East South West North on Cambodia

East South West North

The author of East South North West (god, I just get tired thinking of that blog title) recently went to Cambodia from his home base somewhere in Southeast Asia (Singapore?) and has just posted his first impressions of the country. ESNW knows Asia very well, but his post really doesn't get to the issues of the places he visited.

The vast archeological expanse of Angkor is certainly one of the great architectural achievements of mankind, but his boredom at the repetitive monuments, temples, etc. belies the horrible, horrible truth about Angkor. It is now being systemically destroyed by the world, as almost all temples (stupas, chedis) have been claimed by nations around the world, who sponsor ambitious restoration projects. What do they do? They completely disassemble all the stones then clean them up with Borax or whatever, they rebuild the entire monument. Hello? Destruction of monuments? Has anyone talked about this issue? The only structure left at Angkor with any original atmosphere in the one site left by the French to be consumed by the jungle.

The rest of Angkor has become a joke.

East South North West also talks about the coastal resort beach town escape of Sihanoukville, which everybody in the country just calls Kampong Som. He didn't go there on this visit to the country, and really doesn't seem to know what has been going on in this sleepy village, a few miles up from the beach, or the beach resort itself. Folks, please do not go to Kampong Som: the beach itself is lousy, small, narrow, not white but light brown, the bungalows are badly overpriced at $20 per room, there is really nothing significant to see in the area, the only former curiosity was the defunkt Holiday Inn at the north end of the beach, abandoned, but I hear now refurbished.

Yeah, Kampong Som was created in the 1960s by the American military who needed a R&R station during our war in Vietnam, and the same architectural layout and housing plans are still there. That is somewhat interesting, but not enough for most people to make the four hour bus ride from Phnom Penh down to the coast.


East South North West on his Impressions of Cambodia