Cambodia
I am suffering post holiday blues, which I find is always the best time to write about a place as your descriptions become even more glowing than they would be normally.
I had a fantastic holiday - I got to meet up with Conor, saw the Temples of Angkor which mere words would serve a vast injustice, particularly mine; in fact, it was one of the most impressive manmade structures I have ever seen, right up there with Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu felt like a pleasure deserved after four days of hiking, vomiting and llama cheese. Angkor Wat wasn't a reward for hard work (sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk talking about The Girl From Tomorrow was hardly taxing) but the sheer majesty of each temple and the air of individuality about them was breathtaking. The sculpture and carvings were almost painfully intricate.
Of course, Cambodia isn't all about Angkor, even though they are strongly and justifiably proud of their past achievements. The fresh memories of genocide became apparently to me almost immediately - my taxi driver from the airport asked me my profession and I said I taught English - 'Ah, the Khmer Rouge killed all English speakers'. The estimations on the number of victims vacillates almost as wildly as the estimates for Tiananmen Square - some say 750,000, others 3 million. Regardless of the numbers, the horror was hard to stomach. Conor and I were discussing about how in our blase youth, tragedy rarely moved us; I actually felt physically sick in the S21 prison. There were rooms full of black and white pictures of some of the 20,000 prisoners that 'passed through'. Most of the dead were emaciated. Some had faces frozen in fear, even in death. Others had half their faces missing. Some were curled up on skeletal metal beds, shackled and twisted into impossible positions with congealing blood pooled beneath them.
It was difficult to accept that this had happened to a people that smiled and were truly, genuinely friendly, every single one that I met.
Coming back to Korea was extremely difficult to do as I felt that I hadn't seen anywhere near enough of Cambodia. But, I battle on. And the rain continues to pish down (although it is not as bad as Ireland where apparently it rained for 46 days straight. Ark building, commence.
I had a fantastic holiday - I got to meet up with Conor, saw the Temples of Angkor which mere words would serve a vast injustice, particularly mine; in fact, it was one of the most impressive manmade structures I have ever seen, right up there with Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu felt like a pleasure deserved after four days of hiking, vomiting and llama cheese. Angkor Wat wasn't a reward for hard work (sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk talking about The Girl From Tomorrow was hardly taxing) but the sheer majesty of each temple and the air of individuality about them was breathtaking. The sculpture and carvings were almost painfully intricate.
Of course, Cambodia isn't all about Angkor, even though they are strongly and justifiably proud of their past achievements. The fresh memories of genocide became apparently to me almost immediately - my taxi driver from the airport asked me my profession and I said I taught English - 'Ah, the Khmer Rouge killed all English speakers'. The estimations on the number of victims vacillates almost as wildly as the estimates for Tiananmen Square - some say 750,000, others 3 million. Regardless of the numbers, the horror was hard to stomach. Conor and I were discussing about how in our blase youth, tragedy rarely moved us; I actually felt physically sick in the S21 prison. There were rooms full of black and white pictures of some of the 20,000 prisoners that 'passed through'. Most of the dead were emaciated. Some had faces frozen in fear, even in death. Others had half their faces missing. Some were curled up on skeletal metal beds, shackled and twisted into impossible positions with congealing blood pooled beneath them.
It was difficult to accept that this had happened to a people that smiled and were truly, genuinely friendly, every single one that I met.
Coming back to Korea was extremely difficult to do as I felt that I hadn't seen anywhere near enough of Cambodia. But, I battle on. And the rain continues to pish down (although it is not as bad as Ireland where apparently it rained for 46 days straight. Ark building, commence.
posted by Korrena at 12:43 AM
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