| we made it to cambodia.it's funny, we weren't really planning to come here, it was a last minutedecision, but it turns out this is one of the places i like most. peopleare really friendly once again. really easy going and laughing a lot. forexample, just now we were walking on the street just checking things out,and a beautiful rainbow appeared ahead of us in the sky. at the same time,a moto driver was hailing us, asking if we want a ride anywhere. i toldhim 'yeah, can you take us up there, and pointed to the rainbow? helaughed and we started talking and i tought him a new word.since we're on the topic of motorcycles, i drove one yesterday. my firsttime. it was a dirt bike we had rented for the day in phnom penh. ed droveit all day, but at one point we got to a pretty place in the middle ofnowhere, just dirt, palmtrees and rice paddies, and he showed me how toride. it was really fun, although i never went higher than second gear. ieven did one turn!i am all over the place in this email, sorry.when we left saigon, we rode 70km to the cambodian border and we sleptthere in a small place with papaya trees, a ugly but cute dog and verynice people. this place had squat toilet and bucket shower, but thesurroundings and the friendliness of the people compensated for any lackof luxuries. actually i think that night was the best on this trip for me.as the sun went down, i sat on the front porch eating papaya and drinkingtea. it started to rain, and since i was full of mud, i let the waterdrops fall on me. at one point, the people who rented the place turned onsome music. it was some kind of string music, loud enough for me to hearfrom outside yet not al all overwhelming. it fit in perfectly with therain and the way i was feeling. it was so good, i felt like crying. then astray cow walked in the yard and the ugly cute dog started chasing it out,so they were having a mini fight. the cow was trying to poke the dog withits horns and the dog was charging back. it was funny.the following day we left towards phnom penh. unfortunately, the road,although flat is in pretty bad shape here in cambodia, full of potholesonce again (two things i have learnt not to take for granted on this trip:running water and paved roads). because of this, my knees started hurtingagain, and after only 25km of riding ed hailed down a sort of truck and wetook it all the way to phnom penh.phnom penh is the capital of cambodia and, like some cities in vietnam andlaos, it has a very definite french influence. it is also very touristicwith all the good and bad things that come along with that (goodaccomodations and many services, but everything more expensive and lots ofpeople begging and trailing behind you in the street). we stayed one fullday in p.p., and we visited the killing fields and the s-21 facility. iwas very moved by both of these. in case you don't know (i didn't beforelast year), both s-21 and the killing fields are associated with the khmerrouge and the crimes they comitted. the khmer rouge were comunists andthey took over cambodia in 1975 and i think lasted until 1979. duringthese four years they commited genocide, killing 2 million people (out ofabout 7 million i think) by working and starving them to death basically.anyone who was suspected of being disloyal to the khmer rouge was broughtto the s-21 prison and kept there for interrogation and torture. s-21 usedto be a highschool in central phnom penh, but pol pot (the leader of thek.r.) converted it into a prison. many people died there while beingtortured. the ones who survived, after a few months, were taken to thekilling fields of choeung ek. this place is a field, it actually used tobe an orchard, and when the people were brought here, chained together,they would just be killed in the most heartless way you can imagine. theywouldn't be shot (no waste of bullets), but their heads would be smashedwith bats or farm tools. they were then thrown in a mass grave while theothers were watching awaiting the same fate. we saw the mass graves, whichwere unearthed in the 80's. there are still bones lying around here andthere, it's really creepy walking through them. all the skulls that wereunearthed are put in a glass enclosure, arranged by sex and age, but thistoo is open to the public, you can even touch them if you want. at thekilling fields there wasn't too much explanation as to waht happened -just the skulls and the unearthed mass graves. but at s-21, there werepictures of people and a lot of clothes, torture instruments, etc. as wellas some written explanations of waht happened. the pictures of people werevery moving, seeing their expressions as they knew that what was waitingfor them was torture and death. also, when the khmer rouge suspectedanyone, they took their whole family including babies, and killed themall. it's hard to imagine that all this was true only twenty some yearsago. what's even more frightening is to think that chances are it willhappen again. i am reading a book on cambodia right now, and bought twomore for later. i can't think of anything better to do right now than toinform myself. i think that horrible things could so easily repeatthemselves if we stay ignorant... this morning, we took a boat to siem reap. this is the base town fromwhich you visit ankor wat. this we will do tomorrow, and i am rellylooking forward to it. i am getting hungry, so i will leave you now.until next time, stay cool (i hear the heat's been pretty bad in montrealand connecticut) and be good,raluca |
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