After almost 30 hours of traveling from Laos via Bangkok we finally arrived in Cambodia. I was unprepared, didn't know anything about the country, history. I expected it to be no different than Thailand and Laos but it didn't take to long for me to think otherwise. As soon as I crossed the border at Poi Pet I could see the roughness of Cambodia. The people looked different and it was very dusted. Teenagers working in construction, children fighting for candies, people spitting, old rusty tuk tuks and people pushing caddies with pile of products of the market. I immediately fell different but still didn't know how so, I have never seen this before. Nothing seem to be safe, there was nothing I knew. No 7eleven shop to give me the feeling that at least I have clean water to drink. My phone didn't have any network coverage. So there I was, let the journey begin.
We traveled in a old bus from Poi Pet to Seam Riep....the road was very bumpy and very dusty. The road from Poi Pet to Seam Riep wasn't asphalted so I had to wear my glasses even though it was night to protect my eyes. At night the sky was totally covered by stars very beautiful, I haven't seen this before but it reminded me of Curacao. That was the last place where I could clearly see the stars at Banda Bou. After hours of driving suddenly there was lights...lots of it. Big and luxurious Hotels. For a moment there I was shocked. What happened to everything I've seen before...How can it be so different in a heartbeat. Like someone drew a line and allowed one side to be rich and the other side poor. And not just poor....extreme!! Children didn't walk only without shoes like in Thailand and Laos. No these were butt naked.
When we finally arrived in Seam Riep we stayed at the guesthouse they dropped us of it was too tiring to look for something else we have been traveling for almost 30 hours, my feet was swollen I just wanted a good shower and bed.
The next day we woke up to visit a primary school. That was our first school experience. The children were very happy to see us. Running towards us making sure they had their place on the picture. This experience made is very curious about our volunteering project. We couldn't wait! After visiting the school the guide took us to the market to buy some notebook and pencil because we wanted to make a donation at a poor school. After the market and a nap we went to a floating village at the Tonle Sap Lake. These people live on the water. Schools, hospital, market and everything you can think of was floating. It was very nice to see but a little bit too touristic. The captain of our boat was a 10 year old boy, we made it back safe.
The next day we visited the Angkor Wat. This is one of the best preserved and one the biggest religious building in the world, it is a national pride it is even on the Cambodian flag. There is a myth saying that it was built after a temple in 'heaven'. We explored the whole area of the temple taking aproximately 5 hours which actually isn't a lot. When we were done we walked to our tuktuk, a girl came to me and sold me this book ' First they killed my father' I started to read and from that day I was never the same. I started to read about the Khmer Rouge regime. I couldn't believe what I was reading but I'll come back to that.
After visiting the temple we went to a school for donation. The children were very happy and thankfull. We danced and sing with them, even teach them a song in Papiamentu. When we had to leave a boy came running to me and strongly hugged me, thanking me .... What else could I ask for.
The next day we went to Phnom Pehn. We were in a country that knew war shortly ago. (The book also describes this) The Kmer Rouge took over all the cities of Cambodia in it's early 1975. Making all the people move to the countryside. None of them were prepared. They made them walk for days without food telling them that they are protecting them from the Americans which could bombard the city at any time. But it was the leader Pol Pots idea to end the capitalism. No more cars, watches, radio, schools and things like that. Things had to be like in it's early days, people working on the field on the countryside. When they evacuated the city they killed many people and destroyed all the buildings. No one knew what was happening and who was the person behind all this. All they knew is that they needed to work on the fields for hours or they would get killed. If the Khmer soldier take you, you won't return home but probably end up at one of the killingfields nearby your camp. Families were seperated, people were being killed, woman raped and some even starved. They had to produce food but didn't get anything to eat. If you steal you die, so you had to choose between steal and die or starve. Either way you'll be dead. The Kmer rouge brutally killed 1/4 (almost 2 million people)of the Cambodia population. It is one of the most cruel massacre known in the world and yet I have never heard about it. I was ashamed, I should be.
So everytime I got the chance I tried to talk about this subject with people but it is difficult cause it hasn't been a long time since this happened. The people remember it as if it was yesterday. The generation that experienced it was now in their fourties or older. I talked to a couple in Phnom Pehn about this, as they told me about their experience I could see the pain in their eyes. They kept on saying: I don't understand how our own people could do this to us. They both worked for hours on the fields and saw many people being brutally murdered by the Kmer Rouge soldiers. After these for yours of fear and loathing they still managed to live a normal live in Phnom Phen, running an internet cafe and living happily with their children.
In Phom Pehn we visited the Killing field, I kept on thinking How can people this cruel?. You could still see the massgraves and bones. Our guide showed us how the people were being killed. After the Killing field we continued to the Tuol Sleng Museum S-21 prison where many other people were being killed. All the prisoners were being photographed and after their interogation most of them were tortured till they die. Bullets were to expensive so they used many other ways to kill the people.
After visiting the killing field and the prison I felt really bad. I couldn't handle it, it was too much for the day. So I stopped reading the book for a while. I needed something different than reading and hearing about killing. 
It was election day and the streets were more quiet than ussual, so there was nothing to do. Our new tuktuk friend Soupheap took us for a ride in the city than took us back to our guesthouse. The next day the girls went to the Russian Market in the meanwhile I had breakfast, sat and read the daily times. Cambodian people party had the majority of the votes and this is the fourth election since 1993 when United Nation 'stabilized' the country. And since than this is the first election to be non-violent. Yes now we understand the quiet streets of the night before. We were lucky. One lesson learned, never travel unprepared to a country.

Next: Volunteering project!! Teacher Karen.......