Hey Tina. Thank you for your comment – it seems like you had the same perspective. I suppose Cambodia can be very contradictory because I do believe traveling there can be quite humbling and positive for the reasons your friends mentioned (and of course the tourist dollars can help). But… there are also so many things that really don’t feel right at all.

First of all, thanks! A lot! I’ve been using your blog since I started travelling last October and it’s been very useful indeed.

I’m now in my last month of travelling and decided to spend it in Cambodia – this was mainly based on the opinions of two travellers I met in Indonesia and the opinion of a friend back home. They all said that Cambodia is a life changing country and really makes you re-think your Western lifestyle and its luxuries, given just how basic Cambodia is.

Thanks number two for the article above: I arrived in Phnom Penh a week ago and have been there, Battambang and Siem Reap so far. And – I have not been comfortable. It’s not just the “dark past” (I sometimes feel if I hear someone mention that one more time, I might punch them) – it’s exactly what you speak about above. The brand new, shiny, white, (actually quite dusty!) Lexuses juxtaposed with the man with no legs crawling across the tourist street in PP trying to beg a buck.

It isn’t right. And while I feel good to be spending my tourist dollars here in (hopefully) the right places, it’s not enough.

And that’s making me sad.

Anyway, thanks again.

Tina