Miscellany

It's hard for me to end this thing. I've so enjoyed remembering the details of the trip, and I think this blog will make those memories clearer and longer-lasting that any I've acquired in other trips. And those of you who have been reading along, and especially those of you who have been commenting, Lynn and Marc and Kathy, have really enhanced the pleasure I've gotten from this blog! Thank you so very much!
So. When I review my photo album, I find several pictures that somehow didn't fit into previous blogs, so I going to post them not, even if they don't fit into any particular chronology. Here goes:

This is the genocide museum at the Killing Fields.  I thought this tree was so beautiful it almost neutralized some of the horror.

 What is there about those who commit genocide that makes them such meticulous record-keepers?  Wouldn't you think you'd want to destroy all the records?  What on earth could make you think you'd be well-thought-of by the future?
But no, the Khmer Rouge kept incredibly detailed records of all the people they arrested, tortured, and killed--mostly all the well-educated people of the country, doctors, engineers, lawyers, writers, journalists--roughly 1/4 of the population.  The records they kept included photographs, of which these are some.

Apparently when the Vietnamese finally rid the country of the Pol Pot regime, the bodies of people who had been tortured to death were found at the downtown prison named S-21.  Photos of the victims were displayed in the very rooms the bodies were found in, together with some of the devices of torture used.

These lovely little Buddhist shrines are all over the country, complete with little incense sticks for passers-by to use to pay their respects.
But this one, right on the grounds of S-21 seemed TOO ironic for my tastes.

There were an awful lot of beautiful temples and palaces in Phnom Penh.  I wish I could tell you more about them, but I was too hot to do anything more than take a picture.

Jemma was JUST telling me to look out for this type of plant when I slipped on the clay and reached out to catch myself on--you guessed it--one of these!  Can you SEE the size of the thorns on this tree?  Stuck my thumb good and hard and gave me a use for some of that terrific antibiotic cream I'd brought.

This sign at the Elephant Valley Project says everything that needs to be said.  This photo, by the way, was taken by Jill.








 

 Even sad-eyed Happy Lucky looked content when she got to eat banana leaves.  In the background you can see the sign marking the sometimes impassable driveway into the Elephant Valley Project.

You met Granny at the wedding.  Well, this was the little house at the Project she had.  She watched the little kids who are children of the mahouts and the other staff.  Every time you'd walk by, the kids would shout "Hello!  Hello!" and "Bye-bye!  Bye-bye" interchangeably.  Even so, their English was incomparably better than my Bunong.  This is a pretty typical Bunong home.






More later!