Cambodia: off the beaten track
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 10:17:25 -0800 (PST)
Cambodia: off the beaten track
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 03/12/2007
Revisiting a much-changed Cambodia, Philip Sherwell explores the
glories waiting to be discovered away from the tourist track.
The temples of Angkor: heaven on earth
The temple complex of Angkor and the nearby town of Siem Reap were
very different places the last time I visited. That was in 1996 on
assignment for The Sunday Telegraph to cover the kidnapping of a
Briton by the Khmer Rouge, the murderous Maoist movement that had
inflicted the horrors of the Killing Fields on Cambodia. Sadly but
predictably, Christopher Howes, who had been working with a British
organisation clearing landmines, was murdered by his captors.
Siem Reap in those days was a dusty backwater, its potholed streets
best negotiated on the back of spluttering motorbike taxis that rarely
got up enough speed to pose any danger of bodily harm.
Angkor was being rediscovered by the first intrepid visitors after
nearly two decades in Khmer Rouge hands. By early 1996, the main
cluster of temples was safe, but outlying sites remained off-limits
unless one wanted to risk being blown up by mines or suffering the sad
fate of Mr Howes.
In delightful solitude one early morning, I set off to explore the
remarkable main temple of Angkor Wat, followed by the glorious bas-
reliefs of Bayon and the barely touched remains of Ta Prohm, then the
ultimate in Indiana Jones adventures.
How things change. Siem Reap is now a boisterous hive of activity,
while the marvels of Angkor are thoroughly on the tourist track. The
temples are still one of the wonders of the world, no less stunning
for the crowds, but I hankered after the glorious loneliness of my
previous visit.
So I headed 50 miles north, past paddy fields and villages of wooden
huts on stilts little changed by the rapid development that has swept
Siem Reap. Eleven years ago, this would have been a suicidal journey
into Khmer Rouge territory, but my return offered new possibilities:
outlying temples, cut off back then by minefields, were now
accessible.
My destination was Beng Melea, a 12th-century temple built to the same
design as Angkor Wat. For visitors disappointed by the busloads of
camera-toting tourists at Ta Prohm, these largely undiscovered jungle
ruins are a treat.
With the help of a young guide, I scrambled through the site to the
chirupping chorus of cicadas in the same stunned reverie I felt when I
first wandered around Angkor Wat.
First he showed me a sign on a mound next to the overgrown moat
enumerating the 21,000-plus mines cleared from this site alone.
Inside the compound, thick, gnarled trunks and roots thrust through
the masonry with such abandon that the stone and wood seemed
indivisible; branches and vines stretched, embraced and bent around
the ancient masonry like tentacles.
Back in Siem Reap, I found another compelling reason to embrace rather
than bemoan the changes of the past 11 years - the award-winning
glories of the chic new Hôtel de la Paix. Its art deco façade - think
South Beach Miami transported to South-East Asia - graced the cover of
Architectural Digest magazine last year.
The original hotel served as a rice storage depot during the era of
genocidal communist purdah under Pol Pot. The elegant new structure is
a mix of traditional Khmer, art deco and contemporary influences. The
rooms have polished Makha-wood floors, woven rugs, platform beds and
terrazzo tubs. Fountains and ponds fill the open spaces.
But although La Paix is an enticing oasis, the last thing the hotel
wants is for you to insulate yourself from your surroundings.
It offers guests the chance to support community-based activities and
good causes and the revival of Cambodian arts and culture. Options
include a sewing training centre, rice sponsorship, educational
support, hospitals and children's centres.
As the recipients of the book, bikes and other items from the hotel
scheme can vouch, progress is not all bad.
Kuoni Travel (01306 747 008; www.kuoni.co.uk) offers tailor-made trips
across Indochina. Three nights at Hôtel de la Paix
(www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com), in Siem Reap, Cambodia, two nights at
the Shangri-La in Bangkok and four nights in Laos cost from £1,488 per
person, including flights.
.
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