Cambodia and Vietnam

It’s 5:30 in the morning, I am wide awake and standing at the bow of the ship on the 7th deck as the MV Explorer navigates the tricky twists and turns of the Mekong Delta as we head towards the port in Ho Chi Min City (also known as Saigon), Vietnam. I am excited to be in Vietnam but nervous because I know I am about to leave on a trip to Cambodia. I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

We left the ship on Thursday morning to go to the airport to take a quick 45 minute flight to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. When we arrived we all piled onto tour buses and drove directly through the city to the National Museum. We saw old ruins and old Buddha statues. After visiting the museum we drove to the Mekong River where we took a sunset cruise down the river through the deltas. After the hour-long boat ride we headed to dinner at a local restaurant where we had traditional Southeast Asian food. After dinner we visited an orphanage where over 80 Cambodian orphans live.

We began walking down a dark ally way towards the orphanage. As we got close to the gates I could hear the kids laughing and playing. When we walked onto the grounds of the orphanage the children immediately ran up to us like we were celebrities. They were hugging us and pulling at our pants with their small hands to get us to play with them. I handed out chocolates to the kids and the smiles on their faces quickly turned my fatigue from the long day into excitement. The standard of living in Cambodia is not even close to that of America as I noticed when I saw the rooms where the kids sleep. No beds, just a few blankets and pillows on the floor. Their clothes were dirty, probably because they only have one or two shirts in their possession. I played soccer with a few kids then headed upstairs where one 10-year-old girl taught me how to play a hand game. We all played and hung out together till 10pm when it was time for us to leave and for the children to go to bed. We said goodbye and headed back to the bus to check-in to our hotel for a much anticipated good nights sleep.

I was warned before we came to Cambodia that we would be visiting the genocide museum and The Killing Fields, but was not prepared for what was to come. We woke up early on our second day in Cambodia and went straight to the Tuosleng Genocide Museum. Before 1975 Tuosleng was a highschool for Cambodian children, but in 1975 the highschool was turned into a prison and torture center as the Khmer Rouge slowly took over and started one of the worst and least known about killing sprees of our generation. We learned about how they wanted Cambodia to revert back to being a natural and not educated country so that the people in power had all of the authority; therefore, anyone remotely educated, enlightened or admired was kidnapped and killed during this 4 year reign.

The museum reminded me of the Holocuast museum in Washington DC except more personal and powerful. The museum is the ACTUAL place where these tortures and killings took place. While walking through the halls of the building my mind raced back and forth as I imagined and pictured what happened thirty years ago in the exact spots where I was standing. As I looked at the pictures of the people who were killed I could see the depression, desperation and loss of hope in their eyes. It was overwhelming to say the least, but definitely worthy of seeing and something more people should know about. After visiting the museum we headed to The Killing Fields where the people imprisoned where taken to be killed and then buried in mass graves.

The Killing Fields were eerie, almost ghostly. I could feel the presence of the thousands of people killed there. As I walked through the fields where the mass graves were I saw human bones sticking out of the ground on the walking paths and clothing from the victims coming through the dirt. It was almost too much to handle when our guide began describing how these innocent people were executed. In the center of the fields is a monument with over 9,000 human skulls on shelves stacked over 50 feet high. The numerous skulls seemed like they went on forever as I looked up onto the shelves stretching higher than I could see.

I find it interesting that I had absolutely no idea this happened in Cambodia and I hope that more people learn not only about it but from it. Seeing this has made me want to learn more about the genocides going on today such as in the Darfur region of Africa. I don’t get how countries like America can sit and watch something so horrible happen and not do anything about it. We do have the power to stop these genocides from happening yet for some reason we sit and watch, waiting to learn about it 30 years after it has ended. I know it is much more complicated than that, but I cant wrap my mind around any good reason to not do everything possible to end these killings of perfectly innocent human beings.

After learning about the genocide in Cambodia we left the killing fields and headed to a more modern part of town where we visited the Royale Pagoda and Silver Palace. The pagodas are beautiful; full of tiny intricate gold details and high pointed steeples. Visiting these beautiful buildings uplifted a somewhat depressing mood within the group. After visiting the Pagodas we headed to the airport for a short flight to Angkor Wat.

We arrived in Angkor in the late afternoon and went straight to the main temples of Angkor Wat. I have seen pictures of this- the biggest religious site in the world, but seeing it in real life was so much cooler than I expected. The ruins are huge and every piece of stone is carved with perfect detailing. After watching the sunset over the temples we headed to dinner at a big local restaurant where we ate and watched a cultural dance show. After a long day we headed to the hotel for again some much needed sleep.

The next morning I woke up at 5am to go see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was absolutely beautiful as I stood by the lake as the orange sun rose over the temples then cast a reflection on the water in front of me. After touring the temples, three of my friends and I decided to leave the group for a couple of hours to explore the city of Ankgor Wat by ourselves. We went to the markets, ate lunch at a pizza place then headed back to the hotel where we met up with the group to tour one more section of the temples.

In the afternoon we visited Angkor Thom which was where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider. We explored the ruins and saw the hidden faces carved into the rock towers. While exploring these old temples everyone was dripping sweat because of the heat and humidity. I literally have never sweat more in my life than during these three days in Cambodia. Although the heat was brutal it was well worth it and the experiences I had in Cambodia by far surpass the annoyance of the heat. In the late afternoon we headed back to the hotel for our flight back into Vietnam and back to the ship.

If I had to describe Cambodia in a few words I would say that it is a country deep in culture but still visibly suffering from the hard times. I feel that if the genocide and wars hadn’t taken place, the country would have a big economic impact on Southeast Asia; however, with everything it has gone through in the past half century it hasn’t regained any real power or developed into the industrial society it should be. The people of Cambodia are noticeably depressed and affected by its history and the underdeveloped cities show that impact.

The last two days in Vietnam I spent walking around the city, bargaining in the market, buying more dollar DVDs and knock off everything. On the second day I visited the War Remnants Museum which was another pretty depressing sight. I saw pictures of the Vietnam War (or the “American War” as the Vietnamese call it) and learned more about the war. We left the museum after visiting for only an hour because lets face it- I had already seen enough disheartening things for the week. We headed back to the ship with a ton of cheap souvenirs and gifts and waited till the morning to renavigate the Mekong delta out of
Saigon and begin our two day journey towards Hong Kong.

Vietnam and Cambodia were unexpectedly two of my favorite places I have visited on this trip. Two very different countries, three days in Cambodia, two days in Vietnam, five days of learning and again appreciating what I have in life. The two days I spent in Vietnam were fun and definitely worth it because I was able to buy over a hundred DVDs for less than $40, a North Face backup for $9 and a ton of little gifts for all of you supporting me back at home. And although parts of my trip to Cambodia were depressing, the knowledge I gained from being there was well worth the grim sites.