Cambodia: The Trip

As you all know, I spent my summer vacation in Cambodia this year. I flew into Phnom Penh and took the boat to Siem Reap early the next morning. The boat trip was cool. I travelled up the Tonle Sap river and saw small villages and fishing boats, and little kids would wave. When we arrived in Siem Reap we went through a floating village. Everyone lives in floating houses and they're transportation is boats. One house had a floating pig sty. About 4 pigs were in this wooden, floating cage. There were also floating ducks and chickens.

My three days in Siem Reap were spent being a tourist. I visited about 1000 temples in varying degrees of ruin. The highlights were Angkor Wat (of course) and Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is famous for huge trees that grow out of the ruins. The temple itself is about 800 years old, so the trees are only slightly younger. Also, parts of 'Tombraider' were filmed there. Bayon was amazing as well. It has 216 huge carved faces all over the temple. They're supposed to be various Gods and the King. I also took in a traditional dance performance, did some shopping, and visited the landmine museum and a waterfall.


My last night there I went for dinner at a place called Dead Fish. The food was awesome and the place was really great. The second floor was made up of floating floors at different levels where you sat on big cushions on the floor. Then came the entertainment. They were Cambodia's Sunny and Cher I think. He had a fabulous mullet and she wore spandex and had a 80's poodle perm. They rocked out with an electric keyboard to some pop classics. It was like a bad SNL skit. The same place also had duckling waddling around and a pit of crocodiles. The two were kept at a distance. I fed the crocodiles frozen fish, you can see the video below.

I took the bus back to Phnom Penh the next morning. After I arrived I went to visit the Royal Palace and then Wat Phnom. Its the highest point in Phnom Penh, but really its a small hill. The main draw to going there was that my guidebook said there were monkeys....and boy was it right! On one side of the hill is a whole group of monkeys. Old monkeys, baby monkeys....a barrel of monkeys! As anyone who knows me well knows, I have an unnatural fondness for monkeys, so being so close and interacting with them was a highlight of the trip for me. I got to feed them and pet them. These were very tame monkeys, and well fed. Some of those monkeys could use to lose a few pounds!

The last day of sightseeing was dedicated to Cambodia's more recent, terrible past. I had met some others travelling alone so we hired a driver and went out the Killing Fields at Cheoung Ek. This was the biggest of the 350 killing fields scattered around Cambodia used by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. There was a memorial filled with remains found at the site, but many bones and clothes still remain in the dirt. We had a guide, which was great, because it really gave perspective on what we were seeing. He told some really gruesome stories about how they killed. The Khmer Rouge killed more people than the holocaust, yet most of the world has no idea.

Next, we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum. Before the revolution it was a high school and then was turned into a prison where people were taken for interrogation before going to the Killing Field. The Khmer Rouge took and killed everyone who was educated and everyone who wore glasses because it meant they could read. They also took all the members of their families because they wanted to wipe out all of their genes.

For a country that was at war until 1990 they've come along way. I had a great time. People I met were really friendly and quick to tell you their stories from the war. My moto got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and the man who fixed it was a former soldier who had lost a leg to a landmine. It really made me realize how privileged I am when he asked if Canada had a war right now.