Impressions about Cambodia by Mom

Ferry crossing the Mekong from Prey Veng to Phnom Penh

Sam visiting Mekhala House, an organization she works at

I’ve been home for awhile since our wonderful trip through Cambodia with Sam.  I am more comfortable with visual than verbal expression, but I haven’t been able to sort through all the photos I took there either.  There is so much we was and did.  But I think daily of Cambodia and the people we met there.  When people ask about the trip, I find it hard to distill it into words.  I can only imagine how powerful this experience has been and continues to be for Sam, but it was a privilege to share at least these few weeks of experience with her.  I know that she has had a deep effect on the lives of those with whom she has spent time, and that she’s taken a lot from her relationships with them as well.

Bike loaded up with cleaning goods for sale

Pagoda dogs and kids

Map of skulls in the shape of Cambodia in remembrance of the Khmer Rouge genocide at Tuol Sleng

The beauty and simplicity of life in the Cambodian countryside has deeply affected me, though there are few things that directly relate to my life in Berkeley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  There is so much that we take for granted here, in our privileged society.  Our education, our cultural heritage, our sustenance are all remarkable and yet we feel entitled to them.  The hardworking, straightforward people of Cambodia in many ways have more, though I see their culture being encroached upon by our many western “advances”.  I do hope that they can grow and share in the world’s wealth without the corruption that usually accompanies societies as they are modernized.  Cambodia is blessed with generous and beautiful people, and I am thankful to have had this chance to experience life there, however briefly.

Our guide in Battambang at the top of Phnom Sampeau

Praying at Phnom Kulen in Siem Reap province - this monk was covered in tattoos about Buddhism

Thanks Mom for your valuable insights! Dad and Lex, I challenge you to do the same...