Farmer for a day

Came back yesterday from a small village 2 hours outside of Phnom Penh. Stayed with one of the staff's family in a village of ~4500. We (me and another Khmer project volunteer) were to experience a true farmer's life for a few days. A lot of complications arose from the start, mostly because of a lot of inefficiencies of the staff. I could go on for hours on this subject, but I'll just keep it short. So we took a tour of the town instead in the evening and talked to many of the schoolchildren who wanted practice their English. However, it got a bit tedious after 20 kids asked you the same questions over and over again with no regard to your answers. The most interesting question they posed was '"Are you married?" not quite sure what they want from that question. But the children were all really sweet and adorable and I enjoyed having a one way conversation with them.

The next day we went to the ricefields and our host, Sophan arranged for us to help harvest a fellow villager's ricefield. It was hot and hard work! And I also managed to cut myself with the scythe.. but I survived.

It was really nice just to be out of the city and live a totally different life in the village. The people are so friendly, honest and warm. At night, things got a little noisy with the rowdy dogs, but it was nice not to hear traffic streaming across your window. All too soon, we had to leave (trip was cut short unexpectedly because my fellow volunteer couldn't hack the village lifestyle). It was a long, dusty and painful moto ride back into Phnom Penh. I'm going to Siem Reap in 4 days!!

Kampot, Kep, Rabbit Island = lost

Did some travelling outside of Phnom Penh finally last weekend. Decided I needed the lie on the beach and just veg for a whole weekend. Had a long ride from the city to Kampot, an old resort town of the French colonials. It was a bit of a disappointment initially coming into a pretty boring bus stop area and staying in a not so ambient guest house. However, we discovered some of the charm in the evening as we dined by the riverside. Kampot was definitely more laidback than the hectic (not as much as Kathmandu though!) pace of Phnom Penh! We were also a bit disappointed because we weren't able to visit Bokor Hill Station (a Khmer Rouge stronghold in the 70's... supposedly very "atmospheric") because the Prime Minister was going there that weekend... so, our plans for the next day were shattered! Fortunately since I'm an easygoing girl, found some other activities for the next day which included cycling to a cave. Unfortunately, I am also a very poor navigator as many can attest to, and ended up lost on a straight highway. How that happens, beats me. But lost we were and 2.5 hours later, ended up in a really remote area where the cave was. The cave is called Phnom Chnnok, and it's really cool. There's an 7th or 8th century shrine there that's in really good condition because it's been sheltered by the cave.
These little boys took us around and showed us the animal figures in the rocks and then took us out in an obscure way which involved jumping and climbing over rocks.
After this much longer than expected bike trip, headed to Kep to meet another volunteer and eat a great crab meal! Perfect birthday meal! Next day headed to Rabbit Island, and pretty secluded island, 1/2 an hour from the coast by a slow boat.
Arrived there, got a bamboo bungalow and then explored the island. Got lost yet again, and had my sandals disintegrate on me (resorted to binding them with twine.. felt like i was a pioneer traveller) and 3 hours later got back finally to our hut. I was ready for the beach after that. Lazed around the rest of the weekend, great fun.
But very little vegging for most of the weekend. Really memorable weekend though... and I'm 27 now!!

Cruel cruel world

Today we went to visit the S-21 and the Killing Fields of the Khmer Regime. S-21 is the centre where approximately 20000 "enemies"of the regime were tortured, interrogated and subsequently killed. Upon arrival to the centre, the building is unassuming as it used to be a high school. Only the barbed wire and iron corrugated fence belies the terrible acts committed within. Entering the compound and the first building, you encounter terrible rooms like the one shown here. These were the torture rooms and when the building was raided, they found corpses on these beds in various states of decay and evidence of the torture they had were evident.
I didn't want to take any pictures of those bodies and faces of victims because it didn't feel quite right to do so. I was pretty emotionally overwhelmed, I can't understand how people could do this to one another and even to little children as young as 3! They surely cannot be enemies of the state! In the next building, there were the cells where inmates were kept, I had to leave the room because it was very creepy, claustrophobic and I just had really bad vibes in the area (yes, it might be all psychological, but I really didn't feel comfortable). There were also hundreds upon hundreds of photos of the victims. There were accounts of people finding loved ones ' pictures on the walls after the centre became public. I cannot even imagine the feeling of finding out that your husband, mother, father, child suffered in this horrible place.
In the afternoon, we went to the Killing Fields (Cheong Ek) where the mass graves were found. There were ditches where the bodies were discovered and supposedly more are still buried there. You also came across pieces of clothing from these corpses which I found very grotesque and slightly disrespectful to the dead. You would hardly believe this pristine, quiet area hides so many tortured souls.
People can be so cruel to one another.

Goodbye Nepal...

Cannot really describe what an amazing time I've had in Nepal. I have done so many unexpected things, met so many wonderful people and have been so happy there. Sitting here in an internet cafe in Phnom Penh, I'm really missing my life back in Nepal, it really felt like home for the last 4 months. I miss the seeing the mountains everyday, my walk up the hill to HRDC, smelling incense early in the morning, daal bhat everyday, even the honking of the horns. I really wished it wouldn't end as I know that things won't be the same the next time I visit. But I could not have asked for a better ending to my time in Nepal, I've had a wonderful last 2 weeks that I will not forget and many more wonderful memories of my visit there. I heart Nepal.