Two days ago, we arrived in Phnom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia. This is the part of our trip I was most excited (and nervous) about. Cambodia is like no other city we have visited so far. Begging seems to be the main way of life here. It is different than Thailand though. People dont seem to want to rip us off here. The tuk-tuk and cab drivers take you where you want to go and dont drag you to some gem place to try to sell you fake jewelry. And all they ask for is a dollar for anything. The people here are really friendly. Its hard to believe that the Khmer Rouge couldve been so evil to a group of people this nice.
We were in Phnom Pehn only for a night so we didnt get a chance to see any of the city. The genocide museum was across the street from our hostel but was closed by the time we arrived. I wouldve really liked to check that place out but it is really depressing to here what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did to the people of Cambodia in the 70's. It was about as bad as the Holocaust. Luckily, the KR doesnt exist anymore and the country has been able to slowly rebuild.
The next day, we took a 6 hour boat ride up the Tonle Sap to Siem Riep, Cambodia. The boat ride was alot nicer than I expected. The cabin was air conditioned, thank god. We were up on the top deck for about 20 minutes and i got burnt. Lesson learned...wear sunscreen! We arrived in Siem Riep about noon that day. Sadly, the begging here in this city is even worse than in Phnom Pehn. Immediately when are boat docked, we were bombarded by children begging us for food and water. This was the saddest thing Ive ever seen in my life. Thinking about how I grew up and seeing how these children live has made me so grateful for everythign I have. I think this part of the trip has forever changed my life. Im thinking we should buy some food or clothing for them and we might check into doing this in the next few days.
Yesterday was the grand finale of our tour in Asia: the temples of Angkor Wat! They were breathtaking for sure. The grounds are so big we had to hire a driver to take us around. It is amazing that the Cambodians were able to build and carve such huge temples. Most of the temples were about a millenium old. My favorites were Ta Prohm and of course, Angkor Wat. I took some amazing pictures. We will go back to Angkor Wat tommorow at sunrise to get some more pictures and see the temples WITHOUT the 50 asian groups swarming around..
On a side note, we had a SLIGHT glitch in our travel plans. We were supposed to go back to Bangkok on Saturday and fly from Bangkok to the last stop on our tour, Taipei, Taiwan. Unfortunately, some Thai protesters have caused the complete shutdown of Bangkok Survanabhumi airport. We cannot fly back to Bangkok and will now be flying through Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, on Sunday to get to Taipei. Oh yeah, and we had to pay an extra $500 bucks. SUCKS, but at least we got out of Bangkok before the protests begin.
Will write more when we get to Taipei!
1 comment:
So now you have seen first-hand the abject poverty in which many of this world live. The "poor" in our country would be considered well-off to these children. Sadly, Cambodia isn't the only place in the world where this is common. Can't change the world, but even small acts of kindness can make someone's life a little better,if only for a moment. (Be aware, though, that even small children can be con-artists when that is the way they have learned to survive. Don't let your guard down.) And although Pol-Pot is gone, there are many others like him in this world.
I think it is interesting how we are always amazed that ancient people managed to build some incredible structures. I guess we forget that just because they were not as "advanced" in some ways as we are, there were probably many smart people around back then. Maybe even a few engineers.:)
I am looking forward to your post from Taipei. :) :)
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