I'm off to see the wizard

Look ma, I'm on Cambodian TV

Last night we went for dinner at a place called Friends and the food was amazing! They donate part of the profit to the street children here, which is also very nice. After that we went to Sharky bar, which was very intimidating to walk into. There were 3 Cambodian bar girls to every guy in there and they all stare at you as soon as you walk in the door. Seb and I walked out to the balcony and had a beer watching the old western guys pick up the young cambodian girls. After one beer I had seen more then enough and we left and just went back to our place to hang out and watch some tv. Just as a warning this morning was very difficult so some of this might be hard to read. So this morning we went for breakfast at the rising sun but half way through a mentally challenged boy came in selling newspapers and he was no more then 12 years old. This just completely messed me up and I lost my appetite, to think that he has to be out there working on the streets, I don't want to get into it right now. After that we went to Tuol Sleng aka S21, the genocide museum, but it was more then just a museum, it was were it actually took place. The best part of going there was that I was with Seb who is German and we spent a lot of time talking about what we call the holocaust but it is unfortunately just one of many. Seeing how it effected him really showed me that we are not the only people affected by it. Seeing that this could happen again in 1975-1979 really scares me and the worst part is that I never knew about it. I know that there are other horrific genocides that have occurred in the past century but also couldn't name any of them or anything about them. I have a lot of information about this if any of you are interested and there are some books on it to if you want me to bring them home for you. Its really not an easy topic to learn about but I feel it is very important to study and be aware of. I was inside the cells where hundreds of people were held and tortured, there was still blood on the floor in some of the cells. The worst part was building filled with pictures, I can't tell you how much it reminded me of Yad Vashem. After that we went to Choeung Ek Memorial (The killing fields) were we saw the mass graves. There is a memorial in the middle that is a few stories high stacked with skulls and bits of clothing. The people here were beated to death and thrown right into the pits to save money on bullets. As I walked around the pics I found pieces of bone sticking out of the walkway, it was really horrible and incredible hard to see. The whole place was surrounded with barb wire and on the otherside of the wire was a group of street kids all under 8 years old beggin for some money. They are every where here and its so hard to see and there is nothing you can do about it. After that we went for lunch and when I got out of the tuk tuk two children under 10 came flying up to us pushing two other complety disfigured children in wheel chairs. I wasn't sure if they were birth defects or land mine victims but either way it took my breath away and my heart just sunk a foot or two. So then we had a very quite lunch and I was just exhausted from everything. We stopped at a market before lunch but I really didn't like it so I just hung out with the tuk tuk drive while Seb shopped. The people in the markets in Thailand are so friendly and its fun bargaining with them there but here the people just try to rip you off and then give you dirty looks when you bargain with them. Anyways Seb wanted to go check out the Kings Palace but the road was blocked off by police so we couldn't go and our tuk tuk drive suggested some Cambodian Kick boxing, which he claimed was better then Thai Muay Thai so we went. The tickets were just 50 cents and it was sooo much better. The place was packed with Cambodian people and it was being broadcast live on tv here. I tried my best to enjoy the kickboxing, it was good but I still had the morning on my mind. After that we went back to our room to relax and unwind and now we are going out for dinner.

posted by Brandon Share @ 8:26 PM