The Jewel In The Crown

Set picked us up at 10:30 and we headed northeast of town to the Cambodian Land Mine Museum, also an orphanage. The museum was founded by Aki Ra, a former child soldier, orphaned at a very young age when the Khmer Rouge killed his parents and put him into the Khmer military. He was taught to set landmines and planted thousands during his time of conscription. In 1995 he began clearing and collecting landmines, first on his own, later with international organizations. He is also raising many orphaned, and limbless, landmine victims. It is estimated that as many as 7 million active landmines are still buried in Cambodia and efforts are still underway to clear the land of these mines.


We left the museum digesting what we had learned and contemplating the horrible toll war exacts on innocent people.

P- I had no idea that we were bombing the hell out of Cambodia during the Vietnam war.

G- Neither did I, and the fact that we dropped more bombs, ONLY on Cambodia, than we dropped during the entirety of WWII is astounding.

P- I had heard the term 'carpet bombing', but now that I know more about it, it disgusts me that our government was willing to just kill so many innocent Cambodian people to cut off the Vietnamese supply lines.

G- Everything about the Vietnam war was fucked! We should never have been involved. If we had minded our own business, Americans would not have died, and the Vietnamese and Cambodians would have been better off.

P- It pisses me off that America is one of the countries that still won't sign The Mine Ban Treaty (banning the use of landmines) or the Cluster Munitions Treaty (prohibiting the dropping of cluster bombs that fall randomly to earth striking unintended targets).  Even worese is the list of the other countries who won't sign.  They're the countries we are always bitching about how bad they are, and we're one of them.
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/  and http://www.icbl.org/


G- Yeah! That's what pisses me off the most about America! That we're hypocrits. You know how I hate hypocrits. Do as we say, not as we do. Like we're the moral arbitors of the world when, in reality, we are no better than the countries we wag our fingers at and act morally superior to.

P- It's amazing the Cambodians are so welcoming and sweet to us after what we did to them. I love these people!

G- Me too. They are so genuine and warm. I really like them.





We stopped for lunch and invited Set to eat with us. He ordered a fish curry or fish amok (a soup type dish, but filled with a lot of vegetables- more than a normal soup). We ordered a rice dish. It was a very communal eating arrangement as we ate some of his soup, taking it right from his bowl with our spoons, and he eating some of our rice in the same fashion. It was a good thing we are not freaky about such things. It was, however, somewhat disconcerting when Set pulled fish bones out of his mouth and dropped them on the floor under the table. Don't confuse this restaurant with a western style restaurant; this restaurant has concrete/dirt floors. The sucking of the teeth, apparently ok in Cambodia, was the most disgusting part. Thankfully, we were finished eating before that commenced.

After lunch we headed for the jewel in the crown of the Temples of Angkor, Angkor Wat. It was constructed between 1113 and 1150, during the reign of Suryavarman II, as the capital of the Khmer Empire and as the State Temple dedicated to Vishnu. It is the world's largest religious monument, a microcosm of the Hindu universe, with 600 meters (just under 2,000 feet or 7 football fields) of narrative bas reliefs and almost 2,000 apsaras. The moat around the temple, 200 yards wide, represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The towers, carved to look like closed lotus flowers, represent the mountain peaks. Climbing to the central shrine immitates climbing a real mountain.

The sheer scale of Angkor Wat is impressive, but for us, the bas reliefs made Angkor Wat phenominal. The carvings are exquisite and in such fantastic condition one need not strain to discern the figures carved onto the walls. The primary subject matter is Hindu epics except for a wall depicting the historic procession of Suryavarman II and the wall representing heaven & hell. We spent hours walking along the galleries absorbing the epics as they unfolded along the walls.

G- Did that dumbass just touch the relief?

P- Yes, I've seen several people doing that. They're either Chinese or Korean.

G- What the hell is wrong with them? If everyone rubs and touches the reliefs, they'll disappear in less time than it took to make it.

P- I want to smack them every time I see someone do it! There should be more security here making sure no one touches them.

G- Hell, the tour guide we had at Bayon touched the reliefs. I was thinking then that he should know better than that.

P- It's crazy.

We watched the sun drop behind the outer wall of Angkor Wat as we walked on the causeway toward the entrance. As usual, we were swarmed by kids selling things as we looked for Set and our tuk-tuk.

Kid #1– You buy bracelet?

P- No, thank you, we already bought bracelets.

Kid #1 – But you not buy from me.

P- Yes, but we already have. We don't need more.

Kid #1 – You buy bracelet from me.

Kid #2 – Lady, you buy bracelet from me.

P- No, thank you. (Ah-tay Ah-cun)

Kid #2 – If you don't buy, I cry.

P- If you cried everytime someone didn't buy your bracelets, you'd be crying all day.

About 8 kids were around the tuk-tuk, each counting the number of bracelets we could buy for “one dolla”. A little girl about 7 years old came up next to me and began her counting. She looked up at me with big, brown, long-lashed eyes as she counted.

Kid #3 – You please buy bracelets.

G- No, thank you, sweetie. I already have bracelets.

Kid #3 – Please buy. Please.

G- Shit! Ok, give me the bracelets. (This elicited a huge smile!)

P- Now why did you do that? You know the money is not going to her.

G- I know. I know. I'm weak and I can't take it. Sometimes I crack. Those big eyes and smile just melt my heart.

P- I know. I do love these Cambodian kids.  I want to take some home with me.

G- What? Who are you? I think some Angor Wat spirit has invaded your body.  I know how you feel, but we are not taking any kids home.  Who do you think we are, BranJolina?

P- Very funny.  You know what I mean.  I don't really want to take any home.

We rode back to Rosy's kind've sad that this was our last day at the temples. Something about them had gotten into our souls. It is impossible to describe, and no doubt many visitors never feel it, but Phyl and I were in agreement that our time in the Angor Temples has left an indelible mark on us. But the actual temple Angkor Wat was not our favorite. Instead, we preferred Ta Prohm and Preah Kahn.