Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Sihanoukville, named for Cambodia's former king, is the only deep water port in the country.  The city has gone through a recent growth spurt and has now 150,000 residents.  Our short visit to this country, famed for the Ankor Wat temple complex, was less filled with the beauty and culture of this exotic civilization and more with evidence of the difficulty of rebuilding after decades of war.

This is a city that was founded after the French colonial days as a seaport.  The city has not been built according to any plan and has no architectural style or beauty.  Frankly, what we could see through the water-marked and steamy windows of our bus mostly ranged from haphazard to squalor.  Even though I approached the day with eyes open to view the city as it was, the more I learned from our guide and from subsequent reading, the more sad I became.  Though I was aware of the grim history of the Pol Pot regime, I was ignorant of the continuing poverty, corruption, crime, and inadequate education.

David adds:

    Between 1975 and 1979 The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monkhood were the demographic targets of persecution. Wearing of eyeglasses was thought to be a symbol of intellectualism and earned the wearer death. 

     Pol Pot's plan was to return Cambodia to an 11th century urban agricultural society by destroying cities, killing the educated and merchant classes, and forcibly sending the survivors into the countryside. 

    Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a 1975 population of roughly 8 million.

Our guide told us that family relationships were outlawed.  One could no longer refer to another as "my sister, my mother, my uncle" etc., but only as "my dear friend".  The assumption was that one would treat a family member preferentially over others in society and the goal was to equalize everyone. 

Our excursion first took us to the Wat Krom, or Lower Temple.  Buddhism became the official state religion in 1993.   Our guide said that 4500 Buddhist temples were destroyed and 5000 monks were killed by the Khmer Rouge, so I suppose it's somewhat of a miracle that this one is still standing.  However, we saw evidence of ongoing repairs.

As we stood outside the temple, we were approached by amputees and children asking for money.  Our guide had asked us not to give them money in order to discourage begging, but to put any contributions we wanted to make into a donation box.  It was a little difficult to listen to our guide while thinking about the lives of these less fortunate people.

We removed our shoes to enter the temple.  In addition to this statue of the Buddha, the walls and ceiling were covered with paintings depicting his life.

The complex included a monastery where monks lived and taught.  We were told that in this faith, it is important to receive a water blessing from a monk before one dies to wash off the accumulated sins to allow one's spirit to progress to the next world.

Top left: one of the gates into the temple complex.

Top right: the design on the wall surrounding the complex showing the dharmadiakha.  The eight spokes of the wheel represent the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism.

Bottom left: one of the smaller pagodas surrounding the main temple.

Bottom right: the naga is deity in the form of a snake.

Top left: guardian lions at the gate of the temple.

Top right: signs of ongoing maintenance in front of this line of gold-painted statues.

Bottom left: dying Buddha with monks in attendance.

Bottom right: the living quarters of the monks.

    Our bus took us into the business area of the city.  A common form of transportation here is the tuk-tuk.

We went to the central market.  It was a huge area covered by a roof.  There were two main aisles crossing in the middle, and a grid of aisles radiated from them.  Our guide warned us there would be vendors in the middle of the main aisles, which there were.  There were so many interesting sights and smells, I just took pictures to try to capture the atmosphere.  

The farther I ventured from the center aisles, the more chaotic it became.

The garment industry is becoming an important segment of the economy as shown by these seamstresses in the market.

Vendors in the market.  There were several men working in booths like the one in the middle of the top row, but I couldn't see what they were making.  

The city is trying to take advantage of its white sandy beaches to attract tourists.

I think this was an attempt to create a feeling of peaceful tropical tranquility to attract the tourists.












I sat down on a shady bench and was approached by this woman who offered a foot massage for five dollars.  I only had a few minutes before the bus would be off again to our last destination, but decided to do it anyway.  Her English was quite good.  She told me she had worked at a day-care center, but it closed and she couldn't find another job, so she had turned to offering massages at the beach.  She was intent on telling me about what had happened in her country in the 70s.  She said she had lost all her family except three members.  She told me that in the past they couldn't talk about what was going on in the country or they would be killed.  Now she wanted to spread the word, especially to people from around the world.  She had converted to Christianity and at parting, said she would pray for me and all my family.

I saw many of these "spirit houses" in front of houses and businesses.  They were usually on the side of the property, facing away from the street.  They are to provide shelter for spirits that might cause problems for the people if not appeased

Our last visit was to a fishing village.  This was where the boats berth during the day after fishing all night.  We had seen many these boats in the waters as we sailed the adjacent waters.  On the docks were rented rooms in which the fisherman and his family lived.  

We saw beggar kids, school kids, fisherman and shopkeepers kids.  The children provide hope for the future.  I hope their futures will be brighter than the past.