Cambodia Round Up

Now that our trip through Cambodia has come to an end, it's time to take a look back.  Since we knew very little about the country before we arrived (OK fine, Neil knew way more than me), we figured we would share a bit of information along with our thoughts.  So here's our overview as mostly borrowed from Wikipedia:

Cambodia, officially called the Kingdom of Cambodia and called Kampuchea locally, has a population of a little over 15 million people with a median age of 24 years old.  Like most of Southeast Asia it has been wrought with violence over most of the 20th century with internal and external wars.  Cambodia though has a particularly devastating past with the civil war between the the communists (the Khmer Rouge) and the royal government.

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, came into power in 1975 and were removed from government by the Vietnamese in 1978.  During these three years nearly a quarter of the population (2 million people) were killed by the government in an effort to purge the society and return to the agrarian heyday of the 13th century Angkorian society.

Since then the government has been controlled by one man, Hun Sen.  He has been in power for over 30 years, and in elections held over the summer, his party won according to the election officials to retain power.  This has caused the opposition party to call for an outside overview of the votes, which so far has not happened.

The economy is growing but is still one of the poorest in the area.  As Nyp told us, one of the outspoken, local comedians jokes "we export the trees but import the toothpicks."  Cambodia relies on exporting natural resources but don't have the manufacturing ability to create the products internally.  Much of this is blamed on the current government and its close alliance with the Vietnamese who are receiving these resources.

Now that we're safely out of the country, we can tell you there were several protests held in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap during our stay.  Although the vote this year was declared much closer than previous elections, Hun Sen is still in power.  The protests started peacefully enough, but clashes between police and the opposition quickly escalated.  We know at least one person was killed and many injured.

I promise this is as close as I got to the protest

Soon after arriving in Phnom Penh, we found out that the election results were going to be announced and caught wind of the protests, so we asked Nyp what to expect.  He kept us up to date on the election results and how to stay safe.  I think he liked talking local politics with foreigner, so he told us all of his opinions (he agrees with the opposition).

Now that you have an overview of Cambodia we will try to give you a feel for the country itself.  The people are very friendly.  They are some of the happiest people we have ever met.  The countryside is full of beautiful greens and so fertile.  We enjoyed all the places we visited, but not necessarily getting there.  As we mentioned before, the roads are terrible.  While nearly everyone is trying to make money from you, we never felt in danger or that people held any animosity toward us, as foreigners or Americans.

Just another traffic jam 

And now a quick rundown of the highlight (and a few low lights):

Favorite city- N Siem Reap, C Siem Reap for the related sights (who can argue with Angor Wat?), Phnom Penh for the actual city

Lease favorite city- N Chhlong (that's French architecture?), C Stung Treng (nothing much to see)

Favorite hotel- N Rajabori Villas on Koh Trong island, C Tara Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap

Least favorite hotel: N Sambor Village in Kampong Thom (leaky roof), C Gold River Hotel in Stung Treng (I'm afraid there's a chance that was the fancier hotel in town.  Yikes!)

Favorite meal- Fish Amok

Favorite activity- N bike riding around Koh Trong island, C jungle trekking

Least favorite common occurrence- N trash everywhere, C have I mentioned the squat toilets?

And now some fun details:

Days in Cambodia- 14

Number of hotels- 5

Means of transportation- 6 (minibus, bus, walking, boat, bicycle, tuk tuk)

Taking our first tuk tuk ride!

Number of phrases learned: 4

Number of phrases remembered and used: 1 (soo s'day= hello)

Number of bathrooms without toilet paper or hand soap- more than we'd like to remember (always carry spare toilet paper and hand sanitizer!)

Bottles of water consumed- more than one can count (it was beyond hot and the tap water isn't even safe for brushing your teeth)

Number of smiling children: thousands

Number of pictures taken: 1117

Number of good pictures: debatable


Neil and I cannot say enough good things about Cambodia.  We absolutely loved our trip, but it's not ideal for everyone.  The people are very friendly and the land is beautiful, but with the lack of government accountability, there is certainly a lack in infrastructure.  It can be seen in the piles of trash on the streets and the excessive number of beggars.  I hate to focus on the negative, but I also don't want to give a false impression of the country by only showing fun pictures.  Given the opportunity, I would suggest a visit to anyone, but be ready to take the good with the bad.  You won't regret it!

And so we don't end on a sad not, here's a picture of Neil being silly!