Day 19 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Hi all...just ducked in this internet caft to escape a wicked downpour...it's 4pm and I had a good day here in Cambodia's capital...I took a motor scooter...or rather a ride behind a young local driver (he would never pass a driving test in the U.S.) We darted in and out of traffic and finally arrived in 10 minutes or so from my guesthouse at Tuol Sleng Museum. This was an incredibly moving few hours for me as I toured one of the former Cambodian dictator's most notorious security prisons...Pol Pot turned these school grounds into a veritable torture chamber and detention center...classrooms were made into prison cells. I silently made my way around the grounds...becoming more and more horrified as I moved along...there were a series of rooms with the pictures of all the innocent Cambodian victims who were tortured and executed for no other reason than they were either too "educated" or didn't fit into Pol Pot's vision of the "new"Cambodia he wanted in 1975. One room even had a display of dozens or skulls behind a glass encasement...truly a horror that I will never forget...and I think that has to be the principle message behind the museum...because I've never witnessed something so graphic and disturbing...

After a few chilling few hours there, I took my moto ride again...(with consistent--and unsuccessful--sales pitches from my driver to buy fruit, check out a hotel...ect...) back to my guesthouse...

I managed to post a few pics from the trip...back to Vietnam on Sunday...then Malaysia for a day...then Singapore for a night...then back to NY...I'm dizzy...but loving it...