Journey to Cambodia

A Trip of Realization

No street lights, but dimmed candle lights emitting from a few houses on the streets; no high rise buildings, but sparsely distributed shabby huts; no shoes on the tiny feet, but a filthy, worn-out piece of cloth barely covering the skinny little bodies; basically there was hardly anything ‘civilized’. But no, it was not the ’50s. It was the summer of 2010 when I first stepped my foot on this impoverished land, Cambodia, for a 5-day vacation with my family.

At the beginning of the trip, the itinerary was so boring because it was filled with visits to temples and historical sites. However, what I experienced on the second day of the trip had completely shifted my mindset and perception towards Cambodia.

On that day, we took a boat trip through a floating village. As a mid-stop, we boarded a floating school which was an eye-opener. It was heart-breaking to realize how few facilities there were. Everything on the boat were a classroom which could at most fit into 50 students, and an open-space “playground”. At the corner of the playground, two boys were lying on their stomachs in order to use the deck as a table for them to do assignments on their exercise books. With this scene imprinted in my mind, there is no excuse for me to be lazy given all the well-equipped learning facilities and support that I have. And this kind of self-reflection was what the whole journey was about.

As the French novelist Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Cambodia might not have breath-taking scenic views or well-developed infrastructures, but it would definitely allow its visitors to reflect on their lives. Having witnessed how Cambodians struggled under poverty, I realized what true adversity really means and am able to see what I have and how lucky I am.