Vienna, Wien, Austria

Vienna, Austria. It has now been almost 6 months since I have visited Vienna, but I still think about this city daily. Austria, is my "new" favorite country. I say "new" as every country and city I have been to always becomes my "new" favorite place for different reasons. However, Vienna is a truly amazing city filled with rich history, amazing museums, and delicious cafe's. Words cannot express how much I enjoyed my week in Vienna, let alone my time in Austria. So, this post will be mostly in pictures. Leaving the opinion, literally, in the eye of the beholder. 

Hong Kong, 4 - 9 May 2014

So Hong Kong was pretty amazing. It is a huge metropolis with a very interesting history. It is a perfect collision of China meets England. It wasn't until 1997 when the English finally gave Hong Kong back to China; so it has a strong English feel to it. Now, HK is under the “two systems, one country” policy and is supposed to be that way for 50 years post the hand over. My recommendation, go to HK before the 50 years is up as no one knows what China has planned for the city-country-state and what it will turn into after its sovereignty comes into question. Many local Hong Kongians already do not like the mainland Chinese, let alone having to deal with the rules of Beijing. It is a very interesting time to go to HK (while you can!) to see the capitalist, socialist, metropolis blend that it is. 

It is a brilliant city with great food, shopping, history, outdoor activities, and really is just awesome. You need to see it to believe it. The highlight for me was the transportation system as one minute you’re in computer geek heaven looking at weird tablets for super cheap, the next you’re in Old Kowloon with the markets & museums, and then just a quick ferry ride you’re back in fancy Central. You really can be transported anywhere within minutes inside of HK. Seriously, I cannot say anything bad about Hong Kong.... probably other than the crazy thunderstorms we had while we were there. Other than that, you got to get to Hong Kong !  

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.