"Whenever you see three Cambodians, remember the fourth one who was
killed by the Khmer Rouge.” A friend shared this sobering thought on the
eve of a special adventure I was about to embark on: a bicycling trip
from Bangkok to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. While this undercurrent of
sadness was a part of the trip, my adventure was also filled with
unexpected challenges, friendly people, and awe at seeing the
magnificent ruins at Angkor.
After spending our first day (March
14) cycling in Thailand, we reached the Cambodian border at Prum at noon
of the second day. We bicycled onward 17 km to Pailin and stopped there
for the night. Pailin is famous for two things: sapphire mines nearby
and several retired Khmer Rouge officials. Luckily I did not run into
the latter while exploring the town in the afternoon. The streets of
Pailin were torn up for installing sewage pipes and it was dusty and
hot. Many more children than I had seen in Thailand played in the
streets. The market reminded me of the bazaars of the smaller towns of
Bangladesh, with the vendors waiting with their offerings while their
children entertained.
The next day was our most difficult: 92km
from Pailin to Battambang, the second largest town of Cambodia.
Expecting another hot day (mid-30s) we started bicycling at 7am. Having
braved Dhaka's traffic and shattered roads for many years, riding
through Pailin's potholes was easy for me. But just outside the town I
ran into trouble. That's because we started climbing the foothills of
the Cardamom Mountains.
Now I don't know about you, but to me
Bangladesh is the best country for mountain biking because there are no
mountains. Going up those hills, my feet, legs, thighs and lungs all
screamed for one thing: flat land. Suddenly I was missing the flat potholes of Dhaka, the flat muddy paths through the villages and the flat unfinished brick roads.
There
was another difference I noticed immediately. The Cambodian landscape
had no trees! The area we were in had been under Khmer Rouge control for
years and they had chopped off all the trees. So now I was missing both
the flat and green of Bangladesh.
I was also missing another
advantage of cycling in Bangladeshi countryside: if you need to relieve
yourself, you can always park your bicycle and walk away into a field or
some trees and do the needful. Not so in Cambodia, because of
landmines.
As if to soothe me, Cambodian children started
appearing from their village homes. Charming and friendly, they reminded
me of the village children in Bangladesh as they greeted us from the
roadside.
The road from Pailin to Battambang is being built by the
Chinese. Some of it is gravel and stones, while the rest is asphalt
carpeted. Numerous trucks plied this road (taking sewage pipes to
Pailin?) and every time one went by, we wheezed and coughed through its
trail of dust for the next few minutes.
Covered with dust and
bleary-eyed from the heat, we somehow made it to Battambang after seven
hours of hard riding. It was there next morning that I had a moving
experience.
I had awakened before everyone else and hired a
Tuk-Tuk so I could take some pictures. Exploring Battambang, I
discovered its charming atmosphere, friendly people, cordial
neighborhoods and old French architecture. Towards the end of the ride,
the driver asked me “Do you want to see the Killing Fields?” At first I
declined but then I changed my mind. He took me meandering through the
town and through the grounds of a Buddhist monastery to a clearing with a
tower. This was a memorial to those who had perished under the Khmer
Rouge. In the middle was a glass enclosed display of skulls and bones.
All around the monument, frescoes described atrocities. Having come from
a country which had also suffered genocide, I immediately empathized
and was filled with sadness for the suffering of these gentle people.
--------------------------------------------------
The
ultimate goal of our trip was to explore Angkor Wat by bicycle. A
series of Buddhist and Hindu temples built during the height of the
Cambodia's Angkor empire (800-1200AD), the area is spread over several
square kilometers. The temples were “discovered” and restored by the
French during the early 20th century using a process called
“Anastylosis” reconstructing a structure to its original specifications
using modern materials only when necessary (but discreetly.) Every year
millions of tourists visit Angkor Wat to see these monuments created by
man to show respect for the divine.
To see Angkor you must be
based in Siem Reap, the nearby town. So on the fourth day, we went there
from Battambang. We rode in a minivan because our original plan of
taking a boat across the Tonle Sap lake was scuttled due to low water
levels. I learned that China is building several dams upriver from the
Mekong river and this is possibly causing water shortages in Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam. Aha, I said, this story sounds very familiar!
Speaking to the Cambodians, I also discovered that there is no power
shortage in the country because they buy power from Thailand in the
west, Laos in the north and Vietnam in the east. Women in Cambodia
freely drove motorcycles and bicycled, often wearing sarongs. No one
spat or did waak-thu like in Bangladesh, though I did notice some
discreet nose-picking. Because of the sparser population (16 million)
the towns looked cleaner than Bangladeshi towns.
Next morning, we
bicycled from Siem Reap to Angkor. The vegetation changed, with many
ancient trees standing among more recently planted saplings. The first
temple we stopped at was Bantay Kdai, a Buddhist monastery from the 12th
century. This was where I saw my first Spung tree and caught my breath.
It
is the Spung tree that adds a hypnotic dimension to many of Angkor's
temples. Its roots crawl like giant snakes along the walls, while the
treetop towers hundreds of feet overhead. If you have seen those banyan
tree trees that grow out of old abandoned houses and palaces in
Bangladesh, try to imagine something ten or maybe a hundred - times
more macabre and powerful and you will get an idea.
Ta Phrom is a
temple with impressive Spung trees. This was our next stop. Massive
Spung tree roots competed with the architectural details and fine
workmanship for our attention. Then we bicycled to Bayon. This temple is
filled with steep stairs, narrow corridors, and wide open terraces. But
the highlight is its 54 towers all decorated with the same giant face
with an enigmatic smile. After staring at that face every which way we
left Bayon and went out. It was a pleasant surprise to see the smiling
Cambodian children peddling Tshirts, books and souvenirs.
Our
final stop was the main temple, Angkor Wat. It is a huge and complex
temple surrounded by a moat. The story of the Ramayana is carved
meticulously into the walls of the temple. I climbed to the top and
looked around, but for me Angkor Wat was overwhelming and I came away
with sensory overload.
The following day we bicycled 50km to
explore Banteay Srei temple (967 AD), which many consider the most
beautiful temple in Cambodia. Its pink stone building was indeed pretty,
as was the artwork in stone. We also climbed up a steep mountain to see
the River of Thousand Lingas. Along the stone riverbanks of this
mountain river, many carvings depicting linga (ie, female phallic symbols) can be seen.
The
last day of the trip was meant for bicycling in the Cambodian
countryside. Since this is similar to the Bangladeshi countryside, I
skipped the cycling and spent the day exploring Bayon and Ta Phrom
again. Afterwards, munching on a bowl of fried yellow noodles at the
Blue Pumpkin restaurant, I contemplated my trip, which was near its end.
I
had experienced intense physical and emotional forces on this trip. The
tough bicycle rides had challenged and drained me, but I had survived,
due in no small part to my preparation before leaving. I had been less
prepared for the emotional turmoil I experienced by the three faces of
human Cambodia: the ghastly atrocities of the Killing Fields, and the
magnificent vision of the Angkor kings and the gentle and cheerful
Cambodians of today. So Cambodia will always be an enigma to me a rich
enigma, but an enigma nevertheless.
Practical Details: The bicycle
trip is offered by Spice Roads (www.spiceroads.com). They are
well-organized and dedicated with helpful and knowledgeable staff.
Needless to say, in order to avoid getting into trouble, one must be
physically fit before embarking on such a trip. The bicycle trip is
one-way and you need to fly out of Siem Reap at the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment