A week in Cambodia

Ashley and I at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

Angkor Wat

Devatas (Hindu deities) at Angkor Wat

Charming (begging) kids at Bantay Srei


I've been avoiding this post, because I couldn't think of a way to sum up my experience in Cambodia in a short & sweet posting, but I have to do the Cambodia blog before going to Thailand on Saturday, so here goes. (I know, it's a rough life I lead)

I didn’t love Cambodia at first. In fact, the first few days there, I wondered why I had spent the money to come to a poor, dirty country full of mosquitoes, cockroaches, and half-naked children begging everywhere.

The guesthouse where we stayed in Phnom Penh was reminiscent of some of the nasty hostels I stayed at in Europe five years ago, when I was younger and slightly more adventurous. Actually, in terms of giving up creature comforts while traveling, I’ve never been that adventurous. I need a bed, a shower, and a toilet that has a seat cover; the last of which our room was lacking. After only a day our room wreaked of sweat, body odor, and general nastiness due to poor ventilation. I am adventurous; just not to the point of sacrificing personal hygiene.

I did a complete 360, however, when we went to Siem Riep. The 6-hour bus ride there was quite unpleasant; the roads in Cambodia are awful, we were packed in like sardines with no air conditioning, and we had to break often for cows crossing the road, but I loved Siem Riep itself. It was cleaner, seemed a lot safer, and the guesthouse we stayed in was infinitely nicer than the one in Phnom Penh. In this city, I began to love Cambodia.

People come to Siem Riep to see the Temples at Angkor. I’ll try not to go into a lengthy history lesson here, but at one time in history, Cambodia (or the Khmer Empire) was one of the great powers of Southeast Asia, and the hundreds of temples at Angkor built between 800 AD and 1432 are a testament to that. We spent three days touring only the major temples; you could spend a week there and not see it all. It was nothing short of amazing, and I went on a picture-taking spree; filling up a 2 GB memory card (which holds about 700 pictures) and then borrowing one of Eugen’s to take another 200 pictures. I went just a tad overboard, but I think that the Temples at Angkor are a must-see for anyone traveling in the area, and I’ve heard they are closing them down for restoration, so you need to see them soon.

By the time I took another miserable bus ride back to Phnom Penh to catch my flight back to Seoul (this time wedged between the chattiest Buddhist monk ever and an Australian lady breast-feeding her 6 month old) I was in love with Cambodia; even Phnom Penh. Here’s an excerpt from my notebook that shows how euphoric I was at the end:

“It’s official: I love Cambodia! People here are so friendly, the shopping is great (and cheap!) and the kids are charming. I’m sitting here watching the mottos go by while sipping red wine ($1.80 a glass) in a classy little joint along the river. This morning I watched the sunrise over an ancient temple. I’m wearing a tank top and shorts in February! It doesn’t get much better than this.”

Quite a change from Day 1. So much so that I want to go back to Cambodia someday and volunteer, maybe at the end of my stay in Korea (whenever that is). Temples and palaces aside, it was a very sobering experience that put things into perspective. My friend back home saw my pictures on Facebook and wrote me a message saying it seemed like Cambodia was "slightly less developed than Korea." I told her that was a huge understatement. Seeing the poverty and begging children and landmine victims really tugged at the heartstrings, and I feel compelled to go back and help out in some way, either at an orphanage or teaching English.

Check out the pictures at my Flickr site.