Final Day in Siem Reap: Landmines and the Batmobile

Wednesday I was headed back to Phnom Penh. But there was still so much more I wanted to see in Siem Reap, so I bought the latest bus ticket I could so i could go out in the morning. My guesthouse had arranged a tuk tuk driver to pick me up at 6 am to take me out to 2 temples about 40 km outside of the city and a land mine museum on the way. Well little did I know that I would be taking the Batmobile out of town that day! My tuk tuk was all decked out with Batman. My driver even had a Batman shirt and helmet on. ha. He was also blasting some Khmer music, which I love.

So we headed out of town. I've got to say, there was something so magical about being out early in the morning while the air was still crisp, without many tourists out yet, and driving through small villages on the way out to the temples and seeing people doing their daily morning routines. We got to the first temple grounds of Banteay Srei. It was down a long path to get to the temple. I was the first one there that morning, and it was so peaceful and lovely being the only one around, walking down a beautiful path and listening to the birds chirping. The temple was beautiful. It had so many intricate carvings. It was hard to believe it had been made out of stone and had been preserved this long. It was surrounded by ponds full of lily pads and fish jumping. I loved it.

I took a few moments to just enjoy the tranquil scene, then headed back to the Batmobile. My peaceful mood abruptly ended when I found the driver had changed the Khmer music to rap. Lovely.

 Next we went to a land mine museum. This was fascinating. We pulled up and the entry was lined with massive bombs and all the workers were wndering around in camo army gear. The museum was small and very low-key, but still very informative. The museum was opened by a man who was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge. He don't even know what year he was born, and both his parents were killed in the Khmer Rouge. When he was about 10 years old he waas given his first weapon used to kill fellow Cambodians, friends, and family members. His first weapon was an AK47. He told of how his weapon of choice was a bazooka because he could use this laying down since the rifles were as big as he was and it was difficult to balance. He admitted that he himself laid thousands of land mines during his time with the Khmer Rouge. Land mines were used mainly as a defense mechanism to protect certain areas or to detain the enemy. They were designed to maim, rather than kill, a person because an injured soldier is more costly than a dead one.

Once the war ended, this man has dedicated his life to uncovering and defusing land mines in Cambodia. He himself has uncovered over 50,000 unexploded land mines so far. Cambodia remains as one the countries with the highest number of unexploded land mines, right up there with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. Apparently several bombs from the U.S. bombings during the Vietnam war, as well as land mines planted during the Khmer Rouge contribute to the estimated 1-6 million unexploded land mines left in the ground of the country. So sad. I commend this brave man for risking his life every day in order to save others' lives and make a difference in the welfare of this country.

Following the museum I went and climbed around ruins at one last temple, followed around a German tour group so I could listen to the tour guide telling about the temple in German, and then said chum reap leah (goodbye in Khmer) to the fantastic city of Siem Reap. It sure had been good to me, and I must admit I would have been perfectly happy staying there the remainder of my time here.