Well, it's been busy since leaving Sihanoukville and arriving in Phnom Penh and now Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Not a lot to see in Phnom Penh, loads of traffic, not a lot of charm and lots of traffic. That seems to be the norm. The highlight, if you can call it a highlight is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, both revealing the painful past of Cambodia. Tuol Sleng Museum is site of the former Security Prison 21 or S-21, the largest center of detention and torture in the country that saw 17,000 men, women and children taken and killed between 1975-1979. The compound itself, a former school, looks unobtrusive upon entering. A closer look inside and around the courtyard tells a different story. Before entering your are faced with the 14 graves of the final men and women found inside the prison. The outside of the building is enclosed in barbed wire and there are bars on all of the windows. Inside the buildings, single rooms have only a metal bedframe and shackles. A black and white photograph hangs on a single wall, revealing a victim that once occupied the room. On another floor there are large rooms with mugshots of all of the men, women and children that were registered in the prison and later executed in the killing fields, many of them children. The killing fields themselves are not what I expected. At first glance, there are large trees, green grass and a large pond lending an air of serenity to the area. It is the incredible monument (you'll have to turn sideways to see the pic) that catches your eye, a reminder of those that lived and died; skulls fill the the monument from floor to ceiling. It's quite an incredible sight and really brought me back to the reality of what has happened in the very place that I am standing. When walking further in, there are are areas with mass graves, bones and scattered teeth lie beneath one of the trees surrounded by decomposing clothes. Hard to believe that something so terrible as this has happened in my lifetime. It makes me truly thankful to be living the life that I do. Needless to say, I was anxious to leave Cambodia to see what Vietnam had to offer.

I am now on my second day in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). My god, the traffic is incredulous. Motorscooters come from every direction in mass droves. It takes great strength to work up the courage to cross the street when multiple vehicles are coming at you. It's getting a little easier though. Basically, if you wait for them, you'll never get across. The city itself is a nice change from the uncleanliness of Cambodia. Still garbage everywhere and people pee right on the side of the sidewalk?!, but at least they have flush toilets. What a bonus. Today, was outside Ho Chi Minh at the Mekong Delta, a tourist trap. A lot of travelling on boats; big boats and small boats, eating a really mediocre meal and looking at a bunch of merchandise. I did hold a snake though. Kind of neat, but probably wouldn't do it again.Tomorrow, we head to the CuChi Tunnels and will be walking around to see a little more of the city. Should be a bit more interesting. Leaving tomorrow on my first ever overnight train to Nha Trang. Sounds exciting to me but after 14 hours, I'm sure I'll be over it.