What we spent for the month of January was worth every cent!
January 2017, the first month of the year and the 8th month of our travels. Being away from home for so long has given us many life experiences that we never dreamed of. After 8 months of travel it seems obvious now that I had drastically underestimated the amount of history I would get on this trip. The history that I’m talking about is not through the museum or tourist sites but rather the history that is taught by the local tuk tuk driver who has firsthand experience. In Cambodia while our Tuk Tuk driver drove us around to different sites, we would ask questions and receive personal experience answers. He explained to us about Pol Pot and the Khmar Rouge and the killings that happened in 1975 – 1979. Our guide is in his 20’s so he was not alive then but his mother and father were. He briefly explained about the brutality of the genocide that happened and the effects on the population. Two million people were killed out of a population of eight million. I did not have the courage to ask if his grandparents were among them. That is the history I am talking about. History has always felt old and detached until this trip. I didn’t anticipate I would be walking in the area where 2 million people were killed while I was alive and living a safe life at home. I wonder why this young guides family is not angry at the world for not stepping in sooner as 25% of their country population was murdered. I don’t think there are any answers for this lesson I’m learning, other than I never expected this kind of history lesson. So, what we spent for the month of January was well worth every cent for the education I received. Beth H.
