Colorful Cambodia

We will forever remember our visit to the country of Cambodia. We were surprised in many ways at some of the things we saw during our quick 72 hours in this country. We flew on Air Asia airlines from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took less than 2 hours. The day we flew into Phnom Penh was a historic day as the Khmer Rouge leaders were going on trial for the first time in 28 years. The Khmer Rouge took over this country by force and ruled with brutality for nearly a 4 year period - 1975 - 1979. While their leader died in the late 90's (Pol Pot), five of his leaders were finally going before a judge and the country to answer for their crimes.


The kids are now professionals at checking through immigration and obtaining visas which cost us about $20 each to enter the country. (As a note to future visitors to Cambodia, when you leave the country the cost is $25 per person.) They know how to walk up to the security guard, hand them their passport, smile for the picture taken, answer any questions (if any) and then walk forward when done.


We stayed one night in Phnom Penh which is the capital city. We checked into our hotel (called the Indochine II) which was near the river and close to the boat we were taking the next morning to Siam Reap. The hotel was ok, but not one we would stay at again with kids. We decided to check out a restaurant called "Garden Bar in the Shade" which was a short 2 block walk away and which came recommended from our Lonely Planet book on Cambodia.


We were HUMBLED as we saw things we have not seen in all of our travels through Asia. People who were sincerely hungry approached our table asking us for food. It startled us and we were not prepared for this experience. The kids will remember what happened at our table for the rest of their lives (as will Kristin and I). There we sat eating our food with people who had nothing, asking us not for money, but for something to eat. They stared at our food, just inches away, some severely disfigured and born with challenges that we will never know or understand. We did what we could to help them, but we all walked home to our hotel that night in silence, thinking about the children, teenagers, and adults who looked desperately at our plates a few minutes earlier. Anna made one comment the next day - "I don't want to see any more sad things, ok?" We knew it wouldn't be the last sad situation we would see in Cambodia, so it was a promise we just couldn't make to her as parents. We also knew this was part of the real world we live in and it was good for our kids to see that not everyone receives several meals a day with no effort or thought. I don't think they will take future meals for granted, which is a good thing.


The next morning we had a taxi take us to the nearby boat dock. We bought tickets the night before for $35 and negotiated Anna a free ticket because of her age. The boat ride to Siem Reap took about 6 hours, but was fabulous site seeing. We saw Cambodia life from the river's point of view. It included seeing many happy people in their little boats fishing the river, gardens being irrigated from little hoses, and seeing all the Cambodians waving to us as we passed. Not to mention the skinny cattle, which seemed content even though you could easily see each of their ribs. It was great for sight seeing and I would recommend anyone to take the boat to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh - it was also a very smooth ride with air conditioning on the inside.


We arrived at Siam Reap and checked into a fantastic hotel called "Angkor Tara". Another internet deal we can thank Kristin for as it was new, had a great pool and one of the best breakfast buffets we have enjoyed. It was also only 5 kilometers from Angkor Wat. The driving here is something to see as driving is relatively new here and there is NO rhyme or reason behind who is driving on what side of the road. We hired and became instant friends with our driver - Loy Busneak. He had a nice air conditioned van and took all five of us, plus my mom around Angkor Wat for $30 a day. Angkor Wat, I believe, is one of the "new" seven wonders of the world and I didn't know much about it before coming.

What we saw at Angkor Wat was amazing. It was an archaeologist's dream. About 25 miles of ancient, incredible ruins built between the year 900 and 1300. It was better than any of the temples you see in Indiana Jones and in fact, we saw the temple where the movie "Tomb Raiders" was filmed. We took a day and a half to see as much as we could, but you could spend weeks and never see it all. One of the highlights was seeing a beautiful Cambodian sunset over a lake from one of the ruins we hiked up to. I was proud of my mom who climbed up some very steep ancient steps that were more vertical than any stairs I have ever hiked up. (I hope my sister Renee is not reading this as she was worried we wouldn't take good care of mom, lol.) These pictures won't do Angkor Wat justice, but it's a place that despite the heat, I would say is a must see for anyone coming to Asia.


