...OK, still no way to post pictures, but here's the update for the recent days. We spend 4 absolutely wonderfully relaxing days at Sihanoukville on the beach. Our host Marc is the owner of the Elephant Garden cottages - truly grass huts on the beach. We slept with a net over our bed, and listened to the gentle surf. No TV, no phone, and only 10-12 guests...mostly European. This is very different from the super large hotel complexes only 5-10 km away - sadly they remind me of Princeville in Hawaii. Marc is also a consummate chef, and we had 4 days to experience a great variety of very local foods prepared with some Cambodian and European flair.
Amazingly, Irene met Cammie, an Australian woman who is developing an English Learning program for village kids - Irene told her all about Each One Teach One, the program she volunteered with in Montbello in Colorado. Cammie will contact the originator of the EOTO program, and who knows how serendipity works -- there may an EOTO program in Cambodia next year.
Yesterday, we drove from the beach to Phnom Pehn, the capital and we guided by a very competent woman who took us to the National Museum, the Royal Palace, and to the Pagoda named for Madam Pehn who is the namesake of the city. Our hotel was amazing - small boutique only a few blocks from the river, and we had dinner on the rooftop (5th floor) with a view including the new amazing new skyscrapers (which certainly were not here 12 years ago when I visited last time).
We are now at the airport - we fly to Bangkok and connect to Hong Kong for our last stop (10 countries total on this trip) before returning to the USA next week. We had some good discussions with Cambodians about their beautiful country - much is changing quickly, and I think that our goal when we return is just to tell Americans that this country is modernizing and will be an important economic and force for peace in Asia.
The pictures for these days are great (at least I think so). Hopefully, we'll find a way to add them soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment