The second and final leg of our too-brief holiday in Cambodia was Phnom Penh. The populous capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh is a quintessential Asian metropolis – sprawling, noisy, smelly, dirty, and busy. Very busy. While Andy is tired of such places, I find they still offer a certain charm, though it is definitely not skin-deep. The sense of vitality, the constant, frenetic whirlwind of activity, and the certain knowledge that – somewhere in the depths of this hive – you can find just about anything you want, holds some allure for me.

The only sights we had firmly planned on seeing somewhat morbidly revolved around the Khmer Rouge genocide; the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum. The Killing Fields were our first stop, and while the site is relatively light on information, the spare details that are given are powerfully chilling; signs note matter-of-factly the trees that were used to bludgeon babies against, or the location of a storage shed where chemicals and pesticides were stored, used to keep down the smell of the mass graves (and – more gruesomely – finish off those buried alive). The grounds are pitted with the exhumed mass graves where thousands of Cambodians were disposed of following their captivity at the S-21 prison. As in Rwanda, I found that the pillar of skulls here in the central stupa monument served more to abstract the inhumanity, rather than to solidify it, giving the impression of archeological exhibition rather than a terrifying testament to a history scarcely a generation past, still very much a deep scar on the cultural psyche. In a strange juxtaposition, there is a school building just on the other side of the fence from the killing fields…

The Tuol Sleng Museum is at the site of a former high school which was converted into the S-21 detention center by Pol Pot. There is plenty of informative text – and a documentary to watch – describing the genocide, but the museum also provides a far more visceral dimension. Many of the rooms are bare, with nothing but a rusting bed, an ammunition case the shackled prisoners used for their waste, and a grainy, black-and-white photo of the mutilated, blood-drenched remains the Vietnamese soldiers found in each room when they discovered the abandoned prison. Perhaps even more chilling were the documentary photographs taken by the prison’s wardens – many were simply mugshots, but there was a frightening array of post-internment snaps of emaciated prisoners – alive and dead – their bodies bearing witness to their torture or execution. Tuol Sleng rips away abstraction and lays bare the graphic reality of the genocide.

Having now visited monuments to two genocides, the coldly calculated horrors of internal extermination wrought by the Khmer Rouge stand in stark contrast to the ethnic mob-justice slayings in Rwanda. Trying to say which one is ‘worse’ is asking the wrong question; as different as they are, the real impression that follows from both is ultimately the profound senselessness of it all. ‘Never again, until the next time…’ (have I said that already?)

Our final day in Phnom Penh was decidedly less sombre, spent running small errands, backing up photos, wandering through the central market, and visiting the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda (I never expected I would ever walk on silver, and yet here I am). We also spent some time on the riverside, where we ate many of our meals in the city.

On the gustatory side of things (which I have been neglecting of late), Khmer food is not altogether different from Thai or Laos cuisine (i.e. lots of fried food), though it has a few interesting flavours of its own. Cambodia also has some brilliant beer. Angkor, Anchor, and Bayon are all unremarkable, ultra-light Asian fare, but ABC Stout (brewed on a commune!) and Black Panther are both delicious stouts, and a welcome reprieve from the monotony of anonymous lagers. Cans of the latter are also super cheap, making Black Panther one of the best buys in the country, to my palette.

Our final night in the city took us to – of all places – a schmooze-fest party for the Vagina Monologues, which were showing in Phnom Penh the following weekend. The crowd was definitely older, mostly ex-pats, with a smattering of travelers, and I came away with the distinct impression that being heterosexual may have put me in the minority. The general vibe was a little bit bizarre, and after getting bored of the mixed company and expensive drinks (including a godawful ‘Clitini’ which we felt obliged to try), we decided to retire back to guesthouse. We ended up staying up nearly the whole night with a southern belle from Louisiana and a ridiculous alcoholic of an Englishman who regaled us with stories of intense meditative getaways that brought on shroom-like sensory trips. A truly weird, if memorable, finale for Cambodia, before our early morning bus-and-boat trip into Vietnam…

Goodbye Laos, hello Cambodia. Given the doomsaying in all the guidebooks, the border crossing at Don Cra Law was remarkably free of corruption – we were extorted only $1 on each side of the border for ‘administration fees’ on our way down. I had originally been hoping to make it to Stung Treng in the northeast of Cambodia, and from there make a beeline through the wilds of Preah Vihear province to Siem Reap, but reliable transport is apparently non-existent there, and given our painfully short timeline for the country (only one week), we reluctantly decided to book a long bus ride direct to Siem Reap with a stopover in Phnom Penh for the night.

Siem Reap is far and away the city in Cambodia most trafficked by tourists, and for good reason – it lies only a few kilometers south of the great Angkor temples. Having heard all about Angkor Wat from other tourists whenever Cambodia was brought up, it had formed itself into something of a cliche in my mind, but any cynicism is obliterated by awe upon experiencing it. It’s really is difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of the accomplishment until you’re there.

Spread across more than one hundred square kilometers, the ancient Khmer people built dozens of enormous, ornately decorated temples, starting more than a millenium ago. The cyclopean masonry is hewn from immense blocks of laterite faced with elaborately carved sandstone. While the staggering size of the stones is impressive enough, when coupled with the depth of detail – on every single face! – that becomes apparent on closer inspection, the mind just reels. For example, each of the tiny minarets that gives the Angkor spires their distinctive aesthetic is not a mere stone projection, but is actually a painstakingly sculpted naga, a seven-headed snake in Hindu-Buddhist myth.

