Phnom Penh, Cambodia

It seems like the theme to the first half of my trip was the World Cup in South Africa, and for the last half it seems the theme are the atrocities that "humans" do to each other. I saw it when I was in Germany and again during my stay in Cambodia, although what happen here is much more recent and the repercussions of the horrors that took place under Pol Pot's regime.

It was evident in Siem Reap, but even more so when I visited was the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Tuol Sleng was originally a high school which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge.

The guards were very efficient at documenting each prisoner, with photos and sometimes additional information. The guards had different techniques for torturing the prisoners. There are pictures of some of the methods hanging on the walls in some of the rooms. There are also some of the torture machines/tools on display.

In one of the rooms there are stories from some of the guards telling their stories about how they came to be in the Khmer Rouge and I couldn't help but think that there were similar stories in Germany about how some people had no choice but to join the ranks of the Third Reich, not that this excuses either group of the crimes they committed.

It's estimated that close to 17,000 people were held here and only 12 people are known to survived.Some of those that died (or were tortured to death) at Tuol Sleng were buried there, but when they ran out of room they took people to the place now referred to as the Killing Fields. The 30 minute tuk-tuk ride went along a similar path as the prisoners were taken. As was the case in Germany the setting was actually quite beautiful. There is a grade school nearby and so you can hear the sounds of children laughing and playing as you walk the grounds. You can see the massive graves, the containers filled with clothing from the prisoners, there is a tall monument that holds the bones and teeth that have been found. If the area receives heavy rainfall, as it did the day before I visited, you can still see bones and teeth surfacing.

One of the things that really hit me during my stay in Cambodia was how recent these events took place and while the country is still in recovery mode it didn't appear to me that the Cambodian people are angry/bitter/resentful of what took place. Having read some first hand accounts of some of the horrors I know that I would have a hard to moving on.

Since I flew from Paris to Bangkok back in July I have been traveling overland, usually by bus or by train. So to get from Cambodia to Vietnam I decided I would do something different and go by boat.

The trip started with a ride in a van, it was myself and 2 girls from Denmark. We rode for about 2 hours (of course I was asleep for a good portion of this). When we finally saw water we passed in and took this little narrow road and pulled into what seemed liked the drivers garage. The girls and I looked at each other like "what did we get ourselves into", but got out grabbed our bags. We followed the driver to the back of the house which as facing the water and there were 2 boats. Now I wasn't expecting the ship from The Love Boat, but I wasn't expecting the canoes from the water ride at Disneyland either. I'm joking our boat was something in between the two. The boat crew consisted of an older man (~around 70) and his wife. Once we loaded ourselves and our luggage (I'm shocked that I didn't drop mine in the water coming over the very narrow, very rickety plank) we were off.

There were benches for us to sit on, an area in the back for napping of playing cards, and there was even a bathroom and a small snack shack. The wife apparently had the first shift at the helm and so the husband decided to take a nap. The ride was quite peaceful, and we rode for about 2 hours before we started to slow down. The husband was awake by now and was putting his pants on (he was in shorts before) for our soon to be disembarkment.

We grabbed out passorts and headed to the Cambodian immigration office set up nicely on the waterfront. It took all of 5 minutes for all 3 of us to get our stamp and to get back on the boat. We rode for about another 10 minutes and then we disembarked again, this time to check into Vietnam. I was a bit concerned about this part as I had gotten a visa for Vietnam before I had left the US but my arrival date changed so I had to get a new visa while in Siem Reap.So now I had 2 visas for Vietnam in my passport with overlapping dates. Turns out there was no need to be concerned. The guide that would take us from here to Chau Doc took us to a little cafe in the same building as the immigration office. She told us to have a seat, we could order food or drinks if we wanted, and she took our passports from us. So while I sat a enjoyed a delicious iced coffee she took care of getting our passports stamped. We never even saw any of the immigration officers. Defiantly one of the most relaxing borders crossing I've ever experienced.