The Kingdom of Cambodia

i have spent a little over two weeks in this county, after the beach we headed inland to the capital, Phnom Penh.  It was a hard two days, mentally. We visited the sites, two of which will always stay with me, dead in my soul. Tuol Sleng, the secret Khmer Rouge prison known only as S21. When Pol Pot cleared the cities of Cambodia to force its people to go back to the land and farm, S21had been a school of learning but quickly and quietly turned into a prison of torture and death. I have no pictures, i wanted none. To walk the grounds and see where these Innocent people lived there last days will forever be frozen in my memory. More than 20,000 people passed through the doors and only seven are known to have survived. It is now in the heart of a bustling city as a place in which to show the world and the Khmer people the truth about the sadistic regime. After that, if that wasn't enough we went to visit the infamous Killing Fields where the people who had been tortured to confess were executed and buried in mass graves. The land today is solemn. Quite and peaceful but it takes only a little imagination to reconstruct what went on here. There are bone, teeth and cloths that resurface from there graves after heavy rains and you have to be careful where you walk as not to step on the body of a once living being. It took a lot out of Ludwig and I. As it did everyone. This was only 30 years ago. 30 years, this was happening as my parents brought be into this world. Once again i am witness to the carnage and wrath of man and it makes my soul ache for our species. The one difference between the Nazi era death camps and those in Cambodia was the simple fact that "Angkar" or the organization, was killing its own people. Millions died most through unspeakable brutality as the Khmer Rouge didn't waste bullets on there victims. they were to expensive. No one was spared, not the old, not the weak, not the women or the children. No one was safe from Pol Pot. It was chilling and real and as hard to see as anything i have ever seen. We left without saying much but the look on each others faces said it all. How? Why? Where was world? Where was the United States when this was happening? How did we let this happen. The Vietnamese where the only ones that stopped them. They alone freed the Cambodian people and allowed them to regain there lives. It is not ancient history and its scary to think of this happening again. Wondering is it happening again, Burma? North Korea? If you go to Cambodia, this is certainly a place you must visit but prepare yourself for something you might have never felt before raw, unrelenting sadness.

We left the capital the next day but not after i was able to test out some of what China unfortunately makes millions of.  The AK-47 on full auto.

We found some good cheap eats and some things we probably would never have.

Yikes

Khmer Curry is different than most i have had, not as strong or as spicy, but the spicy pickles made up for what the curry lacked. this was one of our favorite meals, costing a little over a dollar. One dollar is my limit on most meals and sometimes its hard to find something other then fried noodles or papaya salad. But on this   day, we ate like kings.

Two days in the capital was enough for us and we took a mini van to Siem Reap, the home of Cambodia's pride and joy, the temples of Angkor. I have possibly one thousand pictures of these massive, mind blowing temples. i will spare you most and also don't wish to ruin it for you if you ever come here but its one stop on my journey that has surpassed the hype. Abandoned when the trade routes became lucrative elsewhere in the country and forgotten for century's. When a French explorer stumbled upon them again they have show the power at the height of the Khmer Empire. Each Temple, of which there are more than 30 are all different as one king after another tried to build the most grand of them all. Motos and Tuk Tuks offer tours for 15 dollars a day but we opted to rent bikes for one 1USD. For three days we biked to more than 15 temples. Covering some 70 kilometers. I forgot to mention that in Cambodia they use American dollars. That's right, 99% of the ATMs only give out USD. It blows my mind still but, well there it is. Real, the official money of the Khmer is only used in place of our coin money, so wild.

The Temples are found deep in the jungle and we started our days at 5:00 am to beat the crowds. The first day we spent 12 hours touring.

Many of the temples have were swallowed by the jungle as they slept for centuries. Its an amazing sight. Tha Prom made famous in the movie Tomb Raider is the best example nature triumphing man.

i think this is one of my top pics from our three day tour, i just marvel at the size of these trees left to bend mans creations.

Swallowed whole, its incredible to me.

Angkor Wat at sunrise, i wont ruin it with lots of pics, there but its so massive and inspiring. It adorns the Cambodian National Flag.

Bayon, in the holy city of Angkor Thom was the highlight of our trip we woke early enough to  beat the crowds, we had this temple which boast 216 huge Buddha faces all different. it was an amazing morning. if you look close or blow up this picture you can see so man. Can you imagine what this place looked like when there was a million people living there? To keep it in perspective at the same time London had a mere 50,000 inhabitants.

Its hard to pic a favorite but this has to be one of the best i made, its at least ten feet by 15 feet. And Bayon has 216!

The west gate of Angkor Thom, there are five altogether and wall that surrounds it miles long.

There are literally thousands of depictions of Khmer woman and they are stunning. what are missing from all the temples are almost every Buddha image. The Khmer Rouge, outlawing religion of any kind broke them all.

Monkeying around. As we peddled back one day i stopped as there were 50-70 monkeys on the side of the road. I have some really great videos of them. one little guy grabbing my pack and hanging from it, what a sight and the first time i had seen a wild monkey. this mother is looking for food, aka fleas. All and all it was an amazing three days at Angkor. Look it up and book your ticket now, it will be worth every penny, if you like old stone and have an imagination. I leave for Bangkok tonight on the night bus after that... who knows i have a 20 something days before India but i might just leave early. Much love and blessings to all of you.