After we arrived in Phnom Penh, we found a hotel easily, but surprised by the cost. Cambodia seems to be as much as what we were spending in Thailand ($75-$100 per day), we were expecting to be spending about ($50 per day). We thought maybe Siem Reap was more pricey because of Angkor Wat, but it seems all prices are higher in Cambodia than just a few years ago. After getting settled in our room, we headed out to see the city. We came across a exercise in the park on our way to the riverfront, very similar to what we saw in Thailand. It was fun to see sooo many people doing aerobics, also funny to see two different classes right next to each other competing with their music and loud speakers.

Transportation in Cambodia seems to be by car, tuk tuk, motor bike, or bike…but we can’t forget the cyclo! We saw this old westerner man on a cyclo…I made Alan take a photo. I could see my dad in this photo with the knee highs and all! We actually took a cyclo back from the grocery store, with me sitting on Alan and our groceries on top of me, it was the most horrifying yet silliest feeling I have had in a long time. The guy would just cross traffic and cars would go around!

We then headed up to the riverfront where we came across a Buddhist temple. There seem to be some sort of celebration going on. People giving offering to the Buddha, music and praying. It was a beautiful sight, I didn’t get this pics uploaded, but I will add them to the post when I do.

Also at the celebration, we saw the poverty first hand again. A lot of begging, but also a lot of unattended children. It was so sad to see the kids naked or with little to no clothing, but you can also see how they take care of each other. We watched the kids for a while hoping to see a parent, I did suspect a parent was there, but didn’t see one during our time there.

The next morning (yes I consider 11am still morning), we wanted to go check out the museum and killing fields that were part of the genocide of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970′s. I hadn’t heard much about the genocide compared to the holocaust, so I was very curious. And, it just so happens while were there the leaders of Khmer Rouge are finally going on trail (day 2 of the trial i think), it was so fascinating to be here while the trial started. Although, we didn’t feel any of the impact of the trail walking around the city, learning about it while the trail takes place was interesting.

First we went to the Killing Fields, this was one of four areas people were killed during the genocide. The government had be excavating the land for the last 15 years, but recently stopped. What has been excavated has been placed in this special case in memory of the 2 million people that lost there lives. It was definitely a sight I will never forget. You could actually see the damage to the skulls where people were hit in the head.

As we were walking around the grave sites, the tour guide begins to explain how the government stopped excavating but during rainy season cloths and bones of the victims will be washed up on the ground. He points down and you can see the bones and some clothing that we were standing over. I was shocked and almost asked “why are you letting us stand here!” He then told us later, they pick up the cloths and bones when they are easily accessible, but that they are suppose to wait for the excavating team. I thought to myself, this is something you wouldn’t see in the US…

We headed over to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum where the Khmer Rogue detained and tortured Cambodian government workers (including teachers, librarians, lawyers). It was an old high school turned into a prison. The site was a beautiful memorial for the victims, but also a very dark and detailed of the killings and torturing that took place. They have a photo wall of the victims along with the actual shackles and beds that the prisoners were kept on.

After going from Angkor Wat to the learning about the Genocide, I feel like I have seen the extreme, of what one man can create and another man can destroy so easily. I definitely have a new respect and patience for the Cambodian people. As I read one of the brochures about the genocide, there was a statement about remembering this piece of Cambodian history so it can never happen again. It states “We have to emerge and extend the anger as much as possible in order to make the dishonor history be existed in Cambodian heart for a lifetime. Also to prevent this foolish regime not to return into Angkor territory as in the world.” This statement made me think about the lack of smiles, the abrasive faces you see along the road, and how this genocide happened just 30 years ago and is still a memory to a lot of people as Cambodian family and friends have been killed or their life was turned upside down and had to start over with very little….

After the museums, we headed over to the mall to try and get Alan some new shoes. He had broken his flip flops and sewed it back together (impressive – i know!), then tried to duct taped them (thanks for the tip Flo!). So we walked around trying to find some new shoes for him…no one have a size 13…surprise, surprise!! The largest anyone carried was size 11. I guess there really are no tall men in southeast Asia. We did end up finding a size 12 pair of sandals at a sporting goods store, so Alan has squeezed his little feet into them for the time being…he looks so pretty!

After the shoe purchase, we came across a skating rink, where a bunch of teenagers where doing flips and spins. It was cool to see this type of rink with a half pike, etc. (totally don’t have my skating lingo going on…). We also checked out the Arcade, a little boy was trying to show us how to use one of the games, which I thought was really helpful. But when I put the money in he took over the game! He did get us to level 10 but still…I wanted to play! So I gave him (little guy in yellow) a token and we played another game by ourselves!

The next day, we headed for Ho Chi Minh (Siagon), Vietnam. We bought the packaged bus tour, so the border crossing was seamless. Ah yes, travel angencies do know what they are doing…

Pics from Cabmodia (same pics from the Siem Reap blog).

