A passing glimpse of Cambodia..

Talk about covering some ground since my last post! I write to you today (Monday AM) from Khao San Road in Bangkok. Ironically enough, I sit in disbelief as I type on the very same computer where I made my first post from Asia exactly two months ago today. Apparently they say time flies when you're having fun? Unfortunately, I'm learning the hard way, it does.

I wrote last from the Vietnamese side of the Vietnam/Cambodia border. Knowing I had to be all the way in Bangkok on 9/29 to meet big sis, I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to see the things I needed to see in Cambodia. Thus, I've been busy....

On Wednesday, via a slow-moving collection of wood planks (a.k.a. a real shitpot of a boat), I cruised several hours along the mighty Mekong in order to enter Cambodia. Far from any urban area, the good local folks of the country clearly come alive. Despite heavy flooding that inundates the bases of their homes and poverty that has set in, the Vietnamese and Cambodians (young and old) along the river didn't hesitate for a moment to give a friendly wave. It was clear to me that travelers truly need to get outside of the big cities in this part of the world to truly appreciate the goodness of the people--it's also easy to see how those same cities, amid agressive taxi drivers and pushy street vendors, can leave visitors with a false image of the entire population. At the end of the day, the people are great and live simple, no-frill lives...its up to the individual to take some initiative and get out to the country to realize this.

After arriving Wed night in Phnom Penh, the city's capital of 8 million (the country itself only has 14 million), a jam-packed Thursday was one of the more sobering days of the trip. Much like a visit to a Nazi concentration camp, a visit to the killing fields of Choeung Ek was a must-see sight but one that definitely leaves you with an empty feeling inside. After the mass killings that took place here, strangely just 30 years ago, it's hard to believe a country has the resilence to bounce back from such a crime. It certainly wasn't a cheery day, but a visit to the killing fields, as well as the school-turned-torture center where prisoners were held, was certainly an eduational one.

A brief stay in the capital, and we were off to Siem Reap, home to the largest religious center and World Heritage Site, Angkor Wat. For the sake of time considerations, I won't elaborate, so if you want to do some research on the place, use our friend Google. What I will say is this: WOW! This place is massive, and the place is massively old. Standing in the grounds of what was, at one point, the center of the universe some 800-900 years ago, certainly made for an incredible day. Seeing the main temple at sunrise is a tourist must-do, so we fought the crowds and were witness to an incredible sight come sun-up.

After an exhausting day/day and a half of "templing", it was off to another border crossing yesterday in effort to reach the home point of Bangkok. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to veer too far off the beaten path of Cambodia and dabble in the country and witness the "real people". However, from what I've seen, just like the other poor nation to its north (Laos), Cambodia offers up the same genuine, friendly people. It's strange...often those people with the least have the most to offer. I learned it in Laos, and I imagine it's more or less the same case in Cambodia...

From rags to riches, I now travel from a place like Cambodia to the beaches of Thailand. I meet up with sister Carleen around 4pm today at the Bangkok International Airport, and together we will fly south to Krabi and spend some quality time together....and after the 4th of October, once she heads back to the western world, I'll spend my remaining 2 1/2 weeks on the beach in hopes of bringing back a tan to Iowa in late October.

Take care, everyone!

1. Homes along the Mekong
2. Cambodians bathing in the river
3. School-turned-torture building in late 1970s (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
4-5. Monument at Killing Fields remembering those killed (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
6. Bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, "Spider Girl" as she called herself. Yes it's real. And yes, they were selling fried spider. And yes, I tried a leg. Why not?
7. Bus ride (continued)... I always wondered why locals insisted on wearing these things, even inside a bus. After 6 hours of sitting by a hacking/vomiting family on the bus (yes, really), it came to me.
8-10. Sunrise at Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
11. Tourists capturing the sunrise
12. Cambodia cronies, walking around Angkor Wat
13-17. A day at Angkor Wat
18. Sunset at Angkor Wat
19. A young boy climbing out of the river, around Angkor Wat
20. "Amok", a traditional Khmer dish in Cambodia