The Thursday before last, the night before Halloween, we had a Halloween themed dodgeball night and this was the crew. I'm towards the front in the yellow... I was a lion (rawr)
(Photo courtesy of John Munger)
A better look at my costume... Not the best picture but I had the face paint, my hair was perfect for the mane and everything! I made my ears out of a toilet paper roll and paint and a tail to match :)
I spent my Halloween visiting the Pursat province, about 3-4 hours north of Phnom Penh. I was with my internship organization, COCD, while they had a meeting for a new project proposal. After the meeting we trekked through the jungle a bit to look at a potential project site and I have to say that was quite the adventure. I'm surprised I made it out (mostly) unscathed.
On Sunday November 2nd I joined a group of 60 expats on a hike around Koh Anloung Chen, an island not far from Phnom Penh. The hike was about 7 kilometers which isn't too long but it was a beautiful little island.
Our tour guide, very friendly guy!
So they told us that there would be fruit snacks on the hike... when I think of fruit snacks I think a little bag full of fruit flavored gummies, but nope they meant fruit for a snack. Ol' natural
The beautiful sunset we watched sitting on the return raft trip from the island.
For the 3 day water festival holiday last week I joined a crowded van full of teachers to the beaches of Sihanoukville. The beach is only about 4-5 hours away but because of traffic it took almost 10 hours to get there. Here's a view of the wonderful traffic we sat in and again, i am so surprised we got out as quickly as we did.
(Photo courtesy of Nick Simpson)
But we made it! And this was my view the next morning sitting in the guesthouse that I stayed at the first two nights, literally no more then 10 steps away from the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand.
I think one of the most amazing feelings is standing in the warm, tropical sea water during a rain storm. It rained quite a bit while we were at the beach but it didn't stop any of us from enjoying our vacation time. The guy sitting on the left, David, is one of many new friends I made during this trip.
Every day was full of relaxing, playing in the water, frisbee, football (soccer), volleyball, card games, and wonderful company :)
(Photo courtesy of Marta Marland)
Back in Phnom Penh after a holiday on the beach, and there were still more holiday celebrations around town and around Independence Monument.
So the last thing I did during this holiday vacation was visit one of the killing fields, Choeung Ek. On Monday I joined another friend who hadn't been yet and we rode down together for the day. When you arrive, you are given a headset to listen to as you walk around the memorial. It was very sad and surreal. The Choeung Ek Memorial Site is one of dozens of mass-murder sites throughout Cambodia. There are still many mass graves untouched in the area and when it rains, clothing, skull fragments, and teeth can be seen on the ground throughout the site. At one point my friend and I were walking and had to tip toe around because of all the teeth we spotted on the ground. It's so hard to believe that such a thing could happen, and DID happen. You can see in the photo below that this particular mass grave in the image contained the bodies of 450 victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide.
This part of the Choeung Ek is one of the most well know and horrifying places ( and you may not want to read on). Dozens of women and children were found in this mass grave and when it was first discovered, there was body fragments splattered on the tree next to it, seen from behind in my photo. It was later learned that the soldiers would beat children and babies against the tree before throwing them in the grave.
The skulls of victims from the Khmer Rouge genocide.
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