Cambodia
There were difficult conditions in the mountainous Laos, unbearable for a white man and his equipment, and sometimes for any man at all. Now it is being changed to similar paths in neighboring Cambodia, also known as the most bombed land and the country where socialistic commune has taken a really phantasmagoric shape.
In 1969, the American bombers have repeatedly attacked communist bases in Cambodia, thereby having vast amount of local inhabitants extinguished and the country involved in the military conflict between USA and Vietnam. Indeed, there was a local communist movement named “Khmer Rouge” in Cambodia. It was a really ambivalent political regime that tried to raise a state, independent from any outer source or conditions, at the same time they were accepting aid from North Korea and China and arms from the US. During Vietnam War, Khmer Rouge succeed to capture the capital Phnom Penh and to rename the country into Democratic Kampuchea, where the most absurd politics was released. First of all, the new statesmen got all “relic of past”, such as medicine, childbirth, money, mail, school, writing or foreign languages, forbidden or restricted. Instead, eighteen to twenty hours working day was enforced, cities depopulated and all the inhabitants, including children, old people and hospital patients, were moved to the labor camps to increase the agricultural income of Cambodia. Even more cruel repressions than of any other socialistic country killed 1 to 3 millions of Cambodians approximately. Preposterous economy destroyed the state already weakened by the war. In 1979, another war with Vietnam that was declared by Khmer Rouge to reanimate wounded economy of Cambodia has stopped regime. The movement ceased to exist completely in 1998, after the death of its leader; however separate units are still hiding in the forests, practicing illegal trade and robbery. Consequences of history are still evident here: there are still about eight millions of American mines left lying around, which makes traveling in Cambodia especially dangerous. The fields and forests are getting demined but mostly in the most popular regions of tourism. The country also tends to use its ill past as an attraction for visitors by opening the Genocide museum and showing off skulls of its victims.
Nowadays most of Cambodians are Khmers (95%), and the mountain tribes, which are very expected of our team to meet with, make only 1% and that is still about 12,000 people. These men and women, gathering fruits, nuts and rice and making their daily trip to local market to sell it, probably do not have any idea about communism, capitalism or Christianity and all the big woe coming with the big knowledge. The rest of inhabitants dwell in the biggest cities such as Phnom Penh, Batdambang and Kampong Cham, where tourism, and that means, trade, cheat and mendicancy blooms. The most popular dish here is historically, fish and rice since they are the easiest to get. Like Egypt is grateful to the Nile for its fertility, Cambodia is grateful to the Mekong. Part of Cambodians live in Mekong lowlands, where they grow rice, and they have probably lived like this also three thousand years ago. Once this river has formed the bay of South China Sea, and after the recession has left fertile layer of alluvium. A part of it is now forming Tonle Sap or the Great Lake, full of fish. Its space is varying from three to ten thousand square kilometers in dependence of the year period. Our expedition is going to pass by it in its full stage.
This country is celebrating the New Year not even twice, but three times. First, it is the international day of January, 1st; in the middle of April the Khmeric New Year is being celebrated; and local Chinese and Vietnamese are meeting it in the end of January or the beginning of February after Lunar calendar.