Hooked On Asia

Ta Prohm

Ever since (sometime in the 1970’s) I read about Cambodia’s unwilling part in the Vietnam War I have had a special regard for the country. It took me a long time but finally, last year, I visited Cambodia.

My visit to Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor was all I expected and more. The sheer scale of this World Heritage site was a surprise and the architecture a delight. The preservation work has been a true labour of love and even those sites where work is nigh impossible there is a very special magic. Take Ta Prohm for example where Nature has re-established her dominance. In terms of drama and romance it is probably my favourite.

For me, however, the true heart of any country is the people without whose ancestors these architectural wonders would not exist. And surely the spirit of the Cambodians is something to be marvelled at. Of all the peoples in the world who have been deposited upon from a very great height these have to be among the most stalwart.

Their mettle was most severely tested during the unthinkable and unspeakable horrors of the Khmer Rouge and, some 30 years on, as the trials of five senior Khmer Rouge figures get under way in Phnom Penh this week, the International Herald Tribune has a very interesting article on a former Tuol Sleng prison guard, Him Huy.

Him Huy argues, like others in history, that it was a case of kill or be killed.

I am sure that you, like me, want to believe that in the same situation when faced with a choice you would have made the right decision, the morally correct one. Hopefully we will never be in a position where we are put to the test.

As you travel around Cambodia today you could be passing dozens or even hundreds of men like Him Huy but you would never know; because just like him, the people now are gentle and friendly. No matter what their personal history people are getting on with life and making the best of what they have, and most don’t have much. Victims of land mines play their musical instruments at the side of the lanes leading to a temple while others create works of art from wood and stone. Children sell postcards and trinkets at the temple gates.

These children could be in education, which the government provides free for 9 years, but the chances are they are not. It is true that these children have a choice, of sorts, whereas those of school age during Pol Pot’s time (1975 – 1979) had no such option. Schools were closed and turned-over to other uses, school materials were destroyed and teachers were either killed or they fled. However, education doesn’t pay today’s bills.

I see though a brighter future in much of the good work going on in the country both through the country’s government and outside agencies like World Education. It is my hope that through such efforts more children will enjoy their human rights.

I have to say that few countries have touched me the way that Cambodia has and I hope that in my own small way I can contribute to the country’s growth by proselytizing its virtues as a tourist destination.

In the meantime, please don’t leave it as long as I did to visit.