Ups and downs

The past few days have been a roller coaster of emotions and reactions to all that is going on around me.  After the incredible high of traveling with Ben for three weeks (details coming soon), he left, and I found myself alone in Phnom Penh, a place where it feels like the locals are about as interested in getting to know me as they are in obeying traffic laws, which is to say, not at all. 

I met a very cool expat through CouchSurfing, and saw a concert sponsored by the U.S. Embassy of a band called Dengue Fever, L.A. natives who play 1960s and 1970s Cambodian pop.  The energy in the crowd was joyful and excellent, and I met a bunch of expats, and played chess (we ended in a draw) with one in a local bar/guesthouse restaurant.  

The next day, I realized that I'd left my travel journal on the table in the bar, after showing one English-speaking local a hand-drawn map of New York City, to explain where he was when he visited (Midtown, of course) in relation to where I lived ("very close to Liberty Statue!").  Realizing the next day that my notebook wasn't in my bag, I called the bar: no answer.  I returned to the bar: nothing.  Can I speak to the owner? He's sleeping.  What time will he wake up? After 2pm.  O.K.  I called again and spoke to the owner, who promised he and his staff would have a look 'round and call me back either way.  He called back: no notebook.  I returned again today to ask if anything had turned up: nothing.  I went to the closest guesthouse to see if someone had turned it in there: nothing.  Then! Joy and jubilation! I got a CouchSurfing message from my new friend, saying that one of his friends had found the notebook!  So this is a rather long paragraph just to say: I'm thrilled and thankful to soon be reunited with my trusty travel journal.  Big "up" moment.

This morning I met Michael, another estadounidense also staying at the Fancy Guest House and decided to tag along on his walkabout plans for today.  Turns out he also went to Columbia (!) and is taking a 2-month journey around Asia before returning to New York for business school.  Talk about small world!

We visited the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, the site of the Khmer Rouge's executions of thousands of Cambodian intellectuals, those with ties to the former/foreign government(s), rebel Khmer soldiers, and the wives and children of all of these (to prevent them from one day seeking revenge).  The tour guide's explanations of the various stops along the tour were chilling in their frankness: "this is the mass grave of 400 people" - "this skull shows marks from being chopped with an axe" - "this is the tree against which children were beaten before they were killed."  It's quite a harrowing history.  I couldn't bring myself to take photos.  If I can find some online, I'll post them here.

Later we returned to central Phnom Penh to see the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, a set of tourist attractions that stand in stark contrast to the political history of the Khmer Rouge.  Beautiful. opulent pagodas in a lush, manicured garden, and plenty of tourists holding up peace signs in front of buildings.  


Dinner at Friends Restaurant, a place that employs and trains children and young adults who would otherwise be begging or living on the street.  Dining for a good cause, and the food and atmosphere were also excellent!

So, all in all, it's been more up than down...I'm embracing the challenge of being in a place where I don't speak the language...where "no thank you" rolls off the tongue with ease as I'm offered tuk tuk rides as I walk to or from any and all of the tourist attractions...and where many of those tourist attractions are chilling reminders of evils of the not-so-distant past.  I am learning a lot.


With love and lots of sweat (97 degrees indoors).
Julia