We had another memorable experience with our driver, Loy Busneak. Kristin asked him if he knew of anyone personally that had been affected by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 70's. He said yes. We asked him if any of his family was affected and he told us that his mother, father, and five of his siblings had been killed by the Khmer Rouge in the late 70's. Again, it was one of those moments that stopped us all in our tracks. He said he had one sister and one brother survive because they ran away and hid while their family was taken away. He was 10 years old when this happened. Can you imagine the tragedy this man had to endure as a child? We didn't ask him for any details, but told him we were sorry. He said it is okay, as he knows he will be reunited in the next life with his family. Loy has been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 8 years and is currently serving as a Branch President at his church.


We took a 6 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh for our flight out of the country. The bus was very nice, air conditioned, included a meal and drinks for $10 a person, so I guess $1.70 an hour. The bus was clean and very nice...another nice way to travel between cities.

We arrived back in Phnom Penh about 3 1/2 hours before our flight, so we decided to hire a driver to take us to the Killing Fields as well as the S21 prison. The S21 prison reminded me of a holocaust museum. This prison was a former junior high and high school that the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975 and turned into a torture chamber. The kinds of torture they did to thousands of people here was abhorrent and indescribable. What is scary about the Khmer rouge is that they killed between 1/3 and 1/2 of the entire country's population - over 2,000,000 people. The people they tortured and killed were the educated - school teachers, business people and all government and civil service workers. Pot Pole was trying to eliminate religion, art, history and anyone that he thought would try to stop him as he "trained" the remaining young people into his idea of a perfect society. A truly sick man.....it is very scary that this all happened during my lifetime. We also went to the killing fields which was where many people went to be killed after being tortured at the S21 prison. We saw a building containing thousands of skulls and bones which they display in their honor...and for people to see so history never repeats itself.

One last thing I will mention is that one taxi driver told us there are very few elderly people living in Cambodia, due to the age of people affected by the Khmer Rouge. It was eerie as we rode through the town. We didn't see any elderly people anywhere. I'm grateful to live in a country where regardless of their political affiliation, we know our leaders are looking to protect the individual.


Cambodia is a country that is still developing, but a country of people that are survivors. They all still have a great sense of humor as you communicate with them. We can learn a few things from them about overcoming trials and tribulations. I've also realized that no matter how bad our economy is, we all will always have a lot to be grateful for and be around friends that would help in any situation. I'm grateful for the chance to visit Cambodia, as we left Cambodia a changed family.

We now move into the great country of Laos! Expect an update around next Wednesday. Again, we hope all our friends and family are doing well.


DEAL OF THE WEEK: I always have three or four for this category, so it's hard to pick one. This week I would go with flights we bought on the internet from Air Asia for $14 (ok with tax it was almost $20...darn airport fees and taxes). The flight was a nice jet with all leather seats lasting about two hours. Nice...six months ago I could have used the same amount of money and bought 3 1/2 gallons of gasoline.


FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: I can't think of any funny stories in Cambodia outside of Anna having a bat dropping land in her hair inside a dark ruin we were exploring at Angkor Wat. So, here is a story from our second week in Phuket when we were staying at the JW Marriott. Kristin decided it was much easier to buy the spray on sunscreen for the kids instead of applying the lotion by hand on everyone. She bought a bottle of "spray on" and one morning was spraying the kids to protect them from the ultra violet rays. I asked her to spray me as we were in a hurry to go swimming. We first went into the ocean and body surfed in the waves for a couple of hours and then we hit the pool. We all got a little sunburned that day and gradually started noticing designs in our bodies. Mine was the most embarrassing as it had what looked like was an S in my chest and stomach. This was 3 weeks ago and I still have the "S" I received in Phuket. I'm wondering now if there will be a way to get rid of it before we go boating in Utah this summer. We don't know if the spray wore off in spots when we were body surfing at the beach or if it was a result of the techniques of the the "sprayee". You decide.