the globe rover

Morristown, NJ

Memorial Day weekend for me in 2007 was spent with family in New Jersey as one of my cousins married his partner of seven years. Andrew is the third of my New Jersey Johnson cousins to marry and the last of his siblings. And uniquely, they all three were married in the town of Morristown in which they didn’t grow up in but found some affinity.

And although all three siblings (Tracy, Brooke, and Andrew) were married in Morristown, each of their weddings have been quite different and reflective of their personalities. Andrew and his now wife Susan decided to have a small wedding and invite just their close family and friends. The wedding was short and sweet and a great showing of their love and commitment to each other. The reception was much longer and filled with fun, food (thanks for that Andy!), wine, and laughter with new friends.

I had quite a chuckle as the judge that married the Johnsons said that he had two requests from the bride and groom: 1) keep it short and 2) do not use the word “obey”. And the ceremony was short but to the point and more importantly, an official commitment that the two have had to each other for the past years.

One of the things that stood out the most to me during the celebration was the number of people that commented that Andrew and Susan are perfect for each other and how well they compliment each other. To me that is one of the cornerstones of a successful relationship — to compliment one another and not to surpress or try to change each other. But to accept and make each other better people. What a pleasure it is to hear that two people have found that and have now committed their lives to each other.

It was great to be a part of Andy’s wedding and I am touched that he included me. Andy is a wonderful cousin and I am so thankful for the memories we have growing up and for the future to come (which now includes Susan). It was a special day and a great weekend to be a part of. Here’s to another lifetime of happiness for two people that compliment each other!

Flat Rock, NC

One of the reasons that I planned to come back from Europe/SE Asia/Australia by mid May was to attend my friend Jdub’s wedding in Flat Rock, NC. Jdub (aka Jonathan) and I have been friends for about ten years and he is an outstanding person - the kind of friend that everyone should have and the kind of friend that you don’t want to miss their wedding.

The wedding was held at Highland Lake Inn on Wedding Hill which is a wonderful sight for a wedding. The retreat is quite large and includes different lodging types (from cabins to lodges) as well as a lake with all kinds of outdoor activities. I had some trouble with accommodation and in true Jdub style, he connected me with one of his friends that was flying solo and wanted a roommate. I am used to traveling and sharing a room with someone that I don’t know and that along with Jdub’s recommendation made it a go. And his thoughts were right on as Jo and I had a great time and enjoyed the wedding and festivities.

I have always loved weddings and have attended a lot through the years. And as I get older, I appreciate the vows and ceremony more and more. As horrible as it is to say, sometimes the vows seem repetitive and don’t incorporate the couple’s personality into the ceremony. But Jdub and Jill’s wedding was anything but mundane and was a phenomenal representation of sharing vows with each other that are personal, spiritual, meaningful, and downright damn good. It was moving and special and made everyone grin with the happiness shared between these two people. I feel blessed to have been a part of it.

Another first for me was attending a ceremony that incorporates the Jewish faith (Jill’s family is Jewish). It was fun and touching and interesting to see the parts of the ceremony that were Jewish tradition (including the breaking of the glass and the bride and groom lifted on chairs and danced around the room). It was a great incorporation of their families, past, and future together.

I often forget at weddings that you are constantly asked 1) do you know the bride or the groom and 2) how do you know them. I clearly knew the groom and the answer to the second part was funny to remember. I met Jdub in a Michael Hammer Reengineering class on a snowy winter day in Boston. We were both doing similar things at our companies (although in different states) and were sent to the same training class. Somehow, Jdub ended up at the table with two of the ladies I worked with and myself and the rest is history. We spent that week hanging out and enjoying the class together and were good friends ever since (he also is responsible for getting me the job at Qwest and moving me to Denver in the first place :). And although we’ve never lived in the same city, we have been fortunate enough to have camped, hiked, and traveled together.

I love “love” and am so happy when I see two great people together. Jdub and Jill are two of those people and I’m sure they will have a lifetime of happiness. I’m so glad to have been a part of the day that started their marriage and commitment to each other!

Lilburn, GA USA

It never amazes me when I return back to the US and have to fill out the customs form answering which countries I have visited since I left the US last. This time it included Australia, Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, France, Belgium, and England. How amazing is that!

It is true that home is where you make it and I guess since I’ve been somewhat of a vagabond over the last while, that home is still Lilburn, GA. So it was really good to arrive in the airport and have my Mom pick me up (thanks again Madre :). There are things about international living that I already miss. But for now, I have too much to be excited about to think about yet. And nothing like a good home cooked meal with Mom and Dad to settle me right back in.

