Days 4-6

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Hey everyone!

Well after the amazing Angkor we planned on taking the 'fast' ferry to Battambang and were

told it would be a good 4hrs trip, since the water level was adequte. Well, a bum numbing

10hrs later we made our destination and despite the hunger pangs, it was still an interesting

spectacle to see all the boat people and their interesting ways of life. I guess we should

have known the boat ride would take awhile when we broke down 5mins after leaving!

In Battambang, we were just into chilling after the long trip, and we couldn't decide what to

do. So, instead of dithering we went out the next morning to Kompong Chhnang, a nice little

town which is a minimal tourist destination. We had a great little countryside tour on a moto.

The moto is the main way to get around in Cam. We've seen 4 grown men, entire families, and

various objects going to market (think entire pigs!) on these little 125cc scooters.

Out the next morning again on a small bus to Phnom Penh, where the big city life is well, at a

city pace. Lots of hustle and bustle, which makes for some pretty fun moto rides through the

chaos. We already checked out the National Museum & The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (Prison

S21) today. I guess today we saw the beauty and the horror of Cambodia. The Tual Sleng prison was the main site used by Pol Pot during the Khmer ROuge Regime in the 70's. About 20,000 people were imprisoned and only 7 made it out alive. Most of the rooms are unchanged since that time. So what we saw was simple, but horrifying...a rusted bed frame, iron shackles and blood spatter on the walls. You can feel the terror and emotion. ALso the rooms full of photographs of new prisoners, thousands of pictures each filled with differing emotion, some people were frightened, some rebellious, bewildered, naive. All kinds of people, children, mothers with newborns, old men and everyone else in between were killed in this place.

Tomorrow we will visit the Royal Palace and probably will take a moto ride out to see the "Killing Fields" where all the people who died in the prison were buried in mass graves. Another day of emotional highs and lows.

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Photos

Fast?
Fast boat

velo/coconut loads
Guys with big coconuts!

Rice Paddies
Out on the motto

Motto
Sleeping on the motto