Matthias can finally feel vindicated as he has been saying for over a month now that air conditioning would make me sick, and now I have a sore throat. Of course, I think it’s the dust here, or something I picked up from someone somewhere, but we can blame the air conditioning when it makes him feel better – as long as I don’t have to give up air conditioning.
So, here I am in our (air conditioned) hotel room taking a sick day. I don’t feel too awful, but I thought I would rest up a day so it (hopefully) won’t get worse. We were going to ride our bikes to the temples of Angkor today, which are supposed to be spectacular and, considering the $20 admission fee and the distance we have to ride to, from and between the temples, I didn’t want to risk being sick and not enjoying the experience.
We left Sihanoukville a couple of days ago and stopped for two nights in Phnom Penh so we could visit the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Prison, used for torture and execution during the Khmer Rouge era. The Prison, which used to be a school, had some disturbing and moving exhibits, including photos of the prisoners, some of their stories, and the torture they endured. The killing fields, where prisoners were taken to be executed, was incredibly disturbing as you could see peoples bones poking out of the earth by the mass graves. The central monument contains hundreds of skulls that were found during the excavation. I saw on CNN recently that the former Khmer Rouge officials are currently (and finally) on trial here, but it doesn’t seem that the people here are much interested (or actually believe that any justice will be done.) I heard this from an ex-pat, I feel funny asking locals what they think as I’m imagine it’s a super-sensitive subject.
We left Phnom Penh by bus and have been in Siem Reap (Gateway to Angkor) for two nights. Yesterday, we rented bikes from our guesthouse and rode around the town and through the nearby villages. It’s hot here, but not as oppressive as Phnom Penh (because it’s not a big city, I guess.) But we really miss the beach, and are beginning to see why many people up and leave their lives in the Western world for the easy life here (don’t worry, mom, I’m NOT about to do it – although Matthias is truly tempted by the ability to live well on very little. But I’m not.)
Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to see the temples and then we’ll be off by boat to Battanbang - a riverside town that I’m not sure is worth a visit, but the boat ride there is supposed to be nice. From there we’ll head into Thailand – a paradise by many accounts. But for now I’ll just drag myself to an internet café (being in a guesthouse with no Internet access – and no in-room TV for that matter, but plenty of DVDs to borrow!) do a quick upload of this and some photos and get back into bed – or maybe the hammock on the communal balcony. Oh, decisions!
So, here I am in our (air conditioned) hotel room taking a sick day. I don’t feel too awful, but I thought I would rest up a day so it (hopefully) won’t get worse. We were going to ride our bikes to the temples of Angkor today, which are supposed to be spectacular and, considering the $20 admission fee and the distance we have to ride to, from and between the temples, I didn’t want to risk being sick and not enjoying the experience.
We left Sihanoukville a couple of days ago and stopped for two nights in Phnom Penh so we could visit the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Prison, used for torture and execution during the Khmer Rouge era. The Prison, which used to be a school, had some disturbing and moving exhibits, including photos of the prisoners, some of their stories, and the torture they endured. The killing fields, where prisoners were taken to be executed, was incredibly disturbing as you could see peoples bones poking out of the earth by the mass graves. The central monument contains hundreds of skulls that were found during the excavation. I saw on CNN recently that the former Khmer Rouge officials are currently (and finally) on trial here, but it doesn’t seem that the people here are much interested (or actually believe that any justice will be done.) I heard this from an ex-pat, I feel funny asking locals what they think as I’m imagine it’s a super-sensitive subject.
We left Phnom Penh by bus and have been in Siem Reap (Gateway to Angkor) for two nights. Yesterday, we rented bikes from our guesthouse and rode around the town and through the nearby villages. It’s hot here, but not as oppressive as Phnom Penh (because it’s not a big city, I guess.) But we really miss the beach, and are beginning to see why many people up and leave their lives in the Western world for the easy life here (don’t worry, mom, I’m NOT about to do it – although Matthias is truly tempted by the ability to live well on very little. But I’m not.)
Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to see the temples and then we’ll be off by boat to Battanbang - a riverside town that I’m not sure is worth a visit, but the boat ride there is supposed to be nice. From there we’ll head into Thailand – a paradise by many accounts. But for now I’ll just drag myself to an internet café (being in a guesthouse with no Internet access – and no in-room TV for that matter, but plenty of DVDs to borrow!) do a quick upload of this and some photos and get back into bed – or maybe the hammock on the communal balcony. Oh, decisions!
I hope you feel better quickly! The temples are so cool. I think more of them are "open" now - when I was there, it was still landmined so you could only approach certain ones.
ReplyDeleteI also loved Sihanoukville... When I was working in PP, we had a staff retreat there at S-ville. Pretty. And the water is so nice there. Sooo mellow.