Postcard From Cambodia

We’ve been in Siem Reap, Cambodia for the weekend, far away from the financial crisis, far away from the Mumbai terrorism.

The first thing that strikes me about Cambodia is the serenity that runs through the environment, and its people. The country is extremely poor, and yet the smiles and the joy with which even the Tuk Tuk drivers and the shopkeepers in the villages greet us are uplifting. Clearly, they are not bothered by the threat of losing millions. Much more basic issues – like making another $3 for the day – concern them, and yet they do not ooze anxiety, pessimism, or hostility.

The serenity is infectious.

We started our visit at Beng Malea, a temple quite a bit outside the main Ankor Wat periphery. Beng Malea is pretty much a secluded pre-restoration ruin. It is at the same time serene, with nature woven into the ruins as trees have grown for hundreds of years on the stones, and sad. How can a civilization that seems to have been so obviously prosperous and sophisticated, have disappeared so completely? The Khmer had ruled since 9th century, and built at a scale and scope that we don’t see often anymore. Beng Malea dates back to 11th century, and remains ensconced in silence in the forest, awaiting the archeologists who may come one day to restore it, and uncover the mysteries that remain hidden amidst its fallen stones.

On the way back to Siem Reap, we stopped at the floating village of Kampong Khleang. A boat-taxi shuttled us around, as we stopped at a market, a Buddhist pagoda, and looked around at the resilience of a people. They live in small shacks that look fragile, perched above the water that rises often and disrupts their lives. They travel by small boats, and live off fish and snails. The village, however, I am amused to report, has a cell phone store!

[Photo: Marnie Recker on Flickr]

One of the high points of the Ankor Wat temple group is Ta Prohm, an absolutely magical set of ruins with trees emerging out of them, shielding them, and at the same time destroying them. Built by king Jayavarman II in the 12th century, the temple takes your breath away as your eyes first meet the grand juxtaposition of enormous roots with spectacular stone carvings. [We have fantastic photographs of everything, but the connection is so slow, I cannot upload anything from here. I will, when I get back.]

Two other beautiful temples are Preah Khan and Ankor Wat itself. And then there are numerous others – large and small – that I have not had the time to see. While the restoration of the Khmer temples was originally started by the French, they had to stop during the civil war. After the war, the Archeological Survey of India took over the restoration job. I would say the work they are doing needs several notches of improvement, and a great deal more attention to the period details. One of my beefs with Indians, as you know by now, is that they don’t pay attention to these essential details of restoration when working on important projects, and that creates a sad outcome for posterity.

One final story before I end. We saw a fantastic crafts project, Artisans d’Ankor, where a collaboration between the French and Cambodian governments have made possible training local people in the crafts and created an extraordinarily high quality merchandise selection. Amongst those trained are the deaf and mute, who do silk painting, while others do stone carving, woodwork, etc. If you remember my Urja and Oishi essays from the Vision India 2020 series, Artisans d’Ankor is certainly the closest and most refined execution on those concepts that I have seen anywhere in the world so far. Something to learn from, if any of you are considering a similar project in your part of the world.