Cambodian Landmines Revisited

A small Reuters piece in the International Herald Tribune (the international version of the New York Times) caught my eye.

Anti-tank mine kills 5 and wounds 3 in Cambodia

Apparently a truck carrying rice to a mill hit an anti-tank mine and the victims included women and children. It took place in the northwest near the Thai border where the Khmer Rouge had their stronghold in Anlong Veng.

When I first read about this tragedy, a couple of things struck me. First, hundreds of Cambodians die every year from mines, why are we hearing about this? Second, how did this truck hit a mine? Was it driving on a road? Scary, especially since I’m planning my next trip and want to go further afield by road (and boat).

According to the provincial police chief, recent heavy rain could have loosened the soil and shifted the mine onto the road.

In Cambodia over 400 square km (155 square miles) have been de-mined. Another 4000 square km still to go. Angelina Jolie has had her Cambodian property (her eldest son is Cambodian) de-mined but Brad wants to get it checked again.

Last year not far away, an anti-tank mine exploded killing 7 Cambodian de-miners, the worst accident to hit mine clearing agencies since they started operating in 1993. There is, on line, an Australian documentary about the people who are training and working in de-mining in Cambodia. It is really powerful, showing scenes of small children finding unexploded bombs close to their schoolyard. They are in the habit of collecting scrap metal to sell to help their mothers. It sends chills up the spine as you watch them huddled around this weapon, poking it, talking about picking it up, wondering if it might be dangerous. These are very little children.There are tense scenes of the de-miners, also huddling around bombs and mines, figuring out the best way to de-activate them. It’s so gripping and scary, I had to “pause” it several times, and walk away for a few minutes. But it's not all grim. There is lots of laughter as well as the camera follows the Australian military guy, the demining trainer, travels with his crew in the Cambodian countryside. View at Bomb Harvest.

Anlong Veng, where these people were killed, is where the ashes of Pol Pot are buried 980 feet from the Thai border. The burial site, covered with a rusting corrugated metal roof is supposedly where he was cremated on a pile of old tires and trash. All remaining bits of bone from the cremation have been taken away by visitors – a souvenir or perhaps a good luck charm.


Wait a minute. GOOD LUCK???

It seems that people who live nearby are turning to the spirit of Pol Pot to give them winning lottery numbers. One woman had a dream that two snakes slithered out of Pol Pot’s grave and gave her a winning lottery number. Another more recently deceased Khmer Rouge bad guy, Ta Mok, has apparently returned as a ghost to dispense winning numbers. Some viewed him in life as something of a benevolent patron, dispensing rice and cattle, and keeping order in the community. As the chieftain of Anlong Veng he banned theft, drunkenness, prostitution, marriage outside the commune, private enterprise, any contact with outsiders and listening to any radio station other that that of the Khmer Rouge – all of these “crimes” were punishable by death.

Meanwhile, back in the non-spirit world, the U.S. has now agreed to give $1.8 million to the War Crimes Tribunal which is near bankruptcy and has really only just begun the trials of the 5 bad guys/gal that have been arrested. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who was in Cambodia recently, described relations between Cambodia and the United States as being at a “high point” and said both sides were looking for ways to deepen their bilateral ties, including more military cooperation.

Uh, Military cooperation?

The picture of Pol Pot's grave was taken by Elena Leslie, a journalist living in Phnom Penh. She writes about Anlong Veng in this article the online Granta journal.

Landmine tales from my first trip to Cambodia - A Daring Raid on Cambodia.

The CNN Buddha

Statues and paintings of the Buddha typically show him with six or seven common hand gestures, called mudras. The placement of the hands has distinct meanings, arising out of particular events in his life.

When I was in Cambodia recently, I was told by several people that the standing Buddha, with his right hand raised, palm facing outward and fingers pointing upward, meant "Stop Fighting". This is the abhaya mudra representing protection, peace and dispelling fear.

Aha, I thought. The world definitely needs this. So I went in search of a statue, which I found at Artisans D'Angkor (where the elephants came from earlier).

