I got a facial...

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And it only cost me $5. Yep, I went metro today as I was leaving Cambodia. So today before leaving, I stopped by a salon for a little trim around the sides and back. As I was paying the $2 for the cut and tipping her another 2, she tried to upsell more services by handing me this flier in English. I noticed a facial steam and mask. So I said, what the hell, I have a couple of hours to spare, and it was only $5. So some Cambodian lady gave me a facial today.

Now, despite what many of you may think, I have actually never received a facial. I had no idea it hurt so freakin much. There was this one part where the chick grabbed this metal instrument with a tiny circle thing at the end no bigger than a centimeter. She says "this is painful," but at first I didn't understand her exactly. So then she then proceeds to jam this thing into my face as hard as could. Several times throughout this game of hers, she showed me all of the dead skin that the circle thing accumulated. Well after about 3 minutes, I was literally crying. She had to wipe away tears from both eyes with a towel, and says "you crying." Yeah, no kidding. How about I jam an instrument in your face as hard I can, and let's see how you feel. But other than that it was nice. And I look even more beautiful now, if that's even possible.

Speaking of crying, my last full day in Cambodia has to be one of the most sad experiences I've had. As I have mentioned before, the abject poverty here just envelopes all of your senses immediately. The sights, smells, and sounds are like nothing I've ever seen before. I took a tuk-tuk to the Killing Fields, Tuol Sleng genocide museum and an orphanage.

Before I start about what happened, let me give a short history lesson of Cambodia. Back in the 70's, a communist group called the Khmer Rouge took over the country. The leader, a history and geography teacher named Pol Pot, was one crazy and hard-core mofo. The first thing he did was to move everybody out of the cities, especially the capital. That meant evacuating more than a million people in a matter of a few days. The whole goal was to create this perfect farming community. Pol Pot got all paranoid and believed that anyone with an education, especially teachers, were a threat to this perfect community. So what was his plan for all of these teachers, doctors, lawyers, government officials? Kill them all. Or "re-educate"/torture them in places like Tuol Sleng, which used to be a school.

The Killing Fields was just a mass grave yard. There's now a pagoda there filled with like thousands of skulls. Surrounding it is a seemingly nice farm land with trees and grass everywhere. Except there are a bunch of big ditches. It's where they later uncovered the remains of a bunch of victims. During my walk around the fields, I came across these bunch of kids just outside of the fence. I said hello and they started to pretty much beg for money. So I gave them all of the ones and Riel I had. (They take American money here, but always give back change in Riel, Cambodia's currency). I leave them only to find two little girls about 10 minutes later on. I tell them I have no money, which I did but only a 10 and 20s. So I gave them my half eaten bag of chips, which they were totally stoked about, but still wanted cash. I leave them, walk along this fence area again, then come across yet another group of kids. This time after saying that I had nothing to give, this little girl points to my water bottle, and says "water." So I give her my water bottle and have to leave fast. But I can't escape this yet because I come across the same point again where I met the first group. So again they hit me up for money. They said stuff like, "please you give money to buy food (or a few said yum-yum.) I had to keep telling them I'm sorry and that I had no more money to give. As I was walking away towards the exit, it really hit me, and I started to get misty eyed a bit.

Even now, I had to stop typing for a second. The museum is a school where they still have the cells, beds, and torture devices used to re-educate people. Almost everyone died and/or taken to the Killing Fields. When the Vietnamese finally came to liberate Cambodia, they found 12 bodies in the torture chambers. Some of the stuff I saw there were the most disturbing images I've seen. Skulls with bullet holes, skulls with axe imprints, tiny cells, tanks of water with boards in them, paintings of the methods of torture, photos of every single person sent there, and stories of people who were actually there. There's a lot of messed stuff in history that I've read about, but to really be there where it happened is just so much more intense.

So as if I didn't have enough of the kids begging for money thing. I had to ask the tuk-tuk driver to take me to an orphanage. Well, first I asked to go somewhere where I could get rice to donate to them. When I get to this orphanage, which is pretty much some wooden shacks put together, I'm greeted by this girl, who couldn't be past her 20s, that ran this place and a little boy. The boy ran up to my tuk-tuk, waited for me to get out, and grabbed my hand the second I stepped out. As the girl was giving me grand tour, the boy would follow me and hold my hand.

Like I said, they were living in nothing more than sheds. Some of the kids had to sleep on floor with some sheets. The kitchen, had some big pots but not much else. The girl thank me for the rice I gave, but said that they would appreciate more money so that they can buy shoes for the kids. A lot of them were bare-footed and couldn't even afford flip-flops. The whole time I was there, the older kids were being taught some dancing. They all looked like they were having fun even though I was sweating like a pig just sitting there watching and talking to the girl. So I gave most of the money I had before leaving.

Cambodia is without a doubt the most profoundly tragic place I've been to so far. Both its history and current poverty have moved me in ways you can't ever prepare for or imagine. Sorry for the melodramatic stuff. In my humble opinion, you can't just have fun on vacations; you have to gain something from it as well.

Speaking of which, I need to gain some sleep. It's 3 A.M., and I'm in Hong Kong now. I got here at around midnight, walked around the streets, ate some Japanese noodles, and have been writing this for the past 40 minutes now. The place is indescribable. My next email may be from the States since my trip is finally coming to an end soon. Then that means you'll have to see me soon with the inevitable picture-showing time. Peace from Hong Kong.

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