The Johnsons' Journal

We left Vietnam by bus to Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh.  It was a long 6-hour bus ride including a ferry crossing on the Mekong, but mostly pleasant as the bus company assisted us with the 2 border crossings (exit in Vietnam and then about 1 km away the entry to Cambodia).

We took a Tuk-Tuk from the bus station to our hotel.

We arrived to our boutique hotel, which was a little oasis in a busy, dusty city.  We were surprised by the amount of very trendy boutique hotels and restaurants in the city, especially because it didn’t seem like Vietnam had any.

The furniture in our room was cast concrete and was kinda simplist-chic.

Scott lazing in the pool.

We soon got into the habit of waking up with the locals (as you can hear animals, motorbike and all kind of noise at about 6:30 in the morning), go for a swim, have a lazy breakfast by the pool, then head out to see some of the sites, then back to the pool in the afternoon, before heading out to a nice restaurant for dinner.

There are quite a few Monks around the city.  And some monuments too.  And some sunsets too.

Some of the sights around the city focused on the truly fascinating and heartbreaking history of the Cambodian people and the Khmer Rouge.  One day we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us out of the city to see the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which was a former school turned Khmer Rouge prison.

At the prison, they installed barbed wire netting so that desperate prisoners would not commit suicide by jumping off upper level balconies.

Between 1975 and 1979, over 2 million Cambodians were violently killed by the Khmer Rouge, including innocent men, women, and children.   The Killing Feilds outside of Phnom Penh is just one of many such sites, but houses the largest memorial to the tragedy.  It was both informative and very tragic to visit the memorial.

Some of the victims of the Khmer Rouge.

Another day we spent touring the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace.  Unfortunately we could not go into the Palace, with the recent passing of the former King.

I’ve always loved the architecture of SE Asian Wats.

The intricacy and detail of the carvings are just fantastic.

We also were impressed with the amount of international and national programs to support young and poor families and as a tourist you can make a difference by dining at one of the many training restaurants, buying local fair-trade handmade products, taking tours with local sustainable companies, as well as, volunteering.  As we immediately saw, Cambodia is a very poor nation and many families are still struggling against poverty.   In Phnom Penh we found a lot of great places to support including:

• Dinner at Romdeng, part of Friends International that supports street kids and provides education and vocational training in their training restaurants.
• Handmade crafts at Daughters of Cambodia, which supports victims of sex-trafficking and sex-exploitation in Cambodia by providing them with alternative jobs, education, and health/support services.
• Traditional performance by Cambodian Living Arts, which supports young artists and young people to learn about their traditional culture, arts, and dance.  And as we found out, 90% percent of Cambodia’s artists were specifically targeted for execution by the Khmer Rouge, which was a devastating blow to all of Cambodia’s cultural traditions.

Part of the Cultural Show which depicted a traditional Khmer wedding.