I have lived in a western society all my life. I grew up never knowing what it was like to live with the shadow of a civil war hanging over my family’s memories. I grew up always knowing that the education I was receiving was the best it could be, and was only limited by my ability to apply myself. I have always had enough to eat (and really, a little too much), and have never had to worry about where I was staying.
So, let me tell you now, spending time in Cambodia was an eye-opener.
Since being in Cambodia, which I traveled through with a friend in 2005, I have a new appreciation for what I have, and what I don’t have to worry about on a day to day basis. Cambodian people are warm and friendly people, which I suppose you should have if half your family was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge. The reign of the Khmer Rouge ended just under 30 years ago, and wiped out pretty much all social, cultural and academic systems the country had. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, wanted to start the Cambodians at “year zero”, because he believed that peasantry was a more ideal way to live. And by living by the land, he meant to wipe out academics, monks, teachers, basically anyone with an education.
I did not spend long in Cambodia, but what I saw and the people I met will stay with me always. I saw the vast differences between the country I grew up in (Australia) and this wonderful country. I realised that for all the worrying and complaints I had of my own life, it was really nothing compared to the moto drivers we met there who had perfect English, but yet could not afford to go to school or work in a field that required English skills such as tourism because of the lack of funds. I complained about money before I went backpacking, but in Cambodia there was no infrastructure in place for a bank that could provide ATM’S.
I shunned my religion and the values that religion upheld, but in Cambodia, where monks were killed and temples burned, I learned that religion is so important to a country’s culture, and a person’s belief systems, that to destroy all reminders of that was to wipe away a country’s heart.
I used to hate sitting next to schoolchildren on public transport going to and from my job in a Sydney office building, but Siem Reap allowed me the chance to meet local children, children who were 10 or 11 years old but were so small they looked about 6 or 7 years old. One of these children tried to see us little trinkets, and was so savvy about it that she looked at my measly Cambodian currency, shook her head and moaned, “two thousand riel not even fifty American cents”. Needless to say, I parted with two American dollars – she sold me a Buddha figurine.
I discovered that there was more to the world than the little one I lived in, with its narrow circumference of my home, my office, my clubs, my pubs. I saw the ancient city of Angkor Wat and realised that a civilisation that had once lived thousands of years before I was even on this planet had a system and society all its own, and this civilisation had thrived and then perished, in much the same way that our modern civilisation is thriving and now perishing.
Traveling to discover yourself doesn’t mean you return home to be a completely new person. In fact, what it does is reinforce what you have right now in your life and make you thankful for what you have. The changes from your travels should work its way through you for life.
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