Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Back on the boat we spent the next 4 or 5 hours lying down up on the roof of the boat, there wasn't a sitting area or anything like that, just a comfortable roof. A friend of the guide's made hot ramen noodles for us and as that was all there was to eat it was like having a feast. Soon on the shores of the river we started seeing these huge oxen, conical shaped grass buildings and all manner of ornate Cambodian buildings out in the middle of nowhere in the distance that looked like miniature palaces as part of a fairy tale. There were massive fields and fields of rice and corn where the plants were growing right into the river. But largely the scenery was a never ending tropical rainforest interspersed with the occasional small boat and few patches of human existence. Here and there would be a lone man looking miniscule in a vast sea of river and vegetation tending to fields of crops as far as the eye could see. We wondered how one person's work could have an impact on the vastness of it all and the utter solitude of such an expanse of nature all around.

The sky was the purest palest blue ever with gigantic ever changing puffy white clouds drifting by overhead. This was relaxing beyond belief. Just the steady chug of the boat's engine broke the silence. We just floated through this amazing and mystical mirage. A feeling of incredible contentment set in, a surreal sense of wonder, you might say. There was something about this Cambodia even before we got off the boat. At that point in time I remember looking at Matt and saying, 'Let's just stay in Cambodia for the rest of our trip', he agreed and we did just that, only later returning to Saigon to catch the flight home.

As an aside, please don't think that we are posting our story as being experts
about Vietnam or Cambodia. Our experiences there were really like one drop in a
full bucket of water, largely due to lack of time. While we had three luxurious
weeks for this trip, in reality the time went by in a flash and was all over
much too soon. We never got to do a smidgeon of what we wanted to do, we lost
track of time and in the end weren't ready to leave Cambodia when the time
came. There was a certain sense of disbelief and resentment even, when it was
time to go home. So what we can definitively tell you from our travel
experiences is to allow as much time as possible for your trip to either of
these two countries because you too will be home all too soon.

One guy in particular stood out from the rest and he took us to his tuk-tuk. His name is Thola, meaning October in English. We were to spend a number of days with Thola driving us around Phnom Penh and he was with us again later on our return trip from Siem Reap back through Phnom Penh. Running into Thola created a smooth introduction to the wonderful city of Phnom Penh. You might say he was the first Cambodian we met and surely the one we remember the most. This is Thola in the photo above. There are more photos of him below.

Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is a delightful city to experience in many ways. The motorcycles and hustle and bustle of Saigon were all there but at a much lower level. It would be easy to imagine leaving life behind and just moving to Phnom Penh for some undetermined amount of time. The city has a population of a little over 2,000,000 and is located on the banks of the Mekong River. It instantly felt comfortable to us being there.

We had learned some Vietnamese before the trip, memorized the major towns and rivers and had really read a lot about Vietnam. But about Cambodia we knew nothing at all because we didn't know for certain we'd be going there. Now here we are in Phnom Penh with one night at the Kim Guest house paid for as the last part of the Vietnamese Tour. That was the only thing for certain that we knew about Cambodia.

The name Kim Guest house was illegibly scribbled on a pink piece of paper and Thola kept on looking at it again and again as we drove all over the back
streets of Phnom Penh. The three of us started to think there was no Kim Guest House after all. He stopped and asked other tuk-tuk drivers and they too were scratching their heads. Thola drove for about an hour stopping here and there to ask for directions. Suddenly, there it was, Kim Guest House. The hotels in Cambodia are frequently called guest houses.

As we were finishing dinner, several Tuk-Tuk (Motorcycle Drivers) were lined up to offer us a ride back to Kim Guest House. We chose one driver among many, and asked him to take us around the city on our way home. The driver knew quite a lot about Phnom Penh, and we gleaned much information about the city. Our driver took us to see a recently constructed concert hall, new bridges and several other local areas that were slightly off the beaten tourist path. This driver, similar to Thola, stopped to ask directions on how to get us back to Kim Guest House; we think now that Kim Guest House must not have been much of a tourist destination but it was a fine place to stay for us. After a bit of relaxation in the hotel room we called it an early night as we were to meet Thola at 8 the next morning.

Thola was right outside the hotel early the next morning smiling away at the
seat of his tuk-tuk. He's about 5'10” tall, 140 pounds, a dark shock of hair and
always smiling and gracious, a happy person. Thola had worked in the rice fields
of the Mekong before moving to Phnom Penh and running his Tuk-Tuk business. We
asked Thola to take us to a restaurant for breakfast, and he knew right where to
go. This restaurant, Khmer Saravan, on the bank of the river was so good that
we went back several times during our stay in Phnom Penh. Whether stopping by a
restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner we always received excellent customer
service in Cambodia and the food was delicious and artfully placed on the plate.
There was never a sense of being rushed. Much of the food is grown and harvested
fresh directly in the nearby fertile soil and waters of the Mekong River. Vegetables, fruit, seafood and fish are all in abundance.

