While with Semester at Sea the only way we are allowed to leave the original country is if on a SAS trip. I took advantage of adding another country to my itinerary and signed up for the trip to the capital of Cambodia and Angkor Wat. SAS has a way of making us in to tourists. We eat at fancy restaurants, we stay on the air-conditioned coach bus, and we have tour guides to all of the museums and sites. Regardless, it was still an amazing opportunity to visit Cambodia. I was fortunate to be in a good group of people. We had a small group of 19, with over half of them being life-long learners. President LBJ's daughter and her Senator husband were some of our fellow travelers.
I do enjoy learning about history and things like that, but I personally feel the most accomplished when I can actually be interacting with the local people, and making myself useful. This trip was a lot of museums and temples. The architecture was incredible, but again, there is only so much of fancy carving that will keep my attention. It was a foreign experience for me to tour the king's palace. It never crossed my mind to think that there are nations today that still have kings who live in a fancy palace and who sit on thrones. Another learning experience that I had was visiting the killing fields. This was grounds for the Cambodian genocide that took place by the Khmer. The thing that struck me the most about this site was how recent it was. From the looks and ideas of what happened, it seems that something so gruesome as this would have happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago. No, the last truck of victims arrived on January 7th 1979. Because of how recent this was, with annual rains, clothes particles are washed up and visible peeking out of the dirt. There are whole teeth and bones pieces laying on the ground where people lost their lives. This experience was similar to the burning ghats in Varanasi for me. It was something that I have never seen/felt/experienced. It was a harsh reality of history.
Following the Killing Fields, we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a former schoolhouse that was used as a torture prison during the time of Genocide. The cells are still standing, and reminiscences of the torture devices were there along with still pictures. There were only 9 known survivors of this prison, 2 of which are still alive and were at the museum signing their books.
Later that evening we went to the biggest buffet that I have ever been to! The food wasn't the greatest, but was still amazing. During dinner the large venue put on a traditional Cambodian dance show. After dinner, we were free to visit the Night Market. While in Viet Nam, I learned about a fish massage. I was trying to find it, but couldn't. Lucky for me they were everywhere in Cambodia! At the night market there was a massage place where you could get a full leg massage for $1US. The fish massage was $2US for 40 minutes and it included a free soda. The massage is simple. There is a huge pool of fish that you put your feet in to the water and they eat all of the dead skin off! It was terrifying! I already have a hard time getting pedicures because how much it tickles. Imagine hundreds of little fish sucking and nibbling on your feet!! I survived, and my feet felt really soft after! We spent a few hours in the market before catching a rickshaw back to our hotel
The last day in Siem Reap started at 0430. Early in the morning, we woke up and saw the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was absolutely beautiful to see the temple just light up with God's gracious sun. After getting some good pictures, we returned to our hotel for breakfast. After, we returned to spend time going through Angkor Wat. Next, we went to a fancy restaurant. Then, we had some free time to roam through the local market. This market had everything from clothes, house supplies, and food. Literally anything a local person needs, they can come to this huge market. The group that I was with wanted to find insects to eat. After walking around and asking people, we were lead to 2 small women sitting in the middle of the market with big containers of crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, frog legs, and other delicious delicacies. I was not brave enough to dig in, but some did. After the market, and 5 temples later, we were headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Viet Nam where the ship was. I am so grateful that I was able to go on this trip. It was 1 of 2 big SAS trips that I did, the other being Rio. By the way, my passport is looking so awesome right about now! Next.....HONG KONG!
I had the choice of a western and eastern toilet in the palace and I chose this!!
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