Gotta Beat the Darkness

Last I left you, we were heading to S-21, the Khemr Rouge's "security prison"aka torture camp that fed directly to the Killing Fields. You can probably guess how much fun it was. That aside, I felt it was very important to put Cambodia in context. We learned a lot, and cried, and felt that lead weight in our stomachs when you brush the surface of something truly horrific. I know anybody 40 years old lived through it, and their faces seem too old for their years. Pol Pots regime killed over 1/4 of the Cambodian people. But now the streets are filled with new young faces, as this generation floods the population. They are always smiling and saying hello, as if they can't believe their luck. And I couldn't believe mine, today, as we ventured into the Angkor Wat complex. (how about that segue!) Another, much more uplifting, contextualization of this great country. We rode bikes up to, and through, the complex, stopping every few kilometers to scope out the huge stone marvels fending off the intruding jungle. I took way way to many photos, which I will comb through before I subject anyone to them, and we didn't even stop at Angkor Wat itself! We focused on the smaller temples today, tomorrow we will hit the big ones. Tomorrow we will also be hiring a tuk tuk, as we were caught about 18km away from town as the sun started to set. A valiant effort in the dark got us another 8km closer, but after a near pothole mishap, some very kind locals took us back to their house to call their friend with a tuk tuk to take us the rest of the way. Of course, they tried to extort us for $20, but hey, this is Cambodia after all. Well, I was more than willing to part with $12 dollars to get home for a shower, as my sweaty face had become a windshield-esque graveyard for several small insects. Tomorrow though, we will hit up the major players- Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon- from the comfort of a tuk tuk. I'll be bringing my extra camera memory card. I can't imagine doing this place on rolls of 36. Thank God for the digital age!