Iris went to America.
I went to Cambodia.
In retrospect this still seems like a fair trade to me.
I did not have the vacation time to go home with Iris. It turns out I did because my vacation time roles over every year but no one bothered to tell me that until it was too late. But I still don’t think I would have gone. I am not homesick, but saying goodbye to my family the first time was difficult enough. This was not something I wanted to do again. So I decided this would be a good time to visit a foreign country.
My choice came down to two options: Japan or Cambodia. More specifically, Yokohama or Phnom Penh. On the surface they have nothing in common. Hell, you could go two miles deep and I don’t think you would find much these two places have in common. Except for one thing, one specific thing that interested me and that my mother would not approve of. For that reason, I will mention it much later in the blog. Like, three or four parts form now. The anticipation will build until then. I picked Cambodia because frankly, it’s a whole lot cheaper than Japan.
We decided awhile ago to visit Angkor Wat in October during Diwali so Phnom Penh was my choice for a place to visit in Cambodia. The flight was short and my first view of the capital was epic.
That is the Mekong in the first shot, a river that evokes certain memories and feelings in most Americans because of the country it eventually finds its way into, Vietnam. But here, it should evoke the same feelings, because my country waged a secret war on Cambodia at the same time. It is an odd feeling to visit a country that within my lifetime (or close to it) was devastated from above by The USA.
After checking into my hotel I set out to explore. My first thought was food, since that is usually my first thought when visiting a country for the first time, or when it is lunch time, and at this time it happened to be both. But I will be saving the food for a seperate blog post, in order to generate more content, more clicks and more subscribers! No not really…well kind of but mostly I will save it because the food was awesome and deserves it’s own separate entry.
Next up I headed down to the waterfront to do some exploring and make my way to to Royal Palace and The Silver Pagoda.
I made a video where I talked about my feelings visiting Phnom Penh and all that it has been through so I don’t want to go too deep on that stuff in this post. There might be a post where I discuss the genocide and Brother Number One but I think for now, let’s focus on the good. Ah focus….and I am talking about happy photos! A fantastic unintentional pun! Oh wait, that would be a good title for my autobiography! NO ONE STEAL THAT TITLE, I CALL DIBS!
As you can probably see in that last photo with all the whiteness, it was really hot in Cambodia. I know I live in Malaysia and in some since should be used to it, and I am, but it was hotter than I am used to in Phnom Penh.
That’s it for now. Like I said, there will be lots more to come in the next two weeks or so. I have to finish all the blog posts on my first trip to Cambodia before I take my second trip to Cambodia!
Jumpa Lagi!
Kevin
