When I arrivied in Siem Reap I immediately incountered a lot of child beggars, big deal no problem.

I also crossed paths with this nice guy from Chicago, whos helping run this program that teaches disabled people skills so they no longer have to beg. I thought great, how can I help, well he said we are raising money by selling popcorn and these hand made bracelets.

Of coarse I bought one of each, and headed back to my guesthouse with a smile, that lasted until the morning, I was on my way to cash a travelers check, when I ran into this other American, who just happens to be starting a website engineared to get tour groups to stop at this wat complex in order to give things like candy and money to children and before I knew it I was accouste by five small children who literally climbed on me two of them started actually hitting me!

My fellow country man just smiled and said wouldn't it be great to have a whole tour group to help these kids!

Help exactly how are you helping these kids other than encouraging them to beg? Some people's stupidity never stops surprising me.

I was gonna save this for my blog and yes I will put some form of this there, but today, I visited the museum of genocide that used to be a high school before the Khmer Rouge got a hold of it, if this email is a little incoherent I apoligize but you have to add a little booze to the situation, to the things I saw today or otherwise they will haunt you till the day you die, they probally still will no matter what you do.

First I paid a moto driver (I rode on the back of a scooter for about eight miles) to take me to the killing fields, a place were over 8000 men women and children, were bruttally beaten to death (they didn't want to waste precious bullets) and then buried in mass graves in the mid 1970s some thirty years after Nazi Germany, all because Pol Pot had become like Stalin before him insane whith shadows behind him, trying to give him what he deserved, a long drawn out painful death.

Instead Pol Pot gave that to his very own people, it wasn't like the nazis where a diffrent ethnic group was blamed for eveything, these people were mostly Khmers just like Pol Pot, most of them their only crime was being tortured so horrendously they couldn' help but give out names of innocent people who were inturn rounded up like cattle, and tortured untill they gave names of others who were also rounded up.

But the Khmer Rouge did something the soviets and the nazis did not do quite as good, they kept immaculate records of thier crimes. Right down to photographing everyone who went through their torture chambers and then onto the killing fields.

Have you ever stared at the faces of little one and two year olds, that were doomed to die? These same babies would be about my age today if the Khmer Rouge would have let them live. If humanity would have stood up for them. Instead politicaians in places like Beijing, Paris, Bangkok, London, and Washington DC turned a blind eye, the Khmer Rouge after all were fighting against the evil Vietnamese, and thats all that mattered to them.

You know Pol Pot is the only person ever to be bought to justice for these crimes, and that took God himself strinking that evil bastard down, otherwise the perpatrators of these crimes still run free, why wouldn't they when the very countries that supported the Khmer Rouge, China, France, the UK and the USA are all permant members of the UN Security Council, and Russa well she has enough blood of her own on her hands!!


Have you ever stood before a tower of 8000 skulls? Have you ever placed a mourning rose next to the smallest skull you could find? (The smallest one was still smaller than my fist!).

I believe its Psamls 137 vs 8 and 9 that says (though I could be mistaken) "Happy are those who get even with you for what you've done to us, who take your babies and smash them aginst the rocks." But tell me what kind of sick bastard would be happy at destroying the life of child wanted and loved by his or her parents?

Jan 30th 2005 was my last night in Bangkok for awile, I definetly miss the Suk. To celebrate I went to a place called Guliver's Travelers Tavern, a very nice place with a water fountain out front, and good food and beer to go with it.

Well I had a seat at a small table right next the fountain and ordered an American breakfast (I KNOW, I KNOW!!!!!) and a small bottle of Singha (the small bottles are the same as an American bottle of beer the big ones are the size of a wine bottle back home).

Just after my beer arrived , I swear I felt something crawl up my leg, but when I rubbed to get the bug off me, it wasn't there. Forgetting about it I dug into my recently arrivied hard fried eggs, which were still a little soft, and nibbled on bacon done just right.

About half way through the meal is when I noticed it staring at me from the wall next to my table. It was a small one, about three inches long, but right away I knew what it was, a gecko.

Now the thing you have to understand about these lizards is that A they don't do the robot in real life, and B They are absolutely harmless.

