This morning we went to see our last group of temples in the Angkor Wat complex known as the Roulous temples. These are the furthest out from town and the oldest, dating from the 9th century. They were originally built as Hindu temples to the God Shiva and then were later turned into Buddhist temples. They are in serious disrepair at this point and are being restored by various groups from around the world. We visited Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei temples. At the second stop, the Bakong temple we spent some time interacting with some young monks who live at the active Buddhist temple and monastery that are there and the young folks in our group got into a long and animated conversation with a young Cambodian man who is volunteering his time at the temple teaching the monks and local village kids to speak English. He has only been learning English for two years himself, and he teaches in order to learn more and because he can interact with English speaking tourists like us and improve his skills. We were most impressed with his language skills and his willingness to give his time to the local children whose educational opportunities are extremely limited. He represents a growing group of young Cambodians who, now that Cambodia has been free of war for over a decade, are very hopeful of becoming educated, getting better jobs and attaining a better life than their parents knew. The damage of the Khmer Rouge era and the civil war that followed is evident in the village people we have spoken with here. Years and years of war and of mass murder and turmoil, not to mention landmines, have left Cambodian people psychologically bruised. Yet the younger ones are eager to move into the modern world and to become educated and seek better lives. Our kids probably learned more from their conversation with this young man than he learned from them!
After visiting Bakong we went across the way to a workshop where local Khmer villagers make shadow puppets, an ancient Khmer craft. This particular workshop is run by an organization that maintains the orphanage located on the site, where 50 children live. They go to public schools and then come back to the orphanage/workshop and learn English and the craft of shadow puppet making. All the shadow puppets for sale in the shop are made by the kids and when you buy a puppet, you get to take a photo of the child who made it holding the item. Our kids had a chance to make small versions of the shadow puppets and I’ve included a picture of Sam working with his Cambodian tutor making his.
When we were done in the shop, we visited the Preah Ko temple, the third of the Roulous temples, and then rode oxcarts through the local countryside to meet our bus! The oxcart ride was hot but fun, if a bit bumpy as the roads are dirt roads and in this rainy season they are muddy and full of holes! It was about noon when we took our ride and I kept thinking of Noel Coward’s line about “mad dogs and Englishman go out in the noonday sun.” It is extremely hot here in the middle of the day, so much so that most Cambodians take siestas in the mid-afternoon and return to work in the later afternoon when it cools down some. We had a picnic lunch in a Buddhist temple, sitting on reclining cushions with backrests to have our box lunch right in the main temple area. The caretaker monk was napping up in the front of the temple while we munched away. It was cool and pleasant in the shade of the temple and rather peaceful to have lunch under the watchful eye of numerous Buddha statues! As we were getting back on the bus, a bunch of local children came over to have a look at us and we had lots of extra cakes and apples and chips from our lunches that we didn’t want so we gave them to the kids, who shrieked with delight and went running down the path holding their booty aloft and giggling. The children in these little villages are very poor – none of them wear shoes and many of them are completely or half naked. There is much to be done over here to raise the standard of living for many villagers.
Then later in the afternoon we watched a documentary about a Cambodian boy who was recruited by the Khmer Rouge at the age of 14 and forced to kill many people as part of his tour of duty with them. Eventually, he was injured and escaped over the border into Thailand where he met an American clergyperson who adopted him and three other Cambodian boys. He was then brought to the US and educated in American schools through college. In High School he suffered from severe depression and PTSD and began to tell his story. Eventually he began to travel all over the world telling the story of the Khmer Rouge and its effect on the lives of Cambodians and ultimately he returned to Cambodia to help revive arts and music that had been expunged by the Khmer Rouge when they killed virtually all the artists, musicians and artisans in the country during their purge. The very few who survive and remember the traditional music, arts and crafts of Cambodian culture are now working hard to teach the next generation so that the ancient traditions of Cambodia can be revived and continue to be passed on. The tradition of making shadow puppets is one of those traditional arts that the Khmer Rouge tried to wipe out. This evening we had a delicious Khmer dinner and then saw a traditional Shadow Puppet performance. It was wonderful and very entertaining even though we didn’t understand a word of the dialogue! To those Cambodians who are learning these traditional arts and crafts the work is very important because it connects them with a part of their history that is good and rich and beautiful and helpls them to heal from the Khmer Rouge years.
After the puppet performance a few of us went back to the Night Market for one last spin. Tomorrow is our last day here and we’ll be too busy packing tomorrow night to go out to the market. We rode the “remork” home which is always an adventure!
Tomorrow we have a community service project in the morning at a local school. Until then…..
No comments:
Post a Comment