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▼ 2010 (6)

► 2009 (39)

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Mekong Delta and Pnomh Penh

My friends went back home. I had a very quiet New Year's Eve alone with Indiana Jones and Diet Coke and then continued my journey towards Cambodia.

I got a fairly cheap deal on a 2-day Mekong Delta tour which ended in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia, so I got on it early in the morning only to discover the receptionist in Ho Chi Minh had forgotten to give me back m passport and my change, so I was stuck by the border for a day while waiting for the next tour to bring me my passport. It all went reasonably well. The river cruises were nice, this banana boat was seen close to the floating market.

Banana boat on Mekong

People live very close to the river and get everything they need from it. Fish and '"the big dishwasher" on your doorstep!

Mekong Delta

These puppies lived in a nearby Internet cafe. I couldn't resist touching them. Again.

Puppies, Chau Doc

The boat trip from the Vietnamese-Cambodia border to Pnomh Penh was fairly long, so I strung up my hammock and actually had a nice nap. Bet the other passengers were pretty jealous!

Hammock, Mekong River

In Cambodia they like to bathe their cows.

I met up with a girl I traveled with in New Zealand and her 2 friends, and we set out to the infamous Killing Fields of Choung Ek. During Pol Pots regime in 1975-1979 tens of thousands of innocent people were killed and buried here after being tortured, including the elderly, women and children and even the regime's own politicians and soldiers. The place is now a national memorial for those killed during this period.

Chuong Ek pagoda

This pagoda contains 9000 of the skulls and bones from the victims. Not all the mass graves have been excavated yet.

Skulls, Killing Fields

Closeup of the skulls, sorted by sex and age. Many people were beaten to death or had their throats cut slowly with spiky palm leaves. You see no infant skulls because they beat their heads against tree trunks so hard that they shattered completely.

The place was chilling and very quiet (except for the weird contrast of noisy school children playing next door) and was truly a horrible reminder of the dark side of humanity. May it help it preventing from happening again!