A must see as a tourist…though I wished we’d gone to Siem Reap first because many of the statues that were “recovered” from the temples were exhibited at the National Museum.
I don’t think I need to go into the descriptions…I believe the photos say it all.
Phnom Penh was…..gritty. The recovery phase (I mentioned earlier) is still in motion. You could tell people were survivors…and the NGO activity is the highest I’ve ever experienced. It’s not like I didn’t feel safe – but you could tell ALOT was happening behind closed doors. This is where I first read about Somaly Mam and her plight…which got me hooked to further research on human trafficking and prostitution. Again…not to give Phnom Penh a negative light – I had some amazing experiences like…taking a cooking class, checking out the temples, being in the Phnom Penh Post and actually checking out S-21 and the Killing Fields. BUT the most interesting experience was experiencing PRIDE. Check out the images.
As I was putting all the images together I realized there’s alot of territory i’ll cover in the proceeding posts. Decided to break them down according to city (Phnom Penh/Siem Reap) then within that the little activities I did.
Overall Cambodia was certainly a country of extremes in every sense of the word. What pinpointed this nuance was what a Khmer said to me, “there is nothing here you can’t have, anything is possible.” For some reason that put a sour taste in my mouth, realizing the high amount of sex slavery, (child) prostitution, human trafficking and poverty. I realize that there is poverty around the world – but in Cambodia it’s different. My sense is that trust and hope for the country has been shattered from the outside (U.S. & Vietnam) and the inside (Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot) – so the motivation for “improving” the country may be a moot point. There are so many NGOs and Foreign Aid helping Cambodia one might think they will be getting back to their feet sometime soon…but the sad reality is that the Government is very corrupt themselves. Our sense is (as I was discussing this w/Megan) that Cambodia needs at least couple of generations to recover. After all, during the Khmer Rouge, the majority of Cambodia’s intellectuals and their children were tortured and killed. As I was walking around I realized the older people that I saw (60+yrs) survived those horrid times..imagine that. Anyhow once there, we were on the high road to learning about Cambodia’s history – sucking it all up like dry sponges. We were able to get documentaries done right after the Khmer Rouge was toppled from power in 1979 and the footage was eerie to say the least. Anyhow I think the S-21 trials (that is NOW just taking place) is a metaphor or shall I say a sad analogy of how the country is run. Following it has been disheartening to say the least. I’ll stop at that.
In essence, Cambodia was the most eye opening travel experience in my travels here in SE Asia.
Have to say – this was the easiest city to navigate around. Once arriving I definitely got a hefty sense of “tourism” – much more than in Yogya. The airport was super clean and everyone was super nice…well – that’s because there was that ASEAN protest that occurred the week before. The Thai government was being extremely nice to tourists since it received bad press and lost alot of money. It’s interesting to be in the “tourist” position…but I suppose with the economy being as it is…the veil of the unspoken need for your money has been lifted. Now – it’s all about how much money you have and how much you’re willing to spend. Maybe it was blatant before..but being on these travels this time around its clear. There are tourist economies (Bali, Siem Reap) and there are economies that do well without foreigners..which i’m still investigating. What resonated across SE Asia was the amount of human trafficking/prostitution that goes on…yeah I know this is not new issue but for some reason it hit home this time. Okay enough of my ranting. Here are some pictures.
