It takes a village

We set our alarm a little earlier so we could enjoy the hotel buffet a bit longer before our trek to two villages, first on land, then on water. Vy and our driver were waiting – with a 4-wheel drive. Our first stop was a rough ride down a dirt road to a small village. The town center was bustling with commerce. From there, we traveled by oxcart, or as Vy says - “Cambodian BMW” - further into the village where we visited a school.

Cambodia was colonized by the French, but gained independence in the 1950s under the rule of a prince who was eventually replaced by a democratic government. In 1975, the country was seized by the Khmer Rouge, a radical group with a vision of creating a perfect agrarian society with no Western influence. Before they were overthrown by the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot, killed one-fourth of the country’s population, almost 2 million people. The trial of one of the leaders is currently underway right now so check out CNN for more information. Also, the book “First They Killed My Father” by Loung Ung is a heart-wrenching story of one family’s experience. Amazingly, the Cambodian people are beautiful, generous, and welcoming – in spite of the horrors of their recent past. Or perhaps because of it. They seem to take special joy in simple things – food preparation, friendship, children, nature.

After a brief rest back at the hotel, we set off for the floating village. Many of the homes in Cambodia are elevated to accommodate rising waters during rainy season, but the floating village takes it one step further. It’s floating 24/7/365 – including the stores, schools, dogs, gas stations, even a pig farm.

Now for some shopping. What would we take home to remember this lovely country? The Khmer Rouge had been especially hostile to educated people, artists, doctors – urbanized people. Cambodian culture lost many of its teachers and artists during the genocide. Artisans Angkor is a special school that was established to train students in traditional arts, such as silk weaving and painting, lacquer, and stone carving. We had a short tour of the school and then visited the gift shop where we picked up a variety of items. After that, it was a stop at S. Khey Art Gallery where Kate purchased “Happy Monks.”

Then it was back to the hotel around 5 p.m. A very long day, we were hot and tired, but not too weary for a visit to the pool and a chat with Bun Von. We met another American couple there and shared tales of our adventures as the sun set on our last night in Cambodia. Back to Singapore tomorrow, but we hope our future holds a return to Siem Reap.

Village People