What an adventure getting to Siem Reap!!! It seemed like there was some force trying to prevent us from getting there...breaking down the car every chance it could. The first incident happened early on when we had to fill the radiator with water since it was low on fluids. Then the check engine light came on and the AC stopped working, so my cousin's husband dropped us off at a store and went to have the car fixed. The car didn't take too long to fix...but once we got back on the road, we got a flat tire!! After replacing it with a spare, we continued on our way and as we got closer to Siem Reap, the car completely stopped working. A belt had broken and there was no replacing it. There wasn't anywhere where we could buy a replacement. Luckily, my uncle and his friends (who are also from Paris) rented a bus...and they were not far behind us, so we squeezed into the bus and had the car towed back to Phnom Penh. We eventually made it to Siem Reap...we weren't going to be defeated!!!
Cambodia is definitely a poor country and countryside is full of farmers. Plenty of dirt roads, people selling stuff on the side of the street, homes made from wood that look like they are about to fall apart and everything just looks old and dirty. I'm so use to the American standard that I can't imagine living here. I feel bad for the people here and I even feel for the cows! I've never seen such skinny cows in my life and asked my relatives how they get beef when the cow is so skinny. They said the legs have plenty of meat!
After we got in, we had just enough time to visit Angkor Wat. It's bigger than I thought it was. It is beautiful and so much detail went into building it!! I took some pictures and when I have a better internet connection, I'll upload the pictures. My Cambodian connection came in handy again today. I got harassed for not having a ticket to see Angkor Wat (no one in my group got tickets since they spoke Cambodian and it's free for the locals). After I explained that I was born in Cambodia and proved it on my passport, they let me in without any problems. :)
The day ended with a nice body massage...a fully clothed massage!! Now, when men say they can't give massages because the clothes get in the way...this experience will completely dispute that. :) The massage was $7 and I thought it was so cheap. My cousin said the exact opposite...you can get it for $3!! I'll have to try the $3 one when I get back to Phnom Penh.
I am so fortunate to live in the US and it's something that I often take for granted until I visit another country, especially now that I am in Cambodia. I thought about what it would've been like if everything in Cambodia had been peaceful and Pol Pot never rose to power. I would definitely be living a much different life and be a completely different person. I might not be so strong-headed and stubborn (hehehe)...and probably married with tons of kids! :) For those of you who don't know my family history, my parents lived in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime where over 1.5 million people were killed and tortured. We fled Cambodia in 1979 and we lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for awhile until we got sponsored to the US in 1981. My parents survived through so much and it's amazing when I hear bits and pieces of their story because it just seems so unbelievable. I wanted to document their history and actually recorded one session with them earlier this year before my father had his stroke. Eventually, when my father's speech improves...I'll start that back up again. You could make a movie out of their life story!!! If anyone has seen the movie "The Killing Fields", you'll know what I am referring to and my parents said in real life, it was much worst than what was depicted in the movie!
