Cambodia: Thoughts and Tips

We spent five days last week in beautiful and amazing Cambodia.  What a fascinating country with an incredible history--both ancient and modern.  When London was a town of 50,000, a city existed here of more than one million people.  The temples and ruins are awe inspiring.  It's hard to put into words and photos just how incredible they are.  It would have been amazing to see them a thousand of years ago at their finest.  In modern times, Cambodia has endured three decades of war and an atrocious genocide that left an estimate of up to 2.5 million people dead--1/3 of the population.  This was led by the Khmer Rouge.  Definitely worth reading up on, especially if you are like we were, knowing nothing about Cambodia.  Here is a great documentary about Angkor Wat.

 I was so impressed and touched by the people.  They are kind, industrious, and happy.  So recently they've been through worse than hell and the country is slowly rebuilding.  They still don't have much, but manage to do so much with what they have.  Many people were disabled by landmines that are still a problem  due to three decades of perpetual war.  In so many societies/cultures today disability is looked at as a reason to get handouts.  But Cambodia has programs that teach crafts from which they can earn an income.  At the temples, bands like this play great music and sell CDs to earn money.  We were waiting in the van on the popular "pub street (tourist street with alot of restaurants)" and a man approached us selling books.  I was very touched by him and bought a book.  Along with the book, he passed out a business card and a flyer telling about his little business, that he chose it instead of begging and that the business was appreciated.  Samara (thankfully) was quiet while he was there, but had her eyes fixed on him.  Afterwards, she asked, "Mom, why does that man not have any arms?" Ugh.  Tears welled up in my eyes and I wasn't sure how to explain what a cruel place the world can be.  She's too young to know about that.  The people certainly don't let their disabilities define them and I think it's inspiring.

And like the rest of SE Asia, there are awesome markets,  

 

interesting food (that's snake on top and deep-fried spiders are popular fare), 

and I'm always fascinated by how much and how many people fit on a motorbike.  We saw one motorbike with a family of six on it.  One sweet family we met from our church's local congregation makes two trips to and from church because they can't all fit on their one motorbike.  Here is where I remember to never complain again about a long air-conditioned ride on the MRT.

 

When we got home Samara said, "Mom, the people in Cambodia were always saying to you, 'Lady, lady a dollah, a dollah,' trying to get you to buy their birds and stars and scarves."  Very true!  Above are some cute girls hawking their fares.  Aren't these girls gorgeous?  It's hard to resist buying stuff from the kids but many of the adults are very pushy and relentless so beware.  We probably would have bought more had they given us a little space.  And when you are nursing your baby in the car everyone likes to come up and just stare at you for long periods of time.  A little awkward.

We returned home exhausted, but grateful we could visit such a neat place.  Samara got to share a room with her cute friend while we were there and did great.  Samara told us on the way home that she did NOT want to sleep alone when we got back.  She meant what she said.

Here is some helpful info for those planning a trip there while it's fresh in my mind.

Fees

Everything is in USD.  You can even get USD at the ATMs. Bring lots of $1s and small bills to buy trinkets and tip.  You will get USD in change as well, unless your change is less than a dollar.

$25 Visa on arrival at the airport, bring a passport photo

$20 exit fee at airport, $13 for kids, infants free

$20 One-day temple pass $40 for three days (doesn't have to be used consecutively) or $60 for week 

Hotels

Paradise Angkor Villa  We stayed here and really liked it.  They have affordable 4- and 5-bedroom villas if you have a large family or that you can split with another family.  The other two hotels come highly recommended from friends who stayed there.

Bopha Angkor

Steung Siem Reap

Restaurants

We either ate at the following or they were recommend to us.  Definitely try the local khmer cuisine.  It is very flavorful and sort of a mix between Thai and Vietnamese.

Blue Pumpkin--Fantastic ice cream for $1.50 a scoop!  Great pastries too.

Red Piano

Khmer Kitchen

Pizza Company--Delivers to your hotel

Sugar Palm--Got my favorite dish of the trip here, Khmer fish salad

Butterfly Garden

Driver and Guide Info

We arranged everything through a lovely girl named Chetana.  The driver is $40/day for a van and you can book a great tour guide, Lee for $25/day.  We were thrilled with them.  You can arrange to do a service project through them as well.  They are all from the local LDS branch.  You can get tuk-tuks, vans, and guides when you get there too.