Cambodian temples & Phnom Penh (again)

Anghkor Wat - dusk

Temple in the jungle

February 7 2007

We booked a taxi driver and a guide for the day to take us around some of the Anghkor Wat Temples .

Our tour guide is 36 years old , so was a very young child during the Khmer Rouge era. He told us that he is still very weak as a result of the constant malnutrition he suffered in that time. His twelve year old brother died of malnutrition.

He also told us that the medical problems generated by this under-nourishment are passed on to the next generation.

It may seem very depressing, our visit to Cambodia, but it was all extremely interesting and revealing as well. It all gained particular revelance for the pair of us as we both had read four separate books on Cambodia. (First they killed my father, Stay alive my son, The Pol Pot regime and the Killing Fields). Not your average bedtime reading.

February 8th

Day off from Temples - wat a relief.

February 10th - Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

We decided to take the bus today, rather than subject ourselves to the Bullet.

Arrived back at the Anise hotel (recommended), early afternoon, and were re-united with some of our luggage that we had left previously left in Phnom Penh.

Rita met a New Zealand woman who had set up her own tour business in Cambodia. She had also helped finance and rebuild a school. Previously the school had no toilets and a teacher/pupil ratio of 1:100.

Now the teacher/pupil ratio is 1:30 and the school has toilets. She managed to raise £50,000 from her contacts in NZ and project manage the job from Cambodia, using her Cambodian contacts. All this between the ages of 63 & 70. Food for thought and inspiration to be taken.

February 11th

Up early to Fly to HCMC from Phnom Penh and then on to Singapore.