I’m off tomorrow for a wedding in North Carolina for a good friend (Jdub). Looking forward to it and starting some US adventures! Here’s to be home…

London, England

No visit to London is complete without a trip to the theatre. And after hearing so much about Wicked, I decided I needed to see it.

I was lucky enough to find discounted tickets at lastminute.com and set out for a matinee. And the show did not disappoint! It was a great production and such a great story line that was created for the “wicked” witch from “The Wizard of Oz”. The cast was amazing and even the stage set was impressive. Not only was it a great story but it was also great music. I definitely recommend this musical to anyone who wants to see how the wicked witch got dubbed wicked! Not everything is always what it appears to be…

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

On New Year’s Day 2006 I was standing atop the roof of Africa with a group of fellow travels from BootsnAll. It was an amazing experience and something that I will be proud of and remember for the rest of my life.

The crew at BNA has put together a video with a few highlights of the experience. I just watched it tonight and got a flashback to that amazing week.

If you want to check it out, you can watch it here.

Here’s to fantastic memories!

London, England

I love coming back and visiting London now. Everything is so familiar and comfortable and fun. I’m happy with my decision to leave but it’s fun to visit nonetheless. And I love visiting London and having friends from other places visit at the same time.

Crazy Netter (friend from Denver and travel friend from NZ) is finishing up a European adventure and stopped into London for the day. We met up in the typical London rain and chilly weather to set out and enjoy a day in the great city.

After walking around for hours and enjoying the shops and sights and catching up, we made it to the Ritz where we had hoped to have afternoon tea. No luck as we were quickly told that we needed to book six weeks in advance (and were reminded of the appropriate dress code if we were able to book). So we went for option number two which was Claridge’s Hotel.

We arrived knowing that we didn’t have a great chance but ended up lucking out and after waiting only about 15 minutes were sat for tea. I love afternoon tea and today was so enjoyable. For the next three hours, Lynette and I talked, ate, drank champagne and tea, talked some more, ate some more, drank more tea, told our waitress “no more”…you get the picture. It was wonderful in a great environment (violin player and pianist included) and with great service for London. And the food was really good as well.

And as if that wasn’t enough of a food splurge for the day, there was one more meal in the works. I was meeting up with Noelle (another friend from Denver that’s been living in London for several years) and invited Tony (friend living in London on an assignment with the same company I used to work with) and Lynette along. So the four of us set out from Notting Hill tube station to find some grub. And did I mention that it was great to be back in my old stomping ground?

Noelle is great at picking new and old restaurants around London that are always fun to try. And yet again, she did not disappoint. After a beer at the Westbourne pub, we headed to Crazy Homies for some close to authentic Mexican food.

Now you may wonder why they call it Crazy Hommies, as we did, and all I can figure is that it is because the crazy environment, music, and staff. Some of them were outrageous but all in a great way (nothing like being harassed to do shots while we were sipping away on our water). The food was honestly some of the best Mexican I have had in London - and that does say alot. And although a bit loud at times (stomping violin country-ish music?) it was great fun. And good to catch up with friends as well.

Ahhh, good old rainy London. Nice to be back and touch the old. Treadmill here I come!

Reims, France

Ready for a weekend adventure, my friend Chuck and I decided to take a day trip to Reims to check out the champagne region of France. The city is really beautiful and is stunning with the Notre Dame Cathedral in the center of town. Because of the cathedral and two other sites in the city, Reims was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our first stop on the champagne tour was at Piper Heidsieck. I am not quite sure what our expectations were but we were surprised by our visit. The “caves” are what you actually visit in and around the city and not the actual vineyards. Fair enough but the tour was actually more like disneyland gone bad…

After descending several stories into caves and stopping along the way to read about the champagne making process (with the standard self-guided tour models), we entered an area where we had to board a cart that was guided through the caves. It was a slow moving theme park cart that lead us through a concrete construction model of the champagne making process. It was quite cheesy although in hindsight it was neat to be down in the caves where the champagne is created/stored.

The tour lasted about 20 minutes and when we ended we entered the tasting room where for our €11 we got to taste one small glass of vintage Piper champagne. And although the champagne was quite good, it was hardly worth our money.

After the first tour, we opted to skip out on any other tours (although we did stop at another cave). Instead we headed into town to walk around. And the cathedral did not disappoint as it is massive and amazing and huge! It truly is a work of art in the middle of the city.

