After surviving the absurd overnight bus trips that took us from Northern Vietnam to the bustling city of Saigon, our original plan was to make our way to the Mekong Delta for a few days before crossing over into Cambodia. Saigon is a great city, but I am of the opinion that if you have seen one city, then you have really seen them all. The girls and I spent a few nights in the grand city of Ho Chi Min and then jumped on the local bus to navigate our way through the delta.
Arriving in the delta was definitely an interesting experience. Let me just sum it up by saying, we spent one night there and only one night before waking up with the sunrise to catch the first bus out of there and back to Saigon. Either we ended up in the wrong town or we just did not make it far enough in, but either way what we experienced was anything but exciting. The town was dead zone. I had almost expected the people there to turn into zombies at sunset and I am definitely not a fan of zombies. The one spectacular thing that I took from the Delta was this fantastic sunset! Even when it sucks here... it is still somehow totally amazing!!
With that being said, we made our way back to the city in order to catch a bus to Cambodia. After 3 weeks in Vietnam it was time to part ways and move on to the next chapter of our ongoing journey. There are 2 main spots to hit in Cambodia and we figured that a week would be more than enough time to check out Phnom Phen to see the Killing Fields and then off to Siem Reap to catch a glimpse of the ever so breathtaking Angkor Wat. Little did I know how I would really fall in love with this fascinating country that I knew so little about until arriving there.
Phnom Phen is one of the 2 main cities in Cambodia and is now a peaceful place for people to visit. However, just a short 20 some years ago this city was more like a living hell for hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens that did not mindlessly follow the ridiculous orders of communist leader, Pol Pot. It is believed that somewhere around 1.5 million people died as a result of torture, starvation, forced labor at places like the, Killing Fields and the infamous S-21 Prison Camp.
The locals were told that the Americans were coming to bomb their cities and that immediate evacuation was their only chance for survival. Once out of their homes they were forced to either join forces with Pol Pot and his army or they were considered traders. Once they were marked as a trader towards the movement their lives were transformed into living nightmares. You were tortured, your family was tortured until you gave a certain amount of names that were to be considered traders as well. Then those souls were rounded up and they were tortured until they provided a confession of who the hell knows what. This went on for several years and is now considered to be the worst genocide of the 20th century and until I got here I had never heard of it.
S-21 Prison is one of the most well know prisoner interrogation camps throughout the country and is also where some 20,000 people met their demise at the hands of Pol Pot's army. Only 7 survived to tell their stories of their time spent at this former high school turned torture chamber. I will spare you all the gory details, but trust me when I say there is a presence that can be felt within the walls there that I never wish to feel again. It is hard to even sit here writing about it, so I cannot even begin to imagine how these 7 survivors must feel everyday of their lives. My heart goes out to all of the people in Cambodia that lived through this atrocity as well as to those who spent their last days Earth already living in hell.
Siem Reap is second on the list of top spots to see when traveling through Cambodia for it is home to the mystical creation of the Angkor Wat temples. This area is considered to be the biggest complex of temples in the world and the place is nothing short of amazing! The city of Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century and was considered to be one of the most prosperous kingdoms in Southeast Asia. This was clearly expressed through the construction of the Angkor Wat Temples.
Angkor Wat is by far and away the most remarkable thing that I have ever had the privilege of seeing. I certainly do not have the words to describe it and I fear that my pictures could in no way depict the true romance of it all. The detail alone that was hand carved into the gargantuan walls of these temples is astonishing in and of itself.
Hand carvings like this one are found throughout the entire network and are truly astonishing. Just imagine how long this must have taken to complete!
However, if you couple that along with the shier size of these things, well then, you are left standing there with your mouth gaping in total awe and your mind completely bewildered as to how something like this could have ever possibly been constructed way back in the 12th century. I mean..Angkor WHAT!!!
What started off as a complex network of temples built in honor of ancient Hindu Gods, has over time became one of the most profound places of worship for Buddhist all over the world. I am not particularly religious, but this place will bring anyone to his or her knees in marvel, for the creators of Angkor Wat were truly spectacular.
Once again I knew nothing of this magical creation until arriving to this side of the world. You forget just how big the world is and how many astoundingly fabulous things there are out there to see and experience. It is so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day lives and let the rest of the world pass you by without realizing that there is SO MUCH OUT THERE TO EXPLORE!!!!!
With this being said, I believe that Cambodia is my favorite country that I have had the pleasure of traveling to. I say this only because these people experienced something so terrible that I can't even begin to imagine living through it, let alone coping with the aftermath of emotions that must live within each and every one of them on a daily basis. Yet, the people here are the most friendly that I have met thus far. They seem to have the kindest faces and even though they are incredibly poor, they all seem to be happy. Amongst all the sadness and poverty the people of Cambodia have managed to carry on with their lives with true grace and with smiles on their faces.
After spending just a short period of time in Cambodia, I ended up developing the utmost respect for the people of this beautiful country both for their perseverance and their strength as well as their style and grace.
