Somewhere Out There

Yesterday, I hired a guide to take me by motorbike to a couple of sites in the area. We started at the Bamboo Train, which according to rumor, will be out of business in a month or two to make way for a new high speed railway. It was quite fun, picturesque, and unique. It's mostly for tourists, but does still help locals deliver some good to the market. The countryside was beautiful, and I met some cool travelers from Austria on my car. After that, we headed off to a nearby mountain where a Khmer Rouge Killing Cave sits, as well as a Buddhist Temple. The Khmer Rouge killed approximately 1.5 Million people between 75-79, and conditions for the Cambodian people were very bleak. There's a lot of documentaries, books and better information out there than I can give, and from what I've heard, read and seen, I still wasn't prepared to be in that cave. Horrible, horrible things have happened here, and the bones and skulls of victims are staring at you as proof of the evil that took place. A Buddhist Temple now in full working order with Monks traveling about now sits at the top of the hill, and I had some good conversations with a few monks, most of whom know at least some english. Many have never left this area, and have learned english from volunteers and teachers from the west. My guide, Doller, has never been outside of Battambang. His english is quite good, and he hopes to see Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, and the capitol, Phnom Penh sometime in the future. None of these is over 5 hours away, and he is 28. I'm not sure what any of this means, or exactly what I think, but I know the history of Cambodia is something I haven't begun to understand. The world is a beautiful place, and it's also full of terrible realities. Concerning Cambodia, I have a lot more questions than I did a week ago. At this point, that's all I'm sure of - except of course that the people have been welcoming, funny, and interesting. I've finally posted pictures, some are a bit out of order time-wise, but not to hard to figure out.