April 8 through 13, 2023
In case I didn't mention it yet, Art stayed behind in Bangkok for the entirety of my group tour (this tour did not sound like his jam, and he was right about that for so many reasons, least of which was the heat). I flew to Phnom Penh on April 8. If I knew very little about Laos, I knew just as little (or less) about Cambodia. I blame this on the fact that every history class I had in high school got up to WWII by the second-to-last week and then zoomed through the 60's and 70's in a week. A lot happened in the world in those 2 decades, as I have since learned.
Cambodia's government is a "unitary dominant party parliamentary elective constitutional monarchy" - still not entirely sure what that means although I think that they think they are pretty much a democracy (which they're not really). Air quality was better than Laos, heat and humidity just as bad, infrastructure was decent, tourist hospitality was great. Tour highlights included: a visit to a dance/arts school free to everyone (intended to preserve traditional culture); transport by remok (sort of their version of tuk-tuks); tour of downtown French-colonial architecture (the French ruled here for decades until 1953); a fish spa massage (which may or may not be safe 😮); a night out at a rooftop bar; a sobering visit to the Killing Fields, Buddhist memorial (in memory of the 1.7 million victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975-79) and Tuol Sleng prison museum (where we met 2 survivors). I learned enough to fill in the gaps in my history knowledge but I'm sure I should pick up a book to really get the full picture of the atrocities.
Then we drove a long way (8 hours) to Siem Reap, stopping midway to visit a woman who finds and cooks tarantulas as her business, and to see the 1000-year-old Kampong Kdei bridge which is the world's longest corbelled arch bridge. I doubt the tarantulas were kosher for Passover but I couldn't resist a taste (when else would I get to try it?). Tasted a bit like chicken 😅. Another excursion took us to see HeroRATS, a nonprofit that has trained large rats to sniff out unexploded bombs/devices. Very cool. We even got to hold the rats 😨. Then we got to ride in ox carts around a small village, which was bumpy and dusty and fun. And lastly we got to visit a "floating village" where all the homes are boats or rafts on the river. They have figured out to live cheaply this way (no land, no rent, no taxes) and interact as a community. It was fascinating to see and even more interesting to meet/talk with one of the families.
Our final excursion in Cambodia was the "piece de resistance" - Angkor Wat - the largest religious structure in the world (Hindu/Buddhist) which is also a UNESCO world heritage site. People flock here from all over the world to see it. I wish I could say it was the highlight but at this point I was so done with the heat and humidity (and temples in general). Perhaps if it had been the first place we went, it would have been more amazing. In any case, we spent hours and hours climbing in, up, and around it, photographing from every angle. Cool (but really hot 😛). I know I'm not giving it its full due, but hey, this was *my* experience. We even went to other nearby temples, similar but different, and I think I'd seen enough temples at this point (but there was still more to come in Vietnam and Thailand...!).
Deena
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