Cambodia on my mind

Going through the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat temple complex, then cringing from the memory of “The Killing Fields” with its macabre museum of skulls and bones that tells the untold tale, compels me to paraphrase Charles Dickens: Cambodia is a land that has shown through the best of times, and suffered in the worst of times.

Sharing a border with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, Cambodia is near the infamous Golden Triangle -- the world’s biggest source of opium and cannabis -- so that the local authorities are seriously fighting the infiltration of the drug trade. Out of the Cambodian vigilance emerges a country that has slowly regained its former charm and is painstakingly restoring its glorious heritage in Angkor Province. Siem Reap town is Cambodia’s cultural hub, while the country’s capital Phnom Penh is its commercial center. 

Cebu Pacific (CEB) invited Cebu, Bacolod/Iloilo and Davao media for their inaugural direct flight from Manila to Siem Reap last April 19. Cocktails were served at the NAIA, and upon our arrival at Siem Reap Airport where officials were on hand to greet us, with a marching band…at close to midnight! From the speech of the Tourism Minister, we gathered that there is a 58% increase of Filipino visitors in the past year and they hope to double this with CEB’s two & a half hours’ flight between the two countries. CEB’s GM for Long Haul Division Alex Reyes assured us that the airfare will just be about US$300 round trip, more or less P12,900.00, for Filipinos to see an ancient culture up close. (In the full flight, we had 81 teachers from Batangas, so excited to see Angkor Wat.)

If you go to Cambodia from March – August, you are in for a day-long sauna experience and warm humid nights. We had to take cold baths at least twice daily, to stay reasonably comfortable. Be sure to bring thin cotton tops with long sleeves to add protection from the glaring sun when visiting the temples – and there are at least a dozen in the temple complex, with Angkor Wat as the most beautiful and the most imposing of them all. The local markets sell tops – like cheesecloth – for US$3.00 (don’t pay any higher) that absorb perspiration and dry out almost instantly. Sun block application every so often as wiping the sweat also wipes them out; insect repellent (We were given anti-mosquito patches by CEB’s ever dynamic Viveca Singson) in the afternoon.

Three- to four-star international chains of hotels dot the landscape from the airport to Siem Reap town proper. Amazing to find so many luxurious accommodations in such a small place! And a remarkably high percentage of European tourists abound. A former French colony, Cambodia uses French as a major language together with English. The US dollar is used as monetary exchange everywhere. No need for the local (KHR) riel which has little value compared to our peso. Haggling is the order of the day when shopping. I bought my temple guide book at the Phnom Bakheng temple for $7 and felt good that I lowered it from the original $12.00, only to be told by Charles Lim that he purchased the same book in the Night Market for only $5. Oh well, at least I helped the girl seller…

The French government, together with Japan and India, spearheads the restoration of the temples, especially after the terrible devastation caused by the Khmer Rouge (under the Communist dictator Pol Pot) regime. I have to hand it to the French for the gargantuan work they have done – and are still doing – in piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of temple rubbles over decades of patient archaeological expertise and dedication.

One gawks at extant temple edifices being choked by giant fir trees in the jungle, remaining so as allowed by archaeologists, one of which became quite famous when Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft swung through the branches in “Raiders of the Lost Arc.”

Buddhism brought to the ancient Khmer kingdom by Indian traders, molded the Cambodians to be a gentle people, smiling and humble. The Indians also influenced the building of the Hindu/Buddhist temples we see today. Why these temples were abandoned, no historical records can explain. What happened to the inhabitants of the lost cities, is still a mystery. That’s why Cambodia stays ever on one’s mind after a visit.