Hallo everyone,
Unfortunately still no pics. I'm on my third cybercafe today and none will let me upload. I'm a little worried about a virus (cause the computer here says I have one) so everyone cross your fingers that it is the computer, not my card...
On my first visit to Phnom Penh, I did the Big 4 of sites here. They consisted of the Royal Palace (nice ornate buildings, lots of gold and silver statues, elephant carts, the usual), the National Museum (statues, history, more gold and silver) and then the starkly contrasting Tuol Sleng (aka S21) and The Killing Fields at Choeng Ek. The last two were remnants from the Khmer Rouge regime. Suspected "traitors" or "party enemies" were sent to S21 to confess their crimes. The confessions were extracted using medieval torture methods- sometimes over a period of months. Family and friends of the "traitors" were often also forced to confess. Once the confession was obtained to the satisfaction of the staff at S21, the people were taken to the Killing Fields and killed- usually with blunt or sharp instruments to conserve bullets. The bodies were then buried in mass graves which were treated with chemicals to cover the smell and kill anyone who may have been buried alive. It is so difficult to fathom this sort of cruelty, but the skulls in the memorial at Choeng Ek and the images in S21 make you realize it really happened. Quite a contrast to the museum and palace...
From PP I headed to the Cambodian coast. My first stop was Sihanoukville (I still can't pronounce it right). Sihanoukville is a total beach town. There isn't really anything else to do there (except get a super fast Vietnam visa- which I did). It was St. Patrick's Day when I arrived so it seemed fitting that I spent it in the company of some Irish girls who were staying at my guesthouse. Actually everyone at my guesthouse was great! The Irish girls, the Scottish crew, the English bartender, the Kiwi, the Yanks, and the German dude. Oh and Jesse, the Dutch guy learning hotel management. So I spent the next 3 days hanging out with the guesthouse crew, going to the beach and relaxing. I also ran into some guys that I've seen in 3 different cities now. Small world indeed.
After Sihanoukville, I spent a day in Kampot. I wasn't too impressed with Kampot, although I did meet some cool people on a sunset cruise on the Mekong and we had dinner together. So I headed out the next day for the little seaside resort of Kep. Kep was another relaxing place to spend a few days. The first day I walked about 20 km between seeing the whole town (it is spread out) and hiking the trial in the Kep Mountain National Park. The second day, I took a moto to some caves with Buddhist shrines in them and on the way back stopped at a small museum dedicated to victims of yet another killing field in the area. My guesthouse in Kep was right on the water facing West so I saw some beatiful sunsets. Day 3 I took a day trip to Rabbit Island 5 km off the coast. Even though Kep is on the shore, the beaches are nothing to shout about. The ones on the island are much better. Seafood is super fresh in Kep so I had a lot of fresh shrimp while I was there. It was pretty neat to have dinner on the ocean and see the guys out catching the fish (at night) right next to where I was eating.
I think that is about it for now. Back in Phnom Penh trying to take care of a few last minute things before I head to Vietnam early tomorrow morning. I am very excited about Vietnam!!
Oh and Heather sent this link (thanks Heather!) where you can sign up to receive an email whenever I update the blog. Feel free to use it if you wish.
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