Cambodia

Well a lot has been happening and I wanted to write some about Cambodia.

First off, I love everything about Cambodia so far, except the searing heat. It is 100 degrees today in Siem Reap, and it is noticeably cooler than yesterday. Today we rented Tuk-tuks for the day to be our private transportation for wherever our hearts desired. We started early this morning to catch sun-rise over Angkor Wat, and it was perfect. We then went and explored other temples until about 12 and also visited the War Museum where we met one of the most incredible people I have met thus far in my travels.

Angkor means city, and after Angkor Wat we drove over a bridge built in the 11th century, and under the city gate which stood about 50 feet high, to our second stop at Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is home to Bayon which is a Buddhist temple with giant faces looking every which way. I am continually more blown away with each new thing I see. It is like a direct window into the past, when you visit places like these your imagination runs wild and creates thoughts and images of what life must have been like over 1000 years ago when these were being built.

The man I met today provided a very sobering experience. It is easy to forget and ignore the history of Cambodia when you are seeing temples, but in 1999 it was unsafe to travel to Cambodia because they were still in a civil war. Cambodia was in a constant state of war for over thirty years. Without going into too much detail the Khmer Rouge executed a genocide responsible for killing over 3 million people. Sadly the Khmer Rouge was supported by the United States at one point. Resulting from the war Cambodia was still littered with land mines, there were more than two land mines to every Cambodian.

The story is very tragic. The man will remain nameless for privacy's sake. When he was ten the Khmer Rouge killed his entire family and he narrowly escaped. Parents, siblings, everyone. He was captured at the age of ten by the Khmer Rouge and was forced to fight for them. He was shot three times through over 5 years of battle. He also has stepped on a land-mine that claimed his right leg just above the knee, and filled his body with ball bearings. He let me feel some of the ball bearings and I can not imagine the pain that would cause. He even has a ball bearing in his right eye, and he suffers from severe tetanus on occasion.

Later down the line after he had healed from his wounds, his wife was killed when she stepped on a landmine. He now lives with an 8 year old daughter. Despite all the tragedy the man treated us so well, and his kindness was overwhelming. He would make jokes and was just genuinely a kind-hearted person. You can not go anywhere in Cambodia without seeing land-mine victims, and there are still over 4 million active landmines yet to be found. It really illuminates how good we have it back home.

I tried to put pictures up but the worker here is watching internet t.v. and my connection is way too slow as a result. Hope everyone is doing well.