Category Archives: Asia

It was a long bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, but a nice change to see the countryside instead of flying from city to city.  Along the way, I stopped at Tonle Sap Lake — the largest lake in South Asia — to see the floating villages.  On the lake sit hundreds of buoyed houses, schools, and stores that comprise the Cambodian and Vietnamese fishing communities known as the “floating villages.”

After so many bustling cities, Siem Reap was a breath of fresh air.  Partially owing to the fact that it is entirely walkable and that no building is allowed to be over 5 stories high, it is a charming city that is filled with large markets and small boutiques, local eats and upscale restaurants.  Siem Reap is also the gateway to the magnificent Angkor Temples.  I spent nearly two full days temple-hopping and didn’t even come close to seeing them all.  My favorite was Ta Prohm, famous from Tomb Raider; it reminded me of the Jungle Book.   The temple had been deserted for about 100 years and the jungle has reclaimed the man-made complex as its own.

Cambodians call it “the city where heaven meets hell.” On the one hand, Phnom Penh is a beautiful city; it sprawls along the river, with wide, tree-lined boulevards and French colonial villas. But on the other hand, Cambodia’s dark history of genocide and civil war is never far from the surface ; it is especially apparent that fewer than 3% of the population is older than 65.

I cannot appropriately address my visit to the Tuol Sleng Prison/Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. However, I will note that I had a chance opportunity to meet a survivor of the S-21 prison, of which there were only 7 (of 21,000 prisoners). His name is Mr. Bou Meng and learning his story helped me better understand what happened during the Khmer Rouge regime and the subsequent years of civil war.

One of the most inspirational aspects of Phnom Penh is the number of nonprofit organizations working to rehabilitate the city. One such organization is Friends International, which runs a number of social enterprises including several restaurants that train former street children. I had dinner one evening at Romdeng, located in the gardens of a french villa, which specializes in Cambodian cuisine – including crispy, deep-friend tarantula with garlic-lime dipping sauce – yum!