I think I’m going to need more tissues for Cambodia, but I’m doing my best to emotionally prepare for the visit. I can already tell there will be an amazing difference between my stay in both countries, even just by meeting my guide, Poleak.
After saying goodbye to Quan and those who weren’t going with us to Cambodia (6 of the 12), we had our meeting with Poleak. Similar to the one we had with Quan at the beginning of Vietnam, we reviewed the trip: how to dress (conservatively with shoulders and knees always covered), what to expect, and where we were going. What was different was the energy in the room. Poleak definitely had a smile and is a happy person, but it’s all shaded by sadness, disease, death, and destruction. From everything I’ve read about Cambodia in my Lonely Planet book that would be how the whole country is: happy, but internally sad.
Poleak and his family have lost a lot. He lost all his older siblings (of which I think were 5 or 6), his grandparents on both sides, and several aunts and uncles all to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge during the genocide just over thirty years ago. He kept talking about how great Cambodia is, but that it’s still massively struggling of poverty, famine, and disease.
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