He took us that day to some very serious places and so started our journey as we
began to learn about this incredible country, Cambodia; enter the Khmer
Rouge. We went to the Killing Fields and after that to the Genocide Museum. The
grief level could not be much more. Signs at both places asked those who visited
to be quiet and reverent and take no photos. And the mood of everyone we
encountered was real subdued and somber. This was such of a profound experience.
In some places while reading inscriptions about what had happened in Cambodia
during the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, it was overwhelming. So much has been
written about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge so we won't go into that here.
Later, as we continued through Cambodia, we would wonder how after all this
country had just so recently gone through, how could they possibly be so
genuinely gracious to us in our travels with them now after their significant
losses.

The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center was an undescribeable place, to be sure.
Cambodia has kept many relics from that time intact as a reminder of the horror.
One tower stands as a memorial to those who did not survive the time. The S-21
Killing Fields, was an internment camp preserved by the Cambodian people once
again to serve as a reminder and warning against the atrocities of the Pol Pot
regime. The entire camp was kept as if it had not been disturbed; the feeling of
being inside the center was incredibly eerie. To think of the people that were
once there was profoundly and deeply saddening.

Later that afternoon Thola took us to a much brighter place in time, the
National Museum. Many sculptures stood outside the Museum, the grounds of which
were beautifully landscaped as well. We have several photos of the wonderful
landscaping outside, but photos were forbidden inside the museum. It is too bad
that photos were not allowed inside the museum, as the walls were covered with
beautiful tapestries describing epic tales of mythology. Several of the wonderfully colored tapestries were to illustrate ancient tales and stories, each one had a translation below it to inform any viewers of the events taking place within the tapestry.

Inside the museum there were not only the colorful tapestries, but fantastically carved statues made of wood, bronze, stone, and maybe even copper. Several statues of Buddha stood in a great hallway leading to a central Buddhist shrine on the interior of the museum. It truly was amazing to see how many statues were displayed inside the building. No two were the same, each had its own unique character. The statues were carved throughout several eras of Cambodian history, and many had traveled hundreds of miles before coming to rest within the National Museum.

The museum displayed more than statues however, there were thousands of artifacts ranging from ancient to modern Cambodian history. Rings, necklaces, earrings, jewels, bracelets, weapons... you name it and the National Museum in Phnom Penh had it. The sheer wealth of what was contained inside those walls must be incredible. Each artifact had a description below it stating the estimated age, place in Cambodia it was found, and the era from which it came.
Cambodian history was described in distinct eras, from the Pleistocene to Pre-Angkorian, Angkorian, French Colonial Period, to the Khmer Rouge Regime and modern history. Several of the artifacts in the museum had come from Angkor Wat or the surrounding temples within Angkor Wat as several statues were damaged during the Khmer Regime.

The central building of the Royal Palace was a shrine to Buddha, with a huge,
shining, bright, larger than life Buddha surrounded by several smaller Buddhas.
The large Buddha was encrusted with diamonds and many other jewels. The
fantastic central shrine took so much of our attention that we almost failed to
notice that the floor itself was entirely made of silver. The entire room was
glinting in the sunlight as the silver, gold, diamonds, and whatever other gems
where used to construct the statues were hit with light. It truly is unfortunate
that photos were not allowed within this room, as it was incredible.

The photo to the left was taken at the Royal Palace. The flower is a lotus
flower, highly symbolic throughout both Vietnam and Cambodia. After exiting the palace, we walked down the crowded riverside area which was lined with restaurants, mostly. On one side of the street there were the restaurants, and on the other were public areas for exercising, recreational activities like soccer and hackey-sack, and of course some good sitting areas for viewing the river. The skill of the hackey sack players was impressive, with many players able to make behind the back kicks consecutively. Walking down this avenue is highly recommended if only for the people watching opportunities.

Thola took us to see a Buddhist Temple where we received a blessing from a Monk. Outside the temple, we saw quite a few monks milling about in bright orange robes and this seemed to be a hub for the monks we had run into all over town. We had to spend some time outside the temple as Thola negotiated our way in. While waiting we saw quite a streaming number of Phnom Penh residents giving tribute of food, incense, and teas to the monks. There were several "incense stations" where people would arrive and place all varieties of incense sticks and cones for the monks outside the main temple building. We got quite a dose of incense as we sat out front waiting for the monks to clear our entry. Once inside the temple, we were asked to take off our shoes and sit down before a large statue of Buddha after making a small donation to the temple. One monk instructed us to bow three times in front of the statue, which we did while he went to get a large basin filled with water and jasmine flowers. We looked curiously at the basin, as we had no idea what it would be used for. We were only left to wonder for a few seconds. The monk took a brush and dipped it into the water before flinging water into each of our faces while chanting something in Cambodian. At first we thought whether he wanted us there, maybe the water flinging in the face was a sign to leave, but we watched as water was flung at Thola as well and then the monk drenched us each several more times so it was apparent that the water was in fact part of the ritual. The Monk gave each of us a red piece of cloth doused with water and neatly folded and he tied strands of red yarn to our wrists. We asked Thola how often he goes to see the Monk and Thola said he visits when his Tuk-tuk fares are low for the week or if there is an illness in the family.