It's HOT!

Hello everyone! It is so incredibly hot. A cold shower is no longer something to be dreaded but looked forward to at least twice a day. Will and I got back to the business of running today. We have been on hiatus since we stayed at the Monastery while I was working. Not sure what he was doing but I was doing my best to keep up my Yoga practice and meditate every morning before I had to attend to the onslaught of patients that were waiting everyday. I really miss bikram yoga and at this point, other than missing Basil and wishing he was here with me, it is the only thing I could come home for right now.

We had such a busy day today. We decided to take in a few museums and sites around the Capital and then tomorrow morning we are headed out to the killing fields. One of the sites we both wanted to go to today was the Toul Sleng Museum. It is the actual site (a former high school) where the Khmer Rouge would take people after they had been arrested to torture them almost to death and then they would transport them to the killing fields to do the actual killing. It was quite a museum. It is also known at Security Prison-21 or S-21. Of the estimated 20,000 people who passed through this site, seven made it out alive. Everyone else ended up at the killing fields. Dead. In the museum they have photos of many of the victims. They were photographed hands tied behind their backs looking at the camera with such sober faces...all of them, men, women and children. The Khmer Rouge were detailed note takers of their torture methods and everyone that was detained much like the Nazi's. On a wall of the stairs leading to the second floor of the camp someone had written the following...."when this was a prison, nobody learned. When this was a school, nobody died." Such small ironic statements really make a large point. In the end, after the liberation of Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, those that were responsible, the top Military people including Pol Pot, the notorious leader, were never brought to justice.

So tomorrow we are off to see one of the locations, reportedly the largest area, where victims were taken and killed. Most remains have been left there.

Yesterday I had a long sit down with myself while I was trying to sort out many details in my life and I had to admit that the decision to go and see all of these places of destruction in the next four weeks is already weighing heavy on my heart. The things that humanity can do to itself with justification is shocking sometimes. But, in the end as I was refocusing priorities and trying to bring some loose ends together I realized I really need to see this stuff. There are few things as real as this magnitude of suffering. In some morbid way it helps to contain myself and be that much more grateful and put things into perspective.

Thankfully when we were done walking around the prison we walked across the street to the sweetest restaurant called the Boddhi Tree Umma and had a delicious dinner of curried coconut veggies and a fresh carrot, ginger, lime juice. Or at least that's what I had. Oh and a hunk of baguette with cammenbere cheese and black sesame seeds on it. Again, thank you France and your influence and colonization of Cambodia.

We also went to the National Museum. Amazing Thousand year old artifacts mostly taken from Ankor. Amazing statues of the Buddha, Ganesh, Shiva...the best part that Will and I could agree on was that every last artifact was sitting on a podium or some type of display table....just out there in the open where we could have touched them but obviously did not. There was a point when I had one of those queer thoughts like..what if a tripped and fell and knocked over a podium and a 1000 year old relic? Would they send me to a new version of S-21, take my passport, kick me out....? What? We laughed about how our countries history is less than 300 years old and everything is behind 12 inch glass and is heavily guarded...

Oh, we went to a great Pagoda first thing in the morning ( I can't not go to a pagoda everyday now...they are like crack for me, I see a pagoda and I want to go in and get on my knees and start praying)..the Wat Phnom. This pagoda is known for good luck and success in school exams and business affairs. I figured this covered both Will and I and drug him along. On the back side of the pagoda there were tall trees that had quite a few Monkeys in them. So cute. Seeing elephants (super stinky) and Monkeys really makes you feel good. Well, maybe not the elephants...they never look happy but the Monkeys are always playing and up to something. Maybe Basil would like a Monkey...just checking to see if Nancy has been reading him the blog...

We just walked all over today in the blistering heat sweating like dogs and getting a slight sun burn. It was great. After we get back from the Killing Fields we are jumping on a bus and heading South to the beaches of Kep and Kampot. I need to lie down again. Near the water. Guess I need to find another book store.

OK, I should get off the computer now, been on it for over an hour and a half catching up on stuff in my real life. Maybe Will has something to say about today....we shall see.

Good night everyone,
willandCODY