Cambodia - Killing fields and Temples

So far I have enjoyed my time in Cambodia. It is pretty laid back even with the people asking you every 10 feet if you want to buy something or if you want a tuk tuk. You just politely tell them no thank you. Though it can get repetitive at times. If you are a good bargainer you can get stuff here for really cheap. You just have to start walking away and they'll drop the price.

When we were in Phnom Phen one of the attractions to see where the killing fields where they murdered and tortured 2 million of their own people. It was a pretty depressing site to see but should not be forgotten what some people went through. At the front they have this shrine of the bones, skulls and clothes so that the people and the history of this tragic event will be remembered.

It didn't matter if you were a man, woman, young or old, they got taken. Then what is now called a museum was originally a shcool then the Khmer Rouge had turned it into a prison where they also tortured people and held them captive in small cells made of bricks and some of wood. They would barley get fed and looked so thin and malnurished. Also at the museum they had the photos of the people they took. You could see the pain in their eyes - some fearful, sad and pain, some showed courage and strength accepting what was going to happen to them and others confusion. It was an eerie feeling just being there. It was a sad site to see but should never be forgotten.

We had 2 days in Siem Reap that we visited some temples. They are a pretty impressive site. It is so HOT and HUMID here that I am sweating my ass off here. The architecutre and carvings are amazing. There is so much detail put in to some of the designs and to think how they did it with out the tools of today is amazing. We are here in the rainy season but that is it only down pours once a day (if that) for about 10 minutes.
I got to pose for a group photo. Of course you have to contribute something so it only cost me $1. Then when you get done with the temples you have peddlers asking you - "sir you want T-shirt, water, books, ....etc. It gets very repetitive of saying no thanks, no thank you. But that's how some of them make their money. You can get really good deals from them if you start walking away. The sad thing is though you see very young kids coming up to you and asking you to buy things.

Angor Wat - One of the amazing temples. We got up at 4am one morning to go see the sunrise. It was a bit cloudy so we didn't get to see the whole thing. It still was a great site.

Interesting fact - I call this the "ass sprayer". It is used in a lot of the SE Asian bathrooms. Some don't have toilet paper so you take the what us westerners call a kitchen sprayer and use it to clean your bum bum. It takes some getting used to but works great!!

A random monkey at one of the temples.

We leave on Thursday for Thailand and will hang out in Bangkok for a few days before going to Koh Tao. This is one of the many islands that I get to do some scuba diving on.

We finally made it!!!

Well I am sitting in our hotel in Cambodia right now. We decided to spluge which is $50/night. It wasn't too bad of a flight to get here. Our first flight consisted of 13 hours...I know it sounds like a lot of time (which it is don't get me wrong) but we had some entertainment...movies, tv shows...etc. So I caught up on my movies, The Wrestler, I love you Man, Gran Tourino just to name a few and the ones I liked. So that made the time go by a little faster. I'm not a big sleeper on planes, I tried catching a few winks listening to my iPod but it's not the deep sleep one needs. Plus my neck was kinking up with my blow up neck rest thingy. So we had a layover in Seoul, South Korea and decided to get some food...authentic Korean food which I like. I had Spicy Pork w/rice and with that comes kimchi. (pics below).










Then we caught our last flight (only 6 hours) to Bangkok with NO MOVIES :( So that's when I tried to get some sleep which I did for about 4 hours or so. After that I met up with my cousin who teaches english over there and we stayed with him and his wife. After a nice meal we went to bed expecting to catch up on some sleep...well that didn't happen since we are about 11 hours ahead of when we left so our bodies haven't adjusted to it (gotta love jet lag). So we woke up with only 4 hours of sleep wide awake ready to start the day. We then had to catch another flight to Cambodia later in the afternoon.
So now that we are here in Cambodia we are finally able to relax a bit and see some sites. I have never seen so many motorcycles in my life. And these aren't the crotch rockets or anything like that. I will try to post some pics later. Here and in Bangkok there is only one rule when driving - watch out for yourself!!! Especially in Cambodia, it is a great experience to see all the motos dodging between the cars. It's better too put a blind fold on so you don't get so nervous. I mean, I am an agressive driver and I was scared a few times. Cars/Buses/Motos get within inches of each other. WHEW!!!
The food has been amazing so far - lots of rice and noodles here in South East Asia. The street food can sometimes be the best which is really cheap - $2-3 for a nice meal.
Anyways, I have to go back to the room to freshen up for some authentic Cambodian food. The weather is nice but a bit muggy. All in all that is the short of it.
Till next time....to be continued in Cambodia.