We were hungry for lunch although it was already almost 5 pm so we found a nice little outdoor cafe to get some food. After scanning the very extensive menu, we were ready to order. And when we did so we were told that they only thing they had for “mange” was croque monsieur. No problem, we’d take two.

About a third of the way through Chuck’s meal, he stopped and asked me what I thought this thing was on his plate. There was no mistaking that it was a huge bug that had either been in the salad or under the sandwich. It wasn’t just a bug but a nasty big hairy fly type bug. It grossed us both out (I could no longer eat my food) and so we sent our plates away. It still makes me nauseous to think about…no telling what we may have eaten that we didn’t see!

Needless to say, Reims is a beautiful city with plenty to see and do. And the drive from Brussels is really nice with rolling green hills in every direction and little towns with huge church steeples in the middle. Just make sure to check your sandwiches for bugs if you visit! Or better yet, stick to drinking the champagne!

Antwerp & Brussels, Belgium

I’m back in Brussels visiting Charles L. Wilkinson the third, LLP (aka Chucke’). It’s great to be back in Brussels again in such a quaint European town that is so comfortable. Chuck happened to be in Paris on business so I ditched my train ticket and rode back with him.

Last night we decided to drive to Antwerp for dinner. It’s only a 45 minute drive from Brussels so I took the train from the city centre to Mechelen and met him near work to drive from there.

I had no expectations of Antwerp but really loved the city. It’s a smallish big European city with tons of character and amazing architecture. The different plazas with huge cathedrals and monuments are picturesque. There are cafes everywhere with plenty of sidewalk dining. We had a great walk around the town and out to the river Scheldt that has served as a major European port.

Chuck showed me a really cool hidden gem in the city. There is an elevator that is masked by a small square building that leads about 90 feet below ground to a tunnel that runs below the river Scheldt from one side to the other. During the wars it was used as a bomb shelter but is now used as transport from one side of the river to the other. It is about 1/4 of  mile long and is wide enough to be used for bikes as well as people. Very cool hidden aspect of the city. I’m thinking it should be used on the Amazing Race…

We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant, Verona, right off of the main plaza. It was good and had a great ambiance. There were plenty of local Flemish people as well as a spattering of Americans (including two loud and obnoxious guys from NY). We especially loved our waiters hair which was dark in a short mohawk-ish style with a stripe of orange down the middle. We dubbed him the Cheetapine (I thought porcupine and Chuck thought cheetah).

After dinner we headed back to Brussels although we almost took a quick detour on the A12 to Boom just because it sounded like a fun thing to do… So glad we made the drive to Antwerp. It’s another great European city with plenty of character.

Paris, France

I love Paris. And I have been lucky enough to visit Paris frequently over the last five years. Each time I visit I discover a new part of the city that I didn’t know existed. This trip was no exception as I explored some new areas and enjoyed the great spring vibe in the city.

Some great family friends (my French family), the Morels, live in Paris and are kind enough to let me keep coming back to visit. They spend most of their time in an amazing little village just an hour outside Paris called Enencourt Leage. And this visit was especially nice as their daughter, Jennifer, who was born in South Africa with Tanya and I was in town from Mexico.

We spent our days in the city wandering around different areas and taking in the spring weather. In the evenings and mornings we were in the country in Normandy enjoying the peace and tranquility. The city is energizing and invigorating and the country is relaxing and refreshing. It is a perfect combination.

Gudrun (my French mother) is a painter and has some amazing work. She currently has an exhibition in a bank in Gisors. She took me to see the paintings and it is thrilling to see her work hanging. If you’re interested in painting, check out her work here.

I have decided it is finally time to learn French. I keep saying that I will but have not made the effort yet. But hopefully when I get back to the States, I will find some classes and get working on it. And by my next visit, I might actually be able to say more than hello and goodbye in French. I find it frustrating to visit another country and expect them to speak to me in my native tongue (especially given that the Morels speak French, English, Spanish and German).

I am fortunate to have such good friends in France and am looking forward to my next visit already! Merci beaucoup to the Froggies!

London, England

I had a last minute change of plans (not because of, but after my mobile phone was stolen at the Bangkok airport and it wore me out)… I decided to fly into London a day early rather than stay in Singapore for the night.

It’s great to be back and feels really comfortable. It’s good to have that “back home” feeling even though it isn’t home anymore. This is a quick stopover as I leave on Eurostar in the morning for Paris. But I’m looking forward to the time I’ll have here Monday week.

Cheers to the UK!

Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

One of our optional activities in Phnom Pehn was a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels just outside of town where the Vietnamese hid, worked and fought from during the wars. Our entire group was curious to learn more and see the tunnels.

We arrived with our guide and saw a short film on the history along with a model of the tunnels. The tunnels were built over 40 years beginning in the wars in the first half of the 1900s. They were also used during the Vietnam War to hide from the Americans as well as to attack the American bases. Entire groups and families lived within the tunnel system for extended periods of time. It was thought provoking to say the least to be at this spot and think about what had happened between our two countries.

The first part of our tour visited some demonstrations (using models of people) of life during the active days of the tunnels. They included sewing areas, food areas, workshops, etc. As we started this part of the tour the weather turned and the clouds moved in.

As we neared the tunnels, we were shown a patch of ground where a tunnel entrance was hidden. We would never have found it had it not been pointed out. It was literally a tiny square wooden lid that was the entrance to a tiny hole (it looked about 15″ x 10″). One of the local Vietnamese working at the tunnels showed us how they removed the leaves covering the lid and climbed feet first into the hole. It was amazing how small and well hidden the holes for the tunnels were.

Next it was our turn to try. It was amazing how even some of the big guys in our group could fit into the tiny hole. It was eerie to climb into the holes but an experience I wanted to have. The process is to lower yourself feet first with hands in the air and then bend to the ground to cover up. Once you are in the hole, it is a very confined area with nothing but climbing through the tunnels left to do. Amazing that the people using the tunnels didn’t get more claustrophobic. It was also quite troublesome to imagine the use of the tunnels and hiding during the Vietnamese War when so many Americans were killed.

The tunnel system is quite extensive and went down three levels. There were rooms built for meetings and gathering (including use for eating), rooms for sleeping (tiny areas), first and second level hiding areas, and even escape tunnels to climb to the river and escape through the water as a last option. It was truly an ingenious offense that the Vietnamese built.

By the time we got to crawl through a tunnel that has been widened for tourists to visit, it was pouring rain. Thus, our tour turned into high gear in order to get us through everything in the rain. It was rather disappointing as we didn’t get to truly enjoy the day. Our guide decided we were going to run through the rest of the visit in order to “get it done”. We were all pretty disappointed and knew that we had missed seeing some of the tunnel grounds.

One part that bothered me during the tour was a shooting range. In one section of the grounds, they have a shooting range set up where anyone interested can shoot AK-47s as well as other heavy artillery. I have no problem with people that want to shoot at targets for fun or as a skill. But I did struggle with having the shooting range located right where so much fighting and death happened in the relatively near future. A few of our group did some shooting and I had no issues with them wanting to do that. Though for me personally, it was the wrong place to have the range.

It was also an interesting history lesson for me to learn more about the Vietnam War as well as America’s attempted attacks to uncover the tunnels. There were at least four different attempts (one included using dogs) to discover where the tunnels were hidden. And although a very small percentage of the tunnels were uncovered, the Americans were not successful at destroying the Cu Chi Tunnels.

It was another interesting experience in understanding more of my countries history as well as the ingenious offense that the Vietnamese built.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

During our month trip we were lucky enough to have two birthdays to celebrate. The first was for our single Welsh bloke, Dave, for his 24th birthday. We celebrated in Laos with a Kinky Combat theme (picture 12 people dressed up in combat with face makeup to accompany). It was a fun night but rather tame after three days of hard core celebration of the new year with water in Laos.

The second birthday was this past Thursday for our youngest group member, Gunilla, from Sweden who turned 22. For her birthday we started with a Pirates theme and then added Glamorous after we all had dresses made in Hoi An, Vietnam. Thus, the them became Glam-rates.

After a full day of temple viewing at Angkor Wat (beginning with the sunrise at 5:30 am), we left the hotel at 6:15 pm for some fun at the Siem Reap hotspots. Again, use your imagination and picture 12 group members dressed in everything from pirate attire to “dumb and dumber” to glamorous dress.

Two of the boys (the aforementioned Dave, and Scott from Oz) took some male bonding time in Hoi An (aka “secret squirrel business”) and had suits made that resembled the dumb and dumber look. They were basic suits worn with a bowtie, tophat, and cane. The kicker was the color of the suits…one in bright orange and one in bright blue. And the hats were quite large and goofy. They looked great and made quite a commotion everywhere we went.

