Journey to Ancient Asian Cultures
We enjoyed a full day taking advantage of Phnom Penh on our last day in Cambodia. After a bountiful breakfast at the hotel, we traveled about twenty minutes away to the Genocide Museum. The property was a school until the Khmer Rouge converted it into a prison.
With heavy hearts, we walked through the classrooms converted into cells and torture chambers, taking in photographs of the many prisoners brought through the camp. We even had the opportunity to talk with some of the camp’s survivors, who had been children during their imprisonment. It was difficult subject matter, but the boys handled it well, and many remarked on the impressions walking through the building made on them. Some of the group headed back to the hotel to process the morning, while others continued on to the National Museum. The red, distinctly architectural building housed artifacts from several eras of Cambodian history, including statues, tools, ceramics, and larger items like weaving looms and a boat cabin. Mid afternoon, we reconvened and headed to our cooking lesson at La Table Khmer. the instructors guided us through three courses, beginning with traditional Cambodian curry with the choice of fish, chicken, or tofu. This dish was particularly unique in that we created our own steaming vessels out of banana leaves. Our second course was green mango and carrot salad. The big hit of the night was coconut mango sticky rice for dessert. Once we had finished preparing our dishes, we sat down in the dining room to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Pictures from today are updated under the Photos tab. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Cambodia and journey back to the States. Thank you all for following along on this blog. We hope you have enjoyed hearing from your students and seeing them in action. We appreciate all you have done to make this trip possible, and we thank Forman for making opportunities like these for our kids possible. Best, ~Erika and Patrick
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By Lex Gardner
Today we had to wake up early in order to travel to Phnom Penh, which is the capital of Cambodia. At 8 we got on a lavish bus and began the long journey to Phnom Penh. Along the way, we stopped many times to get snacks and use the bathrooms. I bought many different types of food from the locals including ground nuts, a pork bun, mango, and sugar cane. The trip took nearly 7 hours. Along the way I noticed that there was a lot of poverty in the small village. I also realized that their main source of income was farming due to the vast field in between the villages. This is very different from the city economy that was based on tourism and selling goods. As we got closer to Phnom Penh the buildings turned from shacks to more modern buildings. Once we got to the heart of the city it was clear that this was the most modern and wealthy city we visited on our trip. After a restful nap, we set out on to eat dinner and go to the local markets and resistant. At the market, I bought a nice watch for 15$. Then we went back to the hotel and had a restful night of sleep. Today we had the opportunity to visit the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake and explore the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary. During the half hour drive from the hotel to the lake, our guide, Billy, explained how the lake and river flood during the rainy season, how one of the floating villages moves every few weeks with the changing water levels, and who the different ethnic groups making up the villages are.
At the lake, we road in a boat to the other side, where we encountered our second floating village of the morning before switching into two smaller boats. In the sanctuary, we drove slowly through the river while Billy pointed out the different species that came into view. Some of the birds we saw today included spotted billed pelicans, painted storks, ibis, purple herrings, and gray-headed fish eagles. A lat lunch took place on a 1927 river boat converted into a restaurant. After fueling up, we reversed our journey to the hotel to rest, later reconvening for dinner at Jungle Burger. We made a final visit to Pub Street and the Night Market for any final Siem Reap souvenirs, then returned home to get ready for bed. Tomorrow morning we will drive to our final WInterim 2019 stop, Phnom Penh. By Joseph Podolsky
Today we started off the day with a nice breakfast buffet. After breakfast we traveled to a famous water fall that had multiple levels. We were able to to swim in the water that was considered to be holy. After that we went to see a famous statue of a Buddha that was carved into a huge bolder. After lunch we went to the mine museum to see all the research and weapons that Cambodia has found and it was very interesting to actually see the bombs and mines used because seeing these things in person show much more than in a picture. To end the day off we went to a nice dinner with a performance showing the culture. Pictures from the last two days have been updated! Hello families and friends!
Today was truly incredible. In the early part of the day, we visited Angkor Wat and two other prominent temples. Our guide, San, was very well informed and taught us the history of these places and spoke about his own life. He was a teen away for school during the Pol Pot regime when his family was killed. He spent three years of his life as a monk, and later worked with the UN clearing landmines across Cambodia. In the evening, we attended the highly-recommended Phare Circus, which we can now vouch to be a can't-miss experience. After dinner at the Red Piano, the boys had time to explore the famous Pub Street and Night Market. We returned to the hotel and got ready for bed at nine. Be on the lookout for a full recap of the day from one of our students soon. Uploading to the photos page is currently proving difficult, but there will soon be many great shots of our kids from the day under that tab! By Levon DeGennaro
The gang woke up bright and early on our 4th full day. We all traveled to the airport by bus, checked our baggage, went through security and boarded our first flight. Our first flight was to Bangkok where we went through many layers of security. After we landed in Siem Reap we took a ten minute van ride to our hotel. We were given plenty of time to relax and find our barings in the even more humid climate. After a healthy chill sesh the gang reconvened and we all went to a fancy dinner at the building next to our residence. After an amazing dinner experience the crew decided to turn in early and get some much needed rest. Tomorrow we will explore some of the city's most famous attractions. |
AuthorEntries in this blog are written by trip leaders and student participants of the 2019 Thailand and Cambodia Winterim Archives
March 2019
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