Cambodia- travel video and travel photography

Cambodia

The trauma will hardly go away. The suffering is still there and nothing will take it away for a long time. Cambodia was a unique experiment in the human history of the last century, the most outrageous experiment the Communists did in their abhorrent past. Several Paris educated Cambodians returned to the country and with the help of the Cultural Revolution Maoist China were able to put the country on a self-destructive path and back to the Stone Age in a matter of months. They declared Year 0, dismantled completely the education, considering that it only twists the children’s mind, closed the hospitals, killed all the professionals and intellectuals, abolished the currency, shut down the entire industry, transportation and postal services and evacuated the entire capital of Phnom Penh in a day. Cambodia was transformed overnight in a large forced labor colony where everybody was planting rice. The aberration of they initiative passed unsanctioned by the world, many left-wing and “progressive” groups being very shy in criticizing even the most abhorrent fact that carries the label of Socialist/Communist. So Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Co. killed unopposed 2-3 million people of their country, out of the 8 million the country had when they took the power.
Welcome to the Khmer Rouge paradise, the best work the Communists succeeded to implement in the entire world. Their regime lasted 3 years, 8 months and 20 days, a number any Cambodian will know, their demise being caused by their, also, Communist neighbor Vietnam that invaded the country and liberated a suppressed and terrorized population. But the killers are still alive and roaming free, waiting and threatening the country’s stability in the face of a possible trial under the United Nations tribunal.
Cambodia is a country that still recovers from the catastrophy caused by this abominable regime. The inflation is rampart to the point that all prices in the country are quoted in US $. The countryside is still riddled by land mines that killed and maimed thousands of people. Cambodia is recovering but the poverty is endemic mainly among children that roam the streets and markets begging for food in a country where 50% of the population is less than 17 years old and where an entire generation disappeared.
If you ask the people if they still remember the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, you will notice that those dark times are completely shadowed by the Communist takeover.
But Cambodia is not only this.
We were able to travel to Siem Reap and visit its magnificent past, the glory of the Khmer empire that stretched from Eastern Thailand and Laos to South Vietnam, a glorious empire that built in 450 years magnificent temples, maybe one of the most impressive religious monuments in the world. Angkor is still the spiritual heart of the country where people come to pray everyday, its partial destruction being less caused by the jungle and the long forgotten history but mainly by the more recent 20 years civil war.
We visited Angkor Wat, the fortified city of Angkor Thom and all the other temples around going all the way to the jungle lost temple of Beng Mealea. From there we traveled by boat on Tonle Sap and its famous lake, to Phnom Penh and attended the beautiful races of the water festival, a remarkably colorful event. We visited the capital with its magnificent Royal Palace, with its National Museum, the temples and its markets. We ended by visiting Tuol Sleng the infamous SS-21 security prison where many people were tortured during the Communist takeover and we stop for the moment to pay respect to the mass grave victims of the Killing Fields.
Come and watch our videos and you’ll never forget these places.