Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
a four hour bus ride took us from siem reap, to the capitol city of cambodia, phnom penh. the city was very busy and had its share of traffic and pollution but it also had a vitality that probably comes from the youthfulness of its inhabitants. more that 87% of the population was under 40 in1986. here we learned about some of the more recent and horrifying culture of cambodia. i'm speaking of course of the khmer rouge. we visited one of the killing field sites as well as s-21 a former prison and torture site. we viewed a sombering video and saw many chilling articles of torture and death. as exhilirating as the previous days had been these experiences brought us down. as tough as it was to see these representations of the inhuman events that occured here, the stories we heard from almost everyone we met were even harder to take and really brought the reality of it all home. its erie to travel in cambodia and notice that there is a generation that is almost missing!
hard to believe the depth we can sink to. despite the pain so many of the people we met have endured we were struck by their gusto and enthusiasm for life. i'm sure experiencing what so many of them had kindles an appreciation for the sacredness of life. our 3 days there were the most difficult and powerful.
