Cambodia

So it's goodbye to Vietnam, our home for one month! We didn't intend to spend 4 weeks in Vietnam but we were really taken by the country the longer we spent there. Highlights for me include - the boat trip and overnights stay in Halong Bay - watching an electrical storm with a bottle of wine from the roof of the boat was unbelievable, Hoi An - just an exceptionally beautiful town with a lovely quiet beach, the Easy Riders motorbike tour and hanging out in Saigon.

A special mention must go to the museums in Veitnam. The photographs that document the war are just mind-blowing. Vietnam is on the rise but the shadow of a war that ended 30 years ago is still hanging over it. Unexploded bombs and landmines still claim victims, people with one arm/leg beg on the streets of Saigon, kids are born with horrific side effects from the Americans use of Agent Orange. It really had an impact on me.

I've read two fantastic books on the war. One called 'Chickenhawk' written by an American helicopter pilot that is brutally honest, incredibly well written and a book that places you right in the heart of the battlezones. Secondly I am reading a book on the Cu Chi tunnels that the Vietnamese guerillas used to live in and fight the Americans. The book contains personal accounts of tunnel action from Viet Cong guerillas and American 'Tunnel Rats'. It is a gripping read.

We're now in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh and we've had a whistle stop tour today with a brilliant Tuk Tuk driver called JT. We went to the Tuol Sleng Museum - originally a school but transformed into a prison and torture centre in 1975 by the brutal Pol Pot. Between 1975 and 1979 it is estimated that up to 3 million people were killed in acts of genocide under Pol Pot's regime - the pictures at the museum were sickening. The vast majority of Cambodia's educated people were relocated to the countryside and killed - by gun or yby being beaten to death. Some were thrown into mass graves while still alive. After the museum we drove 14km out of the city to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (get out the film Killing Fields for full details). This was the scene of mass graves and there is a huge temple dedicated to those that lost their lives in such a terrible manner. The temple is filled with the skulls of those that died. The museum and the Killing Fields were a very sobering experience.

Vietnam and Cambodia have suffered so much. As the Viet Cong escpaed to and hid in Cambodia the Americans also heavily bombed Cambodia - it is estimated that there are still 3-4 million unexploded bombs littering the Cambodia countryside. The Americans really f**ked up a lot of SE Asia. Looks like they are doing the same to Iraq, turning a blind eye to the situation in Sudan/Darfur.

After the Killing Fields we were going to go to the Palace but it was shut for lunch so I asked if we could go to an Orphange instead. I had seen a flyer in the pub we had breakfast in this morning. JT suggested visiting a different one that he had read about, it looked after kids affected by HIV and that he himself wanted to visit. We took his advice and headed to the orphanage, stopping off to buy 50kg of rice for $25, 3kilos of fresh fruit and 10 mini footballs for the kids.

When we arrived at the orphanage we were greeted by the president Voeut Kenh and thanked for our gifts. The kids were busy colouring in some Winnie The Pooh sketch books that had been donated to them. Some of them looked really ill while others smiled when I caught their eye. Some of the kids that were really ill and had lesions on their arms and legs that looked really sore.

After a chat with the volunteers and staff we made an official presentation of our gifts to the kids who seemed to perk up quite a bit when I opened the bag with the mini footballs. We got our picture taken at the presentation and the kids all sat down and were each handed some fruit. The children were very obediant and well mannered. The president told us that they had a daily/weekly routine so that their minds could be taken off other things.

After the fruit the balls came out to play and pretty soon the room became a little chaotic with balls flying all over the place. I played football with one young guy who must have been 7/8 and he showed some nifty footwork. Sadly he'll never get to play for a team. I then played catch with two girls. one around 10 and one of about 5. They found it very funny when I got hit in a certain sore place and I pretended to fall down and roll around in agony. Lynn joined in and soon we were keeping quite a few of the kids entertained while the rest of them chased balls about all over the place.

We both felt sorry for one kid in particular as he was lying down and hooked up to a drip. His big brown eyes looked soul-less and he never smiled at all. He was too weak to get up and play with the other kids, to take part in the presentation picture, or really do anything. I think he knew his time was almost up. The president told Lynn that 5 other kids had recently been transferred to hosptial to be given medication to ease their suffering during their final days.

So it's been a thought provoking and sobering day in Phnom Penh, but one that we'll always remember. It was great to bring some smiles and laughter to some kids that were desperately in need of it. The museum and Killing Fields have really left us a bit speechless. This happened only 32 years ago.

Anyway - lets move on to something a little cheerier!

Tomorrow we get a bus (a limousine bus) to Siem Reap at 2pm and we will then spend 4 nights there before catching a flight to Southern Thailand and some beaches! Hurrah!

Other news - we arrived in Cambodia after a 3 day tour of the Mekong Delta that was not spectacular but great value for money - $33 each including accomodation and quite a few meals, as well as help with Visas and the border crossing. As we journeyed by boat into Cambodia the last leg of the journey in Vietnam saw kids that lived with their families on the river wave to us from ashore, this trend continued into Cambodia and was a very pleasant way to cross the border.

Last night we stayed in a $3/night guesthouse on the lake and had a BBQ dinner. Just what we needed after 3 days of travelling. It will be nice to chill in Siem Reap, a town with a population of around 100,000 and the closest town to the amazing Angkor Watt - one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind and one that has left every traveller we have met raving about it.

So I'll update you all in a few days time.

Take care - I'll also upload some photos on to FLICKR if I get a chance later or tomorrow before we get our bus.

OH - and a special congratulations to our good friends Kenny and Maarjorie who got engaged recently. Well done Kenny and very well done Marj!

After a c