Indochina Part 2 - Cambodia Nov-Dec 2007 - Photographic essays

[gary]

2007 allowed the opportunity for Mai and myself to make two personal
journeys to Indochina.

In March, we traveled throughout Vietnam. On that trip, whilst down in the
Mekong Delta, we peered across the Cambodia border. Allured by what we
could see, we were determined to come back and make a separate journey
into that country.

Therefore toward the end of November, we donned our backpacks once
again and flew back to Saigon. Part of the legacy of wanting to take some
photographs with a digital SLR was that the camera, its power adapter,
a couple of lenses, and a light-weight tripod constituted half the weight
and bulk of my pack. Since part of the plan called for us to travel on the
backs of motorbikes at times, we needed to travel light, but I was also
compelled to try and capture some images, so the camera gear had top
packing priority.

After overnighting in Saigon, to save time we caught a flight to Siem Reap,
at the very heart of Cambodia. As we flew over the giant fresh water lake
of Tonle Sap and I looked down at it and the jungle below, the landscape
was instantly familiar. Before taking the journey I had overflown and explored
this area and elsewhere in Cambodia using the satellite imagery of Google Earth.

Just a few km outside of Siem Reap was the Angkor Archaeological Park,
covering an area of over 400 sq. km. This area contains what remains of the
heart of the Angkor Era Khmer Empire, which lasted from the 9th to the 15th
Century. Some of the remains include dozens of temples, the walls of an ancient
city, huge moats and enormous reservoirs. For example, two of the largest ancient
reservoirs are known as the East and West Barrays and West Barray measures 8km by
2.3km in area, clearly visible on Google Earth and making the 20th Century
constructed airport runway at Siem Reap, designed to take jet aircraft, diminutive
by scale.

The most famous structure within the park is the magnificent Angkor Wat temple,
a massive complex and one of the most impressive structures ever built by man.

We scheduled to spend five days around Angkor and the surrounding area.
On the first day we rented a couple of bicycles and rode into the park from Siem
Reap. The Google Earth satellite imagery could not prepare us for the
magnificant spectacle of this amazing part of the planet.

In the following posts, I wanted to present a series of short photographic
essays.

The first essay is associated with the Angkor Era. I will attempt to order the
photographs chronologically corresponding to approximately when a particular
temple was constructed.

A second essay will deal with the terrible Khmer Rouge era from 1975 to 1979.

A third essay will deal with the French era in Cambodia, which lasted from
1863 to 1953.

I hope you find some of these images interesting.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai

[gary]

The Roluos Group is a series of monuments at a site which was the
first major capital of the Ankor Era Khmer Empire.

Constructed in the 9th Century, they established a pattern of massive
construction projects in the area that was to last another four hundred
years.

Roluos is situated approx. 13km to the east of Siem Reap.

[gary]

Banteay Srey was a temple dedicated to Shiva famed for the intricacy of
its stone carving. Built in the Mid 10th Century, few subsequent temples
matched the magnificence of its fine stonework.

[gary]

Pre Rup was a temple dedicated to Shiva and constructed, like so
many Angkor temples that followed, to resemble the five peaks of
mythical Mt. Meru.

[gary]

Beng Mealea is 63km from Siem Reap. Covering an area of one square km,
the temple is in parts overrun by jungle. The temple had been occupied by
the Khmer Rouge as late as 1996. There had been a large number of landmines
in the area that are have now (hopefully) been cleared.

[gary]

Angkor Wat is one of the most stunning and awe-inspiring structures
ever built. It is surrouned by several km of moat and then an outer
wall that measures 1.3km x 1.5km. The inner temple itself covers 1 sq km
and there are kilometers of bas-reliefs and an enormous number of carvings.

When we cycled from Siem Reap into the park, Angkor Wat was the first temple we
encountered and it was breathtaking.

[gary]

As we rode our bicycles through the humid forest north of Angkor Wat,
we eventually came to the moat and outer wall of the ancient fortified city
of Angkor Thom. The city has five gates with iconic faces of the Bodhisattva
carved in them, facing the cardinal directions. As we passed through the gates,
we rode on to sunset at the late 12th Century temple of Bayon.

[gary]

On our second morning, we made our way to Banteay Kdei,
a Buddhist monastry and temple constructed in the late 12th Century.

[gary]

Ta Prohm is an atmospheric place, only partially cleared of jungle
overgrowth. Built as a Buddhist temple and monastry, the massive fig
and silk cotton trees that sprawl over it are testimony to how old it is.

(Fans of Angelina Jolle movies will be familiar with this building).

[gary]

Ta Som is another atmospheric Buddhist monastic complex.

[gary]

Preah Kahn is a huge mosastic complex that originally
engaged over 1000 monks. An incredible place to explore,
it has endless passages and was a delight to photograph at sunset.

[iceman (Mike)]

Incredible images, Gary. A wonderful pictorial review of your journey.

I look forward to the next installments!

[gary]

Another shot taken at this beautiful location.

As the sun set, I contemplated the approximately three-hundred-thousand
sunsets that had taken place on this building since it was first constructed.

[gary]

After passing through some small local villages and enormous fields
of rice fringed with palm trees, we arrived at the temple of Banteay Samre
just before sunset.

