My Time in Cambodia

This post covers what Alli and I did in Phnom Penh two weekends ago (I am a little behind from a busy week last week).

On Saturday, we went with 13 of the girls and 3 other teachers on a biking trip to Silk Island, a small rural island just a short ferry ride from Phnom Penh. There are a small number of people living on the island and many silk shops along the main road. We went for about 2 hours through the rural countryside where there were goats and cows on the side of the dirt road. It was cool seeing the little silk shops, and we even passed by a traditional Cambodian wedding. We stopped at the house of the uncle of Thiny, one of the girls in our class, to rest for a bit and let the girls change into their bathing suits. It was really nice for them to let us stay there, and I enjoyed singing songs, throwing a frisbee, and eating mangos from the tree with the kids. We then went to the beach area, which you might not be surprised to hear is quite different from the Florida beaches I am used to. Instead of laying on towels on the beach, people sit in little wooden huts (see pictures below) in the water, and there are people that come up to the huts and try to sell you food. Some of them are selling fruit and drinks, and others are selling full meals of roasted chicken, vegetables, and rice that they carry around on floating styrofoam and cook up for you in a crock pot (see picture below). It was quite a sight to see! We bought lunch from the floating kitchen service, and it was very tasty. The kids had a blast swimming in the Mekong River and playing around on the inner tubes, and it was fun watching them and talking to the other teachers about their experiences. One of the teachers said that we went a total of 20 kilometers on the bike ride, and we were all pretty wiped on the way back. After a short rest at our apartment, Alli and I went back into Phnom Penh for dinner to a traditional Khmer restaurant geared toward westerners called Khmer Surin, where we had a relaxing night enjoying the beautiful garden and live music. I ordered Beef Lok lak, a traditional Cambodian dish, and it was delicious. We had a really good time talking to two American girls at the table next to us who are volunteering with an NGO to teach foster kids how to style hair. It was great to share stories about what we'd done and working with the kids. We topped off the night with some tasty desert, fried ice cream, and arrived home very happy about the day.

On Sunday, we headed into Phnom Penh to the markets. There are so many different markets in Phnom Penh that it was pretty overwhelming for us to decide which few to go to, and we ended up picking three, the Olympic Market, the Central Market, and the Night Market, that seemed to specialize in different areas. We started at the Olympic Market, which is where many of the locals buy clothes in the latest fashion. There were dozens of rows of little "shops" (see pictures below) spanning the four floors of the market, carrying all different types of women's clothing, gowns, shirts, shorts, shoes, and men's clothing, dress shirts, pants, t-shirts, and more. Alli and I kept wondering how the locals knew how to find their regular shops, because none of them were labeled and all the rows seemed to look the same. It was another place that made us realize just how different every aspect of life is here. We took a short tuk tuk to the Central Market, which has a variety of items including all sorts of fruit, everyday household items, and souvenirs. Its biggest draw is its jewelry, which lines the center of the market under the covered pavilion (see pictures below). Alli and I bought some souvenirs, practicing our bartering skills, and a frying pan for our apartment. Our stove is an induction stove, so we needed a magnetic pan made of iron, and the shop keepers were pretty amused by the sight of us walking around with a magnet testing all of their pans. After about 6 different shops, we finally found a pan, and I think the shop keeper probably overcharged us a lot because we were so excited, but we were happy to pay the $24 dollars for a pan that would work with our stove. We walked from the Central Market to the Night Market along the riverside, enjoying the nice breeze and scenery. The night market had lot of cool clothing and good food, and we bought some more souvenirs and smoothies. We went to a restaurant on the riverside for dinner and enjoyed the people watching and nice riverside view. We went back to the night market after dinner to enjoy some live music and do a bit more shopping before we got a tuk tuk back home to Liger.

Overall, I thought the weekend allowed us to see more of how Cambodians live their everyday lives, and it was really fun spending more time with the kids on the trip to Silk Island.

Getting on the ferry to Silk Island

Houses near the ferry

Kids with bikes on the ferry

View of the city from the ferry

View of the island from the ferry

Scenery on the bike tour

Kids swimming on rafts in the Mekong River, floating kitchen on styrofoam

Panoramic of huts in the Mekong River

Khmer Surin dessert

Shops at Olympic Market

Row of shops at Olympic Market

Panoramic of Central Market

Central Market jewelry stands

Panoramic of Riverside

Looking back at the city streets from the Riverside

View from the Riverside

Stores on the Riverside

Alli getting ice cream at the Night Market

Live music at the Night Market

This past weekend, Alli and I took a trip to Kampot and Kep, which are two popular destinations for tourists looking to see some of the natural beauty in Cambodia. There is a river that runs through Kampot town, and the view of Bokor Mountain from the riverside is absolutely gorgeous. We spent two nights in Kampot and were able to enjoy the beautiful riverside quite a bit, as our hotel was right on the river and all of the things to do in town were on the riverside road. One afternoon, we went kayaking against the strong current of the Kampot River, and in the evening, we went on a wonderful boat ride where we watched the sun set over Bokor Mountain and got to see fireflies light up the trees along the river as we lay under the stars. The sunset was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen, and the scene was so surreal that it left you daydreaming, your mind at peace.

