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My pal Tuah and I
This is the coolest kid I ever met. He sold bracelets that his mom makes at home and his dad is dead, so he's really poor. I shot some guns in a shooting range at Phnom Penh. I tell ya, the Ak-47 was a real rush. I fired a few single rounds and then blasted the rest off in Automatic. Loudest thing I ever heard. You really had to lean in to it. I shot a handgun too, which is not easy like in the movies. I barely hit the target. You could shoot a cow with a rocket launcher if you wanted but it costs like 200 bucks and there's not even any meat left to eat, so screw that. I'll put up some pics and write a better blog later!
Ok I hope you guys read this addtional part too!
I visited the genocide museum and the killing fields at Phnom Penh where horrible massacres took place during the late 70's under rule of the Khmer Rouge. I didn't know much about what took place in Cambodia at the time but it was brutal. Basically Pol Pot, leader of the communist Khmer Rouge wanted to wipe the slate clean and 'start again at the year zero'. He killed nearly three million of his own people which were educated or religious, or which he
Cambodian Kids
Yep, it cost a dollar for this pisture too. thought would 'be foolish enough to rise up against the revolution'. I think they basically wanted to end up with a midless population of work drones. They were practically brainwashing the children to reveal anyone they suspected of being a dissenter. A lot of young kids even took part in the torture and killing of their elders. It reminded me of the novel 1984, where kids would rat out their parents if they caught them doing anything against the will of 'Big Brother'. Pretty creepy.
The genocide museum was an old school which was converted into a prison/interrogation and torture complex named S-21. Now you can walk through and see pictures of some of the 20,000 victims, the small cells they were chained up in, and the torture beds where they were forced to make confessions and biographies of their lives, and then were taken to the killling fields outside the city to be killed. Of all 20,000 people only 7 survived.
The killing fields were pits in which men women and children were buried in mass graves. You can walk around and even still there are pieces of bone and clothing sticking out of the ground. They had excavated
Beach kids
Cambodian kids are cute, but they know how to earn a buck. This photo, however, was on the house. some of the graves and there is a tall rack of thousands of skulls on display nearby. There is a tree called 'The Killing Tree' near one of the mass graves where the Kmer Rouge would kill babies and children by swinging by the legs them headfirst into the tree.
It seems strange to me that genocide like this could happen and the only country to step in and free the people were the Vietnamese. This was worse than the holocaust and how many people in the western world even heard about it?
It was quite shocking to see how bad it really was. We barely talked for the rest of the afternoon because it was really depressing. But then the next morning I went shooting some guns so it shows how much of a hypocrite I am. Ha ha.
The girls and I then went to Sihanoukville and hit the beaches of southern Cambodia. It was nice but I didn't find it quite as appealing as the beaches in Thailand. However, I stayed in a bungalow for free, which is practically unheard of. No charge to stay there, but you just had to eat there once in a while
No joke
Excavated skulls from the mass graves at the killing fields. and the owner was happy. Of course the beach was littered with the odd beggar and tons of kids trying to sell absolute junk.
I actually got pretty close with one boy named Tuah. He was such a smart kid, 13 years old (I would have guessed maybe 10) and he spoke really good english. Actually in Cambodia I've met 5 year old kids that can speak a few languages well enough to get by selling their bracelets and crap. Anyways, Tuah would hang out with me most of the day (always in the same ratty clothes) casually selling bracelets which his mom made. I bought one off him and gave him some extra money to help pay for school. He was going to regular school in the mornings, working in the day, and learning english in the evenings. He was such a cool kid. I'd say, "Hey Tuah, do you want some food or a Coke?" He'd say, "No mister Scott you don't have to get me anything." Then I would get him a Coke anyways and he'd gladly take it and want to play a game of cards or pool. I'm sad that he's so poor because he
is genuinely and nice kid, not one of the annoying beggar types. I met his mom, she was selling donuts on the beach and she was so generous she gave us a bunch for free. When Tuah found out I was leaving he got out some threads and a seashell he was saving and made me a cool necklace. I felt terrible that I had nothing special to give him so I promised I would mail him something to the guesthouse when I get home.
Damn, I didn't even get much of my tan back at the beach because it's the start of rainy season there. I'm pretty much as white as when I came away. And I think I got some bed bug bites the other day or something so I'm looking bad as ever. Haha. Oh well at least I'm not at home going to work and junk like that.
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Robin
non-member comment
Hey
Scott, please be careful with those damn guns, that is some scary tools that you are messing with... Well chat at you later....Love me!