Teachings of Cambodia

Today was a traveling day from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, where Ali is currently working on a Fulbright essay. We spent the last two days in Phnom Penh, where another friend of Ali's from the Fulbright program has joined us. For a capital city, Phnom Penh is still under development as a lot of the sidewalks are a mess and there is a lot of construction left to finish which I'm guessing the city is still catching up from the events in the last 3 decades. There is a river running next to the many of the restaurants and bars the tourists frequent so it makes for a nice walk and there is still the occasional landmark or monument that may take you by surprise.

We visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which reflects the finest of recent Khmer architecture and is similar to the wats in Laos. The roofs are stunning and the inside Buddha displays are eye-catching. All the monuments are within an organized but pretty garden and the palace is still used by the monarchy. There are also exhibits containing royal clothing, the seat the king was carried in during his coronation, and gifts to the royal family from other countries. There are many stupas in the courtyard which must have served some significant purpose or memory of the royal family but we chose to not follow a tour so we're not really sure of the specifics. A block away the Royal Palace was the National Museum which houses numerous ancient relics and sculptures of the pre-Angkor and Angkor period. The building itself is beautiful as well as the open courtyard in the middle of the museum, but the exhibit was ok, very heavy on the ancient works of art.

I should also mention our first dinner in Phnom Penh. Ali and I walked into what looked like a nice restaurant by the river and sat near the patio under a fan. The food was great, I had a chicken amok, which is a mild sauce of coconut milk, lemongrass and egg that I was totally enjoying until I noticed that there were several black beetle-like insects trying to crawl into my food. I felt crawling on the back of my neck and swatted another insect on my lap. What started out as an annoyance turned into disgust as we figured out that these insects may have been falling on our table (and in our hair) from the ceiling. We asked for our check and peaced out as quickly as possible. Of course as we walked outside, Ali noticed one more bug in my hair, yuck yuck yuck.

On a more serious note, we spent our second day in town visiting sites significant to the Khmer Rouge. We started out at the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, a secondary school turned prison and interrogation center turned museum. The classrooms were turned into individual and group cells or torture chambers and we were able to walk into each room and see the bed frame, leg shackles, and the occasional photograph of a former victim. This visit was initially overwhelming, since I had a few of these rooms to myself I tried to imagine what had happened and had my breath literally taken away just thinking about it. Once other tourists joined the room, I could snap back to the present but took note of the red stains on the floor and cracked walls. The museum displayed many photographs of the victims and more helpful information on the Khmer Rouge such as the leaders, the philosophy, and some of the horrific acts towards the Cambodians. We could spent more than a few hours at the museum but had to move on to our next site: Choeung Ek, aka The Killing Fields. Our tour guide was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge and he told us he lost his parents, sister, and uncle along the way. There was a lot of hurt and anger in his voice which really let me know that this was real. He encouraged us to take many photos of the mass graves and trees where beatings took place so we could show our family and friends at home what had happened. The photos will always serve as a reminder to myself what happened but it will never compare to actually being at the site. One of the hardest parts was standing on the mound of dirt and still being able to see bone fragments poking out of the earth. This was a place that I will never forget and words that I write won't be able to fully describe what I was feeling or thinking about but again, something that I think is good to talk about in person.

So we left Phnom Penh by bus this morning and arrived in Siem Reap this afternoon where we will be waking up at sunrise to see the Angkor Wat ruins and as many of the temples around that we can fit in during the day. We are still sweating like crazy over here but I can't believe that we only have a few days in Cambodia left.

But again, don't worry we are doing just fine!