In addition to the riverside, Kampot is known for its cave temples and pepper farms. We saw two of the many caves dug into the side of Bokor Mountain. Both of the caves had beautiful limestone structures carved out from years of natural weathering, and it was interesting to see how some of the rocks took on certain images, like an elephant or a face. We had a great guide for the first cave who shared with us its history: how its temple was built many centuries ago and has been used as a place of worship and how Pol Pot used the caves as a place to kill people during the Khmer Rouge regime. He showed us the place where bones had been found and were now shown to people at the Killing Fields. Another highlight of the first cave was the narrow passageway we had to crawl through to get to the other opening of the cave. Our guide warned us that it would be "a little tight," but we had no idea what we were getting into. It was quite an experience sliding down the rocks, avoiding hitting your head on the juts, and stepping up onto the slippery, narrow rocks. Our balance was definitely tested, but Alli and I enjoyed the thrill. We were quite dirty when we got to the end, as you can see by the pictures below. The second temple did not have the same sort of climbing experience, but it was way more massive and had a larger temple area, with paintings on the walls and a Buddha shrine with offerings. Touring the pepper farm was also quite a unique experience. We got to see the brick structures used to grow the pepper plant and the plants being picked and sorted by the workers. It takes about 3 years for the plant to fully mature, and the fruits can have 1 of 4 different colors: red, green, yellow, or black which are used to make the 3 different kinds of pepper: black, red, and white. The fruit has an outside layer, which for the red pepper is sweet, and a kernel containing the spice. I tried all of the different kinds of pepper straight from the tree to see the differences, and my taste buds were pretty surprised by the strong spice of the kernels (I ended up just eating the outer part after a couple). Kampot pepper is considered by many to be the best pepper in the world, so it was really cool for us to see it firsthand.

Alli and I were able to enjoy even more beautiful scenery in Kep, which is a cozy beach town on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand about 30 minutes from Kampot. We were able to relax by the beach and enjoy some of the best seafood in all of Cambodia. We ate almost exclusively squid, shrimp, crab, or swordfish in every variety (boiled, fried, stuffed, steamed, or with rice or noodles) for every meal and it was absolutely delicious. In addition to its relaxing beach scene and great riverside food, Kep is also known for Kep National Park, which houses a variety of interesting wildlife and offers an amazing view of the gulf and the countryside, and you can even see Bokor Mountain and Kampot from the northwest viewpoint. We went on a 3 hour hike through the park and had breathtaking views of the country and the sea, with beautiful mountains and green countryside in the far distance. We were able to watch the sunset from a stop in the park called Sunset Rock, and it was amazing to take it all in. The hike was a mixture of leisurely strolling, crazy up and down inclines, and treacherously narrow paths, and I was pretty afraid I was going to fall down the mountain at some points. We used large branches as walking sticks to help us from slipping down the steep descents, and we both enjoyed the challenge and the thrill. We saw some pretty cool iguanas and squirrels, and we were hoping to see some the monkeys that are indigenous to the park, but they apparently only come out during certain seasons.

Overall, we were very happy with our weekend trip. It was great to see a much different part of the country and see the similarities and differences it had with where we are staying outside of Phnom Penh. The people and the shops along the road seemed similar to Phnom Penh, but the towns had a much more relaxed atmosphere than Phnom Penh, and there were a lot more unique spots and sites that tourists and many of the local people enjoy in Kep and Kampot that are much different than the usual things in Phnom Penh.

It felt pretty weird to be away from 'normal life' at the school, and it makes coming back to Liger feel more like home, even though it's still so new and there's still so much that we are getting used to. It's back to reality, planning today's lesson, buying groceries, and doing things with the kids, and it's amazing to think how different my new reality is from my reality at Wash U two weeks ago. I'm excited we'll have the chance to explore more of the country on our trip to Siem Reap this upcoming weekend, and I'm also holding on to the time that I have left to spend with the kids during the week. I'm so happy to be able to fit all of these different experiences in to my time here in Cambodia, and it's great for me to be able to share it all with you.