Cambodia, cont.

After my last blog, with ended with something about 'human skulls' I haven't had much access to internet but had some very interesting few days..

i wrote this the night after my last blog update, but couldn't publish it until now.

"Cambodia is far more raw and intense than I was prepared for. We just got back from The Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum I expected some interesting history with some possibly disturbing imagery, but it was such a more direct and immediate experience. Unlike the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, this was not an expensive, well-kept, huge memorial hall. The killing fields was a field, surrounded by a wire and wooden fence, surrounded be peasant’s farms and cow fields, with a towering monument in the center full of thousands of human skulls and the shallow holes of uncovered mass graves all over the landscape. The museum was actually the prison where the prisoners were tortured before being shipped to the fields to be executed. We walked through the small, brick prison cells, saw photographs of thousands of prisoners who were ultimately executed.
I haven’t been to Auschwitz yet, but I have been to the holocaust museum in Washington DC, but this felt so much more cruel and brutal. The prisoners were brutally tortured with farm tools, electric wire, and the types of tools which make for particularly cruel injuries…then they were taken to the fields and executed by being beaten to death so that the regime could save bullets.
The fact that muc of the infrastructure o town is poor, there is massive poverty around us, and our awareness of the level of police corruption are adding up to an overall very uneasy feeling here. Though we have had some amazing moments and are seeing things we’ve never even considered….but our anxiety levels are high right now. We’re going to stay tomorrow and visit the large Russian Market which should be very tourist friendly and allow us to finally try to enjoy a bit of souvenir shopping at discount prices. We’re hoping this will make for a bit more relaxing and entertaining time.
Then we’ll be leaving first thing on Monday to go north to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. From our understanding, this should be a more international, relaxed, peaceful feeling city….that sounds good.
I’m shaken in Phnom Penh. I hope to embrace it more fully before we move on as I’d hate to walk away from a place feeling like it beat me or that I’m running from it….
But overall, the last few days have added a whole new element of anxiety and heightened awareness to this trip. That’s welcome though. I wanted to experience different things and learn about the world and myself on this trip, but so far it’s hitting me in unexpected ways and leaving me feeling humble and wary but also incredibly thankful and hopeful.

On a more superficial level, PP has a lot of really beautiful architecture, with traditional Khmer temples, which look a lot like what we’ve seen in Thailand standing alongside colonial French villas. It is not uncommon to see as many as 4 people riding on one small Honda scooter or to see women riding on the back side-saddle, totally relaxed, holding their babies with one and. Little kids ride on their dad’s lap on the scooters and the streets are swarming with them….there doesn’t seem to be any sort of real traffic lanes or rules other than that bigger vehicle seems to have the right of way, and everyone honks all the time.
And then there was an elephant walking down the street. 2 minutes later we saw a monkey climb up a hotel sign and start shaking the billboard with its whole body."

Basicallyy, Phnom Penh has a lot of beauty to offer but also a lot of true evil, both in the recent past of torture and war and the presents situation, particulalrly with the child exploitation....


The next day we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather, see some local scenery, and avoid any history or disturb9ing reality if we could help it.

After the past few days with our near death cable ride and then being pummeled with the reality of poverty and war, we needed a day to feel like wewere finally on vacation. so far this trip was been busy, exciting, stressful, and mind-opening but it hasnt been too relaxing yet. it was about 80 degrees here on sunday, which was almost 10 degrees warmer than we had felt so far on the trip. we were pretty burnt out on Asian food, so had pizza and a glass of red wine for lunch on the riverside. then we walked over to Wat Phnom, the local...well, Wat. And there were monkeys everywhere just living in the park! it was like watching squirrels run around back home, but far far cooler! plus there was an elephant right behind them and geckos running up the temple walls....very cool.

we walked around some gorgeous french buildings, right across from old khmer temples that made for a great view. we got some great pictures of a cambodian wedding party, all dressed in gleaming white, in a park by the riverside all waving and smiling at us, and ended up having Mexican food with a margehita for dinner.

Also in line with the decision to try to inrease our 'vacation-like' feeling and get rid of the lingering stress from Tokyo and this new found, far more immediate stress of living life on the go with no real understanding about where were about to end up, we decided to get massages. For 7 days in a row. Yes, now is the time you can starrt getting jealous. Today will be day 4 of our 7 days of massages. traditional mhmer massage is awesome, now quite an inttense as thai massage but a lot better than the oil massage back home...very nice (in a totally appropriate and family-friendly way).

yesterday we took up a boat up te Mekong River, then up a long tributary, across a massive lake, from Phnom Penh to seam
ripe. it was about 5 hours and really cool to see the people living on the floating villages and fishing boats along the river...right up into the Heart of Darkness....too cool.

tomorrow morning we're starting our Exploration of Angkor Wat we'll probably spend the next 3 days out there strolling through the jungle and temples.

so far, Cambodia has been really something unique. seam riep feels far safe and more low-key than PP. there are a lot more tourists around and less begging and pollution. the center of twon is fully french architacture and lined with cool shops, cafes, and bars. after a few days at the temple, we may want to stay here for a while longer....right now the idea of staying in one place instead of rushing off the next place sounds nice and this town looks like a good pllace to hang for a spell...

the internet is not fast enough, again, though. so Ill get pictures of PP and SR, as well as the temples, up as soon as I can.


In the meatime, Happy....wait, what is it, today tuesday, wednesday, saturyday? doesn't matter I guess ;)

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