Cambodia-Vietnam route july

Just thought Id say that I posted a similar post in the Thailand-forum, but I thought it might be better to ask about Vietnam and Cambodia here

In Cambodia I want to see the temples in siem reap, the killing fields, a short visit to the main capital, and I want to see poverty. How many days should I plan on staying in Cambodia in total?

I'd say you need a week for this itinerary, maybe slightly more depending on how much poverty you want to see. It's a good idea to plan 3 full days for Angkor Wat and all the surrounding ruins. Add in a couple of days for Phnom Penh where you can visit the genocide monument (killing fields) plus the more important Tuol Sleng genocide museum in the city.

The country is getting more prosperous, but there is poverty to see everywhere in Cambodia. Maybe for that you should stop at one of the villages on the shore of Tonle Sap, the big lake you can visit going between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Why would you want to go out of your way to see poverty? Are you going to do something to help or just get a few good photos.

Thanks for your reply, mstep. I`ll put in around 8 days there then.

Bigal, I have no plan for what Ill do when see it, but I have no plan of taking photos. I want to see it because Ive never really seen it before. People often talk about how lucky we are coming from the west, but I dont completely understand it. I want to understand it. That`s why I want to go there.

You can see poverty everywhere in the world (maybe not Norway). In fact most Cambodians live more happy and fulfilling lives than your people probably do, so stop being so arrogant.

You can see plenty of pictures of people living in poverty. Quite frankly you would gain something by staying in their community/environment for a few days and getting to know them and understand them. Simply just visiting to say you have seen poverty is a bit sick really. You could even try and do something useful for them.

I think I might have used the wrong terminology when I used the word"see". So Ill explain it further. What I actually want is to better understand other ways of living. The ideal scenario for me would actually be to do some work with those less fortunate. So last year I planned a trip to Greece to help refugees coming from Turkey and Syria, but due to exams I didnt have the time. If Im lucky in Cambodia, I might get to talk to someone less fortunate. Ill gladly treat such a person with a meal. I dont expect to experience this though, hence the word see. You people also have to understand that the living conditions in Norway is kind of special since we basicially dont have poverty. People with no jobs gets money from the government, people who study gets money to do that and healthcare is basically free. Thats might be why we kind of have a spoiled attitude, we only see poverty and dangerous situations through our televisions, we dont understand how lucky we are in some ways. I hope this cleared the air.

So, back to my itinerary. How does the flightplan underneath look? I want to be somewhat free between the flights, but I need to order flight tickets before the trip starts because I need proof that Im not staying an extended period.

Flightplan
Chiang Mai and area around - 8 days, then flight to Vietnam, Hanoi.
Vietnam - For 12 days I travel between Hanoi and Hoi An. Then I take the flight from Hoi An to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh.
Cambodia - 7 days, I take the flight from Siem Reap or Phnom Penh to Ko Sumai.
Ko Sumai - 6 days. Train or sleeping bus to Bangkok.
Bangkok - 2-3 days. Then back to Norway!
=35/36 dager

Norway definitely is a very advanced country, but I don't think it's paradise there given the weather conditions you guys have to live with :)
You kind of singled out Cambodia unfairly for your poverty visit, all the countries have massive poverty in that region. Cambodia is not really worse than Burma, or parts of Vietnam or Thailand even. Philippines is probably even worse.
I lived in Cambodia for years and I never visited the torture centers and museums, it's basically just a gimmick for tourist dollars, and I hated that. Cambodia is actually a very happy and friendly country which has nothing to do with events in the 1970's. How would you feel if people associated your country only with something that happened 40 years ago when you probably weren't even alive? That's exactly what the tourism industry does to Cambodia.
If you're a relatively rich Norwegian you can make a poor Asian kid very happy by buying them a bicycle for around 50 dollars, or enrolling them in school. I've personally spent thousands of dollars on very poor Cambodian kids to give them a chance to go to school, I've taken kids off the street and rescued them from a life of begging for relatively little money, and it's totally worth it.
You can't help all of them though (unless you're Bill Gates), so you have to choose one kid or one family and you can change their lives.
I think your itinerary looks good.

I am sorry you don,t just turn up somewhere and meet a poor person. It is true there are many but picking one is hardly likely to be representative - especially given you are a westerner and likely to be in touristy types of places.

Out of interest how do you intend communicating - apart from some of the street beggars most "poor" people will not speak English or norweigan

I do not agree with Forum about Cambodia only being remembered for what happened 40 years ago. Many tourists are here to see the ancient history or to experience something of the Khmer way of life ( not all I agree) but also I think it is important to remind people of mans inhumanity and to try and stop these things repeating themselves.