Cambodia

I don't quite remember where I left off but I am now in Cambodia but leaving in the early AM. I love Cambodia. It has many splendors and beautiful beaches. The people are friendly, the weather is amazing. Well it is plenty warm and no rain so I'd say it is really nice.
After I was in Bangkok for 1 action packed day I crossed the border over to Cambodia. My group took private bus to the border which we walked through, and caught another private bus to Siem Reap, which means in 'Siam defeated"or something along those lines. I think I already talked about Angkor Wat so I will jump ahead to Phenom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We arrived in the late evening about 7 or so on the first day so that left us one day to see everything I wanted. I shared a tuk tuk with Jules and Scott for the day. We went with the Australian family,and Marco to the Killing Fields, Choeng Duk (I am probably butchering the spelling so I"ll have to fix that later). It was a sad event to see where the massive killings took place when Pol Pot tried to reform the government, and force all the people to labor in the fields. There is still bone fragment laying around, massive holes in the ground but not nearly enough to place 100 bodies, as was done, in them. There is a memorial that is built up in the very center that contains 800 skulls of a few of the victims. As I walked through the area children's voices could be heard from the school nearby.
From there we actually went to the Russian market. I bought some scarves, a shirt, and some movies that are still out in the theatre...and I got Twilight which I was so excited about. Hopefully they work, but I guess for a $1.5 it wouldn't be that much of a loss. I had to bargain hard. I enjoy doing it actually, although at times I still feel like I am getting really ripped off.

I few items that I have to note before continuing any further with my excursion for the day:
The preferred currency is the US dollar. I went to an Australian ATM, to get American Dollars in Cambodia. I thought that was bizarre. So a little home away from home.
They have road side gasoline stations that a cambodian will either crank the gasoline from the barrel or they store them in glass or plastic liter bottles.
Most of the drivers are riding scooters, and the shoulder is generally the place for them if there is a shoulder.
There are so many handicap people missing limbs, faces burnt off...we joked around that maybe they were making there own bombs and they blew up instead of being a victim to the missing landmines all over the country.

Okay so from there we headed to Tuel Sleng or what many people call S21 which is basically the prison where Khmer government tortured people. I didn't know very much so parts of the museum described the events leading up to and post Pol Pot's ruling. I walked around from a Wat to another market, and to the Royal Palace. It was a hot day and by the time we were through it was about 5ish.

I really wanted to shoot guns like Ben had suggested but I'd already spent more than I wanted to in Camobodia and it was late in the afternoon. I would cost 10 to get to the place and another 40 to shoot one magazine on a AK 47 so I had to pass but apparently they have shooting in Phuket as well. I'll have to try it there if it is within my budget at the end of the trip.

The following morning we left for Sihanoukville, a beach town which is where I got incredibly burnt on my arms and quads but not from laying out on the beach mind you. One day was sitting around with my fellow group, I got my leg hairs threaded which hurt like the dickens. I apparently have really thick leg hairs as well because it took my girl at least twice as long as my friend. She joked around with me that I had millions of hairs, and was kind of upset with me that she spent so much time. I am not Asian so I do have a lot of hair but I guess I have more than a usual westerner as well. Sad story for it. It felt like being bit by fire ants with each hair follicle that was pulled. The other day, I rented a scooter with 2 couples, and drove to Ream National Park. It was really beautiful, and the beach we ended swimming at was deserted except for us on the beach....

To be continued