A Journey to Oasis

Koh Tornsay, Kep Province

“First, I thought Cambodia might have looked like an old-town village, but things were different from what I expected. It’s quite modern, and have almost anything you need,” said one of the BBC TV presenters. A large number of foreigners who have never been to Cambodia often view the country as a synonym of Pol Pot regime, atrocity, poverty, and prostitution. Yet they might be surprised after their first visit to country and realize that their previous perception was far from true. Because, on the other layer, Cambodia is such a magnificent country, scattered with ancient treasures, sparkling nature, and its untiring-friendly people, their combination makes Cambodia become an undeniably unique place to be discovered. The place where you find reality is much more than expectation.

So what sort of trips you expect to enjoy in this beautiful Southeast Asia nation? Well, in short, you can have them all. You can visit, Siem Reap, Preah Vihear, or Battambong, located at the north part of the country to experience the marvelous architecture of the ancient Khmer, dominated by thousands of ancient temples. The most famous temple in the complex is the Angkor Wat temple, the largest religious monument in the world, built in 12^th century, and it has always been regarded as the national symbol and pride. After discovering this part, you can also enjoy an eco-tourism trip to Kratie, Ratanakiri or Mondoulkiri, the northeast part of the country, where you can witness the untouched beauty of natural jewels, such as spectacular waterfalls, green and deep forests, wild animals and ethnic people who have been going on practicing their tradition for hundred years. Then, if you are tired of exploring the north part of the country, you can definitely divert your journey to the south, where you can enjoy the beauty of white-sand beach and unexploited islands in Sihanouk Ville. You can also have some time staying at the heart of Cambodia, where the local tradition collides with globalization. It is the hub of education, economy, communication, culture, and politics.

Living in Cambodia for more than 25 years, I have been to almost every part of the country. I have been captured countless images into my memory. Those images always appear differently through time and places, so it means that you can pamper yourself by visiting anywhere in the country based on your mood and preferences.

Despite the fact that there are a lot of good places to choose for my next trip, my favorite travel destination is Sihanouk Ville. I like visiting the coastal area, where I can feel smooth-white sand and deep-blue ocean. It is the best way to get rid of stress and problems I have been carrying at work.

I remember 15 years ago, when my family had the first trip to the beach resort, I was so overwhelmed by its wonder. We drove up the hill and experienced the brilliant landscape of the area when we arrived. We had tasty seafood for lunch. After lunch, my brother and I rushed to the beach to catch small crabs and collect some shining leftover seashells. A moment later, we took off our clothes and jumped into the salty sea water. It was such an amazing time that I didn’t even care that my skin got burned and became so tanned after playing a few hours. I swallowed quite a lot of salty water, and I thought it tasted weird. After jumping and swimming for three hours, the enormous red sun was about to disguise, I felt so enough, and I thought the beach was not cool anymore.

I, then, lay near my dad as he was talking to my mom. I suddenly noticed his speech as he said, “I thought we were very big at home, but, here, there are many people who are bigger than us. The people have many things that we don’t have. Things were different from what I thought. I usually feel my importance and ego when I am surrounded by other things, but when I am sitting in front of the ocean I feel so tiny and insignificant.”

After that, he started to ask me to look at the sunset, which reflected the sea water and made it became a golden carpet. At that moment, he talked to me, “Look, son, today the scenery is breathtaking, so let enjoy what you can feel and see now. You know, we don’t know what lie ahead tomorrow. Today, the reflection of the sun has made the sea turns gold. Tomorrow, when cloudy weather comes, the sea will turn coal.” By the time, I didn’t really get what he meant. Those words just came into my left ears and went out of my right ear, but I can still remember the rhyme and the familiar voice.

Three years later, my dad passed away to somewhere up above. Since then, I usually visit the place which we first visited. It made me nostalgic. I usually soothe myself with a glass of fresh orange juice and relaxed in a folding beach chair, protecting by a giant umbrella. I enjoy inhaling the chilling breeze and listening to the rhyme created by the ocean waves. It makes me feel the serenity and simplicity of nature. When I look at the ocean, I am always amazed with its mightiness.

One October evening, the weather was cloudy when I had a trip there. The sky was so dark and about to rain. Somehow, I managed to approach the beach to experience a complete different view from a typical day. The wind whirled swiftly and cloud turned so dark that I could not see things clearly. Suddenly, I saw a figure of a man running out of the sea rushed frighteningly ashore as the lightening, roaring thunder, and aggressive waves chased behind him. That person seemed to notice me, and I heard he shouted on top of his lung to be heard, “Hey, man. What are you doing here? Please, find the safe place. There’s storm in the sea and we almost drowned in the middle of the sea.” He went up to the safe place, and a thought had come to me, “we can’t really predict and expect much thing. Sometimes, in blink of an eye, the beautiful scenery has turned to be so violent and cruel, and turn back to normal after a while. Gold turns to coal, but coal can also turn to gold.”

So this is one of many stories about my trip throughout Cambodia. I hope to capture more beautiful stories to my storage, so that I can tell the world more about brilliant stories in Cambodia. I believe that there countless places in Cambodia to visit and leave visitors with great expectation.

However, in order to provide satisfactory services to visitors, the government and general population, firstly, have to work on improving services and physical infrastructure. This means that people need to be trained in providing excellent services to local and international visitors, and the infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, railways, buildings, public space and so on, must be constructed in an attractive and high quality standard, so that people can leave with good judgment. In addition, we must also emphasize on environmental protecting because the more tourists we get, the more waste we gain, so the government has to be more skillful in environmental management to sustain the green growth in the sector. Last but not least, we must take good care of cultural and natural sites, which are the hotspots of tourist destinations. They get spoiled and damaged easily. Thus, if we do not want to see them disappear, we must pause for a second, and think about the future that we might make. I do believe we can achieve this step through creating clear and effective framework, good governance, and public’s participation to make Cambodia sounds like her slogan, “Cambodia, Kingdom of Wonder.”