Sweet Summer Sun: Battambang.... And the end of my time in South East Asia.

I think Battambang was my favourite place in Cambodia - alongside Kampot anyway. I stayed there for ten days. As cliche as it is to comment, but it really felt like the 'real' Cambodia. It reinforced all that I have learnt from my time in Cambodia - that is all the good and a lot of the bad. It is a place which does still evidently suffer from huge social issues and extreme poverty, due largely to the region being one of the last places liberated from a Khmer Rouge stronghold, and so it endured brutality for such a long period of time. However it is now rebuilding itself again, and it is re-establishing and celebrating its former identity which the Khmer Rouge so haphazardly destroyed in 1975.

Before the Khmer Rouge, Battambang was the centre for the Khmer arts and the art scene is certainly making a strong comeback. It now boasts the most artists per capita than anywhere else in Cambodia. This is evident from merely walking down its narrow streets. Art galleries showcase local Khmer artists work and the numerous cafés deliver an arty ambience. Even the cities crumbling French colonial architecture, which lines its streets, and the copious number of statues only play to exaggerate its artistic vibe.

Battambang's restored identity is partly thanks to the PHARE school. This is a wonderful project which I fully endorse. The school provides free education, free food and helps train students in any of the art forms. The majority of its students have come from very difficult backgrounds. The school provides the students with hope and ambition. When they graduate some students stay on as teachers, some become exhibiting artists and some even tour the world with the circus - hence providing so many prospects. Some of the best circus-schooled performers join the circus in Siem Reap (which is where I first came across PHARE). I was so impressed by the world class performance that I was intrigued to visit the school responsible for developing such talent. During my visit to the PHARE school I really acknowledged the extent of the difficult backgrounds of some of its students - and how far the school aids development. However, whilst I was there various comments were made on the seriousness of the social problems evident in many of the children and just how tough it really is to help them.

During my time in Battambang I experienced firsthand the extent of some of these social issues - caused largely by the widespread poverty and the desperation it provokes. For instance, one time whilst I was cycling through an isolated rural area just outside from the city, I was attempted to be pulled off my bike by a group of teenagers holding weapons. Luckily I preempted what was about to happen and was fine. It is only disconcerting when the weapons they hold were the weapons of choice by Khmer Rouge. But I generally don't think these kids would have actually hurt me if they had succeeded to get me off my bike. They only wanted me in a compromised position so that I could be robbed easier. I think weapons are used due only to the simple fact that the average westerner is a lot bigger than the average Asian. However I also experienced the other end of Cambodian society's social problems scale - where some behaviour has not yet been denounced as unacceptable and it upsets me that a society so easily ignores such issues and hence does little to even attempt to prevent them from occurring. Again I escaped unharmed - but a lot of people do not and that is a frightening reality.

As aforementioned Battambang has really been a region which endured exceptional hardship from the Khmer Rouge and reminders - in addition to the extreme social issues and poverty - are plentiful throughout the region. Physical indication of the atrocities which occurred here take many forms. The existence of the dam which stole thousands of lives in its building, the 'killing cave' where thousands more were bludgeoned to death and perhaps for me the most difficult to visit was the Well of Shadows. 10,000 people were imprisoned and killed here at Wat Somrong Knong and the remembrance of these lives is captured in a memorial monument which depicts some of the atrocities which occurred. Ironically the monument was funded by the USA - much alike a lot of Cambodia's commemoration memorials which I have often found to have been funded by some western country - perhaps due to the extreme guilt the West should feel as they permitted such tragedy to occur by relentlessly funding the Khmer Rouge with absolute knowledge of the occurring brutality. For me the Well of Shadows was the most haunted place I visited in Cambodia. I found the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh extremely difficult as well. But the Killing Fields are a strange place. The place has almost become a commodity by its tourist 'must-see' status and the fact it is so full of hawkers who are so desensitized to the place that they inappropriately sit around laughing and selling overpriced merchandise. Any place which is haunted by such newborn ghosts should be respected as a place of remembrance and education, and I think is wrong to commodify it in the way in which it has been. Such emphasis is also placed on this sole killing field and with its immense popularity it almost disregards that this is only one in literally thousands of equally horrendous 'killing fields'. It seems to be certain tourists comments that 'yes Phnom Penh is a hard place to visit but the rest of Cambodia is lovely'. Of course, tourists should come to Cambodia to enjoy themselves, to have a holiday, but I think it is really important to remember how badly all of Cambodia suffered. Visiting a place like the Well of Shadows - which is by no means a tourist destination - is a really genuine reminder of the inconceivable number of places across Cambodia that is haunted by such barbarity.

Further what I find just as incomprehensible is that a significant number of these ex Khmer Rouge commanders, in spite of their wicked pasts, are today living lives of comfort not having suffered one ounce for their evils, whilst good people continue to suffer. Pailin - a city close to Battambang - is well known as a place for ex Khmer Rouge commanders to happily settle. Even Hua Sen the current Prime Minister and most of the current cabinet were ex Khmer Rouge commanders back in the day - and possibly part the reason for why the government today do absolutely nothing to help Cambodians. They offer absolutely no welfare and do absolutely nothing to help the old - who after being 'liberated' from the fields discovered they have nowhere to go and no family to take care of them. Mind you not that there are too many old people within Cambodia with 80% of the population being under 30 years old... But still it is ordinary to see little old ladies with hunched backs and no home shuffling down the street, and it is heartbreaking to only wonder what hell they have been through. Lastly despite all the constant reminders of the atrocities which occurred, it continues to shock me about the lack of knowledge the Khmer-under-30s even have of the Khmer Rouge regime. They understand it was a 'terrible time, really horrible' but they know little more. But perhaps it really is just a reluctance to talk about it. I guess the nations philosophy is to forget and continue. Keep calm and carry on.

I have realised that this blog has somehow shifted emphasis, but bringing it back to Battambang - despite its sickening history and ongoing social issues - it really is a charming city with a great pace. It is surprising that Battambang is Cambodia's second largest city as it does have the small town feel. Every morning I would wander down to the local market only to experience the hustle and bustle. I would wander around the marketplace - attempting to avoid the fish guts which regardless to any effort would splutter up my legs anyway - and as I meandered I was always greeted with the friendliest of smiles and greetings, and would make the vendors laugh with my poor attempts to buy goods in bad Khmer. After a while I found my favourite vendors for my daily sugar palm juice, my fruit and my coconut sweets who would then all wave so energetically if I only passed. This is the side of Cambodia which I truly feel in love with and brings such hope for its future.

Sorry for this being so long.