Phnom Penh – Cambodia, 3 April – 6 April 2014

heading from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh on the Mekong Express, took 7 hours!

the palace

along the waterfront

 At first impression, Phnom Penh was kind of a dirty city with not a lot going on. However, if you look deeper into its history, it becomes quite a remarkable place. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed Siem Reap much more, but Phnom Penh is still worth a visit.

at Wat Phnom

getting dressed up at Wat Phnom

We saw almost all the sites of the city in one day, we went to the Wat (Temple) on top of the hill, walked along the water front, went to the Grand Palace, and saw the National Museum. The most interesting place we went to in the city was the S-21 Tuol Sleng Prison. It is now called the Genocide Museum. It used to be a high school, but in the 1970s during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, it became a torture prison camp. It was absolutely awful.

The next day we hired a Tuk Tuk to take us an hour outside of the city to head to the Killing Fields, to continue the story of the S-21 prisoners. Most prisoners, after being almost beaten and tortured to death, were sent to the Killing Fields to be terminated. It is unfathomable the horrors that happened here, let alone to think they happened only 30-40 years ago completely unnoticed by the world makes it even worse.

One site that particularly stood out was the killing tree. Khmer Rouge soldiers would take babies from their mothers, grab their feet and smash the bodies against this tree before throwing the body in the grave. A famous Khmer quote was, “in order to get rid of the tree, one must cut the roots”. The large memorial in the middle of the field was filled with skulls of the remains found. The Cambodian people say that they keep places like the S-21 Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields open to the public is to remember what happened here. People must remember their history in order to prevent it from happening again.

My time in Cambodia has definitely been an eye opening and educational experience. Even though I didn’t enjoy the city of Phnom Penh itself, it is essential to go to see the real conditions locals live in and to see the history they come from. The city is interesting in the fact that the government officials drive around in Lexus’s and Bentley’s, while most of the population is still in poverty. Cambodia has come a long way from the horrible rule of the Khmer Rouge, but it still has a long way to go. 

Siem Reap, Cambodia _ 29 March - 3 April 2014

Siem Reap is the kind of place that reminds you why you go backpacking; to see the world. It is not nearly as developed as chaotic Kuala Lumpur or touristy like the backpacker party epicenters of Thailand. It is simply just Siem Reap, home to the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. The pace here is slow (probably due to the 38 C/104 F weather) and everything seems to just be a little behind.

super sweaty from hiking around in the heat !

The sunsets and the sunrises at the famous Angkor Wat are truly inspiring with the colors of reds and oranges. I was fortunate enough to spend my 26^th birthday in Siem Reap. We woke up at 4am to head to Angkor Wat and watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful. This temple is thousands of years old and to be there in 2014 on my 26^th birthday made me realize how lucky I was. I couldn't ask for a better present to myself than to just be there. The Angkor Wat temples are a UNESCO world heritage site and were constructed between the 9^th and 15^th centuries. The famous ones are Bayon and also Ta Prohm, where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed.

celebrating my birthday watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat

What really stood out to me was the spirit and kindness of the Khmer people. It was not too long ago that war ravaged the country under the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It wasn't until the late 1990s that the country was able to start to rebuild from the destruction of the wars. However, even though the war is over and Cambodia can start to flourish, the people are effected everyday by old landmines and UXO’s.

Children who are not even old enough to remember the war are still injured due to the undetected landmines. It truly is so sad. Yet, Khmer hospitality and kindness is mind blowing. Most people in the country are old enough to remember the war, but still have such an unbreakable spirit.

Meas and I ! Meas took us everywhere in his Tuk Tuk

We went to the landmine museum, which also is a home to children who were injured due to landmines or UXO’s & it is an NGO. We learned so much on how this is still affecting the country. (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos still are facing this problem). The head of the Landmine Museum and School, Aki Ra, was a child soldier himself. Now his goal is to clear Cambodia of all remaining landmines. In 2010 he was named as a CNN hero for his work and was awarded in the top 10. He and his team have estimated that they have cleared 50,000 mines or so, but the government still believes that there are still 3 million to 5 million mines still undiscovered. That is how severe this problem is.

It is truly inspiring to know what the people have gone through, yet they are so welcoming. Just walking down Pub Street or the Night Markets, everyone is smiling and saying hello wanting to practice their English or sell you something. It was an eye opening experience. Siem Reap was a cute little town filled with history. I couldn't ask for a more inspirational place to be during my birthday and to remind me why I travel.

sunset at Angkor Wat

night market