Solemn morning in Phnom Pehn

We started off today by meeting an awesome tuk tuk driver.  His name was Ray and he spoke excellent English.  He was extremely laid back and calming, Jaimin and I both said we could learn a little something from him :)

He took us to the Tol Sleung Museum first.  I'm glad we had an early start because it allowed us to take in the site in peace...we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  This site is where the Khmer Rouge converted a school into a prison in the 1970's.  Innocent prisoners were tortured and killed.  The atmosphere was very eerie as we walked through each "classroom".  No amount of bleach or cleaner can wipe away what happened at this place years ago.  Each room still contained remnants of the bed and tools that were used to torture/kill the prisoner.  Some of the rooms were converted into smaller rooms by bricks, it all felt very claustrophobic.  There was a point where I had trouble breathing as I started taking in what happened in this prison.  They also displayed the pictures that the K. Rouge took of their prisoners as they entered the prison.  It was sad to see a lot of them smiling...they had no idea what they were doing there and what was going to happen to them.

The next stop was the Killing Fields.  This was also extremely eerie.  We were pretty much walking through a mass grave.  They dug up hundreds of skulls of people who were killed here after being tortured in the prison.  As we walked, we could see some pieces of teeth that had been washed up because of the rains...apparently this is very common.  The skulls that were salvaged are now in display at a stupa.  I had read "Survival in the Killing Fields" by H. Ngor before I left for this trip and I'm so glad that I did.  As I was reading through his book, I had images of what this place looked like.  As I walked through the fields and saw the trees where so many atrocities occurred, everything just came together and I was filled with so much sadness.   No one deserves to be so mistreated by their government.  I left feeling extremely grateful for the wonderful life I have.

We quickly stopped by the local market and then had lunch at a wonderful Indian restaurant that Ray recommended.  The owner moved to Cambodia from India 2 years ago, and boy can he whip up a delicious chana masala and paneer tikka masala!!

Ray dropped us off for our bus to Siem Reap.  The journey should have taken 5 1/2 hours, but it took close to 7 hours!  It started to rain right when our bus left and our driver this time was a little on the crazy side.  He had the tendency to weave around scooters and go really fast and then break really hard...needless to say, this bus ride was not as pleasant as the one I had the day before.  Anyway, we got here in one piece.  It was nighttime as we approached the bus station so I was ecstatic when I saw our hotel's tuk tuk driver still waiting for us even though we were an hour late.  So far, all three cities we've been to are so different.

It's almost 12:30AM and I have to be up at 5AM in time for the famous Ankor Wat sunrise.  I'm so excited to finally see this temple...I hope it's as amazing as everyone says it is.