The construction spans both space and time in dramatic fashion, having been constructed over the course of more than five centuries. As a result, all of the temples we visited revealed a distinctive character. Some were massive, some were small. Some were intact, some were ruined. Some were spare, some were dense. Some were detailed, some were simple. Some sprawled, some soared, some were dark, some were open. Some were labyrinths formed of halls and rubble. Some were being slowly reclaimed by the inexorable jungle, stones gripped by the gnarled roots of ancient trees well over a meter wide.

Highlights included Angkor Wat (obviously), though the upper halls were closed for restoration work, and huge scaffolds on the spires shattered some of its mystical illusion. The largest religious building in the world was the last stop of our temple tour, so by that time we were already accustomed to immensity, and so it was the relief carvings that run the perimeter of the temple in its outer galleries that became the most impressive aspect of Angkor. Vivid depictions of Heavens and Hells were brilliant – people in heaven tend to sit around and get fanned a lot, while the unfortunate denizens of hell are beaten, hurled, and led around with bridles in their mouths. Cruel stuff.

Better fodder for the imagination than Angkor Wat, however, came from the jungle temples, where nature is quietly working to take back what once was hers. More than any evidence of decay, the presence of titanic trees, wreathed in strangler figs, borne from crumbling rock, gives the impression of the true age of the temples. Ta Prohm is one of the most extreme examples, a giant compound turned into a maze by fallen passages, collapsing in upon itself, consumed by the wild verdancy of the tropical forest.

Another must-see is the walled city of Angkor Thom covers nine square kilometers, and from its towering gates – topped by spires carved with imposing faces – to the majesty of the central temple of Bayon, you can almost get a sense of how mighty the Khmer empire must have been at its peak. Also: Angkor Thom has monkeys. Excitable, curious monkeys.

Really, I could blither superlatives forever, but Angkor Wat is a Wonder of the World for a reason. Now I need to go see the Pyramids.

Two of our three days (each of which began at a sleepy 4:30 am) at Angkor were spent on bicycles, a perfect blend of freedom and speed, while maintaining a leisurely enough pace to really take in your surroundings. The distant (but beautifully detailed, if small) temple of Banteay Sray we visited on the 2nd day necessitated that we take a remorque-moto (motorbike with trailer), which was a bit less fun, but did help to recharge our batteries after the long first day.

While Angkor was amazing, the ultra-persistent local hawkers – often children – who infested it were definitely not. Practically as soon as you enter their sights, they are on you, beseeching sales for books or drinks, asking that you remember them, and reassuring that they will remember you when you come back, so that you can buy from them. Their rote haranguing still echoes in my memory.

Our base of operations in Siem Reap, the Prince Mekong Villa, was a bit of an eccentric choice, well away from the city’s Western core on Pub Street; clearly word of mouth recommendations work – thanks, John and Erin. More expensive than many of the other options, the free bicycle rentals, breakfasts, and laundry more than made up for it, especially given the patented tour advice from our Swiss host that ensured that we escaped the bulk of the crowds. Also, illicit A/C is pretty nice in sweltering Cambodia.

The Western section of Siem Reap, as expected, has some very sophisticated (and expensive) dining options to cater to the throngs of wealthy tourers (a demographic that probably tends to eschew Laos). We had some pretty great food, including a ‘Khmer’ lasagna at Le Tigre de Papier; after all these months, I was desperate for cheese. We got a chuckle out of one of the bars in town, named Angkor What? though most of the humour probably came from the hip-hop inflection we chose to give it. If I ever decide to move to Siem Reap, I’m going to open a bar named West Side Nagas…or possibly Naga Wat!

Besides the Angkor temples, we also visited a Cambodian landmine museum, curated by a former Khmer Rouge child soldier. Some of the pictures of his de-mining work are just mind-blowing, especially the primitive techniques he used when his budget was essentially nil; a real testament to human persistence.

The last stop on our final day of temple hopping was the Angkor National Museum, a flashy new building where we got all the the historical context that would have helped us take so much more from the temples we visited. So it goes.

Now that we had been enriched by Cambodia’s ancient history, we would venture down to the teeming capital of Phnom Penh, to bear witness to the nation’s much less savoury 20th century past…

Disclaimer: You should probably skip this next section. Unless you are familiar with the Angkor temples, this rough checklist of our route will be exceptionally meaningless. However, it is a valuable key to the photos Andy and I took, and if you really want to read it, you can.

1st day
Skip Angkor Wat
Phnom Bakheng for dawn (hillrise lookout)
Angkor Thom south gate, ride 5 km to west gate
Bayon
Elephant terrace
Terrace of the leper king
Loop around royal palace complex
Phimeanakas
Baphuon
Victory gate (east)
Ta Keo
Ta Nei (small forest ruin)
Ta Prohm (labyrinth temple)
Banteay Kdei
Get lost, ride to airport, back to town

2nd day
By trailer tuk-tuk (remorque-moto)
Sras Srang (pool) for dawn
Pre Rup for sunrise (glowing bricks)
Banteay Sray (distant, elaborately carved miniature temple)
Landmine museum w/ badass child soldier curator
East Mebon
Ta Som (probably anonymous?)
Neak Pean (reservoir temple)
Preah Khan (big final temple)
Monkey bandits
Back to town, nap
Ride to Angkor Wat for cloudy sunset

3rd day
Ride past Angkor Wat for dawn
Bayon for dawn/sunrise
Angkor Wat (due to repairs on main compound, mostly just saw relief carvings)
Churning of the Sea of Milk, Heavens and Hells
Angkor National Museum