ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA

We departed the ship in Sihanoukville, and hopped a bus for a 4 hour drive to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Along the way we saw houses on stilts, rice paddies, water buffalo and poor villages. The poverty was very noticeable. Our guide told us her horrific story of leaving her parents and hiding with her siblings in the trees of north Cambodia for 8 months, living on snakes, snails, rats etc. When the war ended, the children were put in an orphanage and later found by their mother. The guide's brother was beaten so badly in prison that he is not the same today. She has nightmares of the horrific events that happened during her lifetime.

Wherever we had a rest stop to visit the Happy House (toilet) as they called it, there would be a flock of children running to us trying to sell us items. It was so sad to see how poor these children were. Our guide said they are not poor for they always have something to eat. Anything that moves in the wild is eaten, snakes, fish snails, rats, spiders etc. So the people feel they are lucky.

We arrived in Phnom Penh and visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. We then headed to the airport for our short flight to Angkor Wat. We arrived in Angkor Wat which is built up of hotel after hotel to accommodate the 2 million tourists that have begun visiting Angkor Wat since the year 2000. Our hotel was huge, very clean and beautiful. It was one of the most beautiful hotels we have ever stayed in. The food, the rooms and the swimming pool were unbelievable, yet across the street you would see poor shops with owners trying to make a living selling souvenirs. Just around the corner from the hotel was a huge hospital built by a Swiss doctor to help all the children of Cambodia. There were long long line-ups very early in the morning with mothers holding their sick children. They slept on the hospital's lawn the previous night under mosquito netting. The mothers would wait for hours to see the doctor.

The next day we visited three temples, all different and very close to eachother. Our fourth temple was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. This is a huge site with monks practising Buddhism today. The monkeys that visit the temple are wild and come from the jungles surrounding the temple. There are not as many monkeys today for they are being caught and sold to China for food.

After a long day in 38 C temperatures and 80 % humidity, we were ready to leave the site and were surrounded by all these young boys and girls trying to sell us something. Doug and I enjoyed talking to them and bargaining and they must have been pleased for Doug received a lovely letter from a child and so did I. The children were so dirty but cute as buttons and polite and spoke fairly good English. They have to pay $1 US every day to the teacher in order to be schooled. This was one way to make some money.

That evening we came back to the hotel for a beautiful buffet and watched some Cambodian dancing and singing around the poolside. The heat during the day was unbearable and we all said that we don't know how people live here.

The poverty in Cambodia bothered us. The country has made gains in the last 12 years but it has a long way to go. They are so happy to be at peace that at the moment they are not thinking of the poverty. The wars have brought heartache and they finally have peace. There are still land mines in some areas but some countries are helping them out. The people of Cambodia are lovely people and have been through so much that we cannot comprehend, yet they are smiling and so pleasant and warm. We enjoyed our visit to this lovely country and wish them luck.