My time in Cambodia has impacted me more than any place I have been to (yet). A friend made a comment about Cambodia reminding them of Thailand 40 years ago. Although I wasn’t in Thailand 40 years (or alive), it’s a believable statement since the current contrast is so stark. Perhaps this is what I love about Cambodia. Though tourism is indeed growing, the tourist boom hasn’t been so big (yet) that the people see westerners as customers/dollar signs/jerks or whatever.
Seeing Angkor Wat was a dream come true. Simply the most impressive city or temple ruins I’ve seen. The walls, buildings and temples are huge and every piece is covered with detailed carvings. With the number of places to explore and the unique details in each place, a full day is necessary (and reading up on your history should be too).
The day before we actually got out to Angkor Wat, Carrie read a little pamphlet distributed by local businesses to bring awareness to what tourism is doing to the local street children and the children in orphanages. Essentially people are building orphanages for the money-making business it can be and while visiting one for 30 minutes might make you feel good, it’s not healthy for the psychological development of a young child and doesn’t support a natural home environment. While it may make a visitor feel good to watch children put on a little skit and sing songs, it actually could support a sick business whose highest interest is not a child’s well-being. Similarly, giving to the kids who beg daily supports the parent’s decision to stick their kids on the streets instead of letting them go to school. It’s hard to know what to do really. In the last months I haven’t seen my wife pass someone in need without giving. All that to say, our first 30 minutes roaming around the main Angkor Wat site was spent with a small boy following us begging for money. It’s hard to know what’s right but we didn’t give this time and seeing how long he followed us, it seems that giving would have been easier (not that I minded him with us, but it was certainly heartbreaking).
Being paranoid of “voluntourism”, Carrie contacted my friend Kevin who had spent 5 months teaching English in Cambodia. Kevin connected us with some great people who are doing all kinds of great work here. We spent most of our time in Phnom Penh at a school teaching english. Truly a great experience. Unfortunately the public education system isn’t great and at times a bit corrupt so the teaching that happens outside of public school is a great thing to be a part of.
A quick highlight: The kids were learning “who, what, when, where, why and how” using a picture of a farm to answer questions. One kid was asked what he would do with his cows and his answer was, “raise them and then sell them to get married.”
One of the most impacting things was the genocide museum. The history is not uplifting but it is certainly impacting. To see the cells where people were tortured, to see mass graves and to read the history left me absolutely speechless for the better part of a day. Luckily there is a wonderful display at the end of the museum: a Cambodian exhibit at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. I wish I had time on this upcoming Japan trip to make a trip to Okinawa to see it. Knowing the history is one thing, but the most important aspect is learning how to prevent such atrocities from happening again, not just as Cambodians but as human beings.
From the kids to the temples this was an amazing experience. One of the few places we must return. It yet again shows that part of a travel experience is who you’ve met.
