Cambodia

Cambodia is a beautiful, ancient place with a very troubled recent history. In the last couple weeks we explored the ancient past, the recent past, and the present (aka the NOW). We spent the first few days exploring the ruins of the Khmer Empire at the Angkor temple complex home to the famous Angkor Wat. We zipped around on a rental scooter, waking up early each morning to catch the sunrise and to avoid the extreme mid-day Cambodian heat. After that we spent 6 days at a nearby meditation and yoga retreat exploring the NOW (the present moment) trying to tune our concentration inwards. We learned about integral yoga, which is more than just stretching and balancing on one foot. It was not only a stop on our journey around the world, but our journey in searching for meaning and peace in life. 

Our final days in Cambodia were spent touring the entirely depressing sites of the capital city, Phnom Penh. Cambodia had a 4 year long government take over by the communist group lead by Pol Pot called the Khmer Rouge in the late 70s. They exterminated 1/4 of the population over the course of their short reign of terror. Phnom Penh has a Genocide Museum that is at the site of a former prison used to interrogate and torture "prisoners". Then, we toured the killing fields. A place about 30 minutes outside the city that was used by the Khmer Rouge as a place to kill the prisoners after they gave their "confessions". Bodies were piled in mass graves and although the graves have mostly been excavated, bones still surface to this day. It was a really heavy day, seeing those sites. A memorable way to spend our one year marriage anniversary.

We've just arrived to the final stop on the SE Asian portion of our trip: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The pace of life here just kicked up to a whole 'nother level! 

Sunrise from on top of a temple

We rented a scooter to get around the massive Angkor temple complex. Traffic is crazy. We were glad they provided helmets.

Temple statues

Pondering the past

Exploring the ruins of the temple used in the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie

Ancient feet. Modern feet.

Kids sell things around the temples: flutes, postcards and trinkets. We felt bad not buying any, but they were of pretty poor quality. Then, I got the ignition key hole locked shut and couldn't figure out how to open it. A 10-year-old flute salesgirl showed me how to operate it and then I was able to open it and start the scooter! I felt at that point that I needed to buy a flute from her. We drew quite a curious crowd kids in the process.

Trees grow on practically anything. This tree's roots cover the temple and hang down looking like an elephant trunk.

Woman praying before entering Angkor Wat temple.

Morning light in a temple

Sunrise 

A family of monkeys. Grandma on the right was messing with her daughter's baby. Baby was not having it.

Baby feeding time.

The Buddha form of monkey meditating at the temple.

Hungry monkey

Mom and grandma admire the temples, too.

Just monkeying around.

With a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide at the S-21 prison (now a museum)