SE Asia 2024

What is clear is that the present population and many of the people we met/got to talk to have been very affected on a personal basis by the wars of the 20th century.
Next we visited Wat Thmei and The Siem Reap Genocide Museum.
The monks were forced from this Buddhist temple, and it was used as a detention center during the Khmer Rouge regime. The local people did not know until afterward that many people were murdered there, not simply detained. Bones were uncovered in the grounds outside the temple, and those that were not able to be identified by family members have been preserved in this very visible memorial.

The horrors of what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did to the Cambodian people must be remembered. It is unimaginable, but it is true. What is even more chilling is that the murders of 1.5 to 3 million people were carried out by Cambodians, not an occupying army. People including many children were tortured, often brutally slaughtered or starved to death. Anyone who resisted the ideology or belonging to certain groups including monks and the educated were killed! Think of trying to resurrect a country with virtually no one with any education to help.

For lunch, we asked our driver to take us to Tevy's Restaurant where we went our first night. We asked him how much we owed and he replied "whatever you want to pay me". He seemed happy enough with the $20 USD we offered for the half day (average household income in Cambodia is $1592 per year in December 2021). Such a hard life. We again have a brief chat with Cecil and wished him Happy St Patrick's Day. He said current tourism is about 70% of pre Covid levels. He said much has yet to be done to improve the life of country people but overall things are improving; that is reassuring and we can only hope this is so. We decided to buy a snack for the evening, return to the airconditioned comfort and pool of our hotel before our travel out tomorrow.

FINAL MUSINGS ON SIEM REAP
Although our visit here was only 5 nights we feel we got a sense of what this country and its people have been through and how things are in this clearly developing nation. Surprisingly despite a policy of "dedollarization", this city runs on USD so it is easier to get those out of the bank than the local KHR. Our room at the Riversoul Boutique Hotel was in an excellent location and quiet even with the River Festival on, we enjoyed "Rusty", our nicknamed rooster neighbour. The room itself could appear a bit "tired" to certain "picky" discerning Westerners. In Siem Reap area, there is not much wood, thus there is heavy use of concrete in the furniture of most places. It would benefit from painting and some new sheers and upholstery on the chairs but everything was perfectly maintained. The pleasant staff kept our room and the pool clean and tidy and all for a very modest price. What a luxury to have air conditioning and a pool when the average country family here does not have a refrigerator or running water! The Tuk Tuk drivers who were affiliated with the hotel were friendly, sport more English than others and provided competitive rates and are anxious to sign on as your Tuk Tuk driver of the day for a reasonable charge to see the local sights. Despite the intense, dry and somewhat dusty conditions, chaotic and risky traffic practices (small children without helmets on motorcycles is very common) we found the people uniformly genuinely welcoming, respectful, gracious with an ethic of hard work. They have suffered greatly in the past and continue to do so amongst the great challenges which include climate change, environmental and political issues.Les mer