First Few Days

Following our extensive plane ride halfway around the world, our exhausted group arrived at our hotel around midnight on Monday. After a good night's sleep we went to a breakfast place, where most of us tried out some Cambodian crepes. After filling ourselves, we went for a brief walking tour around the city (Phnom Penh). After a short rest period, we were back on our feet for our next adventure, and it certainly was one. We got to ride through the streets on siklos. Essentially, you sit in a bucket seat attached to the front of a bike and are pushed through town like this. If we hadn't caught everyone's attention before getting in these siklos, we certainly did after. Regardless, the experience was unforgettable and fun. The siklo tour lead us through the history of one of the more recent happenings in Phnom Penh. A building along with a shanty colony, giving shelter to many people, especially artists were torn down. It was sad to see the conditions these people had to live in, but everyone seemed pretty happy which was fairly reassuring. After a nice dinner, our group was treated to a performance by one of the classes at the Cambodian Living Arts. Their dancing, singing, acting and musical skills were very impressive, but after the performance we were more than ready for our beds. After another sound night's sleep we were back in action. This morning we traveled to the dump, which was a true eye opener in realizing how fortunate we really are. To see people sifting through, and living in raw garbage was a sad sight. After we had enough of the sights and smells of the dump, we donated our shoes to the people living there, and we were off to breakfast. Following breakfast we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This museum was dedicated to the people who had been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered by Pol Pot and his regime. We got to go into the cells, see some of the instruments used and look at pictures of the victims. It was a very morbid period for all of us, dominated mostly by silence. After our visit, we came back to the hotel for a bit of a rest break. Our next stop was Cambodian Living Arts, where we met back up with Seng Song (a Cambodian who had traveled to America and met with our group in the spring). Maggie put on her tap shoes and showed the eager Seng a bit about tap. We then got to meet one of CLA's more talented musicians, a girl who played an instrument similar to that of the xylophone. She was very nice and spoke English incredibly well. We then did a bit more walking and then got some dinner. Now we are back at the hotel, getting ready for bed. It has been a very busy two days here, but we are all enjoying ourselves and learning a lot. We are excited to continue our adventure when we leave tomorrow for Kampot. Haleigh will be making another post in a few days, so stay tuned!
--Patrick O.