Don det and into Cambodia to phom phen
From pakse we headed to don det, or an area known as 4,000 islands. It is a fairly tiny little island that is soon going to be very touristy and popular. We found our very humble guesthouse and headed to get a boat to see the freshwater dolphins that live in the Mekong river at the border of Laos and Cambodia. As we were looking we found our Canadian friends we had met at a temple outside of pakse. We stopped to chat for a bit, then a bit turned into an hour and having beers, which then turned into dinner which then turned into us having some great new friends and a lot of fun just hanging out for the night. The next morning we got up and rented a bike and biked down to an even smaller little island nearby where we got a boat to the dolphins. They were far away but we saw lots of them. They are so different looking because they have round little faces instead of the bottlenose or spinner dolphins we are used to! We then biked to an awesome and huge waterfall! It was about four rivers converging together at one point! We then biked to the beach so we could jump in and cool off and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach with our new friends jeff and Lindsay.
The next morning we were off to phnom phen, Cambodia. This was supposed to take most the day but it became even longer when, as usual the bus was late and then again when we had a problem with the tire that took about an hour to fix! But it was bound to happen sometime with the condition of the roads. We made it finally to our place and had dinner and drinks with our new British friend mike.
This morning we were up to get the tuk tuk we hired for the day to take us to the genocide museum. It was so crazy, really interesting and of course heart wrenching. This is the prison the Khmer rouge used to torture people and imprison people in phnom phen. It was so crazy and we actually spent about 3 hours there! We then went out to the killing fields, the area outside the city where they buried thousands of people in mass graves! It is so crazy to all of us that this only took place in 1975!! It just seems so recent! Like we all should have known better after Germany and all the concentration camps. We finished off the day with a quick visit to the Russian museum but found that it wasn’t too special. So now it’s time for dinner and a couple much deserved drinks after putting all our hearts through the wringer today. It was very I treating but definitely not an easy day!
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allegra4wg
Hi Summer; It sounds like another rewarding couple days. I sure am glad that Chelsea is with you. I sleep a little easier knowing that your not alone. I talked to September last night and she said something like you can’t find your dong? I don’t have it. I bet that genocide museum was riveting. And to actually go out to the killing fields. What can you say?! Mans inhumanity to man. Well anyway; good to hear from you. Happy trails! Love you ! dad
Hi Dad! I am happy chelsy is here with you too! But dont worry its completely safe here! Have not had any issues! Yeah i dont know where I put that, well I think I know, but I think it is at Septembers house and she cant find it… so I guess I dont know! oh well! I’ll just use it next time I come back!! The genocide museum was amazing, and so sad, and they dont sugar coat anything like we do in the US! and so were the killing fields… definitely choking back tears! But I guess those things are there so we can learn from our mistakes and try not to have them happen again! love you lots and miss you!