The Kabiki Phnom Penh

... to put into operation their crazed and maniacal ideology, that of creating a warped socialist utopia by converting Cambodian society into an agrarian collective. The entire population of Phnom Penh and other provincial capitals was forcibly removed to rural areas of Cambodia and ordered to commence a new life as a peasant working the land. Traumatic enough, but these people were actually the lucky ones. Pol Pot ordered the mass extermination of anyone deemed to be "intellectual ...

Kurz nach unserer Ankunft in Phnom Penh fuehlte ich (Gutti) mich ein bissl muede und fertig. Das Fieberthermometer sagte, dass ich 39 Grad Fieber hatte. Hmm, da gab es ja ein paar nicht so angenehme Krankheiten wie Malaria oder Dengue Fieber. Also hiess es schnell zum Doktor (wirklich ausgezeichnet ausgestattete Klinik) zu fahren und einen Malariaschnelltest zu machen der dann gluecklicherweise negativ ausfiel ...

... zeker wanneer er na 2 uur rijden zonder tegenliggers plots een brommertje aan 30 km/h van achter de volgende scherpe bocht zou opduiken. Ik had een wegenkaart van Noord-Thailand gekocht maar de wegen stopten soms uit het niets of werden geblokkeerd door een gigantische rots en andere wegen waren ronduit onberijdbaar door de talloze putten. Mensen keken altijd verwonderd als ze ons zagen passeren en kleine kindjes op hooiwagens of op de fiets zwaaiden immer ...

... t feel a great sadness there. It was horrific and sad and terrible, but it didn't get to us somehow emotionally, maybe because we were hurried around it so quickly... We'd heard that other people who had visited had cried and found it distressing and too much to bear... I think we feel a bit funny that that didn't happen to us...Perhaps it's because we've been to other such places (Auswitz, the Nanjing Massacre Museum and Finola to Saxonhausen)... and are able to fill ...

... I was going to subject myself to more KR horrors I needed something to eat. Directly across the street is a really great restaurant called The Boddhi Tree. It's in a courtyard and so reflects a lot of the noise coming from across the street. They've got an extensive veggie menu and it's a quiet place to relax. I had a delicious tofu and veggie curry for lunch and then it was across the street.<br><br> Tuol Sleng was orginally a high school before it became a KR killing ...

... and buried during the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970's. About 86 of the mass graves have been unearthed with 8985 corpses found, and there is still another 23 still to be unearthed. The stupa in our photos shows some of the skulls and is a memorial to the people killed here.<br><br>After this we went to the Genocide Museum which was once a high school before it was turned into a prison &amp; interrogation center during the Khmer Rouge reign. Many people were ...

... with the luxury of hot water it was hard to get clean in the shower last night!<br>- they have a queen and she looks a bit like ours!<br>- I'm having to get used to 2 currencies - they use local riel and US dollars - it's so confusing!<br><br>PS Did you know goats don't like rain?! There were some goats over the river from our huts in Don Det, it started raining and they just started bleeting and running for shelter under the trees with their bells jangling, was so funny and sweet!<br><br>

... Kratie to visit one of the Cambodian Rural Development Team projects at Kao Pdao. Conversations with Foreigners channels funds into CRDT. <br><br>There is a memorable bus stop on the way, where you are greeted by children with tarantulas crawling around on their bodies, faces, hair. One girl even put one in her mouth! They are considered to be a delicious nutritious snack, although I cannot attest to that personally. Lisa and Andy were brave enough to try some though. Also plenty ...

... to be rolling towards us in a menacing way. Our guidebook had warned not to sit inside the boat in case it turned over (it didn't mention being struck by lightening if you were sitting atop it though). If this happened there's virtually no way you would be able to get out given the long narrow interior. Luckily though, we only experienced a light sprinkling of rain and then the sun came out. And the sun really came out. Exposed as we were to the elements, it wasn't until later ...