Phnom Penh - no bike day
Lets start with a little current events lesson about Cambodia. Who knows what is special about tomorrow? Anyone? Anyone? Well, if you guessed the former Cambodian king is going to be creamated, you are correct! The much loved King passed away in October and is bing cremated tomorrow evening about 2 blocks from our hotel. This adds a certain level of chaos to things as the population of this small city is ecpected to go up by half for this event. The streets around the hotel have been blocked off and throngs of people have been going by to see the crematorium of the king.
It is a beautiful city and we got to explore it a little bit in "cyclos".
They took us to a memorial about the Khamer Rouge attrocities. It is amazing that such horrible events happened so recently. If you are unfamiliar with this piece of history, it is not unlike the holocaust in Europe. An estimate of 2 million deaths is attributed to Khamer Rouge. They were overthrown with the help of Vietnam in 1978. It was a very sobering museum.
Later, we wandered the city and took pictures. It was a very beautiful city. I love the roofs here!
I'm going to use this opportunity to talk a little about the Cambodian people instead of dwelling on the minutia of my day. The people here are very very poor but amazingly generous and kind. Can you imagine someone making an average of $853 a year (that's it, less than a thousand a year, no missing digits or zeros) being willing to share with a stranger?
Think of how you would react if one afternoon you had over a dozen people from another country show up in your front yard all sweaty and wearing funny clothes and hats. None speak your language except one guide. They are inquisitive and want to take pictures of you and your house and your children. They want to to hang out on your patio and rest. Would you be ok with that?
Let me give you an example (and this is not the only time this has happened). Yesterday we had an oops. The guide told us 8k and he meant 18k until our lunch stop. It was hot and people were tired and thirsty. The guide chose a random house that looked shady and asked is we could stop and use their shade, which is pretty much their living room! The giude found out they were making a "cake" behind the house and asked if we could watch. Now this family has a pack of americans asking questions and taking pictures. All the while these ladies smiled and answered questions and even fed some to the people with more robust stomachs (some of us were more concerened about contaminated water and passed, but most tried it). Can you imagine being that open and kind?
I think we could learn something from the Cambodian people.
It is a beautiful city and we got to explore it a little bit in "cyclos".
They took us to a memorial about the Khamer Rouge attrocities. It is amazing that such horrible events happened so recently. If you are unfamiliar with this piece of history, it is not unlike the holocaust in Europe. An estimate of 2 million deaths is attributed to Khamer Rouge. They were overthrown with the help of Vietnam in 1978. It was a very sobering museum.
Later, we wandered the city and took pictures. It was a very beautiful city. I love the roofs here!
I'm going to use this opportunity to talk a little about the Cambodian people instead of dwelling on the minutia of my day. The people here are very very poor but amazingly generous and kind. Can you imagine someone making an average of $853 a year (that's it, less than a thousand a year, no missing digits or zeros) being willing to share with a stranger?
Think of how you would react if one afternoon you had over a dozen people from another country show up in your front yard all sweaty and wearing funny clothes and hats. None speak your language except one guide. They are inquisitive and want to take pictures of you and your house and your children. They want to to hang out on your patio and rest. Would you be ok with that?
Let me give you an example (and this is not the only time this has happened). Yesterday we had an oops. The guide told us 8k and he meant 18k until our lunch stop. It was hot and people were tired and thirsty. The guide chose a random house that looked shady and asked is we could stop and use their shade, which is pretty much their living room! The giude found out they were making a "cake" behind the house and asked if we could watch. Now this family has a pack of americans asking questions and taking pictures. All the while these ladies smiled and answered questions and even fed some to the people with more robust stomachs (some of us were more concerened about contaminated water and passed, but most tried it). Can you imagine being that open and kind?
I think we could learn something from the Cambodian people.
That is absolutely amazing! You are seeing such beautiful sights. I'm so envious!
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