The last stop for Morgan and me during our Southeast Asia trip was Cambodia. Here is what did and saw while in Cambodia:

The first stop for us was Phnom Penh. Here we went to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum or S21 prison, which is located in the center of the city. This is where the Khmer Rouge held many of their captives between 1975-1979 before they were murdered. This was an old high school that Pol Plot decided would be a prison for those who did not want to follow their communist regime. Out of about 14,000 prisoners, only 4 people survived. It was eerie walking around the school yard and seeing all the rooms turned into torture chambers and cells. The second day in the city, we went to the Cheoung Ek “Killing Fields.” This is where most of the prisoners of S 21 were sent to die. Here we saw mass graves with 480 victims, torture tools, and trees where they would swing the young children to kill them. They used no guns in their executions, only tools and knives. As we were walking around, we could still see bones and teeth emerging from the sandy ground. So after a somber couple of days of sights, we went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, as well as Wat Phnom. We found a great Central Market where we got some good gifts for family at home, as well as new shoes for Morgan to celebrate our 6 month wedding anniversary.

After we left Phnom Penh, we went to the small town of Kampot to hang out for a couple of days. Here we just walked around and literally did nothing for two days except eat and chill out. We did rent a motorbike and drove 30km to the town of Kep, which was on the beach. Here we ate seafood and explored for the day.

We then took a bus to Sihanoukville where we stayed for 4 nights and 5 days. We stayed in a beach bungalow all four nights and laid in beach chairs for free everyday drinking pineapple shakes. It is a tough life, but someone has to do it. It was an amazing beach, and we hated to leave such a nice place. We ate tons of seafood on the beach and got some nice tans. There were tons of little girls coming around selling bracelets to all the tourists, and we kept telling them no. They kind of threw us for a loop though by asking us, “why not?” Morgan just kept telling them she does not wear bracelets or she did not have money. One little girl said “ no money no honey.” I broke down though, and bought 3 for a $1. After our time here, we took a bus back to Phnom Penh for two nights to break up our long 13 hour journey to Siem Reap. We just had no desire to take and overnight bus again.

In Siem Reap, the main sight to see is Angkor and Angkor Wat. We bought a 3 day pass, and visited all the temples in the complex. I think we visited around 25 separate temples, and spent about 8 hours each day walking around in the hot sun. Angkor was the ancient city in Cambodia built during the 11^th and 12^th century, and is considered the most spectacular set of temples in all of Asia. Most people only come to Cambodia to see Angkor. This was the last stop for us in Cambodia, and it was spectacular. We hired a tuk tuk driver for 3 full days, and he drove us around wherever we wanted to go. He was a nice guy named Hai who has 5 kids and farms rice during the rainy season to make ends meet. After three days of temple touring, we spent our last day in Cambodia lying by the pool and buying gifts for family back home at the local markets.

Cambodia was a great country, and here we saw the largest difference in social classes in all of Asia. There is no middle class. You are either dirt poor or you are wealthy, driving around in a Range Rover. The government here is very corrupt, and every local we spoke with affirmed the same thing. Locals struggle to buy food, eat three meals a day, pay for their children’s education, and pay for health services. We saw so many people begging for food. I can recall one time when Morgan and I were eating at a local food stall, and I left some chicken bones on my plate. There were three little boys around the age of 6 who came by our table begging for food. One boy pointed at my bones, and made a gesture that he wanted them. I tried to explain that they were just bones, and he did not want them, but he insisted. He quickly grabbed them off my plate, and began eating whatever meat he could find off the bones. It was very sad to see this, but for most Cambodians, occurrences like this are an everyday task. Morgan and I talked, and said that if we were going to work for an NGO overseas, Cambodia would be on the top of our list.

So after about 2.5 weeks in Cambodia, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 3 days for our flight back home to the States. Here, we went to the local tourist markets and bought 9 purses, 2 duffels, and 3 wallets for friends and family back home who had placed orders. We also went back to the Patronas Towers at night, and took some good photos. At this point in time, we were just ready to fly home and meet back up with our friends and family. We took 3 flights to get home taking about 30 hours. It was exhausting to say the least, but we made it home safe and sound.

Please look for our blog post in the next few days that will be a recap on our 6 months overseas in New Zealand and Southeast Asia!

Cheers,

David and Morgan