Phnom Penh

Okay well it is a Capital City but I just don’t get why the cities in Asia are always so damn dirty. I mean rubbish has been created by people as long as people have been around, have they always just tossed their trash on the ground? Where are the trash cans? The respect for the earth (which you would imagine a culture still consisting of many agricultural oriented people would have) It is such a huge turn off to walk down streets with litter everywhere. Bangkok was of course the worst I have ever seen but ug. I did go to the National museum and the S21 prison museum. The later was incredibly creepy and depressing. Such carnage and violence and it was so very recent, or seems so, the 70’s were not that long ago and MANY people from that era are still alive. I was surprised to learn that people who were a part of Pol Pots regime are actually still free and alive, not to mention that there was still fighting in outlying areas till the 90’s! Whoa. Also interesting was the unique blending of Hindu and Buddhist theology in the Angkorian history. There is an interesting mix of Buddhist and Hindu statuses and temples, and all very beautiful. I don’t think I will be here long, between the dirty, rainy, crowded city and the coast, the coast is winning….on a bus again tomorrow :)