We broke our rule of arriving in a unfamiliar town after dark, the bus dropped us off and luckily there was a tuk tuk (motor bike) taxi driver who offered to take us to a guest house. There was another backpacker who was very paranoid, telling us not to get in the taxi….which made me really anxious, but after walking around a bit and noticing no signs for hotels. We got in the taxi and he took us to a hotel very safely. Once we got there we noticed that there was no english signs labeling hotels, so it would have been really difficult to find a place on our own. We checked into a surprising clean hotel and slept for bit. My stomache was super upset from all of the caffeine on the bus, so I couldn’t sleep much.

We woke up and grabbed the same taxi guy from the night before who I swear just sleep in the tuk tuk waiting for our fare in the morning. He took us to a travel agent, we heard they really over charge to take you across the border, so we asked to be taken to the border. The taxi then takes us to the Cambodia Consulate where we got our Visas. It seems very odd the consulate wasn’t a very formal place, but we paid $30 each and got our visas for Cambodia. Then the taxi driver took us to the border where we walked across. I was very overwhelmed with crossing the border. Of course, I had read all these horrible things about getting scammed and being stuck on a bus for 10-15 hours going to Siem Reap from Thailand, so I was extra paranoid. Also as we are walking across, there was this man in a Cambodian Tourist shirt who kept telling us what to do, which seems a bit odd as well. And then to top it off, we are hand a little piece of paper that said to watch out for people pick pocketing, especially little kids. I was on overload, plus needed to go to the bathroom again to get all the caffeine out from the previous bus ride. Well, it turned out the guy that was helping us. He was from the Cambodian Government helping tourist get across the barder, he got us to the bus terminal without any concern. It was a good reminder to be aware and careful, but to not let preconceived notions get in the way of my experience!!

We hopped on another bus to take us to Siem Reap, it was Pink! Everything was pink! Inside, outside, curtains, seats…We enjoyed our pink ride, I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of Alan looking so beautiful surrounded by pink! Plus in was Valentine’s Day so the pink bus was perfect!

Once we arrived in Siem Reap and got a hotel room, we headed out to a nice dinner for V-day, where they had a buffet and dancing entertainment. The dancing was a bit cheesy but it was great to try a bunch of different Cambodian food at one time. After dinner, we feel asleep very quickly and got up early (ok noon…) to check out Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was incredible. We did two days of touring around. The first day we just walked around, taking in the 800+ year old structures. The next day we got a guide who walked us through the three main temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm. My favorite has to be Ta Prohm because of it’s natural state. The fig trees have taken over and growing around, through and on top of the temple. It is an incredible sight to see these enormous trees just powering their way through the man-made temples.

After our first day in Angkor Wat, we were heading back to our hotel and saw lights that looked like a carnival. We asked our Tuk Tuk driver what it was and he said he would take us over to show us. We checked it out and it was indeed a carnival. So we went to a Cambodia carnival! There were so many people there, we saw one other western couple a ways away, but other than that it was all Cambodians. The carnival was very similar to a small town carnival in the US, rides for kids, games and prizes, and lots of food stands. Alan was determined to win a prize with the balloon darts, he finally got 2 balloons and the prizes were two drinks, he picked a really warm Coke and Green Tea.

Also, while we have been here, we have noticed the coldness and stricken looks on the Cambodian peoples faces. You definitely don’t feel like a welcomed visitor like you do in Indonesia, where people are always smiling, asking you “where you are going?” and helping you. In Seim Reap, you can feel the struggling of the country and even in the infrastructure, there will be a really poor hut or home next to a large new home, hotel, bank, etc. Another thing that is hard to get use to is the exchanging money. We have had a difficulty getting our heads around how to pay. Everything is quoted in US dollars, they hardly use their currency (at least with tourists). So you are told the cost in dollars and then if something cost $1.50, and you pay with a $5 bill, you get $3 and 2,000 Cambodian Riel (for the $.50). If you try to get cash out of the money machine it is given in US dollars and to exchange money into Riel is not easy and is much less at a bank exchange ($1=3,500 riel) for what you would get in the streets ($1=4,000 riel) when paying for a tuk tuk.

At Angkor Wat there are also a lot of children trying to sell you things like jewelry, books, postcards. After walking around Angkor Wat, we needed to get something to drink. We sit down to get a cold Coke and the kids just swarm around you, asking you to buy something. Especially the 4-7 years olds, they will have 10 bracelets in their hand and say “10 for a $1″, and then count out each bracelet for you. It broke my heart to say no sooo many times, but those kids are so persistent! We had 7 kids sitting around us while drinking our Coke, finally, Alan said he would buy a couple of the kids a Coke for a jumping shot. So he picked the first two kids that approached us and had them take a picture, while the other girls just sat there in front of me staring at me, wanting me to buy their postcards. Yes, I know…tall girls can’t jump.

We were only in Siem Reap a few days, then headed to Phnom Pehn. Cambodia will be a quick trip since we need to get to Vietnam and catch a flight to India on March 5th. I am looking forward to Phnom Pehn to see how things are different from Siem Reap! More to come!

Check out our Camodia pictures on flickr!