In Phnom Penh

(From June 27 email)

Hey all!

I hope you are well and having a great summer. Things are going very well for us here in Cambodia. Our last days in Hanoi were nice - but it was equally as nice to leave and come to a new (and much more relaxing) country.

We enjoyed the Ho Chi Minh Museum - but our questions remain unanswered. We are wondering if any of you can tell us what you think/thought of him? We were impressed with his language abilities (English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese - maybe others) and how much he wrote - but we know little else about him. When we get home we plan to get some books from the library to help shed some light on the history. Everything you get in Vietnam is slanted towards the Communist party, which was expected, but still disappointing.

While Tom was working I went to the Hoa Loa Prison Museum (aka the 'Hanoi Hilton'). It was interesting to see. The first US Ambassador to Vietnam in 1995 and John McCain were both imprisoned there. It was wild to see photos of John McCain as a soldier in this museum, especially because he is a candidate in the 2008 election. On display was his flight suit after they captued him from his airplane that had been shot down. There were also new pictures of American leaders at the museum as well - and the last shot was of Bush and the Vietnamese president at the White House in 2007, demonstrating the repaired and close ties between the two countries. Indeed the US is a very important trading partner with Vietnam and people don't seem to have any animosity towards Americans. There are still lingering affects of the war - most notably with the chemical weapons that were used, and the continued handicapped citizens that are a result.

They day before we left I went to an Ethnology Museum - wonderful! It was the only museum that wasn't about a revolution or a war. It just had pictures of tribal peoples in Vietnam, their clothes, and their houses. In the gardens there were lifesize replicas of different tribal homes, complete with kitchen utensils and beds. It's too bad that Tom was working, but that was one of the best places that I went.

We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday morning and have had a very nice experience so far. The people are warm and smile back (which didn't happen very frequently in Vietnam). It's amazing how open people are about discussing the Khmer Rouge and what happened to them. Our taxi driver told us about his family's experience after 1975, including how his younger sister (just a year old) didn't survive. Every time we see an older person we think about their struggle for survival and their strength. There are two rather gruesome but important museums that we will go to here that relate to the genocide that we will visit next week.

Tom had a meeting very early this morning which was incredible. He described it as his best meeting yet - and it seems to be a wonderful opportunity for both parties. He has two more scheduled meetings with organizations and an informal meeting with a former PhD student from Tulane working here in Phnom Penh. All very good stuff!

We've had some great Khmer food, but the "Cambodian sauce" was a bit strange and neither one of us liked it very much. Today for lunch we found a Taiwanese dumpling place that Uncle Charlie would appreciate very much. I'll describe more about the food in a different email - as food is one of the funnest things about travelling for us. They do have delicious beers here - Angkor (a bit like a Bud) and ABC (a bit like a Speedway stout).

The streets are remarkably quiet here (absense of all the honking we heard in Hanoi) and the temples and architecture are lovely. Our hotel is in a quiet neighborhood near the Phillipene Embassy and off the 'backpackers circuit' which is great. We are going to rent some bikes and explore this small city and see what else it has to offer. Thus far, we are very happy.

Hope you are all well. More soon...

Love,
Steph and Tom