Oh, sweet Cambodia.

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We really love Cambodia. We really really do.

We've only spent three days in Phnom Penh. We're catching a bus to Bangkok early tomorrow morning but would stay here in Cambodia if we had more time.

The people here are so pleasant. Smiles are everywhere, the city feels very safe. The tuk-tuk drivers vie for your business of course but they're also happy to help you with directions and are generally friendly even when you're not forking over cash.

We arrived early on Wednesday and after checking in and a delicious breakfast we took a tuk-tuk out to the Choeung Ek killing field, about 15 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh.

If you're not familiar, Cambodia has 'killing fields' spread throughout the country. They are fields that the Khmer Rouge used in the 70's as execution areas and mass burial grounds. The Choeung Ek field has been preserved as a memorial to all those that lost their lives during the Khmer Rouge regime, 20,000 there and millions during the four years they were in power.

We knew of the atrocities that occured at Choeung Ek before we went, but we honestly expected an open field with some memorials. It's been extremely tastefully pieced together with a free audio guide that gives you an in depth story of what happened there. It is beyond horrible what happened and seeing this place in person only paints a more realistic picture.

The next day we rented a motor bike to try and get out of the city to Phnom Tamao animal sanctuary, home to rescued jungle animals. It has the largest habitat of Sun Bears in the world and many are missing paws from being trapped by poachers. After riding for what must've been 40 or so miles we finally gave up and headed back to town to return the moto. Somehow, we couldn't find the park.

Riding the moto around Phnom Penh was wildly fun. The traffic here is definitely crazy but not nearly as bad as Vietnam or China. I'd be lying if I said we didn't have any close calls but thats pretty much normal here. Ultimately though we weaved in and out of traffic like proper locals.

Still determined to see the sanctuary, we extended our stay in Phnom Penh by one day. We rented a moto and tightened up our directions and after an hour and a half of driving, we found it! It paid off as we were immediately greeted by monkeys, deer and children selling sugar cane to feed the animals. We saw lots of wild animals and had a great time.

On the last mile of dirt road leading up to the sanctuary we passed about 12 or so old beggars. It was hard to see such old people just standing in the middle of nowhere where people happen to go by because they're too old to work. Not to mention these are people that survived the terrors of the Khmer Rouge and lived to tell about it. We got some riehl before we left the sanctuary and gave a small amount of money to each one of the poor souls. It was literally the least we could do, but we really couldn't bring ourselves to just drive by kicking up the dirt in their face. Cambodia has given us great experiences and we'd like to give back, which we'll be doing more of in the future.

After getting back into town we headed straight to the S.21 Tuol Sleng prison. It's a former high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison for interrogating and torturing political and ethnic prisoners before they were brought to Cheoung Ek for execution. I'd read about this place, but being there can barely be described. The entire facility is more or less in the same condition it was after the Khmer fell in 1979. We saw beds where people were tortured and died. Ammo boxes in tiny brick cells that were used as toilets. Shovels, hoes and other crude instruments used to execute. The barbed wire that covers the outside of the building so desperate people couldnt commit suicide is even still up. It's important for people to visit these types of memorials as it really brings reality into the atrocities that mankind is capable of.

That was a very full day and we treated ourselves to our second meal at Master Ruma's Happy Golden Age vegetarian restaurant. We had three entrees, two appetizers and delicious tea and the bill came out at a whopping $9. The owner was an extremely friendly young man who was practicing his english. I helped him create an email address for himself and he gave us one of the best vegetarian meals we've ever had.

Tomorrow we depart at 6:30am for a grueling bus ride to Bangkok which should hopefully have us arrive around 9pm. We're bummed to leave Cambodia but totally stoked on this country and very much looking forward to the last few days of our trip in Thailand.

More to come then!

More photos from everything described here and 360 panarama views of these places are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/norajhess and http://occipital.com/user/ed62-195324/simon-hess

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Photos

The killing tree.
Here executioners murdered women and children and dumped them in the mass grave next to it.

Inside the memorial stupa.
A horrible reminder of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.