Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Local Howard Lake guide offers chance for an extreme vacation



For Richard Cook of Howard Lake it’s going
to Cambodia.

Cook is offering guided tours to Cambodia.
He has traveled there before, and now wants to guide others,
giving them the chance to fall in love with the sights and the
country, just like he has.

“The first time I went, I was just in
awe, both by the culture and the fact I was the only white guy
I could see,” Cook said.

Cook said the weather also “kicked his
butt” the first couple days. Cambodia is almost on the equator,
so it’s hot, and humid. But, with a lot of water, he eventually
acclimated, and now almost misses it, he said.

Cook went for the first time in 1999 with
his wife, Christine, who is a native of Cambodia, along with
members of her family. “I personally fell in love with the
country immediately. I mean, the way of living is so simple over
there.”

Christine’s name is Sothavry. She took on
the name Christine when she became a United States citizen.

“It was the first time back (to Cambodia)
for them since the family escaped Pol Pot and the killing fields,”
Cook said. “They really didn’t know what to expect going
back.”

Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge,
a military force that raised up to defend against the attacking
Vietnamese. They were successful, and then took over the government.

“Pol Pot wanted to bring the country
back into a utopian society, meaning everyone should go back
to farming. Eventually he got carried away and decided that everyone
with an education should die,” Cook said.

“Christine’s father was a pilot for the
Cambodian secret service, and her mother was a French professor
at the university, marking them both for death. Christine’s father
became sick and was allowed to die without treatment.

“Christine’s mom and sister decided to
escape with the children. They lived in the jungle, eating bugs
and whatever else they had to do to survive until they made it
across the border to Thailand.

“From there they lived in a refugee camp
somewhere between six to nine months, then were placed in a refugee
camp in the Philippines for nine months,” Cook said. “The
family was sponsored into the US by a family living in Minnesota.”

Pol Pot died in 1998 and was responsible for
about 3 million Cambodian deaths, which ranks up there with Nazi
Germany and Yugoslavia, Cook said. The memorial at the killing
fields is one of the sites to see while touring Cambodia.
Another site to see is Angkor wat, one of the seven man-made
wonders of the world.

Angkor wat for a long time was a legendary
place, believed to be simply folk lore passed on to each generation,
until a picture was taken from the space shuttle showing shapes
deep in the Cambodian jungle.

An expedition revealed 52 buildings spread
over a 30 acre area, all of it overgrown by vegetation and basically
lost to the world, Cook said. Now, tourists can visit the grounds
for $20 a day.

“Cambodians can tour free of charge because
the area was built by Cambodian slave labor by order of the king,”
Cook said.

“There is no place in the world to see
a sunrise or a sunset like Angkor wat. It is so beautiful,”
Cook said. “The whole area is so beautiful, it takes your
breath away.”

Cook was so enamored by the trip he and his
wife went a second time.
“My wife has relatives that still live there,” Cook
said.

Now Cook is offering to take groups over to
Cambodia to experience what he has fallen in love with.

“I want to bring groups of up to 10 people
over at a time,” Cook said. It’s a 14-day trip, with two
days of travel each way, allowing 10 days to visit the sights.

“It’s going to be busy, it’s going to
be extreme. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Cook said.

We’ll fly in to Phnom phenn between 9 and
11 a.m., and everyone will go to their room to put their stuff
away, freshen up, and then grab a bite to eat, go to see the
Central Market with its hundreds of little shops, tour the palace
and the killing fields, Cook said.

The next day we’ll travel to Kampoong Som,
which is a three hour drive, spend two days on the beautiful
beach, and then head back to Phnom phenn for a day, then travel
to Siem reip, which is about a full day drive, Cook said.

We’ll stay there for three days, then drive
back to Phnom phenn for one day, do last minute shopping, and
fly home the next day, Cook said.

What he has to offer is that you don’t have
to travel to Minnesota to start the trip, if you live outside
the state.

“We’ll book your first flight from the
closest airport you live by, and we’ll meet as a group in Los
Angeles or Japan, and then fly as a group into Cambodia,”
Cook said. “When we get there you have time to go to your
room and unpack.”

“We stay in the nice hotels. There is
air conditioning, hot and cold running water, electricity. If
you want to stay in a shack and rough it, it can be arranged,”
Cook said.

“Two meals are also included each day.
Breakfast you are on your own, because some people like to sleep
in, and some like to go to the little shops and drink coffee
and eat breakfast,” Cook said. “We’ll all meet at 11
a.m. and take off from there.”

Cook also has a nurse and three body guards
that joins the group while there. “The body guards are really
not necessary, but it gives some people the ease of mind because
they associate Cambodia with the movie “The Killing Fields,”
and still think it’s dangerous over there.

The leader that authorized all the killing
died of illness five years ago, and the country actually embraces
tourism now and does everything it can do in order to have a
good reputation.

Actually, Cambodians are very protective of
tourists. A local man tried to take a scooter from an Australian
tourist while we were eating in a little shop, and the locals
went out and rescued the tourist, Cook said.

Cook is offering round trip tickets, group
transportation while in Cambodia, two meals, hotel stay, a nurse
and three body guards, and himself as the tour guide, all for
$3695. “I don’t just book you and let you go on your own,”
Cook said.

“You can’t even put together a one week
trip to Naples, Fla., or Hawaii for that price, or see the sights
like you would in Cambodia. It truly is an extreme trip,”
Cook said.
The American dollar is accepted as currency in Cambodia ­
used to pay for almost anything. “Mastercard is also acceptable,
but you have to go to the bank and get a cash advance on your
credit card,” Cook said.

The American dollar is roughly equivalent
to 4,000 riels. A rough average wage a month in Cambodia is about
$15 American dollars.

Cook has set up a web site at www.theextremeguide.com,
which gives you an idea of sights you will see, along with pictures
of sights tourists to be added to the web site soon.

Local residents may remember the Cooks when
they owned Sam’s Take Out, an authentic Chinese restaurant the
family operated a few years ago in Howard Lake.

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