Cambodia, Part I

January 6-22

dara /As soon as I crossed the border, I fell in love with Cambodia. The countryside is peaceful with wood constructed homes, mostly on stilts with grass-thatched roofs. There are crops for miles, and life is simplier and slower.

We started our tour of Cambodia with the roughest part, the tours of the Killing Fields and S-21 Museum (an old school where hundreds of Cambodians were beaten and tortured during the Khmer Rouge reign from 1975-1979) in Phnom Penh. It is horrible, and all the deaths are well-documented (similar to the Nazis). There are pictures of all the prisoners, and some of the torturing too. There are still blood stains throughout the prison. It is all pretty raw.

Then, we spent some time resting and relaxing on the southern beaches in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. It is quite peaceful. It is a more secluded beach with only a couple of grasshut restaurants along the beach. We found this great ice cream shop with homemade ice cream and hersey chocolate sauce. We never missed a sunset or a night sitting under the stars and listening to the waves crash on the shore.

We rented motos to see the coastline. As we would ride down the dirt roads on a moto, the children would run out, wave madly and yell "hello." The kids were so friendly. We spent hours on a moto wandering through the countryside and yelling back "hello." It would bring such a smile to our faces.

After traveling the Cambodian southern coast, we returned to Phnom Penh for a few more of life's simple comforts. We purchased yogurt & granola cereal for breakfast at the nearby Lucky Market (a real supermarket!). We even spent some time at the shooting range. Although I have never been a big fan of guns, I did shoot an AK-47 at a target about 10 meters away. That was rather wild! There was alot of pressure bouncing back from the shots and gun off my shoulder. We then ended the day with a race around the track in go-carts. I have not been in go-carts in quite awhile, but these little cars flew. It was quite fun overall.

The best part was the temples of Angkor. They are pretty amazing too! The temples date back from the 9th to 12th centuries. The sandstone detail is still well preserved, and my favorites temples include Bayon (all the different faces on each side, north, east, south and west, of the temples), Preah Kahn (an Indiana Jones type temple with tons of passageways to explore and climb) and Angkor Wat (the steep steps leading to the top of the temple is pretty cool, along with the views). We woke up early, and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat and reflect on the pond as it rose over the temple. That was fabulous!