My dream journey part 3 - Cambodia

My trip ends in Cambodia.

That part sounds a little scary when I read what this country was no more than 20 years ago. In 1970s the Khmer Rouge had started to take over the country part by part. Khmer Rouge was a communist party established in 1950s and later supported by People's Republic of China. Their leader was an infamous PolPot. In 1960s Cambodia was sucked into Vietnam conflict with US and because of it communists from Vietnam were pushed into Cambodia. That lead to brutal war on Cambodian territory and ended in 1975 when Khmer Rouge began revolution. This was a start of one of the most bloody revolutions ever in the world. Money was abolished. People were forced to move away from cities because of a threat of starvation. But this was done cruelly and brutally with tortures and executions. Thousands of people who speak foreign languages or wore spectacles (!) were marked as parasites and systematically killed. It is estimated that something around 2 million people were killed during 4 years of Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. In 1978 Vietnam overthrown Khmer Rouge. Following years can be characterized as chaos, famine and guerilla war led by Khmer Rouge and financed by China and Thailand.

In 1991 both sides met in Paris and this led to a peace treaty and elections in 1993. Constitution was adopted, and Norodom Sihanouk became king once again after 20 years. After that situation has changed, but Vietnam had some power in Cambodia nonetheless because of second prime minister being in their hands. The sad part is that there seems to be no chance for a trial of people responsible for above mentioned tragic events. Pol Pot is dead since 1998.




But, of course, Cambodia isn't just the history. Nowadays more and more people move to cities and parties that seem less radical become popular. This doesn't seem to change in days. There are elections, but there's only one party that controls military, police and judiciary. Corruption is also a huge problem. Despite this depressing diagnosis, life is improving for many Cambodians. Economy raises despite the government. Tourism and regional investors are the ones to thank for that.




I really don't know much about Cambodia in terms of very interesting things to see. But there's one thing that looks and sounds more than great. Angkor Wat or Angkor temples in general are what seems to be a must-see place. If it's not the biggest it is surely one of the biggest religious buildings in the world. It was built about 800 years ago. In that time Angkor was a city with about million inhabitants. It was a capital city of empire stretching from Burma to Vietnam.




It's the end of this journey and I hope that you didn't get bored much.

1. Would you be so kind and recommend me some interesting places in Cambodia?
2. Do you know any stories about Cambodia?