The time has come to leave Cambodia and go to Vietnam. My original plan was to only stay in Cambodia for 1 week and then go back to Laos for the zip lining adventure, but plans changed. We went to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap and had a really good time here. We went to the killing fields where thousands of bodies were found and dug up from the mass genocide that took place in Cambodia from 1975-1979. It was a very eerie and chilling experience. It was probably one of the saddest and most surreal things I have ever witnessed. There are still bones and clothing that are making their way to the surface of the ground that have not yet been dug up. Once a month the people go to collect all the bone fragments, skulls, clothing, and other remains that have come to the surface. Even women and children were involved in this devastating tragedy. Actually, one of the burial sites was dedicated to only women and children who were tortured and killed in a brutal way. We also went to the museum that started out being a school for children, then when the genocide was taking place it was turned into a prison and torture chambers. The museum was even worse than the killing fields. You could still see the blood stained floors and the homemade prison cells made from brick and wood. It was definitely a sobering site to see. While this was all taking place, no other countries knew what was going on. They hid it so well. There would be talk amongst other countries about what was happening, but they just made it out to be a myth. It was even Cambodia’s very own people who did this horrible thing. The Khmer Rouge was responsible for all this. About 1.7 million people died in only 4 years time out of a total population of 7 or 8 million. They believed that anyone with an education or an actual skill was a threat, so all educated people were killed off, which is just f’ing insane. At the museum nearly 20,000 people were held here and only 7 were known to survive. I know this is a little intense, but it’s necessary to know. Finally in 1979 the Vietnamese figured out what was going on and declared war against the Khmer Rouge and put an end to it. At one point in time people thought the U.S. was responsible for all the killings, thank god that didn’t last long. It is very sad knowing all this happened in this beautiful country. Because of this, there are hardly any elderly people here. The majority of the current population was born after 1979.
Anyways, enough of the sad stuff. I ended up missing my early morning bus back to Laos for the zip lining tour. I was upset to miss it, but it ended up being a blessing. I got to travel down to Koh Rong Samloem, an island off of southern Cambodia, with the best group of girls ever. This island is very remote. No roads, only jungle and beach. We stayed on a beach where there was only one hostel, one restaurant, one beach and one waterfall. It was a blast. We originally decided to come here to chill out and have few days to lay on the beach and do nothing…. That didn’t happen. We ended up partying and dancing our butts off and having the best conversations girls can have. There were also a couple guys traveling with us but we left them off to do their own thing. Every day we would play beach volleyball, enjoy the ocean, and each other’s company. Every night we would get in the ocean under the beautiful star-lit sky and stir up the amazing plankton that glittered all around your body in the water. At one point we were all marveling up at the amazing stars above us, and a shooting star decided to pass by us as we were all looking up. It was very exciting that every single one of us saw it. One thing that made this island so special is that no wifi or internet access was offered at all. We knew this was the case before arriving here, so every single one of us accepted it and loved it. It made us have actual conversation instead of hiding our heads in our phones when sitting down for a meal. It was so refreshing! It’s amazing how aggravated we get while traveling when we go somewhere we are promised wifi and it doesn’t actually work. The wifi rage is real!! However, when we all knew we weren’t going to have access to it, we did not mind one bit. All four of us girls decided to put our hiking shoes on and climbed through an actual stream up to see a waterfall. It was a nice waterfall, but I think the trek there was even better. It was another bonding time for us girls, and we overcame a challenging course. We had to jump from rock to rock that were covered in moss and very slippery! The noises we were all making along the way were quite entertaining. At the top we all became even closer friends than before, while sitting next to the refreshing waterfall having more wonderful conversations and getting to know each other. After not wanting to leave Koh Rong Samloem, we decided it was time for some access to the outside world and caught a ferry to Koh Rong, which is a bigger island not far away. This island had a lot more going on, although it still did not have any roads and was very remote. There were a lot more restaurants and bars here. We had a very nice time here. We enjoyed the beach, played more volleyball, did yoga, and played with the countless numbers of puppies and kittens that were here.
Today, we came back to the mainland and are catching a night bus to Vietnam. It is very sad that two people in our group are going in the opposite direction to Siem Reap. I met these two while in Laos a while back ago, and met them again in Phnom Penh. I will miss them tremendously. Goodbye’s suck.
Anyways it is so so so nice to be back on the mainland in a nice hostel for a few hours that actually has flushing toilets, hot water, and a TV to watch a movie on a clean comfy mat! Haha
Well this was my update. More on Vietnam later.
Only 2 ½ weeks left!