So Buddha is now perched on the coffee table, back to the sofa, facing the television set, hand raised, to remind all those people (Georgia, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, George Bush...) creating all that mayhem as reported on CNN or BBC World News to

S
T
O
P

FIGHTING

Return to Cambodia

I recently went back to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor along with Number 2 Son who was on his first trip to Asia. The trip reminded me of a time many (!) years ago when I was about his age. I went on a two week trip to Mexico with my own mother. I used to say it was a travelling partnership of perfect symmetry. I saw more temples than I would have and she saw the inside of more bars.

In my travels, I’ve found that the return trip is always the best. Returning to a place that is somewhat familiar, without that “where on earth are we” feeling, is great. Going back to places that warrant a second look and expanding the perimeter, as we always want to do. There’s an exquisite feeling of familiarity and excitement. This time in addition to revisiting some of the temples I saw last time, we explored more of the town and also went on a boat ride on the largest lake in southeast Asia, seeing the water villages where people live, work and play on boats and houseboats.

This time we stayed in a small 7-room hotel on a quiet street in town half a block from the river. $70 a night. I'm becoming a real fan of the small boutique hotels - we've also found another one we like in Bangkok. With all that money we're saving, all the more for shopping! This particular hotel was brand new, very chic, very nice with one particular quirk - this is, after all Cambodia, so expect the unexpected. The whole lobby area and staircase is open air. At night they close and lock the gate but they have 24 hour front desk service. A staffer puts up a pup tent on the floor in the middle of the lobby where he sleeps, getting up to open the gate when you stumble in late at night.

Here’s what I learned on my return trip to the fabulousness that is Angkor Wat.

Off-season is GREAT!!!

We were there in late August, which is rainy season and “low-season” for tourists. Well let’s talk about “rainy season” and why one should indeed go at that time.

First of all, the countryside is beautiful. Green and lush. The rice fields, which are everywhere, are growing and people are out in the fields continuing the process of planting rice. Everything is gorgeous. Last March, it was all brown and dry.

Second, yes it is wetter than last March, this being the so-called rainy season, but of the five days we were there it rained three times. Each time it was a torrential downpour (which was actually way cool) but it only lasted for about 40 minutes or so. Nothing rains on my parade.

Third, it’s low season…meaning, noticeably fewer of us tourists. And in Siem Reap, which in a short period of time has become a major tourist town, this is a real bonus.


Angkor Wat is the largest of all the temples in the area (and there are many many wonderful sites). The Granddaddy of them all. Well, we had the amazing good fortune to visit, at high noon when all the tour groups were no doubt having lunch elsewhere in air conditioned comfort, and we were virtually alone. I couldn’t believe it. Last March, it was all undeniably impressive, but there were scads of other people around, and it was distracting to say the least.

This time it was magic.

Around the perimeter of the Angkor Wat are 600 meters of carved bas reliefs along the outside walls, protected by an open hallway and roof – all built of thick stone which in the heat of mid day is cooling and protecting. In over an hour of walking through these corridors looking at the carvings we saw maybe half a dozen other people.

We did, however see one other tourist, or perhaps resident, of note. We were about to turn the corner to the section of the temple which has a huge carved mural depicting the climax of the Ramayama, the Battle of Lanka. In this battle, Rama along with his allies, Hanuman the monkey king and the monkey troops, defeat the bad guy Ravana who has kidnapped the babe, Sita. Just as I was reading aloud a description of this in my guidebook I looked out through the archway to see a large monkey loping across the grass approaching the temple. He climbed up the steps and actually came right inside, paying us not the slightest bit of attention, right under the carvings of the monkey army. Coincidence? Reincarnation?
This was not the last encounter with a monkey. At 4:00 in the afternoon outside the Bayon in Angkor Thom, a group of monkeys congregate for a close encounter with the tourists. Young boys sell bunches of bananas for a buck (yes we bought some) to feed to the monkeys.


There is an old temple ruin up on top of a hill, Phnom Bakheng, that you can climb up to and see outstanding views of the surrounding countryside and the top of Angkor Wat above the trees. Fantastic place to watch the sunset along with several thousand of your fellow tourists (we left as everyone else started showing up around 5:00). It is quite a hike unless of course you prefer to let someone else do all the work!



The photo at the very top is by John McDermott who has two galleries in Siem Reap and whose work now graces our hallway in Manila. It's a famous shot of the Ta Prohm temple which has been kept in its more or less original state. http://www.asiaphotos.net