Cambodia

Continuing from the last blog, Audrey, Mireille and I arrived at Ha Tien, Vietnam from Phu Quoc Island in search of transportation to Cambodia, specifically Phnom Penh. Immediately after getting off of the boat, Mireille was approached by a gentleman with a motorbike who said he could take us across the Cambodian border and have a car waiting for us on the other side to take us directly to Phnom Penh. Sounding too good to be true but not really having another choice we went ahead and each of us got on the back of a motorbike headed towards the border about 10 minutes from where our boat docked.

After filling out our Cambodia visa applications, getting a 'health check' (checking boxes to say we did not have a fever or were vomiting!), and walking across the border; our driver decided to tell us that his friend with the car to take us to Phnom Penh was busy that day and couldn't do it.









So there we were on a dirt road with no other options! Our moto driver did offer to take us to Kampot, about an hour and a half away by motorbike where we could stay the night a catch a bus to Phnom Penh the next morning. Realistically, we didn't expect to make it to Phnom Penh that day anyway so we took them up on their offer. It ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, driving through rural Cambodia at sunset on a motorbike!


















We stayed in Kampot for one night which was a quiet little town, would have been nice to stay there a bit longer but we were short on time and had to leave for Phnom Penh early the next morning. So we found a cute hotel, grabbed a meal and headed to bed early to be sure not to miss out bus.





Just 30 minutes into our bus to Phnom Penh we got stuck in a muddy 'detour' where we had to wait about an hour to get the bus pulled out.



Once we arrived in Phnom Penh we visited the killing fields which is one of the memorials and burials grounds from the massacre of more than 200,000 Cambodians during the totalitarian communist regime of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 to 1979. Certainly a sobering place to visit, just a short time ago, so many lives were lost for no justified reason. Trials for these massive crimes are still undergoing today with hope to put some of the people responsible to justice.

With only one night in Phnom Penh we had little time to see the city and explore the Cambodian culture. We had a great Cambodian meal,









came across a lively Cambodian street dance party (like something I would have seen in Panama, definitely not in Vietnam),



and visited Happy Man Bar where many Cambodian ladies welcomed us and taught as a traditional dance.










The next morning we were off to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. What an incredible site. The first morning we got up at 4:30am to see one of the temples at sunrise....absolutely breathtaking.












The next 3 mornings were spent exploring the amazing temples. Getting up early was totally worth it to beat the heat and the crowds. Here are some of the shots from the temples.






















Mireille and I took a Cambodian cooking class. We each got
to cook 2 dishes. Like a cross between Thai and Vietnamese food it was very delicious!!





While visiting the temples I had an idea to make a rubbing with pastels of some of the carvings (bas-reliefs) of the temples. So I set out with lots of paper and pastels. Not sure this would be allowed, I wasn't surprised when one of the ground workers took my paper away! So I still had lots of paper and pastels left! Around the temples there were many children selling anything from postcards to shirts to scarves. I decided to give my art supplies to the children. At one of the last temples a little boy approached me; "Lady, postcard one dollar?" Instead I told him I would give him a dollar if he drew me a picture and handed him the pastels and paper.

After inspecting the crayons for what seemed like 2 minutes, he began drawing on the paper. The postcards he was selling became the furthest thing from his mind. A crowd started to gather around us. It was such an incredible experience watching this boy enjoy colouring this picture. It gives me goose bumps just retelling the story, in fact, I was in tears just watching him. It was just so overwhelming watching him and remembering when I was his age I probably had 2 dozen colouring books and over 200 crayons and lots of time to colour. Life doesn't seem fair sometimes!

About 20 minutes later he had finished his masterpiece.

Afterward I gave him the all the pastels and paper I had left. His smile was priceless, being 6 years old and probably never attending a proper school, I might as well given him a piece of gold. He left for a second and came back with a flute to give me and taught me a song.

Cambodia is such a beautiful country with beautiful people. It is incredible how a population can recover from such a recent, devastating history. Only one week in Cambodia is not nearly enough to see and learn everything but I feel extremely fortunate to have spent some time there to better understand their history and culture.