This past weekend a couple of us decided to venture out to Anlong Veng, aka the last Khmer Rouge stronghold during the war. To this day many of the affluent people in the community and/or politicians have descended from former Khmer Rouge officials.
Anlong Veng is a dusty little town situated very close to the Thai border. All it really has going for it are sights relevant to the Khmer Rouge, ie. Pol Pot's house & grave, Ta Mok's house & grave, etc. Citizens seemed a little confused to see white people wandering around the town.
We really only spent time seeing Ta Mok's house as everything seemed to kind of blend together and look the same.
After spending time in Anlong Veng we ventured to the hometown of our Khmer staff member. This was an extremely exciting experience for me as it gave me a chance to see what the real Cambodia is like, and it doesn't even come close to comparing to Siem Reap. The poverty was ever apparent, but so was the happiness. The experience was one that I will definitely remember from my trip and I hope I can experience something else like it before I head home.
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