South Asia Adventure My backpacking Adventure with my best friend Kelsey and my sister Devon!!!! When us three get together it is a guaranteed good time!

Cambodia

Cambodia | Friday, June 10, 2011 | 249 photos

We arrived in Phnom Pehn by bus through the Cambodian Border and once in Phnom Pehn we walked to find a hotel. The one we found was cheap so we took it however it made us both very creeped out. So we made sure to lock all of the 3 lockson our door every night! We decided to get the hotel to do our laundry and to this day kels and I are still coming across number 7's written with pen on all of our clothes... I guess they needed to keep track of our clothes so our room being 207 they wrote 7's on our clothes. We laugh so hard everytime we come across a new 7. We came to Phnom Pehn only to visit the S21 Prison and The Killing Fields. I'll warn you now some of my photos are graphic.
The S21 prison and The Killing Fields were very emotional for us and heartbreaking to see how much blood was shed in this country from 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975 and dictated what everyone wore, ate, spoke and how they were to live. They wanted no western influences in Cambodia anymore so those who were teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, architects, policemen etc were killed and their families too. They wanted Cambodian to return to their old ways of life. Anyone who disobeyed were also killed. They would take the children from their families and bring them to training camps where they were taught how to fight and would be forced to kill their own families to prove they were strong enough to fight against the Youns who were invading their country. Walking on the killing fields and seeing all the mass graves was very sad and its hard to believe that the Khmer Rouge killed 2 million people from a population of 5 million at the time, in only 4 years. And to think this only took place 36 years ago, its very heartbreaking.
After leaving Phnom Pehn we headed to Siem Reap where we visited Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple and the tomb from Tomb Raider. Angkor Wat (one of the wonders of the world) was absolutely gorgeous and huge! We went for the sunrise to get some good pictures. While in Siem Reap Kels and I also visited Acodo Orphange where the children put on a show for us that consisted of Apsara dancing! I couldn't believe how slow and restrained the girls were. It would take a lot of patience and hard work to be able to perfect that style of dancing! I was very impressed. After the show kels and I got to visit and play with the children. They were all so full of life and smiles it was hard to leave all 70 of them when it was time to go. Especially when they ran after kels and I as we drove off in our tuk tuk down the street! Those children touched my heart and that will always be one of my favorite memories! I loved Cambodia so much! The people are all so gracious and nice and it made my visit unforgettable!

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