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Article: My journey to enlightenment in Cambodia; Bel Mooney goes beyond the killing fields to visit the fabled temples of the 'other'Khmers.
- Article from:
- The Mail on Sunday (London, England)
- Article date:
- December 8, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: BEL MOONEY
THE boy had gentle, brown eyes and looked about 13. He told me his name was Pir. In truth, I really didn't want somebody taking me around the great temple of Angkor Wat but how could I refuse such a guide?
As he pointed out this carving and that, in surprisingly good English, he mentioned sadly that his parents had been murdered by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
Now, it didn't take a mathematician to work out that this was hardly possible.
The Khmer Rouge ruled between 1975 and 1979, killing at least one million people, systematically obliterating all intellectual, professional classes and stamping out pre-revolutionary ...