Ups and Downs

Next stop, Phnom Penh.  Here we got our Laos visas, where we think we got ripped off - but that is all part of the traveling experience.  We met up with one of our friend's friend who currently teaches in Cambodia.  They took us to a pub where a live band was playing.  I kept looking at the bad members and wondering what do they tell people back home, "o yea, I play in a band, IN CAMBODIA, it's cool."  It was cool to hear some live english music.  The next day I went to the killing fields where you walk around this area and can see actual graves of where the Khmer Rouge threw innocent people and how they tortured and killed them, and if that wasn't disturbing enough - they have a monument of skulls in lieu of the event.  After that I went to the S-21 prisons and saw the actual rooms the victims were tortured in with blood stains on the floor and pictures of all the tortured, devastating to say the least.  Cambodians are a lot like Jews, they both endured such horrible circumstances and lack of human rights.  I felt the same way here as I did at the holocaust museum in Israel. WHY did this happen? WHY did this leader come to power? HOW did he get away with this? It's.not.fair.

After all the misery I decided to buy myself a sundress because it was very hot and humid.  I went to the Russian market but there was nothing Russian about it and most of it was closed because of the New Year.  I bought a dress and wore it to meet another friend Rachel knew.  We got together with a group of very interesting people who all worked in Cambodia - from fund-raising , to sex trafficking, to toilet experts.  These people were super passionate about what they did and life.  This made me smile and think that I would LOVE to have a job I'm passionate about so I can talk with such excitement about what I do.

As I wrote this in my journal, we were in Battambang...a bus ride away from Phnom Pehn.  In Battambang we rode on a "bamboo train."  This train runs on one track and if another cart is coming from the other side the cart with the least passengers has to get off, the cart gets disassembled and lets the other cart pass.  Then the cart gets re-assembled and you keep going...until of course you see another cart.  The train went fast and it was kind of bumpy but a fun experience.  On our pit stop we got to see a snake for 75 cents and a little girl made me a ring flower, she was beautiful and I took a pic of her (will be up on shutterfly).  On the way back we rode with the sunset and I thought about what everyone was doing back home as Tom Petty played in the background of my head.

In Battambang, we stayed 3 days.  On the second day we hung out with our dorm-mate, Pasquel.  He is a French guy who lives in England and works in a catering business.  He refuses to conform to society which means no marriage, no staying at one place, no mortgage, and no debt.  He is quite the world traveler and has been to Cambodia 5 times!  We rented motorbikes and drove out out to the country side in search of a waterfall and a place to swim.  My badass friend Rachel learned how to ride a manual motorbike and I got on the back of it.  I was so proud of her!   Following Pasquel, we drove through mostly dirt roads with mini debri tornados where you couldn't see anything, but I put all my trust in Rachel and she got us there safetly.  After 1.5 hours we finally found water!  We went swimming and chilled with Cambodian families.  At one point a group of guys go their camera phones out and started taking pics of Rachel and I - this didn't bother me too much because I take pictures of random Cambodian people.  This only got creepy after one of the guys got really close to me and started taking pics of "us" together.  I got uncomfortable so I put a shirt over my head.  Pasquel said they take the pic back to their friends and say that the pic of me is their GF!!!!!!  So funny and weird!   Do the friends really believe this??  Another funny thing happened when Rachel went swimming and I was chilling on some rocks and all of the sudden this family swarmed me!  They were laughing and all taking pictures with me - I got a pic but there's a naked boy in it so not sure if I should post it.  I think the Cambodians find us interesting as I find them.  Continue to next post...