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| January 23, 2006 |
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| More to come... |
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| Cambodia!!
A few words come to mind when the name is mentioned �" fear"," torture", �Genocide�� Our first day in Cambodia, Kita and I spent a very sobering day visiting �SD 21�and the �Killing Fields� SD 21, once a high school with children playing became the centre for mass genocide the world hadn�t witnessed since Hitler. Approximately 2 million Khmer people were tortured and murdered under the Pol Pot regime (Cambodia�s population was only 8 million at the time). Pol Pot, once a scholar from the University of France had become a butcher killing almost all of the educated people In Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. All educated people were brought to SD 21 and tortured horribly before being put to death and buried in mass graves in the fields around Phnom Penh , the capital city. http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pot.html for more info on Pol Pot http://www.dithpran.org/killingfields.html for more info on the Killing Fields After the day we spent, Kita and I wanted to relax� Off to the beaches of Sihanoukville for a couple of days! 2 weeks later and here we are still in Sihanoukville . We headed first to Kampot and Kep to spend 5 days swimming in the rapids and enjoying the view of the ocean from the bungalows in Kep (home to the most dragon flies I have ever seen in my life). During our time in Kampot, Kita and I took a one day excursion to Bokor Hill to see the majestic if not totally creepy hotel and once casino (later moved because too many people jumped from the cliffs after losing their fortune). On a clear day you can see over the jungle to the sea beyond. Adding to the eariness, a single cloud closed in shrouding the jungle with an eerie mist. The mist cleared up enough just in time to let us cruise back down the bumpy road (reminiscent of something left over in the creeks around Dawson to an abandoned mine that hasn�t seen a D8 in years) back to Kampot. From here we loaded a taxi to Sihanoukville (8 people in a taxi with the driver sitting on a passengers lap steering and working the peddles from somewhere in the centre of the cab). Whew!! Once in Sihanoukville we spent the night at GST Bungaloes (a mistake � the rooms were nice but the service was abhorrent, nastier people I have only met in Vietnam). From there a quick bike ride to Victory Hill and �Sakal Bungalows�, HEAVEN!!!! The staff is fantastic, the food is excellent and the rooms are cheap!! 10 days later we have decided we better see a bit more of the country before our VISA expires! |