Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Denton ready for a Tuk Tuk ride in Chau Doc

Our most expensive meal of the trip at La Residence 

Everyone sampling local fruit with our guide Kevin

The ladies showing off their fans they bought at the market

A cool gate at the Royal Palace

Marisa talking to Maria on the front of the boat

A pretty standard Vietnamese power pole

Last two pictures taken at the Royal Palace

Hello again friends and family! We've been dieing to get another post up and fill you all in on our travels, but we've been on the move so much it's been hard to find the time to sit and write. Last time we posted we were in our Villa in Mui Ne Vietnam, immediately after that Denton spent two days trying to recover from a serious travel bug which we suspect came from some bad Indian food. 3 other travelers in our group including Marisa got sick as well, but no one as bad as Denton. That experience has made us more mindful of what we eat and we hope its made our immune systems strong enough to fight anything off for the rest of the trip.

Once we all recovered in Mui Ne and after having missed our bus after standing in the sun for over an hour (apparently the bus came 10 minutes after we gave up and left), we hired a private driver the next day to take us back to Saigon where we met up with the rest of our traveling group: Anne (Marisa's good family friend), Eileen (Anne's sister), and Renee (a good friend and coworker of Anne). All great and fun people. The next morning we took a Mercedes sprinter van to Can Tho, Vietnam which is the 4th largest city and located along the Mekong Delta. Here we took a boat tour of the delta and visited a 'floating market' where a hundred or so boats meet every morning to buy and sell all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and seafood. From here we rented a 20 seater mini bus (because that's all they had) to take us to Chau Doc, Vietnam which is also on the Mekong Delta and is close to the Cambodian border. Here we walked around town checking out the outdoor markets, the riverfront where we had a nice long talk with some 12 year old school children who practiced there English on us and were very cute, and went to the top of Mount Sam which gave us a great 360 degree view of surrounding land. Also on top of the mountain, we got to witness the locals who would hold a bunch of small birds in their hands and pray to an altar before releasing all the birds to fly free and carry their prayers. Early the next morning we were picked up by a line of 6 bicycle powered tuk tuks to take us and our luggage to the delta where we caught a boat that would take us to Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia.

The boat ride was very smooth and so was the stop at the border to secure our visas for Cambodia. Upon arriving in Phnom Penh we were literally swarmed by tuk tuk drivers who spoke good English wanting to take us to where ever we needed or didn't need to go. The noticeable difference about these tuk tuks was that they were all motor scooter powered and relatively big and comfortable compared to any in Vietnam. They would take up to 6 people anywhere in the city for about 2 or 3 dollars. We were surprised to find out how westernized Cambodia is, they price things in and accept US Dollars everywhere, speak and write better English than most places in Vietnam, and have numerous foreign companies supporting their economy. All of the drivers, hotel staff, and restaurant staff were also very polite, grateful, and sincere for our business. We stayed at the The Amber Hotel for 2 nights while exploring Phnom Phen.

The second day everyone but Jim and Tom toured the city via tuk tuk. Our first stop was the infamous S-21, the former high school turned detention center where the prisoners were held and tortured before they were trucked out to the "killing fields". A bit of history…..Pol Pat, who took the name that means "politician potential", studied in his youth in France where he was heavily influenced by the communist party. He took over the government in 1975 and ruled from Phnom Penh for 3 yrs, 8 months and 20 days until his defeat in 1979 by the Vietnamese. During that time, 2 million Cambodians were killed, nearly 1/3 of the population. Within 4 days of the Khmer Rouge's arrival in the capital, everyone was ordered to leave the city(under the false claim that the Americans would soon bomb it) and so they fled to the country side. He closed all the schools, the hospitals and libraries and only valued working the land. Entire families were picked up because they were accused of being CIA, KGB or enemies of the state. He massacred women, children and even his own high ranking officials that he suspected of treason. Only 7 men survived the dention center, and of those 2 are still living, now 71 and 81 yrs old. Those seven survived because they were painters, sculptors, translators or useful to the guards in some fashion. Their guards were young uneducated boys brought in from the countryside and they documented everything…..the photos of the victims were haunting. It was a tragedy on such a huge scale and as Americans we turned a blind eye. The city was in ruins when Pol Pot was defeated but has now been beautifully rebuilt with many active construction sites all over town. After S-21 we took an hour tour of the excessively ornate Royal Palace where the current 91 year old king still resides. There were lots of rules of entry such as: women being moderately dressed, no hats or big backpacks, and we couldn't wear shoes or take photos inside any of the buildings. The entire complex had so much detail from the landscaping, rooftops, dozens of monuments, high painted ceilings of the entire Hindu story, hundreds of pure gold Buddha statues, and a building with a solid silver tile floor. After our day of sightseeing we had the most amazing French dinner at La Residence, a beautiful building that used to be the home of the princess. We really liked Phnom Penh and were a little sad to leave so soon.

Now we are having a great time in the Cambodian beach town of Sihnoukville which has soft white sand, clear warm water, fresh seafood, and a lively party scene with lots of young western tourists. Several of the beach front bars have Help Wanted signs for westerners offering free accommodation, food, and drink which we have to admit was a little tempting. Yesterday some of us walked the length of the beautiful beach for a couple of hours while some of us got 2 1/2 hour spa treatments. We wanted to do some snorkeling here but it required a full day boat trip to get to the good spots and we just couldn't pry ourselves away from our pool and the beach here for that long...

Tomorrow we have a hour flight to Siem Reap where we are excited to visit the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. Hope you are all well…till next time!