Speechless - 10 - 12 November 2008

Cambodia is a study in contrasts.  You have the splendor of Angkor Wat and the temple complexes to weigh against the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. After Siem Reap, we went to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

We visited both the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng

We've never visited Auschwitz or Dachau, so I can not make a comparison - but Jen and I didn't say a lot during our time in Phnom Penh.

What I can say is that it is impossible to visit these places and not be affected. You hear about a lost generation in Japan, but there is literally a lost generation in Cambodia.

It's even more depressing when you consider what happened in Rwanda in the '90s and what is happening in the Congo today. We just don't seem to learn - or care.

Perhaps the most depressing part is learning that the U.S. backed the Khmer Rouge as the legitimate government of Cambodia to the U.N.

I wish I had something meaningful to say - but I'm just speechless.