Being back home and working full time makes it difficult for me to find both the time and motivation to sit down and write about a past adventure. When recounting old travel memories, I feel a pull that seems to resonate deep within my physical self to pack a bag and leave on my next adventure. I’m slowly finding ways to find the inspiration to write about the amazing travel experiences I have had from the comfort of my beautiful home in Canmore, without wanting to drive straight to the airport in search of that next adventure. It’s coming slowly….
While reading through the SE Asia portion of my travel journal, I was inspired to write about Cambodia. Where do I even start?! Cambodia is a very poor country, and at the time, the poorest country that I had traveled to. The corruption began as soon as we reached the border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia. Fortunately, we had done our homework and knew exactly what to expect. After negotiating our tuk tuk down from 500 Thai dollars to 50, we were taken to a fake border crossing, where we refused to get out of the tuk tuk. We finally made it to the proper border crossing, and made our way out of Thailand and into Cambodia. Upon crossing into Cambodia, we were asked to fill out multiple forms at different stations, most of which we declined. I’m assuming most of these are used for identity collection, as it is common to find fake Canadian degrees, and drivers licenses for sale on the streets in Asia. If anyone comes across something with my name on it, please buy it, and I’ll pay you later!
Upon crossing into Cambodia, we were charged a rate higher than what was posted above the head of the border crossing, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that money is immediately pocketed, or if it is taken by the government of Cambodia. Needless to say, we were relieved to have finally made it into Cambodia. Much to our dismay, our adventure wasn’t quite over yet. We had to take a government controlled taxi from the border town in Cambodia into Siem Reap. It was about 2 hours and 50 dollars US. Fortunately, we found 2 other people to split it with. While driving, we became instantly aware that rules of the road are not a thing in Cambodia. People seem to just drive where ever there is space, and this included our cab driver. We weaved in and out of traffic, taking in the mopeds piled high with families, furnitures, farm animals, and almost anything else you can imagine. To say that I felt overwhelmed and unsafe was definitely an understatement. We arrived safely in Siem Reap (thankfully!) and made our way to the beautiful Golden Mango Inn, which was both affordable and nice, and exactly what I needed after a day of stressful travel from Thailand to Cambodia. After a good meal, we were off to bed to fight the exhaustion that comes with a chaotic day in Asia.
Our first full day spent in Cambodia was touring through the breathtaking Temples of Angkor. This archaeological sight dates back to the 9th and 15th centuries, and the remains is the temples from all of the capitals in the area. From what I’ve read, the kings of that time all wanted a beautiful temple to represent their capital, which left a ton of temples within a 400 km2 radius. We saw the famous Angkor Wat, the Temples of Bayon, and many more incredible sights, each of which took my breath away. The attention to detail is absolutely astounding to me, and it is hard to imagine that people spent years patiently developing and creating the perfect temple, while I am left feeling impatient when my Facebook page doesn’t load within 3-5 seconds. Because the Temples of Angkor is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the people who once lived in the area have been asked to leave the area. The average person in Cambodia lives off approximately $2/day so it is difficult for people to pick up and relocate, and this has caused a lot of people to be left stranded, homeless, and begging at the temples. While exploring the temples, we would be followed by multiple children all trying to get us to buy their knick knacks. They would say in nearly flawless english, “Hey miss, buy my postcard. Where you from? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.” If we didn’t respond, they would try again in a Spanish, German, or French. I had never seen begging from such small children like this, and it broke my heart. I put my sunglasses down, averted my eyes, tried not to cry, and fought against my urge to spend all my money buying the children’s knick knacks. It made me sad to see children forced into poverty this way; so much wasted capacity for growth and learning. At the same time, it showed me just how resilient and smart children can be, and how people don’t really give them enough credit for what they are capable of.
