Cambodia

I've been in Cambodia for about 2 days-- Yesterday I took a flight from Bangkok to Phnom Phen and arrived here around 9am- running on absolutely no sleep, due to fear of missing my flight. Right away we started going- first we went to the Killing Fields and if you've ever wanted to be depressed, that's the place to go. While it didn't really depress me at the time, the more I read about it, the more upsetting it is. After the killing fields (pictures coming soon, of course) we went to the Genocide Museum, which was an old highschool that the Pol Pot Regime took over to make into their prisons. Walls upon walls upon walls of all the citizens they killed- their mugshots- and then cells, the weapons they used to torture the victims, and the clothes in a big pile that the victims were wearing at the time (seeing the clothes was worse than seeing the skulls) Imagine going to Auschwitz and seeing every skull that was gassed. That's what it was like, plus all their clothing. It was so real, it was amazing. You just never expect to see things like that, especially if you're from America.

After that I had to go to sleep and slept for about 14 hours.. Today we went to the Russian Market, then to a cafe, then we went to a supermarket and another market. I became friends with a few locals here, and went to a book store. Now I am here at the guesthouse.

I'm going to stay in Phnom Phen another day because I like it here a lot. Everyone is so friendly and there really is so much to do. It's a lot different here than it is in Thailand and Laos- it's very dusty, and the main mode of transportation is a motorbike (which is SO fun!!). I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, but I'm sure it'll be fun. After tomorrow, I'm going to head to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat, then back to Bangkok to do some serious shopping. (I've put it off long enough!!!)

That's about it for now- I suggest, if you have a few minutes, to look up what happened in Cambodia from 1975-1979

Marjie