May 12th, 2008
FIRST OFF: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER!!! She is lucky enough to celebrate her birthday today while we are on our trip. Abbi is 21 today, that means she is legal to drink now all over the world, instead of just in selected areas. Not that that has ever stopped either of us before.
To celebrate her birthday, we took her to the Killing Fields! To remind her about the mortality of life. Seriously though, the Killing Fields is a very integral and serious part of Cambodian history. It was really chilling to stand in front of a 5-story pile of skull and bones. Historians estimate that 1.8 mil to 3 mil people were executed without reason during that time.
After that, we went to S-21, which was a school converted into an interrogation/execution and prison center. Unlike the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge were very meticulous about recording all the people who they detained and died so mugshots of all these people who lost their lives are lines against the walls. Classrooms were converted into torture chambers and solitary confinement areas. The playground was turned into a lynching area. Now a museum, skulls and torture devices are on display. Unlike a museum, you are allowed to touch, scrutinize and take pictures as a reminder of this time.
And then we took my sister to lunch! :D
They wouldn't let us into the Palace because she was wearing a dress with her shoulders exposed so I will try again tomorrow morning. The weather has taken a little turn for the worst but I am a good little Girl Scout and I brought an umbrella with me.
I'm trying to upload pictures soon. There are some interesting ones, including a picture of the pizza menu of this delightful place we ate at the highlight of which was the Pineapple Porn Moan.
Again, I do not lie to you, my friends.
To celebrate her birthday, we took her to the Killing Fields! To remind her about the mortality of life. Seriously though, the Killing Fields is a very integral and serious part of Cambodian history. It was really chilling to stand in front of a 5-story pile of skull and bones. Historians estimate that 1.8 mil to 3 mil people were executed without reason during that time.
After that, we went to S-21, which was a school converted into an interrogation/execution and prison center. Unlike the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge were very meticulous about recording all the people who they detained and died so mugshots of all these people who lost their lives are lines against the walls. Classrooms were converted into torture chambers and solitary confinement areas. The playground was turned into a lynching area. Now a museum, skulls and torture devices are on display. Unlike a museum, you are allowed to touch, scrutinize and take pictures as a reminder of this time.
And then we took my sister to lunch! :D
They wouldn't let us into the Palace because she was wearing a dress with her shoulders exposed so I will try again tomorrow morning. The weather has taken a little turn for the worst but I am a good little Girl Scout and I brought an umbrella with me.
I'm trying to upload pictures soon. There are some interesting ones, including a picture of the pizza menu of this delightful place we ate at the highlight of which was the Pineapple Porn Moan.
Again, I do not lie to you, my friends.
- mood:
amused