We spent 2 full days exploring the Temples of Angkor, climbing our way through the jungle and over massive tree roots to see the most beautiful of the temples, hidden deep within the trees. In the evenings, we explored Siem Reap and tried some traditional Cambodia BBQ, which, like most Asian food I’ve tried, was delicious. From Siem Reap, we took a bus to Phnom Penh, and this was easily the most terrifying public transportation I have ever taken. The bus drove on a small 2 lane road that made its way through a fully flooded flood plain in the pouring rain. The bus weaved through traffic the same way our cab had done from the border, and we had more than one near miss with a moped, once again piled high with children, farm animals, food, and other assorted goods. The rain was coming down in buckets, and the bus’s windshield wipers could barely handle it. I felt a huge flood of relief upon arriving in Phnom Penh. This was beginning to become a trend for us in Asia.
Unfortunately, getting off of a bus in Asia as a foreigner comes with a whole other type of chaos. We stepped off the bus with the single intention of finding our backpacks, attempting to ignore the tuk tuk drivers yelling at us to get a ride with them. After collecting our bags, we scanned the crowd of desperate faces, looking for someone who looked somewhat trustworthy and legitimate. This is not an easy task, I tell you! We ended up getting a ride with a guy who called himself Peter Cambodia, and on the ride to our hostel, he told us all about his family, living through the Khmer Rouge, and how we could find him on Facebook, as Peter Cambodia. By the time we reached our hostel, he had convinced us to do a tour of the killing fields with him the following day, and we agreed. He bid us farewell, and we made our way inside of our Lonely Planet recommended guest house. This was a huge learning experience for us, as Lonely Planet had this place rated quite highly, and Hostel World had said otherwise. Lonely Planet had done us well thus far in our trip, so we chose to trust them. After checking in and getting settled into our basic, but okay, room, we were happy enough with the place, and proceeded to hand over our passports to get our Vietnam visas. After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel and settled into bed, proceeding to find a few small bed bugs in our bed. We were both dismayed and disgusted, and went down to the front desk to ask if we could change rooms. The owner of the hostel was sleeping under a mosquito net on the front porch outside, and seemed very confused about what we meant when we said that there were bugs in our bed. I was struck with a tidal wave of guilt that this guy was sleeping on the ground outside, while I was complaining about a small bug that I had seen in our bed. Unsuccessful with getting our point across, we made our way back upstairs and tucked ourselves into the sleep sheets we had hauled through Europe in case of a time like the present.
Although we both had restless and uncomfortable sleeps filled with terrifying thoughts of bed bugs, we woke up unscathed and ready for our tour. On our way out to the killing fields, Peter Cambodia filled us in on the horrible rule of Pol Pet and the Khmer Rouge, which I knew almost nothing about until that time. In the 1970’s Pol Pet and the Khmer Rouge came to rule, and people who were considered enemies or educated were taken to a high school that was converted to the S-21 prison, where they were tortured until they believed in what the Khmer Rouge stood for, and then they were taken to the killing fields where they were tortured further and killed. The rule of the Khmer Rouge is dark, bloody, and horrible, and seeing the skulls of the people who were killed at the killing fields made it all the more real. From there, we made our way to the S-21 prison, where we saw ways in which people were tortured into becoming believers. The entire day left me speechless, horrified, and disgusted. It is shocking to think that some people have so much hate and anger that they would torture and kill other people.
While in Phnom Penh, we also visited the Royal Palace, which, before the rule of Pol Pet, was a place where people in SE Asia came to visit. It was tough to take in the beauty of the Royal Palace while knowing that since then so much horror had washed over this beautiful country. It left me feeling as though a dark cloud constantly hangs over the city of Phnom Penh. I felt guilty eating nice meals and treating myself in Phnom Penh, and Cambodia as a whole, and I left the country with mixed feelings on a being a tourist in general there. For the first time in my life, I questioned if it was okay for me to be there. Now, I am left with the same question, as well as the questions, would I go back? And if so, what would I do?
Want to hear more about my time in Cambodia? Check out Ryan and I’s podcast here!