Cambodia is a country still trying to recover from the dark period under Pol Pot where over 2 million people were killed. Our tour guides all personally experienced the harsh reality of the genocide. One tour guide lost his entire family at age 6. He was homeless and eventually became a monk. He learned English in night school and now has a family of his own. Another tour guide recalled his father, an educator, saying goodbye to him that he will not be returning once the military took him away. Many in the tour group all thought the people in Cambodia were so courteous and peaceful after such trauma. However, economic recovery is slow.

On the drive to the airport, we passed by a huge hotel with a mainland Chinese flag. The tour guide informed us that Siem Reap international airport will soon become a domestic airport and the Chinese and Cambodian governments are jointly building a new international airport nearby. Hmm….