Cambodia

Day 1 – Jan. 25th
On the way to Thailand we had a lay over in Abu Dhabi (capital of Dubai). We had about 10 hours so we decided to check this capital out! Abu Dhabi was small and very quiet. We walked along the water and saw the most beautiful hotel (Emirates Palace Hotel) it was breath taking it was so big At night different colors of lights faded in and out on it. We decided to go to the mall and look in a few stores and catch a movie called Even Money (it was ok…not the best I have seen. I really wanted to see Enchanted but it was sold out! Then back to the airport to catch our LONG flight to Bangkok. I slept the entire way…didn’t even watch a movie!

Day 2 – January 26th
At Bangkok we decided to book our flights and leave the same day to Cambodia. We landed in Phnom Penh just in time for supper. We dropped off our bags at the hotel and took a tuktuk to a small Thai restaurant that we saw on our way to the hotel. Cambodia and Thailand are full of Geigos. If I see another geigo it will be TOOOOoo sooon. Yuck. The food was good. (I really like Thai food). Afterwards we went to the night market. People were selling clothes, cds, purses, scarves, souvenirs…anything you can think of they were selling…CHEAP! I didn’t buy anything the first night because I didn’t know what prices were and wasn’t prepared to bargain just yet. We hopped in the tuk tuk and went back to the hotel to have a good nights sleep…once my head hit the pillow I was out!

Day 3 – January 27th
We had booked a car and driver for the day to pick us up at our hotel in Phnom Penh at 9:00…they definitely are not punctual people. He arrived at 10:00am. So we jumped in the car and headed to the Killing Field Choeung Ek. This place is where the men, women and the children prisoned in Tuol SLeng were taken to be killed and buried by the Communist regime Khmer Rouge. I walked around in kind of a daze. I couldn’t believe everything that I saw and what I learned along the way. There is a massive building with glass windows in the center where 5,000 human skulls are stacked high above your head. Then as you walk around the area there are little wooden signs next to each hold in the ground that gives the number of bodies found in that particular hole. In some places you could see pieces of clothing emerging from the ground. To save on bullets, they were usually bludgeoned to death, the smaller children and babies swung against a tree. They are still uncovering remains today.

After the killing fields we headed to Wat Phnom. Here we saw monkeys, a temple and a large clock in the ground.

After that we ate at a restaurant that helped an orphanage. I had a delicious pizza! (not Thai food…had a craving for pizza when I saw another couple eating it!!)

Next we went to Tuol Sleng S21 Genocide Museum. We watched a hour documentary on the Genocide…it was definitely hard to keep my eyes open in a dark, warm- slightly air-conditioned room. Tuol Sleng is composed of three buildings arranged around a rectangular yard. The classrooms were converted into prison cells and torture chambers; some preserved so you can see the conditions people were kept in, some cleared for exhibitions of torture mechanisms or photos of the thousands that were incarcerated. You can walk through the mass prison cells where people slept on the bare floor. You can see the rooms of the ground floor that were sectioned off into tiny single person prison cells, the chains that bound ankles still embedded in the concrete. Photos hang on the walls above the beds showing human shapes, faces obscured or beaten. The final rooms are photos with thousands of faces, covering the walls, photos of those that were arrested by the Khmer Rouge because they were considered a threat to the regime.

It was a long day and all of us were all in shock about what we had learned. Up until 1995 people were still hiding from the Vietnamese. They thought the war was still going on.

Afterwards we all needed massages and booked one for after supper. We went to a large shopping mall and found a place to buy cheap DVD’s. I bought a few romantic comedies to watch back in Kuwait.

We went to Seeing Hands (massages given by the blind). My massage was quite good. However, Kyla has never had a massage before and the guy who we think could see a bit, liked her and his hands wandered a little bit!!!

By this time we were all hungry. We decided to eat at a restaurant called Friends. Friends is a training restaurant which is training young people of cambodia necesarry skills for the future. (It is the 3rd and final step of their training. )The food was amazing!!! They were Tapas (small dishes) so that we could try a variety of items. Similar to our appetizers but a bit smaller.

Day 4 – January 28th
We went to The Royal Palace. It was very nice. Not all of the buildings were open for the public as they are still used today. I love Palaces so we had to check it out! The dress code was very strict here. Most of our body had to be covered. Skirts and a elbow length shirt was the best. No scarves! Kristy had to purchase a nice white see through t-shirt to cover her arms because of the no scarf rule. It was very hot walking around fully covered with the sun beating down on us!

Then we went to The National Museum - not very big but full of interesting artifacts from various temples around Cambodia. I don’t really like museums but it was still cool to see.

The best part of the day was going to the Russian Market. I was ready to shop!! My first purchase was a cute slip on pair of puma black and white shoes $10.00. Then I bought some Hollister t-shirts for $3.00c. A pair of A & F shorts for $7.00 and much more. All brand names items were cheap cheap!

Then we went to eat at the 2nd training restaurant owned by the same people as FRIENDS. The name of the restaurant was Romdeng. I thought this food was even better. It was traditional Cambodian food and complete meals.

Then we went to the Boom Boom room.

Afterwards we went to the water front street and walked restaurant to restaurant having some beverages. We saw some pretty nasty men paying women to touch their children in inappropriate places just for money. We saw foreigners paying Cambodian women to go home with them. It was sad to see the poverty and what women will do to survive.

Day 5 – January 29th
We had to get up early to catch the ferry boat to Siem Reap. I slept most of the way on this boat. But when I was awake the scenery was nice. You could see floating houses and boats with people fishing. We past buy a floating village on our way into Siem Reap. Getting our bags and getting off the boat was an experience I will never forget. We had to walk along the edge of the boat to get our bags. Put it on our back without falling over into the water. Then to get off the boat walk off a wooden board and hope not to fall into the wet mud. We had a tuk tuk driver waiting to pick us up and take us to our hotel. Kyla and I felt like we were in the Amazing race. Our tuk tuk driver drove very fast and we past every tuk tuk driver that we saw. Our hotel was cheap as usual. Only $7.00 a night. Amanda and Kristy’s room had geigos but lucky for Kyla and I we were on the 2nd floor and for some reason didn’t come into our room only stayed outside our door.

We headed straight to the tourism information office to find out what we wanted to see in Siem Reap besides Angkor Wat. It was very helpful and we ended up eating at a buffet restaurant with Cambodia dancers for entertainment. After supper we headed to the late night markets where I bought some cheap flowy pants and a hand made bag. Cheap Cheap again. Then we went to Pub street to hang out and dance. Beer was only $1.00. Eeks So we ended up at a bar called Angkor What Bar. Here they had a special buy 2 pitchers get a t-shirt free. We sat and drank with some young guys who were also staying at our hotel. I signed my name on the wall…twice because the first time I didn’t think I made it big enough! (We ended up with 4 or 5 shirts…but some how only 2 ended up back in our hotel. Kyla lost the bags she purchased at the market too. We think when we were dancing it fell out of her purse. It was a really fun night but the next day we were lucky to wake up in time to go to Angkor Wat.

Day 6 – January 30th
So due to the fact that we didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning and had a tuk tuk waiting for us at 8 to go to Angkor Wat…it was the longest day of our lives. The sun was very hot and we all were tired and yes hung over. But the troopers that we were made it through the entire day at Angkor Wat and saw all the temples that we wanted to see. We had to take a break every 10 minutes and sit down but we did. 13 hours in the heat …including the sun set. (I will upload pictures to show you how beautiful the buildings were)