phnom penh, vientianne and luang prabang

one more day in phnom penh. went to the genocide museum and the killing fields. at both those places you can see skulls and bones.

the genocide museum is also called s-21. it was a former school turned detention centre. everyone (bar 7) that went to s-21 ended up in the killing fields. before they tortured and killed the victims they took photos of them. you can see them. all of them. hundreds of black and white faces.

there is also a cupboard in one of the classrooms. it is full of skulls. there are 30 odd pairs of eye sockets staring back at you.

at the killing fields there is a stupa. there are over a 1000 skulls in that one. as you walk around the killing fields you can see the mass graves they dug. and as you look down in the ground you see bits of clothing and white bones. and as you walk from one mass grave to another you see that the paths inbetween the graves are also embedded cracked worn human remains.

beggers. there are lots of them in phnom penh. more than siem reap. people with missing limbs smile as they ask for money. children with no shoes stretch out their hands and ask for food. outside s-21, a person with no hands held a baseball cap between the stumps of where his hands should be and asked for money. they ask as you walk, as you talk, as you sit inside a cafe and drink coffee and as you ride away in your tuk tuk.

was in vientianne and now in luang prabang. laos is a chilled out place and after cambodia seems like pure fresh air. people still ask for money and kids try to sell you stuff, but without the black desperation. and cynical or caring as you are you don't feel so helpless nor cruel for helping or not helping.

tomorrow, off to thailand. by plane.