Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Again, I have skipped Vietnam and I hope to come back to it.

Vicky and I bused it from Ho Chi Minh City, vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was a new experience to cross a border in a bus. We had to stop and get checked out of Vietnam and then get checked into Cambodia. All in all pretty painless since we had chosen the expensive bus ($12 versus $5) and they took care of most things for us. It did give me a chance to get a couple of snaps of the border and its patrol (if you can call it that) for Jason.

We arrived in Phnom Penh and Vicky's aunt and dad picked us up on the corner of a busy street. Our 25 minutes of wait included Vicky using a public phone, which was exciting. A public phone in Cambodia is really a private phone. A person has a wireless phone and s/he sits on the corner of the street with it and a sign with the rates. You tell them where you want to call, they dial it for you, the call is completed and you pay them for the numbers of minutes used. It is pretty effective.

other than that we were asked by about 100 tuk-tuk (Cambodia's rickshaws are a motorcycle with a wagon in the back) drivers if we wanted a ride. Vicky speaks Khmer and it was really nice to not have to deal with them on my end. Vicky's aunt arrived with style. She made a U-turn in the middle of an extremely busy street with no compunction whatsoever. She just turned and traffic on all sides stopped dead on their tracks. Vicky had warned me about this. Which brings me to Vicky's warnings...

Since Vicky and I decided to do this travel she has warned me about different aspects of her wonderful family. The first thing I received was a two-page biography on the family members, some of their history and some of the friendly family dynamics. Since then, I have heard well over 3,000,000 warning and details. Some include:

-my father is not really my father.
-my uncle is not really my uncle.
-my aunt is not really my aunt.
-my little cousin is actually my uncle has two mommies and a daddie who all live in the same house.
-no, i did not know that man that lives in my uncle's house was the grandfather of my non-aunt.
-say NO to the gardens! (Then of course, after a lot of Khmer was spoken I asked Vicky where we were going and she said, "the gardens.") She is still working on saying NO to the elders in her family. It is really sweet.
-my dad has gone through monkhood, but is was the express service. Instead of 3 days they did it for him in one.

And the best...
-you may not know this, but my name is not just Vicky. I have three different names. And, I was actually born in France even though I am Cambodian and American.

As it stands I love her family. They are a riot and yes, they have a ton of different inter-relationships. But, beyond titles and birth rights they all have immense hearts and have treated me wonderfully with lots of hot showers, a great bed, cable TV, rides everywhere and LOTS, and LOTS, and LOTS of food ranging from US imported oscar meyer sausage to some amazing Cambodian cuisine.

The most touching aspect of Vicky's family for me is how everyone in the house has come together. Her Uncle, Dr. Ghanty, is a lot like my grandfather was. In the last 11 years he has taken in nearly 30 people whose lives range from kids who lost their parents, to mothers who lost their children, to kids who need an education but whose parents cannot offer it, to girls who were going to be trafficked into prostitution. Different cases require different things and these range from paying for schooling and colleges, covering health care costs, buying a home, and infinetly making sure the house is open to all from over the years for a meal everyday at lunch and dinner. He stands firmly in the heart of her family who was severely affected by the autrocities of the Khmer Rouge who dessimated much of the country's population when it was trying to turn Cambodia into a communist country from 1975-1979. He is a man who understands pain and suffering and who sees that opportunity can change the world and is committed to giving so many people just that. He succeeded as a high ranking economics professor in the States and after the Khmer Rouge and the violence of the subsequent Vietnamese subsided he returned and has since helped out his brethren. Now he takes care of the needs of many and teaches economics to working people at a Cambodian university. He is truly an ispiration.

Phnom Penh itself was nice. We spent a lot of time with family. We also had a chance to see the Royal Palace, the Mekong River, the Genocide Museum, and a couple of the markets and go out for a drinks one of the nights. It was a good time. Ok, the Genocide Museum was not so great, but the rest was. Apparently the communists consider the Khmer Rouge situation a black eye for the movement. Whatever the situation this was the ugliest kind of human behavior. For more, see Yale's research on the Genocide in Cambodia - http://www.yale.edu/cgp/

You should also know that a new king has been crowned. He was not the next in line of sons, but the government wanted to find a neutral person to have the role and chose him. Cool note? He is a ballet dancer and I have learned that in this case he is in fact - FAMILY!!!! Speculations? Not! I have seen pictures. it's true!!!

We are currently in Angkor Wat one of the 7 wonders of the world and will be here for the next 4 days.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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