Ho Chi Mama: Adventures of a VietMOM: Phnom Penh: City of Tragedy and Treasure

Phnom Penh is a city of contrasts. It has surprised us with its modernity, international flare and mastery of English. It has saddened us with its recent history of horrific genocide. We got a taste of both and came away shaking our heads. The tragedy of the Khmer Rouge Revolution permeates the city. The high school that was taken over for a torture center, Prison 21, sits right in the middle of the city. Largely unchanged, it serves as a genocide museum and a tribute to the thousands of victims tortured there. The Killing Fields lie 15 km outside of the city. There you can walk among the mass graves where nearly 9000 bodies were exhumed shortly after Cambodia's liberation in 1979. Each time it rains, bones, teeth and articles of clothing make their way to the surface from the shallow graves yet untouched. 8000 skulls are piled high in a monument to the dead. Perhaps the most vivid reminder of the recent tragedy in Cambodia is to be found in everyday interactions with the people here. 50% of the population is under the age of sixteen. We are ancient in Cambodian terms. Most people our age didn't survive the Pol Pot years in Cambodia.

Brianna and Foster have spent the past two days reading Loung Ung's two books, First They Killed My Father and The Lucky Child, and have connected with them on levels that we never could have imagined possible. To be reading about a young Cambodian refugee who settled in Essex Junction, Vermont, while we are visiting the site of her family's horrendous tragedy is a rare opportunity that has provided a personal backdrop to the history here.

In sharp contrast to the gaping societal wound left by the genocide of thirty years ago, the modern city of Phnom Penh is decorated with ornate wats and the gilded palace compound of the king. After a heart-wrenching morning at the Killing Fields, we spent the afternoon at the Royal Palace and its Silver Pagoda admiring bejeweled Buddhas and their King Kong sized footprints embedded in gold. And then, for further confirmation of how very far this city has come, we spent an hour at an enormous playground that would rival anything we have at home.

Quick change into the royal skirt
to meet proper attire guidelines

The extravagance of Phnom Penh

To finish off the day, John and I took advantage of the western influence in Phnom Penh and did some serious grocery shopping for Christmas baking. We found brown sugar and oatmeal for the first time since we arrived in August, so we stocked up on the essentials for Christmas cookies. We will haul it around Cambodia with us for the next few days to insure a little taste of home when Christmas rolls around next week. Onward to Angkor Wat...