The Killing Fields and Sihanoukville

We took a tuk tuk to the Killing Fields one day and then a bus to the beach.  We plan to get open water certified while in Cambodia. One of the biggest differences we've seen between Cambodia and Vietnam and China is the amount of beggars. We saw very few in China and Vietnam, although in Vietnam there was always some trying to sell you something and it was usually an adult.  Here in Cambodia we've seen numerous beggars, many of which are amputees, and there have been tons of kids trying to sell you books or bracelets. Makes you wonder whether it has anything to do with the first two countries being communist or just that Cambodia is so much poorer.

Sorry I haven't posted pictures this time, I haven't uploaded them from my camera and my computer is acting up.

Nov 11 – The Killing Fields

This morning we hired a tuk tuk to take us out to the Killing Fields, also known as The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. We contemplated renting a motorcycle for the day but it wasn't too much more to hire a tuk tuk. The tuk tuk ride was much more comfortable than the motorcycle would have been as if had nicely cushioned seats and the roads were pretty rough. The entrance feel at Choeung Ek also included the audio tour which really added to the museum. This wasn't your typically museum as you walked around a park like area listening to the atrocities that occurred. Prisoners held in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge's reign were taken taken here to be killed. Bullets were considered too expensive to use so the soliders used what ever means available. During the 3 years and 8ish months the Khmer Rouge held power they killed 2-3 million people out of a population of 8 million. Now there is a Memorial Stupa at the center of Choeung Ek that holds the skulls and large bones of all the people who have been unearth. There are still many bodies that have been allowed to lie in peace. This was another place I did not know much about but I am thankful for the audio tour. It was very informative about what had occurred during this time period. As awful as it was to hear about all these deaths I'm glad we visited one of the over 300 killing fields in Cambodia. This is another period of genocide in the worlds history that isn't taught in school but is important to learn about. It's amazing how far Cambodia has come after so many years of strife. After the Killing Fields we had our driver drop us off at the Central Market where we found some lunch. We needed to book a bus to Sihanookville so we headed back to the hotel. The bus prices were all the same and we were able to be picked up from the hotel. The rest of our afternoon was spent relaxing at a riverside bar with some beers. We found some cheap delicious food a couple of blocks down from our hotel. We retired to our room fairly early but didn't go to bed early enough, I read while Beau worked on the computer.

Nov 12 - Sihanoukville
We got on a bus this morning to Sihanoukville. We were picked up by a shuttle bus to take us to the station.  Along the way we picked up a bunch of passengers some of which had to sit on the floor.  Our bus ride took about 4 hours and was pretty sedate compared to most other bus rides we've had, no crazy passing or swerving around pot holes or if there was it made no impression on Beau and I! It started to rain when we reached Sihanoukville but fortunately when it started to pour we were safetly under cover in a tuk tuk which we shared with  2 Swedish guys.  We looked into a couple of hotels and got a private room for $7 without hot water or AC.  That seemed the norm of the budget places and we're cheap so who are we to complain.  After checking in and getting some lunch we started checking out scuba options.  We went to 3 different dive shops all of which offered similar PADI Open water options for about $300.  One place also offered SSI Open Water which was only $255, the courses are very similar and are both internationally accepted so we opted for this one.  We also liked this dive shop the best, EcoSea.  We signed up, put down a deposit and were given our books.  We headed down to the water to check out the beach and see about some dinner.  The beach was just lined with restaurants all selling the same things, $0.50 Draft beer and $3 BBQ.  For the BBQ you could get any three meats from beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, squid, and fish.  Beau and I both opted for the shrimp, squid, and fish and Beau got his with rice and I had garlic bread with mine.  We got quite a lot of sea food and it was all very tasty, cooked with loads of garlic.  We headed back to our hotel to start doing some reading for our Scuba course tomorrow, we did have to stop in to EcoSea because the book they had given me was in German.  As much as I want to learn a second language I don't care to do it while learning to dive.