Our fearless leader, Captain Vague, had some artists pants and a shirt made in Hoi An and with his scarf (worn daily but for the event minus the baseball cap) closely resembled a pirate. The ladies all had their dresses on and looked fabulous. I had a Vietnamese traditional dress made in Hoi An and wore that (lots of fun but quite warm given it was long sleeved with long pants…).

We started the night at our favorite spot FCC (Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Cambodia) for their happy hour. The next stop was a quick drink at Raffles for one of their famous Singapore Slings. It was a great bar and we had fun making quite an impression. After happy hour, we headed to dinner at the Soup Dragon which turned out to be rubbish. Not so much the food but the fact that the service was horrendous and three of us (myself included) never got our food. Besides that, they ran out of numerous dishes including chicken and had to keep asking for alternatives. I had ordered some soup and after everyone who had food had eaten, they told me they were out. Needless to say, our group wasn’t happy.

For the real celebration our group visited the Temple Bar and Angkor What?. Temple was quite mellow and a quick getaway for Emma and I (thanks for the shots my friend ;). Ankor What? was great fun and was known in town for being a great place to go out and dance. Our group did plenty of that and stayed quite late. We met lots of people throughout the night including a group of boyz from California who we had fun dancing with. All in all, it was a great night and good fun was had by all!

The next morning (Friday), our group had a 7 am start for a full day of driving on coaches back to Bangkok. The first half of our trip was on a pretty terrible van to the Thai border. The road is known as the “bumpy” or “dancing” road. We had heard about the road but had no idea what we were in for until the ride started.

We had about five to six hours of bouncing along a dirt road filled with potholes in a bus with terrible suspension. The Cambodian government has postponed paving the road (and it’s the main route to Thailand) in order to keep people using the local airways which is more expensive. Needless to say, the road is crap and makes for a very long and annoying ride.

With about two hours to go, the weather turned and it started to pour. Now imagine this terrible road with potholes galore now turned into mud. It was horrendous and amazing that there weren’t constant wrecks. I did feel bad for the people on the motos with no covering (as well as all those that had broken down along the way).

Thankfully we made it without any interruptions. We picked a bad night to go out but it was fun nonetheless! And anyone interested in going from Siem Reap to Bangkok, I highly recommend buying the air ticket… it must be worth the price!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Several people in our group had booked our Intrepid Trip (The Great Indochina Loop) primarily for visiting Angkor Wat. I, again, have to admit that I was not as knowledgeable about Angkor Wat as I should have been. That said, again I put my reading and inquisition skills to work and learned as much as possible about these ruins.

Angkor Wat is a series of temples outside Siem Reap that date back thousands of years. The various temples and sites have gone through much devastation through Cambodian wars and are still in the reconstruction phase. The complex of temples is huge and spans hundreds of kilometers.

Our trip included a three day pass for touring Angkor Wat of which we would use two with a local guide. Upon arrival in Siem Reap, we stopped at the entrance to Angkor Wat and had to get a photo ID made for our passes. Our leader decided that we were going to pull faces in our pictures in a friendly competition. Needless to say, there were some good pics going around (I choose the “my mommy says fat people can’t smile” look).

The first day of touring for our group was Wednesday. Unfortunately, I had been up all night the night before with some type of 24 hour bug. The loss of everything in my system and lack of sleep caused me to be exhausted and not able to make it through much of the day. I did make it to the first set of temples at Angkor Thom as well as by the Elephant Terrace and Bayon. Within a couple of hours I was exhausted and made my way back to the hotel for an afternoon of sleep. The rest of the group continued on a 3-4 km walk to Bayon and then to the Jungle Temple (one scene from “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” was filmed there). They finished the day with a sunset view over another temple sans the sun.

Day two was an extremely long and eventful day. We started at 5 am with a sunrise tour of the main temple at Angkor Wat. It turned out to be a beautiful sunrise and hopefully created some great photos. But the star of the morning had to be one of the temple monkeys that had a liking for one of our group members, Achem from Germany.

It was quite entertaining to watch the monkey groom Achem as they do each other looking for bugs and cleaning. He stuck around and also enjoyed some of our tea and anything else he could find. I had fun taking pictures and following him around loving time with primates. It was unusual as the monkeys usually don’t come out until the afternoons.

The tours of the temples were amazing. Mostly because of our guide, Ly, who is a local Cambodian (about 28 years old). His knowledge of the history is amazing. He shared all kinds of info with us about the history, the fighting, the symbolism, and the religions related to the temples. They are truly an amazing sight and learning ground for the history of Cambodia. They are all in a process of being reconstructed to a better state. It has been slow though due to the excavation which entails digging through potential land mines and then determining what goes where. As well, some of the statues and stones have been destroyed and need recreating.

