Cambodia....and this is the short version. Maybe take a quick bathroom break and get a coffee or cocktail.....

I am going back and forth on how to tell the tale of Cambodia. There are sooo many different things I have to share. Stories and emotions. I will try my hardest to make sure it all makes sense and flow together. If not you can send all comments, questions and concerns to Ra.dietsch@gmail.com on that note… I blog but really don’t know what is going on with anyone else. Even little baby emails with updates on your life, your mood, even a story..to be honest I don’t even know who reads this!

Ok,ok,ok, back to the tale of Cambodia…When I was in Vietnam and we had down time or a bus ride I read the book  At First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung. This book was just the tip of the iceberg of an introduction to the terrible, not so long ago, history of the Cambodian people.  It is not pretty. I am glad I read this book because it gave me some prior knowledge and some background information so even when we were pulling up to Phnom Penh I had goose bumps and a small, very small connection to the city already.

The moment we stepped off the boat we were greeted by Tony. He was a tuk tuk driver recommended to us by the man that bought the motorcycles from the boys after their trip though Vietnam.

Tony brought us first to find a place to sleep.  For $24.00 a night we were pretty much renting a 2 bedroom apartment.(6 bucks a person, what.a.bargin.) Two big rooms with bathrooms, a common area, a balcony. So much room in this place and not many things to fill the space. (My mind kept thinking…dance parties, dance parties, dance parties) The common area there was a beautiful carved wooden bench and chair to watch TV in. Comfort level about a 2, we did not really spend much time in that area. 

Tiles. Tiles on the floor, tiles on the ceiling and tiles on the walls. All white. Just a little different then carpet, or wood floors, or paint or wallpaper....just has a different feel....

After dropping our bags we went and got some food. We sat outside, it was a nice cool evening and we got some grilled beef and veggies and drank some Angkor Beer, the beer made in Cambodia. IT WAS SOO GOOD. Just what the doctor ordered after a long hot day of traveling. It was so good I had to buy a t-shirt later on in the trip dedicated to the beer with the slogan… “My beer, My country” I know it’s not my county but it is good beer and a cool t-shirt.

I slept like a baby, we woke up and pretty much attacked the day full force. Tony picked us up about 8:30 and we went right to the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh.  When the Khmer Rouge took over,1975-1979 and was putting all their effort into making Cambodia a communist country,  this was one of the places hundreds and hundreds of people’s lives came to an end. I did not know much about these killing fields, they were briefly mentioned in the book I had read.  There was informational video and of course lots of history to read once we got to the site.

I never learned about this in history books or school. Danielle and I sat there and were just boggled by what happened to this county and its people. Thousands and thousands of people killed in the most brutal way possible.  For reasons we can not even begin to understand. We can read why they did or why they thought they were doing something “right”…but it’s just a mental and emotional shock. The fact is this is

not ancient history. Cambodia’s population and age in the population are a constant reminder of how recent this actually was.

Killing fields.

-Huge number of mass graves. We walked around these massive holes in the ground where hundreds of skeletons were found

Some graves were headless skeletons. 

Some graves of skulls. 

Some graves just women and children. 

Some graves just men. 

Most of them were naked and others were just graves filled with clothes. When it rains there are still pieces of fabric and bones that rise to the top of the earth. These are scattered all though the field.

It 

is 

bone 

chilling

horrible

- Two trees were marked. One the baby killing tree. Where children were thrown against the trunk then thrown into the grave by the Khmer Rouge soldiers. The second tree was known as the magic tree. This tree a loud speaker was hung blasting music so the people who lived and worked around the killing fields could not hear the moans and screams of the victims.

They made this not only a historical site but a memorial. 

A reminder. 

We walked though silent. 

There were butterflies everywhere.  

They had a small memorial/building in the center this is where they had the skulls of the victims. 

The skulls were organized according to age and sex.  

Hundreds of skulls.

What a start to our first day in Cambodia eh? Our next stop to buy a 50 kilo bag of rice. We loaded it up on the tuk tuk and Tony carted us to an orphanage. We dropped off the rice, got a tour, hung with the kids while they were eating lunch. They boys played volley ball with a few of the kids and Danni and I played with a few of the little girls who were teaching us games/songs…I can’t think of what they are called! You know…we clap our hands together and sing!??!?!? Well they taught us those…we could not really sing the words but they taught us the actions and that was good enough. They were wonderful. Loved them. Could have stayed there all day.

To end the day we headed to s-21 museum or the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a secret prison. It was a high school that turned into a place that held, tortured and executed people.  I am going to put this website link in so if you wish to learn more about it and explained in better detail you have that option. http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/s21-victims.html

I mean…I walked though pretty quick. I read the information. I saw the pictures of the victims. I could not help but thinking if I was somebody coming though here who had family or friends who were on these walls. Some of the pictures were so graphic. Young kids being thrown up against walls to have their mug shot taken, most of them had already had the shit kicked out of them by ruthless soldiers. It was in a school and I was very disturbed by the whole place. I needed a few minutes of Rachel time on a bench in the courtyard with my sunglasses on.

