Since I posted photographs of the mass graves and the torture camp in Cambodia, I feel compelled to tell you that these grim stories are not a picture of Cambodia today.
Cambodia is a physically beautiful country, with many ancient ruins, and more sights than any tourist could cover in many days of travel. The people are warm and gracious.
Our river cruise ended in Vietnam, and we transferred by bus to Pnomh Penh. It is a bustling, energetic city. We then traveled by bus to Siem Reap, a city of one million, and the tour company put us in one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen. We have been eating delicious Cambodian food, and we spent our days visiting ancient ruins. First, the world-famous Angkor Wat, which consists of many temples, which were repeatedly sacked by Thai invaders. The next day we visited more Wats that were ruins. We could only imagine how beautiful they were. Again, they had been stripped bare and destroyed by Thai invaders in the 12th century.
The temperature every day was about 90 degrees, and we were happy to return to our air conditioned hotel and pool to cool off.
What I will take away from this once-in-a-lifetime trip is a deep respect for the Cambodian people. It is a fascinating country, and I hope that one day you have the opportunity to visit it.
Both Vietnamese and Cambodian people kept reminding us that they are very much aware of their ancient pasts. But they look ahead to a bright future. Life is improving for most people. Whatever the government may be, the economy is thriving and growing numbers of people are joining the middle class.
I loved our guides in Vietnam and Cambodia, each proud of his country. The Cambodian guide told us he was born into a desperately poor family of subsistence farmers. To go to school, he had to cross the Mekong River. He made many sacrifices, but he never stopped learning. He taught for a few years but the salary was so low that he could not live. He tried different trades, then became a tour guide. He mastered English. He loves his work. He has a wonderful sense of humor. He said to us, “if your children complain, tell them how hard they would have to work if they lived in Cambodia.” He said, “There is only one way to lift yourself out of poverty, and that is education.” Everyone in the bus applauded.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My mantra, War is never the answer!
LikeLike
“Ethnic cleansing” is never the answer. In fact, all homo sapiens carry DNA from Africa, which is where scientists believe is the origin of our species. Our differences are a slight tweaking of our DNA. If we understand this, the whole concept of “race” or even ethnicity implies we all have a lot more in common than presumed differences. As an ESL teacher I discovered we are all alike, even with cultural differences. What I learned from anthropology is that all cultures have some form of governance, religion, family and economy. These are uniquely human, even if they vary from culture to culture.
LikeLike
Cambodia sounds pretty good…
Sent from my iPad
LikeLike
There is an informative article in the Chicago Tribune today about how immigration is going after Asian immigrants, Many refugees from the Vietnam war era brought in as children, who are being picked up for “crimes” committed as young adults after years if not decades of solid citizenship. I believe the article said that Cambodia does not accept ex-patriots expelled by their host countries, which beyond the idiocy of targeting these people puts them in limbo.
LikeLike
speduktr: I find that Trump and his administration are a bunch of totally disgusting people. Why continue to show such hatred over and over and over again for anyone who isn’t white male and, preferably, wealthy. It makes me sick to think of how much suffering is occurring in this country because we have a ‘leader’ who is bigoted and full of hatred. He cowers before his loyal troops who don’t understand that not everyone is taking their jobs and lowering their standard of living. It is false fear put into their minds that is distorting the thoughts of otherwise good people.
Time for Trump to leave. Hope Mueller can find something strong against this ‘Leader” who shows hatred and spreads fear and division.
LikeLike
Not only that but something that will keep the Republicans from continuing some version of his policies. I doubt that Pence is much different, just more subtle.
LikeLike
There is an interesting article on Vietnam “survivors” in the most recent Smithsonian magazine.
LikeLike
Arn Chorn-Pond (see POV “The Fluteplayer”) as a very young survivor of the camps returned to Cambodia to seek out family and artists still alive. With several others he established the Cambodian Living Arts association, which has revived and oversees a dynamic group of performing artists. https://www.cambodianlivingarts.org. It’s a remarkable testament to something like cultural repair.
LikeLike