Saigon
I only had a couple of days in Saigon and so tried to fit as much in as I could.
I visited the military remnants museum first,which was a bizarre collection of American military equipment captured during the Vietnam war. The galleries inside detailing the horrors of the Agent Orange chemical bombing were very disturbing (although certainly tainted with a whiff of communist propaganda). Next up was the reunification palace. Formally the residency of the South Vietnam President. It has been left in the exact state it was in when the Vietcong army tanks crashed through the gates in 1975 (again a bit weird).
Day two was a trip to the Cuchi tunnels just outside the city. These were the underground tunnel network connected to the Mekong used by the Vietcong to infiltrate South Vietnam. Famed for the 'tunnel rat' American troops sent into them to fight in the pitch black. I couldn't even bring myself to go inside a 100 meter section!
Cambodia
Because of my last minute decision to visit Burma my time in Cambodia was limited to a quick week. In that time I was only able to make it to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap (for the Angkor temples)
Phnom Penh was quite a contrast from Saigon. It felt much more like an Indian city, with accompanying squalor.
Day one in the city I visited the famous S 21 prison where tens of thousands of prisoners were held and tortured by the Khmer Rouge, before being taken to the killing fields for execution. An incredibly moving place, each prisoner was photographed and the pictures now adorn the former cells. Of all the prisoners brought here in the 4 years of Khmer Rouge rule only 7 survived.
More moving still was the visit next to killing fields themselves. Certainly a sobering day.
I also visited the Royal Palaces and the National Museum while in Phnom Penh but they were certainly cast into a lesser light by the previous visits.
Next up was Siam Reap as a base for the Angkor Temples. The hostel I stayed at (a great place) had push bikes to hire which was a great way to explore the temples.
The first two days I explored all the close temples along with the museum to get some context. The temples are staggering in both size and the scale of the area they cover. At it's peak Angkor must have been the most magnificent city in the world.
The best day I had was the second which by being overcast and wet, kept the tour groups away meaning I had the temples almost to myself:
The highlight for me was sitting by myself for a couple of hours, watching the sun go down behind Angkor Wat, drinking a couple of beers. Bliss
The 3rd day I hired a tuk tuk and explore the further temples. One unexpected highlight was the Cambodian Land-mine Museum which I visited that day. A private museum set up and run by a former Khmer Rouge child solder, who now devotes his life to clearing mines all over Cambodia and looking after their child victims. A fascinating overview of the evil of mines and unexploded ordinance and the damage they continue to do generations later.
Now back to Bangkok for Burma visa and phone repairs...
No comments:
Post a Comment