Cambodia

Cambodia:
Phenom Pehn: good lord I spent way too much time here but it was a city that caught me by surprise, with Zero expectations of a city I showed up after eating relatively bland food in Laos, to be surprised by the interesting variety that Cambodia had to offer. Staying “lake side” in a bit of a touristy/back packers area, I found my self trapped in Laos mode (slow moving lazy days). Going to the Dump to feed children was an activity that was rewarding and worth doing, a brilliant experience. Going to the “killing fields” and seeing S-21 which is the Genocide war Museum is a must do. Other than that, the Capital does not have too much more to offer, I managed to stretch my stay into 7 days.


Seam Reap: Catering to the mass amounts of tourists, this is a unique city that is located minutes away from Angkor Wat. Hotels and restaurants is what you will find here as well as a couple of markets which are cookie cutters of one another, selling the same trinkets and beads as the next guy, the most commonly heard phrase “hey mr. you buy??”gets a bit old after a while. The abundance of Tuk Tuk drives can begin to rattle your head a bit, but using humour is how I deal with most bothersome situations so after being asked “where you going” a 1000 times, my answer soon became “crazy man…. I’m going CRAZY” followed by the universal twirely/ swirling finger pointed at my head, a smile and a laugh, most of the time it was well received, and to the others… well the hell with them.

Angkor Wat: was a brilliant place to visit, not being a person who is too impressed by temples, and only going to 2 monistaries out of 8 that I could have graced in Tibet, I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed my visit to these temples. Only spending one day there was OK for me, I could have easily paid the extra $20 and stayed for 3, but in an attempt to keep moving and being cheap I opted for a good 8 hours of touring, starting with the 5:30am sun rise. If I went back the $10, 10min. hot air balloon ride for sunrise would be on the top of my list.


PHOTOS OF CAMBODIA:


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Cambodia Email

Cambodia
Just a day away from leaving this country and I realized I have seen NOTHING of it, just the two major points of Phenom Pehn and Seam Reap (Angkor Wat). It is sad to have moved so quickly through this area for there is tons of beautiful scenery and surprisingly some very interesting food to get involved with. My trip pushes me on and after an emotional twist with potentially landing an amazing job in Sydney, I was driven to keep moving, pushing into Vietnam. This is NOT to say that I didn’t get a chance to experience Cambodia, being here for 15 days has opened my eyes to the atrocities that plagued this country just 30 years ago, and it is apparent the scar that it has left on the social structure of the country today. Not to get historical on you…. But just 30 years ago a mass genocide of over 2million people were exterminated , the goal was to eliminate the upper class (educated people) and start the country all over from scratch. An extreme case of Marxism (thanks Sociology degree!); which clearly does not work when you have to kill off ½ your population. The out come, besides the killing millions, was an uneducated, torn, poor, emotionally, and physically scared country. After visiting 2 of it’s 3 neighbouring countries (Thailand and Laos), it is clear how this has affected it’s people, money is tighter, smiles are fewer, and life is still a bit tougher. It’s a sad reality.
The levels of prosperity is the most apparent in cambodia, where you can see BMW's, Lexus SUV's, whipping down the steet in Phenom Phen, and a mile away have litteraly a couple thousand people living in the city dump. I got a chance to do some charity and go to feed and visit 300+ children who were living there, the program was led by a British man who really is a saint. Spending an afternoon at the dump was just as touching as paying my respects to the millions lost to the genocide at the S-21 museum and the “killing fields” where mass graves have been dug up, revealing holes scattered across the earth, where thousands once lay…. That was a heavy day.
On a less MORBID topic, Angkor Wat was a beautiful assembly of temples and ancient architecture, being the cheap bastard I am, only paid for the $20usd for a day instead of the $40 for 3 days. Not being a person turned on by temples, I found the day to be plenty, but could have easily taken my time and spread it out through 3, that would have been fantastic. Sun Rise on Angkor Wat was probably one of the best I have ever seen in my life.
I travelled a bit to quickly through this country to really get into the fabric of things, I would have loved to get off the beaten path, head down to the ocean, and continue to eat Khmer food, but I have a serious urge to move forwards.