The temples are made out of two types of stone: limestone and volcanic stone. The volcanic stone is used for the sturdy foundation whereas the limestone is used for engraving. The engravings are amazing and tell all types of stories, have great statues, and include sanskrit that a limited number of people can read. There are various types of temples include traditional looking Wats (or temple) as well as pyramid styles. And the temples represent a vast array of things including the three Hindu gods.

The second afternoon, only three of us opted to continue on to more temples. It was an incredible afternoon as Ly shared all kinds of information about life in Cambodia as well as real estate and land ownership. We had fun touring and understanding more about the local life.

After visiting the temples first hand, I can understand why the Cambodians believe the temples should be one of the seven wonders of the world (although they struggle with the internet voting as such a low percentage of Cambodians have internet access). If you have a minute, check them out and then vote here (all the peeps in Cambodia would appreciate it).

The temples are truly unique and amazing to visit. Angkor is a great place to learn more about the Cambodian history as well as plenty of religious insight. A recommended stop for anyone in Southeast Asia.

Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

How would you deal with telling 20 strangers a day about the murder of your father and the deaths of three brothers and sisters due to starvation and disease? How would you deal knowing that the murderers of your family are part of the society you walk and live in every day?

That question was answered for us by our guide through S-21 Genocide Museum and The Killing Fields during our tour yesterday. Ron was born in 1970 and of his 10 family members, only six survived the devastation through the second half of the ’70s. Ron is amazing and I have so much admiration for him as a person and leader for younger generations.

The first part of our tour was through the S-21 Genocide Museum where almost 17,000 Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge for being enemies. And those enemies included anyone that was an intellectual (this could be determined by 1. wearing glasses, 2. no calluses on hands and obviously not a farm worker, or 3. lighter skin obviously from not working in the fields). This included doctors, teachers, graduates, government workers, and basically anyone that worked outside of farms.

Of the 17,000 people that crossed into S-21 (Security 21 which was a former school), only seven people survived. They were doing work for the Khmer Rouge and thus, when the area was taken over by the Vietnamese they were the only ones still alive. There were 14 dead bodies found in tiny cells. They were 14 Cambodians that had been tortured through the most unhumane methods imaginable.  There are now 14 graves in the grounds to memorialize all the thousands that were killed.

Walking through the museum was difficult. We saw tiny cells where women were raped, murdered, and jumped committing suicide to escape their fate. We saw rows and rows of pictures of the faces of the boys and men and women and children that passed through the prison. We saw the tools that were used to torture the prisoners. And we saw pictures of the soldiers that committed the heinous crimes.

After completing the tour of the museum, I asked our guide how he manages to face the museum on a regular basis after what he went through and how he felt being there (in the beginning he made it clear that we could ask whatever we would like). His response tore me up… He told me that sometimes he can’t talk and that is why he smiles so much. He smiles to prevent losing his words and keeping his emotions together. He wants the world to know what the people went through. And to prevent it ever happening again. What a courageous man! And on top of his guiding, he also supports his own three children as well as neighbor’s kids in school (the neighbors are factory workers and cannot afford the $2+ per day for each child of which, one dollar goes to the teacher and one dollar goes to food).  He also runs an English school and for two years has taught 20 kids between 7 and 16 years of age to speak English. What a hero!

After the S-21 museum, we drove about forty minutes to The Killing Fields which is where prisoners were taken from S-21 to be murdered and buried. It is a moving experience to be there. There are over a hundred mass graves where almost 20,000 Cambodians were buried. They have dug up several of the mass graves (they were originally dug up for looting to get gold and jewels off the victims although those belongings had already been taken by the murderers). In them they found children and babies, women without clothing, and men without heads (their heads had been thrown in the pond nearby). I cannot begin to explain what it was like to be there. Walking around these mass graves, you see bones sticking out of the ground as well as clothing. There is no way to avoid it as it is everywhere.

In the middle of the grounds is a stuppa where there are thousands of skulls and clothing remains to memorialize all the people that were murdered. It is moving. It is disgusting. It is tragic. It touched me and is something I will never forget.

Each of us was emotionally moved by the experience through Cambodia. There is such a tragic past but such hope for the future. The people that experienced the genocide of the ’70s want people to know and be aware. So I encourage everyone to read and learn about the past. And I hope that no one else ever has to suffer anything like it.

Here’s to heroes like Ron who are making a difference for the future of Cambodia!