In the spotlight... Cambodia

When King Sihanouk died in October last year, it put Cambodia in the spotlight. I spoke to Mora Gibbings - a survivor of the Pol Pot regime - about escaping the killing fields, post-Khmer Rouge poverty and the King's legacy for Prime Minister Hun Sen. 

 

Bustling around to find her glasses, she puts the thin black frames on her wide, open face before sitting down. It's a bright, early morning. Mora Gibbings tells me how she heard about the King's death: "I was in the office and my husband sent me an email, 'Did you know that King Sihanouk passed away?' and I just started to cry. I always loved Cambodia. I still want to go back."

King Norodom Sihanouk died in Beijing in October 2012 aged 89. His legacy is mixed: part anti-colonial hero who secured his country's independence from France, part political opportunist who disastrously supported the Khmer Rouge to get back into power - but always to his people 'Papa King'. Mora was nine-years old when the King was toppled from power in 1970; but she loved and respected him. She is not alone. Huge crowds lined the streets to watch the gilded float carry his coffin back to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh from China. Hundreds of thousands turned out for his funeral in February.

Tears form even now as she talks of his death. "He was a very exciting king for Cambodia and Cambodians." Mora talks of her country with affection - her eyes almost disappearing as she smiles. Wearing a plain black t-shirt, no adornments, Mora - now 51 - looks like a regular working mum. She lives in Melbourne with her two daughters and husband, Paul, an Englishman she met in Cambodia before settling in Australia. Even while recounting the horror of Pol Pot, and the desperate poverty that followed, she giggles at moments of absurdity in her life. 

Most of her family died under Pol Pot; she and her two younger sisters survived. Like most young people she was separated from her family in Phnom Penh and taken to live in army teams where they ate meagre food rations and were forced to work in the fields. Mora was not allowed to see her family - family relationships under the Khmer Rouge were considered as bad as class ties and had to be severed - she didn't know her mother had died until 1988 when she returned to the village where they had been sent. "People disappeared all the time then. I used to share a room with nine cousins. All of them are gone except me," she adds, "No-one can describe the fear."

Sitting in her large, cream-coloured kitchen the kettle gurgles in the background as her husband makes breakfast: "Did you know that I was engaged to be married? I don't think I even told Paul before that I ran away from my own wedding," she says, smiling at this long-forgotten episode. After the Pol Pot regime was thrown out in 1978 by a Vietnamese invasion, she and her sisters went to live with their only surviving aunt who had eight children of her own. "It was too much for her to have us too. So she arranged for me to get married. I was only 17."

"I came from Phnom Penh, the city where my parents were educated. He couldn't read or write in Khmer - I really couldn't marry him. So two days before the wedding I ran away." Her family were left to deal with the rumours that she had had an affair with a Vietnamese soldier. 

Mora joined the Socialist Women's Movement against the Vietnamese. She admits she had no interest in politics but with no home, and no way to get food, joining the group was the only way to survive. She spent the next two years with them in the forest living with villagers who fed and hid them from Vietnamese forces. 

If life was precarious under Pol Pot it was no better after. Social structures were destroyed by the regime and rebuilding was difficult as the international community refused to recognise the Vietnamese-backed government. Deciding to return to the capital, Mora found one of the women from the Movement, now married to a powerful man in Prime Minister Hun Sen's government. She helped Mora to get a job as a secretary in the Education Ministry - by pretending that she was her cousin. 

She tells me how she learnt to read and write in English. The Minister for Education wanted Mora to study Marx so she could join the Young Communists - "the Soviet Union sponsored students to study there and in East Germany. When they came back they were so cool and trendy!" - but Mora wasn't interested. Instead, she persuaded the Minister to write to Phnom Penh University where a Quaker NGO was training Cambodians to be English teachers. What was her English like at the time? "I had none whatsoever! When the classes started, I couldn't speak at all," she says leaning back and laughing at her audacity; "The teacher was so angry; he accused me of corruption in getting a place because I worked in the Ministry. He said the training was meant for poor people." But Mora was poor. At the Ministry everyone was given two pens a month for work - Mora kept one for her studies: "And I stole two pieces of A4 paper a week for my studies - two sheets."

Mora loves her country, despite the tragedy she went through, and talks keenly of returning. I ask her what the King's death means for Cambodia and Hun Sen's strongman government: "I don't think his death will change politics in Cambodia; the King lost power a long time ago. Cambodians put up with Hun Sen because of what they suffered under Pol Pot."

President Obama visited Cambodia in November 2012 as it hosted the ASEAN and East Asia summits. His visit raised questions about political prisoners and the government's violent evictions and suppression of protests against land grabs. It stands in contrast to the King's legacy: "He was one of us," Mora explains, "The King went to the farms and saw the people. We are grateful to Hun Sen for going to China and bringing his body back; he will be more popular for this gesture." As memories of the horrors of Pol Pot begin to fade, and opposition protests grow, the Prime Minister may need more gestures like these. 

