Day 3: Sights, sounds, and smells

A curly-tailed cat eyes me with disdain

Now that all four GEN teams have arrived, we spent the day getting to know each other and immersing ourselves in our new environment.

Our first challenge was to form groups of three and take photos of Siem Reap. Kevin, Aidil, and I climbed into a tuk tuk and headed to the enormous market, where wares of all kinds were for sale in crowded stalls. I bought a bag of chili-flavored cockles, which a local boy had to show me how to pry open. The tiny, chili-and-garlic seasoned shellfish smelled and tasted wonderful, but when the slimy flesh hit my tongue, I realized it was raw. Raw shellfish that had been sitting in the hot sun for hours did not seem wise to eat, so I pitched my bag and hoped one small dietary indiscretion wouldn't make me sick.

A tuk tuk, the taxi of Cambodia

Meats for sale at the Day Market

After more team-building activities and a delicious lunch of redfish, sautéed morning-glory, coconut soup, and other traditional Cambodian foods, we loaded onto a bus for a tour. We visited another workshop operated by Artisans Angkor, this one featuring carvings and lacquerwork.


At Theam's House, we viewed a remarkable collection of artwork created by Cambodian artist Lim Muy Theam. After living in France as a refugee, Theam returned to Cambodia to revitalize the arts movement. His work merges traditional Khmer art with modern designs, and his live-in studio is a work of art itself.

Theam's house

Finally we came to the most profound experience of the day, a visit to the killing fields of Wat Thmey. The Khmer Rouge killed millions of Cambodian civilians during its brutal regime, 1975-1979. Nearly half of the country's population died during those years. Wat Thmey is one of the many memorials to the dead, located on a site the Khmer Rouge used for executions. The area now features a beautiful Buddhist pagoda as well as information boards about the genocide, and a stupa displaying the bones of those killed.

In the last year of the genocide, I would have been the same age as many of the child soldiers pressed into service by the Khmer Rouge. It's hard for me to imagine how a people can recover from that kind of atrocity--and yet I'm surrounded by it in the arts, markets, tourism industry, and people of Siem Reap.

Bridge leading to the Old Market