Read Parts I and II.
We made it back to Phnom Penh just in time to spend Christmas Eve with Shanti. We had a really nice dinner at Luna D’Autunno before, in Shanti’s family tradition, going on a Cambodia-style carriage ride: tuk-tuk. We took our chariot past the house of the US Ambassador – a devout Catholic – which was obscenely decorated in Christmas lights and paraphernalia, ironically designed and constructed by his Cambodian staff (so I hear). From there we were off to the even more absurdly decorated US Embassy, complete with Santa on a moto, and with far more lights than that overzealous neighbor down the street. Good to know that our US tax dollars are being well spent!
On Christmas we relaxed, baking cookies and making wreaths, decorating a three-foot fake tree with tinder, candy canes, and silk elephants, and going out to a mediocre Christmas dinner – what would you expect in Cambodia?
Our last day in Phnom Penh, we met with some friends freshly back from Thailand to get their impressions and recommendations. Shanti took my parents and sister back to Russian Market so they could buy at least one of everything there and we returned to the Chinese Noodle Shop. For the afternoon, I took the fam to Tuol Sleng, aka S-21, the genocide museum. I had been shortly after I arrived in Cambodia and found the “museum” to be the most disturbing place I had ever been. With a much greater understanding of the Cambodian people and strong relationships with many Khmers, I found Tuol Sleng to be even more troubling upon my return. Another difficult thing to see, but again, I’m glad my parents were able to get a taste of what the Cambodian people went through during the Khmer Rouge years.
In need of something uplifting, we returned to the apartment, where Shanti and I treated my parents to a “typical” evening in our lives. We watched Seinfeld and threw some burgers on our Khmer-style barbeque. My parents were amused that, to get the grill going, I lit a candle and then built an igloo of charcoal around it…works like a charm (thanks Dee!).
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