17th August, 2012.
Still reeling from the bus trip out into the countryside around Siem Reap, the ox cart ride and then the life-changing boat trip onto the Tonle Sap Lake to see the Chong Kneas floating village, we were then whipped off to the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap.
This is a beautifully presented modern museum which very clearly and attractively sets out the story of Khmer civilisation from the Golden Era of the Khmer Kingdom to the present day.
While the museum features magnificent exhibits beautifully displayed, with all the latest whiz bang modern technology, I think that the most popular rooms were the ones with air conditioning!
The museum is set out with a Briefing Hall and then eight galleries.
The first gallery, which really took my breath away, was the Gallery of 1,000 Buddha images. Picture from http://www.angkornationalmuseum.com/page.php?category=2&article=16
During some of the bus journeys, our guide told us about some of his experiences during the Pol Pot regime, when he was a baby. His family was sent out of Siem Reap to be farmers, but his father was sent to a different place, and his family had no contact with him for many years. His mother seems to have been an exceptionally strong woman, doing everything she could to find food for her children and keep the remainder of the family together.
I particularly remember him telling us that when his grandmother died, they kept this fact a secret from the authorities, so they could still claim her ration of food. When her body stated to decompose, they crept out at night to dig a grave and bury her.
He also explained how when the tourism potential of Siem Reap was being discovered by the outside world, some farmers became very rich by judiciously selling their rice farms to overseas investors to build hotels. One particular lady, now a granny, was exceptionally successful at buying and selling land. She then paid for the education of poor Cambodian children, then secured them government jobs. As they years went by, they rose in their positions so she then had friends in high places – power as well as money. In the last few decades, Cambodia has undergone enormous social change, but not all of the stories have been successful ones.
From 1976 to 1979, Pol Pot was Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea. During his time in power he imposed agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects. The combined effects of forced labour, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population. In all, an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died as a result of the policies of his three-year premiership.
After our visit to the museum, we drove to the airport, said goodbye to our guide, and took a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, in South Viet Nam, after a visit to Cambodia I will never forget.
Still reeling from the bus trip out into the countryside around Siem Reap, the ox cart ride and then the life-changing boat trip onto the Tonle Sap Lake to see the Chong Kneas floating village, we were then whipped off to the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap.
This is a beautifully presented modern museum which very clearly and attractively sets out the story of Khmer civilisation from the Golden Era of the Khmer Kingdom to the present day.
While the museum features magnificent exhibits beautifully displayed, with all the latest whiz bang modern technology, I think that the most popular rooms were the ones with air conditioning!
The museum is set out with a Briefing Hall and then eight galleries.
The first gallery, which really took my breath away, was the Gallery of 1,000 Buddha images. Picture from http://www.angkornationalmuseum.com/page.php?category=2&article=16
During some of the bus journeys, our guide told us about some of his experiences during the Pol Pot regime, when he was a baby. His family was sent out of Siem Reap to be farmers, but his father was sent to a different place, and his family had no contact with him for many years. His mother seems to have been an exceptionally strong woman, doing everything she could to find food for her children and keep the remainder of the family together.
I particularly remember him telling us that when his grandmother died, they kept this fact a secret from the authorities, so they could still claim her ration of food. When her body stated to decompose, they crept out at night to dig a grave and bury her.
He also explained how when the tourism potential of Siem Reap was being discovered by the outside world, some farmers became very rich by judiciously selling their rice farms to overseas investors to build hotels. One particular lady, now a granny, was exceptionally successful at buying and selling land. She then paid for the education of poor Cambodian children, then secured them government jobs. As they years went by, they rose in their positions so she then had friends in high places – power as well as money. In the last few decades, Cambodia has undergone enormous social change, but not all of the stories have been successful ones.
From 1976 to 1979, Pol Pot was Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea. During his time in power he imposed agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects. The combined effects of forced labour, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population. In all, an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died as a result of the policies of his three-year premiership.
After our visit to the museum, we drove to the airport, said goodbye to our guide, and took a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, in South Viet Nam, after a visit to Cambodia I will never forget.
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