Part 1 - The Journey & Phnom Penh

Cambodia/Vietnam 2012 – part 1 – the journey and Phnom Penh

Greetings from Preah Vihear – northern province of Cambodia, about 40-50km from the Thai & Laos borders. Time to report on phase 1 of our adventure.

Our trip to Phnom Penh was relatively uneventful with good flights, but our overnight stay in Singapore at the hotel inside the airport was somewhat less than pleasant due to some very inconsiderate noisemakers who seemed oblivious to the fact that “normal” people might be trying to sleep between 2am and 6am… that IS why people book into the transit hotel….

Day 1 & 2 served to prove just how small the world is. We had known for sometime that a woman we knew from South Australia was going to Cambodia on the same day as us as part of a team of teachers going on a study tour. Turned out they were all Lutherans too, so together with our team we had quite a representation on that plane to Phnom Penh. On arrival we discovered they were also staying at the same hotel as us!! A simple comment on Facebook soon revealed that I had a “connection” with a couple of others and in conversation when I told someone my name, another voice popped up and said “You’re Sally’s Mum!” Unbelievable – so far from home… what are the chances!!!

As this was our third visit to Phnom Penh, we didn’t need to do too much of the usual tourist things, but did choose to revisit the S21 Museum to remind ourselves of the tragic history of this nation - the horrors of the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge era and the long road to recovery.

We wandered the streets a little taking in the sights, sounds and smells…. Still totally amazed and amused by what we see, even though we’ve seen most of it before. The traffic is unbelievable, there seems to be this amazing understanding and anticipation of what other drivers are about to do. But when you are zipping along in a tuk-tuk feeling quite exposed, as traffic seems to be coming at you from all directions, you can only hang on and pray!

Some of you may remember in 2009 we came to Cambodia with Habitat For Humanity and helped with a building project which was relocating people who were living in and around the city rubbish dump. I was keen to revisit the site and the family we built for so had managed to arrange this via email with the local Habitat office. As they had booked a 15 seater van, the whole of our team decided to come along for the ride. Our guide for the morning, one of the Habitat staff, filled us in on what has happened since 2009 – the establishment of a small farm for some of the people to work on, and additional housing built nearby. Sadly however we learned that of the 21 houses built when we were there, only 7 are now occupied. Despite the best intentions the relocation did not work out for many for various reasons.

However for us, it was a wonderful moment to be able to see the 70+ year old couple who we had worked alongside to build their home. They were very happy to see us… Mr Hout just smiled a lot, and Mrs Hout reached out and took my hand and didn’t want to let go… almost like she couldn’t believe that it was real. They have built a chicken run out the back of their house, and with some trees planted the place looked homely compared to the brick shell when we left. And by the way the house is still standing as solid as the day we put it up… so our brick laying must have been OK!

Today we travelled the 5 hour journey to Preah Vihear – again being totally amazed by the “driving skills” of the locals as the negotiate and overtake other vehicles …. and cows…..

The road has been greatly improved since we were here in 2008, making the trip much better and quicker.

We received and enthusiastic greeting from the girls at the hostel and look forward to the next 6 days here with them, so I’ll update you at the end of phase 2!