Battambang

Taking our lives in our hands Karin (the Dutch girl from the boat ride and I) hired a motorbike and went exploring around town, the roads are ruled by the "law of the biggest", bikes give way to everyone except people!

We rode out to get a view of the landscape of Cambodia that people often dont get, but to do so required us to trek up a 1000 stairs cut into a limestone cliff, in the heat, of the midday sun, good choice!

The trek lead to a Buddhist monastery which has spectacular views over the countryside, unfortunately in a land that has seen too many wars the view was used to good use by not just monks.

The ruins of fortifications used by Khmer Rouge to fight both the American backed Cambodian govt and to also fight the Vietnamese who finally halted their awful regime is on show all around the mountain.

The worst of it is to be found in several caves that were shrines before the Khmer Rouge used them to kill almost 40,000 men, women and children. The paintings and descriptions of these massacres are familiar sights all over this country but here they are chillingly displayed as the remains of some of the victims are arranged in several tombs that mark where the poor people were thrown down into these caves to their deaths.

I didnt take many pictures here, i just couldnt help but feel sad as our 10 year old guide sang a song to herself as she guided yet another pair of tourists through this grisly piece of her countries recent history. (you get used to seeing kids working most days to help their families survive here, school is just another cost that for many is too much to pay)

We donated money to the fund that is replacing the building used by the Khmer rouge to do such terrible things with a shrine and made our way back down the hill, ready for our next road trip!