By Cambodia, it finally started to feel like we were getting our feet under us. We spent the majority of our time in Siem Reap and Phenom Penh, but also decided, in a spur of the moment, to hit the coast. We had heard the Cambodian beaches and islands were unlike anything in the world. So we booked a train ticket. Blogs said it was the most efficient and cost-effective way to get there. We were told that the estimated travel time was 7 hours, but were warned that could vary greatly. When we arrived at the station, I remember thinking the train looked really old. Later, a fellow English speaker informed us that Cambodia gets 2nd-hand trains shipped in from places like Mexico. “Let’s just pray we get there some time this week!” he laughed. On the train, we ended up sitting next to three British gentlemen who were policemen in London. We spent the first 3 hours totally engrossed in conversation with them, until we heard a giant boom.
The train sputtered to a stop.
Come to find out -- we had broken down.
On a bridge.
In the middle of nowhere.
Confusion, then panic, then ultimately, frustration. I was definitely freaked out, but sitting next our new British police friends made me feel much safer. The train conductor finally came on the PA system and informed us that someone was coming to fix the train…from Siem Reap. Deducing that it would be at least another 3 hours before someone would even arrive, another couple of hours to then fix it, and then, at best, another 4 hours to our intended destination, many on our train decided to try to find alternative forms of transportation. Only issue was that we were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was 110 degrees outside, and the area was devoid of any meaningful shade from the sun. Despite this, Hannah and I grabbed our bags and left the train with a handful of others to see if we could hail a ride to our destination. Long story short, we failed miserably, and ended up hoofing it back to the train. Hannah and I shared a cup of noodles and attempted to ration the handful of snacks we had stashed in our bags. We eventually arrived on the coast a full 17 hours after we had left Siem Reap, absolutely exhausted but also a little high. Today was a total shit show, but it was OUR shit show.
OUR adventure.
Other memorable happenings:
We saw Agkor Wat, a 12th century temple complex outside of Siem Reap, touted as the largest religious monument in the world. (You probably remember it from movies like Tomb Raider). We also visited S21 Prison and the Killing Fields, where more than a million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime during its rule of Cambodia from 1975-1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War. The entire experience was harrowing. Horrific. And as I spent the next couple of days processing all I had seen that day, I couldn’t help but feel a tremendous sense of both guilt and rage for never having heard of any of this prior to physically coming to Cambodia. Did I — America / the West — not know ... not care about the mass genocide of these people? Because they had a different color skin? How many other major world happenings were intentionally or unintentionally left out of our history books or our classrooms, I wondered.
I’m still wondering.
Next up: Vietnam
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