So after watching it do not much of anything for a few minutes, I recalled how the Thais believe gecko's bring good luck, thats when I started smiling, the gecko was a gift from the city to wish me good luck I thought or maybe just a real fortunate coincidence, I mean the lizard could have been with a pregnaunt lady giving birth thus blessing the life of the newborn instead it decided to make him or herself home at my dinner table.
I should have felt extremely gratefull and I did untill I remembered reading something that said Cambodians like to eat gecko stew, or some such thing but I could be mistaken I mean this doesn't mean I'm going to end up in a stew does it?

I woke up bright and early on what was to be my last day in Bangkok, in plenty of time to catch the 10:30 train to Kanchanaburi. WRONG!!!! There IS no 10:30 train to Kanchanaburi! I arrived at the station at 9:30, only to find out the first train to the river Kwai left at 7:30 and the last train to my destination wouldn't be leaving for another four hours!!!!

Well gungho traveler that I am, I resigned myself to finding the shadest spot at the station and trying to enjoy the thus far crappy book called Sahara.
However with a very corny plot line, and a very cute and loveable stray dog in the vicinity, I soon put the book away.

His name was Tripod, well at least thats what I called him. Tripod was a "so damn ugly he was cute" kind of mutt with a bumb back leg. Thus his recently given name.

Well with Bangkoks reputation of having over a hundred thousand stray dogs, and anywhere from five to seven thousand of those dogs being rabid, I of coarse didn't touch the dog, it helped that he was on the otherside of the tracks.

For the first few minutes Tripod merely played with the rest of his stray kin, nuzzeling and nipping at the others, and showing his stomach in submission when required. Then SHE came.

She was an all white, pointy eared female and she like most dogs in heat was struting along like she owned the world. Tripod was the first to notice and the first to try and take advantage, but it was hopeless with his bumb leg, but he kept trying. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. but when I started thinking about it, I decided doggie porn wasn't where it was at after all.

So with about two hours to go before my train left, I decided to look for a bite to eat, luckily there was this crowded street restraunt, across from the station, so I pulled up a chair and ordered the first thing on the menu. What I don't know cause it was in Thai, I do know it involved chicken or so I hope.

Five minutes later my meal arrived sure enough its stir fried chicken and veggies on a plate of fried rice. Digging in, I poked a nice peice of chicken with my fork, and was about to put it in my mouth, when I noticed the table next to me go completely quiet. They were watching me eat!!!
Whats worse, I was just about to make a big Fubar, and actually put the fork in my mouth instead of the spoon. So I put the fork down picked up the spoon pried off the chicken from my fork, and scooped it up with the spoon and shoved it in my mouth. The whole place erupted in laughter.

The restraunt lady came over with a big smile on her face and my bottle of coke and said in broken english "Farang eat with fork we know." Needless to say this bought another round of laughs. So with my face beat red, I resolved to finish my meal which was very good and very cheap. Satisfied that I at least provided some entertainment for the locals, I paid for my meal and headed back to the train station to wait.

Sitting back in the same spot I noticed poor Tripod was once again all alone, laying with head between his paws, staring dejectedly at the white female further down the tracks, who had found a diffrent mate, with four good legs. Poor Tripod!

At 1:30 my train finally left the station bound for Kanchanaburi, and several stops along the way as well. Including one for a heard of slow moving Brahma cows. Sitting on that god awful wooden bench for three hours hoping my backside would finallly go numb and take away the pain, we pulled in to my destination.

I had originally planned to head down by the river itself, but instead opted for the place clostest to the train station. Apple's guest house. Finally getting into my room, I laid down on the bed determined to take a nap, it was a no go, I just couldn't do it. Instead I wandered down main street, taking in the sights, and noticed a bar beer with a TV playing Sportscenter, so I figured I'd stop for a beer, and find out the days NFL scores.

Well, half way through my bottle of Singha, and the NFL scores still not in sight. What should I catch out of the corner of my eye, but a baby elephant running down the middle of the street. About 20 seconds later it was followed by two preteenage boys yelling and chasing after it trying to catch up. Ahh the wonders of Thailand!!