a bungalow on the beach which was very pretty but had a few lizards, ants and even a scorpion in it! There's no electricity on the island so it's very dark at night but this meant we were able to wade out into the dark sea and see the glowing plankton. Sadly it doesn't show up well in photos but these little guys light up when you move in the water. So as we swum through them there was a glowing light all around - it was really magical.

 

Look how cute! These puppies belonged to the family we stayed with - they were very friendly and always falling asleep in our arms.

Food

People in Cambodia eat a lot of rice because they grow a lot of it in their fields. In fact, a way of saying hello to people is to say, "Have you eaten rice yet today?". They also make noodles out of the rice by pounding the rice to powder and squeezing it into noodle shape. Quite often they eat the rice or noodles in soup with meat and vegetables. Tap water isn't clean enough to drink unless you boil it so by boiling water into soup, you make it safe and make a healthy meal. 

A lot of dishes are stir fries, which are then served with rice. Our favourites were Beef Loc Lac - which is a bit like beef stew served with pickle and a fried egg, and Amok which is a curry served in a folded banana leaf. We really enjoyed our Cambodian food - maybe more than the Indian food. Its a shame there aren't many Cambodian take-aways in England!

This isn't actually my photo - I always forget to take pictures of food because I want to eat it too much! This is Amok and rice.  

Conclusion
We've learnt a lot from Cambodia. It's been really interesting to see how the country is recovering after their sad history. There are lots of very positive things going on - art, music, sport as well as lots of people learning and working hard for their families. We did feel though that as a country they are trying to figure out who they are - like the children following English football teams rather than having football teams of their own.

Next we go to Vietnam, a country just next door to Cambodia so it will be interesting to see how similar or different they are. I hope everyone at Holly Spring is having a lovely term and learning lots - I'm looking forward to seeing you in just a few weeks now!

Lots of love,
Ms Aspinall xxx