Marek Long ago, when Europe was deep in the darkness of the Middle Ages, the city of Angkor was founded in Asia (the name Angkor Wat refers to the central temple). And it happened that in the 9th century, King Jayavarman II, who reigned here, decided to place his capital in a completely new place. In less than 100 years, the inhospitable conditions were tamed and a city was built that could not be matched by any other in the world at that time.
In the dry, inhospitable area, gigantic water reservoirs were built (the largest of the reservoirs is 8 km long! by 2.3 km), and a system of canals supplying water to the city. Thanks to a system of reservoirs and canals, irrigation systems were built to irrigate the fields (most of the inhabitants of Europe at that time still burned forests). Buildings built of stone, apart from being functional, were also richly decorated. Ornamentation was much ahead of the capabilities of builders from Europe or Central America. Some of the buildings have survived almost intact to this day. And you can see all this today in the beautiful jungle surroundings, enriched by the whistling of cicadas and wild animals, characteristic of forest areas.
Today is a completely different story. Let us remember that Cambodia was a French colony. As befits a colony, a predatory economy was carried out here, based on the exploitation of natural resources, and selling the Khmers everything, especially what they did not need. As a result, during the industrial revolution in Europe, nothing changed in Cambodia. Only poverty and backwardness grew.
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As is usually the case in such situations, the growing hatred of the colonizers led to the emergence of extreme movements, which in the case of this country meant the Khmer Rouge. Their leaders, with Pol Pot at the forefront, hated everything European to such an extent that they decided to expel all Europeans and Americans from the country. They destroyed all manifestations of culture and science, and those who cooperated with Europeans were murdered. Educated people were murdered. The paranoia of Pol Pot and his supporters went so far that death sentences were passed on people who wore glasses, because they were associated with education.
Pol Pot envisioned the idea of building a primitive agrarian community, where the basis of existence would be only agriculture, without science, without industry, without business and money. Carrying out their leader’s intention, the Khmer Rouge murdered 1/4 of the country’s inhabitants. Interestingly, for some time, the situation in Cambodia was looked upon favorably by the United States administration, which is why… because the Khmers were hostile to communist Vietnam. This is politics.
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Today’s Angkor is a remnant of the predatory policy of the French, who took monuments out of the country en masse (after all, the museum in Louvre had to be filled with something). The Khmer Rouge regime, as you might expect, also contributed to the destruction. What is left of the turbulent times is the huge number of anti-personnel mines, characteristic of this corner of the world, scattered throughout the country. To this day, the mines mean that when you leave the marked path in the jungle, you may not return to it, and certainly not completely. As evidence, let us use the huge number of people visible on the streets without limbs.
Of course, there is great poverty, backwardness, and problems with crime. All this characterizes the former Asian colonies, which not only gained freedom through war, but also do not have many natural resources. To this day, in many parts of the country, people live in huts on stilts, and gas stations are tables placed by the road, where gasoline is sold in Coca-Cola bottles. And so the great and glorious empire that existed here a thousand years ago became another Third World country. Perhaps, if it wasn’t for the fact that the first part of Tomb Rider (with Angelina Jolie) was filmed here, even tourists wouldn’t come here.
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After arriving in the city of Siem Reap, we put our fate in the hands of Mr. Wah, a young Khmer, who promised to take care of us, provide transport (a cart attached to the bumper of a dilapidated motorcycle) and show everything worth seeing. Remember, if you want to visit the ruins of Angkor, you should allow no less than 3 days. It is a really huge area, and the heat here does not encourage strenuous sightseeing.
Mr. Wah arranged for us a very nice hotel that belonged to my aunt. The room is very spacious, even nice, has its own bathroom (you just need to call someone to push the toilet 2-3 times a day) and has no windows. The lack of fresh air is to be compensated for by air conditioning. It is not known if it is cooling, because there is a bathhouse in the room. It doesn’t matter, no one announced that it would be luxurious. Instead of comforts, there is romanticism.
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