Cambodia, Destinations, Musings, Travel Plans

Weekend Update: Death of a King in Cambodia

October 21, 2012

Hello, friends!

A little real-time note for you on this October Sunday.

This past week in Phnom Penh: Cambodians mourning the death of Former-King Sihanouk

Ted and I are in the middle of our five week circuit in Southeast Asia, and I’ve been fumbling around behind the scenes with the tail end of South Africa posts and the next stretch of updates from Zanzibar, Thailand, Laos, and now Cambodia.

I’m bursting with photos and tales and ideas to share, but, I’ll be honest, I’m trying to make good on honoring my first priority to truly experience this trip alongside Ted and live in the moment rather than succumb to the temptation to hole-up and spend 72+ hours editing photos and writing stories by the glow of the laptop.

In my compulsively chronological mind, it seems wrong to jump around on the timeline too much, so when I’m faced with limited time to finish sorting posts, I usually just wait. You can always catch the day-to-day tidbits in the Daily Travel Journal, if you’re super curious.

The quick update is this:

We’re currently in Cambodia, recently Phnom Pehn (see photos below), and now Siem Reap. Today we visited Tonle Sap Lake’s Floating Villages with Intrepid’s Urban Adventures, and tomorrow we begin our independent visits the temples of Angkor Wat…

In just ten days (I can hardly believe it!), we’ll be in New Zealand, in time to crash the Mumford & Son’s concert on November 2nd. My cousin comes to visit us in NZ in mid-November, then my parents join us for the grand finale in mid-December.

On Christmas Day, we take our constantly-packed-bags and fly back to Oregon, splitting the holiday between summer and winter, south and north hemispheres, and the end of one adventure and beginning of the next… I daresay it’s going to feel like a million dollars to unpack and not need to squish life back into a duffel.

New Years Eve holds promise…and we’ve already got plans brewing (coffee and otherwise!) for January and February.

Between now and then, I’ll keep chugging away on posts. I love having you along for the journey! Thanks so much for reading and for peeking through our camera viewfinder to share the sightseeing.

For tonight, I’ll leave you with this series of photos from this past week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We spent six days with our good friend, Jenny, who has been living and working in the city since January 2010. We arrived on Monday, the day after Cambodia’s former King Sihanouk passed away in China. On Wednesday afternoon, his body was flown back to the capital city, and we joined the crowd of a million people lining the streets from the airport to the Royal Palace to pay their respects.

Monks and officers.

Kiddos and cameramen.

Lotus blossoms and melting wax candles…and melting westerners in the blistering heat.

We had no way of knowing we’d be in Cambodia for such an historic day, but we’re grateful for guided steps. This grand adventure continues to humble and to teach and to bless.

Enjoy the view…













For more about King Norodom Sihanouk, see here.
For a peek at one of our afternoons volunteering with Jenny’s NGO, see here.
For a chance to ask us any old question and get a grab-bag answer, leave a note below!

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13 Comments

  • Reply Andi of My Beautiful Adventures October 21, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    Wow what an experience!!!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:25 pm

      Really special, indeed.

  • Reply Reg and Sue October 21, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    Enjoying your blog!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:26 pm

      Reg and Sue, thanks so much. I just had a peek at yours as well – how fun to be in Italy! Enjoy it. We had the time of our lives in Emilia-Romagna and Umbria this past spring : )

  • Reply Lauren H. of Sobremesa In Spain October 21, 2012 at 9:36 pm

    What luck you all had in arriving to see such an interesting cultural affair! I’m glad I discovered your blog and can follow along your journey. It’s coming quite in handy as I’ll leave from SE Asia November 6th. Enjoy the rest of the trip!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:28 pm

      Thank you so much, Lauren. It’s been such a unique mix of events and scenes…so many impressions and memories to carry for years.

      Wishing you lots of fun in your preparations for departure on November 6th. I’ve really enjoyed SE Asia even more than I’d anticipated, and I hope you will, too!

  • Reply Becky L October 22, 2012 at 2:45 am

    Thanks for the updates.I’ve been busy and not reading all your posts but enjoy the ones I do. I’m sure you will be glad to get back to the USA. But your time travelling will be a memory indeed of time spent together. That is quite the adventure. I enjoy your photos as well. God bless and prayers for you both!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:30 pm

      Thanks for popping in to say hello, Becky : ) Glad to be able to share with you as you have time to visit for a peek at photos and a catch-up on stories, and I hope all is well with you in Oregon.

  • Reply Cindy Buck October 22, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    As always, really love the pictures and catching up on what’s going on with you guys!! So many fantastic experiences!!! I love being vicariously with you as you globe trot :) <3 Love you!!!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:31 pm

      Love you, too! Thanks for sharing in the journey with us. What an eye-opening year it’s been… I’m glad you’ve been able to follow along – can’t wait to see you in person in 2013 : )

  • Reply James Lathrop October 22, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    Phnom Pehn is a pretty interesting place. Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves there!

    • Reply Bethany ~ twoOregonians October 22, 2012 at 8:33 pm

      Absolutely. We were so glad to have a friend in the city, too. Her driving skills made all the difference ; )

      Ted’s been reading a biography of Pol Pot, and I was really moved by the visits to the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. I’m glad we’ve been able to see and learn and understand just a little bit more through our time in Cambodia.

  • Reply Kaho January 8, 2013 at 6:28 pm

    Beauitful photos! You captured great scenes.

  • Leave a Reply to Reg and Sue Cancel reply

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