Off to Siem Reap

YO! We are losing readership...it's time for an update. After a rousing game of hide and seek with Mony, Nyny and Ratavy...we're crashed on Ratavy's couch awaiting the U.S. - Brazil Confederation Cup final. We won't have much time to sleep, since we have a 7:30AM bus to Siem Reap to catch. Let's recount the last few days...

After arriving in Phnom Penh, we were warmly greeted by Ratavy and Nyny at the airport, crashing for the night.

The next day we took to the streets of PP with a packed day ahead of us. Despite its bright future, Cambodia is a country with a scarred history, a history aptly memorialized around the city. We headed first to the Tuol Seng genocide museum, site of the S-21 prison and a proper introduction to the atrocities of the Khmer Rogue genocide (I'm no history buff, so a quick Wikipedia search would do you good!). It was a moving complex -- a secondary school whose classrooms had been converted into torture rooms and small holding cells. Pictures lined the walls of those who had died there, and much of the site remained preserved in its initial state. It was difficult and at times disturbing, but served as a stark reminder of what we can never let happen again.

From there, we rode about 40 minutes outside the city to the Killing Fields, a site where tens of thousands had been brought to be killed. A memorial in the center of the field held almost 8,000 human skulls that had been excavated from the site. Most of the site remains in tact, many of the bodies still buried there. It's hard to verbalize the emotions one feels visiting a place like this, so I will leave it there.

One thing we were quick to quick to notice was the scale of development here in Phnom Penh; it's a much smaller city than Bangkok. We also had our first real dose of children beggars. Some were cheeky, others were desperate, and overall it was tough to say no. Having experienced something similar in India, I knew first hand it would be impossible to help them all. But we spared a few dollars here and there and did our best.

Next, we hit the Palace, home to the Royal Family. A vast complex of beautiful buildings and obvious opulence -- quite similar to the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Pretty legit -- pics to come. "Yo yooooooooo"... Ben was quick to point out the exact building where Obama would have tea, should he ever visit Cambodia. This was followed by two or three stories of his own visit to the Oval Office, and how he was in the War Room during the invasion of Baghdad. For those of you who have been privy to Ben's exaggerations, I'll let you figure those out....but they helped to pass the time nonetheless.

We headed home to get ready for the big graduation bash at Ratavy's house, which, as Ben alluded to earlier, was AMAZING. Maybe one of the best times we have had on this trip, a truly memorable celebration. I'll let Kyle take that one...

We are off to Angkor Wat tomorrow! I've been looking forward to this the most on the trip...

A shout out back to everyone in the States, I miss you guys.

Vas