That evening consisted of a nap. Then a late night snack of chips, salsa and black beans. I was just worn out! We were eating at an outdoor place by the river where we were greeted every 3 min by a different child between the age of 4 years old to about 14 years old. I have not informed you about the children of Cambodia. They come up to you with boxes of things….usually books, bracelets, fans….anything…scarves…and they try to get you to buy it. These kids are professionals. Trained professionals.  Depending on the county you are from depends on the kids that come up to you….they can all speak one or two languages. You say you are from America they spit out facts and figures. They try to win you over to buy things!  They even have jokes and give you a hard time….these kids are funny….you want to buy things from them but the second you do…you are a goner, a sucker…and a magnet to the 50 other kids on the streets selling things.  I have a few funny conversations but I have to save that for a little later.

After a little Mexican snack I hit the sack….our last day we walked around the city some more…it was hot! After some wat visits and milling around it was time for Rachel time. I took my book and journal and found a great little lounge/café/bar and ordered myself a big glass of wine.  We had another night bus ride ahead of us….

It had been a long few days. Traveling is amazing. Time for a little vent session.  Traveling is also exhausting. I had not had my own space for a month by this point. I was always sharing rooms sharing beds. Fine. I don’t mind sharing…I am getting better and better at it. However….you learn a lot about people when you are with them 24/7.  So sometimes when I needed a break from the group or people or person I usually hightail it to a coffee shop or hunt down a cheap glass of wine.  I am sure I do things that drive people crazy. I am sure people get sick of me. We all have different ways of dealing with it. I even got called out once….”Rachel….make up your mind where you are from!!!”

It’s true. Depending on who I am talking to I say I am from St. Paul, MN and sometimes I am from Chicago, IL. But when talking to people some people DON’T KNOW WHERE ST PAUL, MN IS….I know it might be hard to believe but most people have heard of Chicago. Soooo it all depended. I was honest most of the time…grew up in St. Paul….have been living in Chicago…..but sometimes when you are going around giving your introduction to a new group…that’s just to long to say all that!!!!

Alright, back to Cambodia. Lets see, I think that’s all I have to say about Phnom Penh. Except when I was drinking my wine I did talk to the owners of the place and they told me about how in Cambodia the way people deal with things is acid attacks. I don’t know much about it except that it is easy to get your hands on there and if you have a bad breakup, shady business deal that goes bad, or you want to get even with someone, dumping acid on each other seems to be the answer. It is sick really. It deforms people and it ruins people. Cruel, cruel.

Now, I have said a lot of negative things. But really Cambodia is amazing place. Let’s get to Siem Reap.  We found a great little guest house  for 3 bucks a night per person. Pretty nice for how cheap it was. Clean, hot shower, powerful fan to keep us cool. It may not have had dance party room but it had a great big wrap around deck on that was right outside my room with chairs for reading and it looked down on the neighbor kids running around naked or playing with motorbike tires. (kids hardly ever have clothes on and they do play with things that in America only adults are allowed to touch or use. We see kids with parts of machines, knifes, starting fires.. you name it....) We were not right in the center of the city but tucked in on a nice little road. Neighborhoody.  

We had a local joint next door that served $1.00 glasses of wine and free peanuts…and a few more steps away was where I ate breakfast 3 mornings in a row. A huge fresh fruit salad with yogurt and muesli and an iced coffee…drumroll please…..for $2.00. How I am still broke…eating like a king and hardly shelling out money….I don’t know.

Since we took a night bus in we got in at like 530 AM, got our rooms, slept some more, ate then went and bargained tuk tuk drivers to take us to Angkor Wat so we could get our tickets for the next day and see the sunset that night.

Since Danni and I needed to get back to BKK to do some things before India we only got a one day pass to Angkor Wat…the boys got a 3 day pass plus a tour guide. SHOW OFFS! 

Angkor Wat is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. The oldest of old…thousands of years old temples in the jungle. There are tons of them but because of our time limit we only saw 4 or 5 plus the big daddy Angkor Wat. New life plan or I guess add this to my checklist…

1.      -~Learn and read as much as I can about Angkor What? I mean Wat.

2.       ~Make a lot of money so I can go back for a week and explore every temple and know what I am looking at

3.      ~ Pay for the best tour guide who can answer all my questions that I don’t already know

4.      -~Teach my someday students about Angkor Wat so if they ever decide to travel and their travels take them to Cambodia they will know to get the 3 day pass as well as be able to appreciate the unbelievable structures they are walking though and climbing through.

I will post pictures with more stories/explanations of this jaw dropping, mysterious place….after a full day of temple tours and exploring it was time for another glass of cheap wine and a good nights sleep before getting on our last bus to take us home sweeeet home.

I write this from my mini computer in the comfort of my room at ABAC. I have my tunes on, Star movies on in the background and skype dates all night.  I really loved Cambodia and out of the three countries I tackled in a month I hope I can make it back there before I head back to the states. Did I mention how one night we had a heaping plate of cooked and raw veggies, a few meat dishes, a pitcher of beer …a real belly busting meal and we each paid $2.00. I mean….thanks Cambodia.

You fed me.

You taught me.

You inspired me.

I will be back.