Cambodia

What is there to say about Cambodia? Well I have to say that it certainly is not the happiest place in the world. I have seen things that would make you feel ashamed for us giving out that they didn't cut the crusts off your sandwich at the deli. There are some horribly mutilated people in Cambodia. I had a guy who's face looked as though it had simply melted. There are so many people walking around with no limbs, or blind, scarred from the effects of the Pol Pot regime. i went and visited the Killing Fields, which was a must for me when I am in Cambodia. The memorial to the victims is difficult to look at. All the skulls stacked high into the air. All the skulls are categorised into age group and sex. the monument must be around 10 or 15 metres high containing roughly 8000 human skulls. THat was very difficult. What I found equally disturbing was while walking around the fields I could see the clothes of the victims half buried in the ground. it made it all very real for me. To think that those were the clothes that the people were wearing as they were being battered to death was a very shocking and sobering thought. i don't want to have to see anything like that again for a long long time. We also visited S21, a prison used by the Pol Pot Regime to detain, torture and kill their own people. I think it is that that i find so hard to grasp. It was their own people that they were exterminating. I'm glad that i did it and went to see all these places of horror but I won't be rushing back to them any time soon. On a more positive note we made friends with a street kid called Gia. She is 11 and when not at school she sells books to tourists. I feel so sorry for these poor kids. They seem really happy with life and are all full of energy but they lead such tough lives. We buy food for some of the mothers with children that are begging on the street. its makes me feel good to see them happy. How lucky that i was born in Ireland ...