Travel in... Kyrgyzstan

Apart from a map of where it is (between China and Kazakhstan), five tips for the Switzerland of Central Asia

The Silk Road - the ancient series of trade routes between China and Europe - passed through Kyrgyzstan

1.  Pack a torch for those trips to the loo (not just at night). Kyrgyzstan is a country of yurts, yaks and yoghurt - all of which combine on the breathtaking high mountain pastures (or jailoo) that are the reason most visitors come to the country. The best way to appreciate the jailoos is to stay in a yurt, a traditional round felt dwelling nomads use while grazing their cattle, sheep and - you guessed it - yaks. The yurts are almost unchanged from their original construction: some may boast a solar-powered light inside, but other than that there are no mod-cons. Toilets are hole-in-the-ground outhouses some distance from the yurt. Outside of the capital, Bishkek, Soviet-era legacy electrical wiring may mean the torch comes in handy in the cities too. 

2. Take a break from being vegetarian. Local cuisine reflects the traditional Kyrgyz nomadic culture: boiled carbs served with carbs, lots of fatty meat and bread. Examples include manti (meat-filled dumplings), beshbarmak (noodles with five types of meat) and shashlyk (grilled kebabs, where one chunk can be pure fat). Food originating from the Uzbek community - like dimlama (boiled meat, potatoes, cabbage and onion) and plov (fried rice) - has vegetables, but meat is still an essential ingredient. If you're invited to a local host's house, often the honoured guest will be given the meat bone to finish off. Refusing such an honour is irredeemably rude. 

A big bowl of plov - everyone digs in

In the summer months, however, the markets are full of delicious in-season fruits like cherries and watermelon. There are also no end of dairy-based products - most have a salty, sour taste. No trip to Kyrgyzstan is complete with trying the slightly alcoholic kymys, fermented mare's milk. Sip it. You have been warned.

3. Bring sunscreen. While it may feel deceptively balmy during the summer months up in the mountains, the sun is strong and you'll need protection while you're out in it enjoying all that trekking. Kyrgyzstan may not have the abundant oil and gas resources of its much larger neighbour to the north, but it does have exceptionally beautiful scenery. This makes it an ideal destination for hiking and horse-trekking in the summer and skiing in the winter. You can do a three day hike from near the capital to the high mountain pasture Lake Song-Kul or go horse-trekking near Lake Issyk-Kul. There's a reason they call it the Switzerland of Central Asia. 

4. Wear a wedding ring - if you look younger than 24 years old. And that's a Central Asian 24; women here tend to age faster as they take on domestic chores and lots of child-rearing (abortion is the preferred method of birth control). Bride kidnapping is thankfully getting rarer, but most women are expected to be married by 24. Although the Soviets introduced education for women, a woman's lot is still tough. Even in the cities, women are expected to move in with their in-laws and do all the domestic chores for the whole family. A (demonstrably, daily) clean house means she is a good daughter-in-law and she will be expected to prepare and serve feasts and tea for guests to the house. Be prepared for questions about your husband and kids. 

A park in Osh - the second largest city

5. Take a Russian phrasebook, or a friend who speaks Russian and can read cyrillic. The younger, educated generation are learning English, but Kyrgyzstan remains in the Russian sphere of influence (Kyrgyzstan is the only country to host both American and Russian military bases). The country has Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Tajik communities - they'll most likely speak Russian to each other. In the western areas of the country, near the Uzbek border, deadly riots have taken place between Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities; it is wise to speak Russian rather than each of those languages to avoid giving offence or be seen to take sides.

Travel in ... Burma (Myanmar)

Rose tells us her experience and advice for what to wear, food, trains and monks in Yangon (Rangoon) and Mandalay, Burma. 

listen to ‘Travel in Burma’ on Audioboo

How to travel for work... Top 5 tips

How to travel for work on Vimeo. This post contains a video.

Work in...Nepal

Five top tips for working in the foothills of the Himalayas

Kate, programme manager for an international development project, gives us her best advice for travelling and working in one of the world's poorest and most beautiful countries

 

Kate in Kathmandu

1. Take layers  During the winter months (from October to March), temperatures can get really chilly especially at night.  The lack of central heating makes it important to wear layers.  You can buy these in Kathmandu, but if you have a favourite shawl or sweater then take it along – clothes bought in Kathmandu are great for trekkers, but not the super-stylish!

2. Getting fibre  The range of food on offer in Nepal is generally much wider than in many developing countries, but making sure you meet your daily fibre requirement can still be challenging.  Most bread and carbohydrates are white and sugary.  Nuts, seeds and fibrous breakfast cereals are therefore very useful suitcase items. 

3. Bring sensible footwear  Outside Kathmandu, roads soon become muddy and surfaces uneven.  If you’re going on a field trip, make sure you take sensible shoes like trainers or walking boots.  In the city, the Kathmandu dusty roads soon destroy shoes so don’t take your best LK Bennett’s...

4. Don’t forget the anti-nausea pills  Roads cling to the mountains and valleys in Nepal, making any field outing a test of stomach strength.  Make sure you always carry anti-nausea medication with you (like gravol) to help with motion sickness.  Imodium can also come in very useful at times. 

5. Don't get too complacent  The easy-going nature of Nepalis and friendliness of locals often make you feel at home.  While important to enjoy this, don’t let your guard down totally – Thamel (the main touristy area) suffers from pick-pocketing and taxi drivers will often try to drive a hard (very hard) bargain.  Enjoy the relaxed feeling, but don’t become complacent!