[gary]

The Khmer Rouge Era in Cambodia lasted from 1975 to 1979, during which
time it is estimated the regime executed between 1.7 to 2.3 million people
out of a population of approximately 7.5 million people.

On several occasions we met people who were the only surviving members
of their families under the Khmer Rouge slaughter.

Ponhea Yat High School was built in the south of Phnom Penh in 1962.
In 1972, the Khmer Rouge converted it to a prison which they designated
as S-21 Tuol Sleng.

Of the 17,000 people who passed through it and were tortured there, less than
ten survived. Most were eventually brutally executed in the Killing Fields of
of Choeung Ek, 16km south of the city.

Today Tuol Sleng serves as a reminder of the past and as a museum and
memorial to those who suffered and who died there.

Whilst we were in Phnom Penh, the former head of S-21, the previous Khmer
Rouge Minister of Defense, 66-year-old Kaing Guek Ek, alias "Duch",
was undergoing a pre-trial hearing, accused of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

The following images are taken at Tuol Sleng.

[gary]

Approximately 16km south of Phnom Penh is a former orchard
which was used by the Khmer Rouge as a place of execution
for many of its victims. Today, the Killing Fields of Choeung
is a sombre place and a memorial there containing the skulls of
9,000 victims acts as a poignant reminder of the terrible past.

[gary]

The French era in Cambodia lasted from 1863 to 1953.

Bokor Mountain is 40km from the sea-side town of Kampot on
the southern Cambodian coast.

In 1922, the French constructed a road through the jungle to the
top of the mountain and established a hill station there including
the construction of the Bokor Palace Hotel Casino.

Abandoned in 1975, the hill station became of stratgeic importance to
the Khmer Rouge. In 1979, it waas the site of a fierce battle between the
Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces.

King Sihanouk established a private retreat known as the Black Palace
near the hill station. It too now lays abandoned in what is part of the
Bokor National Park.

I was compelled to capture some imges of this ghost town and in fact
had come to this particular part of the country for that express purpose.
We hired a car and a driver and on the morning of a glorious day, we
headed off on a bone-jarring two-and-a-half hour drive to the top of the
mountain.

Our driver, Tre, took great care and expertise in negotiating the bumpy
and corrugated road that would be a good test for any 4WD, let alone the
old 2WD Camry that we were in. As I had seen in places such as Africa,
you can sometimes learn a lot from watching how some of these guys
drive. When road-side breakdown service is all but non-existant,
gently caressing a vehicle over demanding roads is the best way to go.

We hadn't gone very far up the road when we encountered a mine-sweeping
crew. One of the legacies of Cambodia's past is that it is one of the most
heavily mined countries in the world. Land mines are terrible things. Long after
wars are over and peace has returned, they continue to maim and kill.
Several international organizations were actively assisting Cambodia
to clear mines and UXO - Unexploded Ordnance. For example, it was not
uncommon to see signs declaring that a particular site had been de-mined
by a particular organization. However, mines continue to injure and kill
in Cambodia every year. When I asked our driver, Tre, whether it was
safe, he said that the road had been cleared long ago but they were checking
for any mines they had missed since they were now widening the road in
parts. We only progressed a few more feet and I could see the tell-tale
red and white sign with skull and cross-bones designating a mine, pushed into a
pile of graded dirt on the side of the road only a few feet from where I sat in the
passengers seat of the car. The mine sweepers had earnt their pay that
morning. Problem was that the road was only one lane wide and when
a vehicle came down the mountain the other way, Tre would push the
wheels of the Camry as far to the side of the road as he could, often in the
jungle vegetation. Each time he did this I contemplated the effects of a
land mine on the base plate of a Camry. Placing my feet and knees together
was futile, but I did it all the same in anticipation of the worse.
It was always a relief when he would the put the vehicle back into the center
of the road.

We stopped for some time at the abandoned Black Palace with its dining hall,
concubine's quarters and magnificent views over the Gulf of Thailand
before pressing on to the old French hill station.

First stop was an abanonded Cathedral. Inside, the Khmer Rouge had
partitioned it with walls to make offices for a command post.
Nearby were the remains of an anti-aircraft emplacement. It was
a seemngly impregnable position. A single narrow road to the top
through dense jungle. Cliffs and jungle on one side and dense jungle
for hundreds of kilometers on the other. However, the Vietnamese
eventually managed to secure it in a fierce battle with the Khmer Rouge.
Bullet and shell holes could be seen in the sides of burnt-out ruins.

After exploring the various old buildings in this ghost town, we ventured
onto the Casino, a magnificient multi-story structure with a commanding
position on a cliff-top over-looking miles of jungle and the ocean.
Exposed to wind, rain, heat, humidity and fog for many years, it was
covered in a brillant red and orange lichen and green moss.
Inside, its grimy interiors also had coverings of lichen and mildew.
This place looked like a haunted mansion and we spent hours clicking
away taking photographs.

[gary]

Continued pictures of the Casino, Bokor Mountain ...

[gary]

Continued pictures of the Casino, Bokor Mountain, Cambodia

[gary]

Continued pictures of the Casino, Bokor Mountain, Southern Cambodia