Angkor Wat tour guides

January 18th, 2009

After climbing down from watching the sunset at Ba Kheng, a temple in the Angor Thom city, I met two tour guides. Both of them spoke multiple languages including Japanese, which I also speak. They wanted to practice their Japanese so we didn't speak English. After exchanging the usual where are you from's and the usual niceties, one of the guides asked me about my family. I casually told him about my parents and siblings. Then I asked him about his family and he said, "I don't know. They were killed. I was only two." How did you become a tour guide, I asked. He explained, "I was lucky. A teacher took me in and sent me to school." I asked him if he learned about the Khmer Rouge in school. He said, "Nothing. I know nothing." So I asked him if he wanted to learn about the Khmer Rouge and if he wanted to remember what happened during that time. His answer was, "Yes!"