July 1, 2010
A trip to Cambodia
One of definite perks of not having a job is the freedom to travel. In April my mom, dad and FC came to visit my part of the world and we took a couple of short trips to Penang and Cambodia.
Penang met my expectations. There was not a lot to see or do. But the food was pretty good. Cambodia was much more interesting. This was the second time that Art and my family have vacationed together. The first time was sort of a ‘luxury’ vacation to Shantou. This time we were in my dad’s term’s “roughing it”. In other words, we weren’t staying in a 5 star hotel and Cambodia is still a developing country, which meant that air conditioning was not available everywhere. All said and done, we had a great time together, even when the heat and humidity got to us.
Some highlights from our trip:
1) Ankor Wat and Ankor Thom: You have to pick and choose your temples at Siem Reap because there are just too many to visit. Of all the temples, these two are the most spoken about and probably most well kept.
2) Food: Cambodian food is to me, a fusion of Vietnamese and Thai. But that is probably because I never had much Cambodian genre of food growing up. Regardless, I loved it. There is also a lot of foreign influence, in particular the French once ruled Cambodia, so there were plenty of cafes and western restaurants for when I was craving non-Cambodian food.
3) Local People: From all our travels, I think Cambodians are the friendliest. I’m not referring to just the taxi guy who wants my business, but the local stranger who smiles at you and says hi. Or the random child who doesn’t mind you taking photos of them. Maybe what’s so friendly about Cambodians is their openness to strangers.
I did not know much about Cambodia until this trip. This was once a thriving country that has been torn apart by civil war. It’s heart-breaking to know that this country has literally been blasted to the past. It’s good to know that efforts to reconstruct Cambodia seem to be working. Foreign aid in the form of money and education has brought tourism back to Cambodia. The textiles industry is booming due to cheap labor and tax incentives. Cambodia is resource rich in a world that is hungry for more.
Seeing the social injustice inflicted on Cambodians and seeing the role that the environment plays in the future of Cambodia has reinforced my decision to move into sustainable development. ‘Fixing the environment’ does not take away social injustice. But there is no doubt that the environment plays a large role in our society. Social injustice means that not everyone has the same access to resources. With global resources becoming more scarce, I think the social gap will get only bigger. So something needs to be done to create sustainable resources. Can we make a difference? YES, we can.
