Cambodia

Cambodia

Feb. 5-9

FOOD: Cambodia had the least tasty food. It was basically Thai food with less flavor, which is understandable - The country has been through such devastation and now is in such poverty that it only makes sense for them to have a cheaper and more basic cuisine. I did have the unfortunate pleasure of ordering a durian shake (don't order mixed fruit smoothies in southeast asia). They did have some good dishes that was basically peppered chicken with a lime juice dipping sauce. Don't get me wrong - it was really, really good, just it was no malaysia/thailand/vietnam. :)

FAVORITE PART: Angkor Wat, duhhhh! If it's not already one of the Wonders of the World, then it should be. It's the biggest religious site in the world, and the history and intricacies of it are just amazing. It was built in the early 12th century, which is just fascinating. We did the entire complex in one day, which we did easily without ever feeling rushed. We also saw sunrise and sunset, both beautiful, but sunrise was better. I'm sure there are better times of the year for each, so that would be worth looking into. My other favorite part of Cambodia was just the authenticity of the country. The country is extremely poor and broken, and everywhere I went I felt like I was experiencing true Cambodia. And the kids at Angkor Wat were a trip. You were constantly asked to buy souvenirs and food by little kids, but they were actually really clever and funny and pretty good salesmen! One little girl challenged me to a game of tic-tac-toe saying that if I won she would give me her postcards for free, and if I won then I had to buy them (for $1). I let her win, but this girl totally knew what she was doing and knew exactly how to win or tie, ie: not to lose. Pretty impressive. She was eight.

















Also, a really cool story happened when we first arrived in Cambodia from Thailand. As we're entering the country and all you see is poverty, I thought to myself how this desolate country needed God. Our bus pulled over for a 30minute break, and these Cambodian teenage boys came to talk to us. One of them was wearing a shirt that said "English Camp" and "Genesis 1:1 (followed by the verse)." I asked him where he got his shirt, and he kind of paused looking nervous and then said, "I got it at English Camp........Are you a Christian?" I said yes and then he freaked out saying "Me too, me too!" He went on to tell me that his dad is a pastor of the church and it has forty people (a number of which he was really proud of and excited about), and that he goes to church every Sunday morning at 9am. I then went on to tell me that in his free time he comes to the bus stop to practice his English, "because my dad said that if I practice hard enough then maybe one day I can go to America." Then he asked to take a picture "with his new Christian friend!" Man, this kid. After everything he and his country have been through, still has faith in God. Such a great experience to see how God really does reach all of the nations, even poor, broken, destroyed countries like Cambodia.











LEAST FAVORITE PART: The mosquitos! Man! They sure do breed 'em well over there! No repellent that I used could fight them off. I'm not sure if it was me or what, because the boys didn't get bit nearly as bad as me. But these itched like hell. And they leave bigger bites than American mosquitos, and they also pussed. It was just stupid. Didn't like it one bit. I suppose it's a pretty lucky thing I didn't get malaria.

COOL EXPERIENCE: Went to the S-21 prison/Genocide Museum and Killing Fields - what an eye-opener. I can't believe I didn't know about the tragedy that Cambodia has gone through. I think it's fair to say that everyone still alive in/from Cambodia knew at least one person that was killed/murdered. Families were ripped apart, their country and culture was destroyed and millions of people died at the hand of not only outside enemies but of fellow Cambodian's. It is guessed that about 3 million Cambodians died...out of a population of 8 million. Wow, how do you recover from that? I think one of the saddest parts was that relatively speaking, especially compared to other world tragedies, this was recent.

TRAVEL TIPS: At Angkor Wat you can hire a tuk-tuk to drive you around all day to the different sites. There were three of us (never mind what we actually paid), what we should've paid is only $4/person for the whole day plus a ride home. Make sure to settle all the terms at the beginning of the day. Ya know though, when you get ripped off in Cambodia you can't even care because they definitely need that money more than you do.