People are strange…
It’s 7am in the quiet town of Takeo. Arrived here yesterday from Phnom Penh. Peter and I stopped at the Killing Fields(Choeng Ek) on the route south out of town. It’s the most famous genocidal site in Cambodia and perhaps even the world. Over 100 mass graves are there where 17,000 Cambodian people were murdered during the Khymer Rouge regime. There is now a stuppa at the site full of sculls from the victims. A very sad place…
The rest of the ride was good with a decent road and lots of trees providing good shade. As we continued the ride yesterday, Peter seemed to get impatient with my pace for the first time since we’ve been cycling together. I sensed he was getting annoyed so I told him no problem, just go ahead and I’ll meet you in town later. Well, to make a long story short (ie not to divulge all the details to the WHOLE world), we met for dinner last night and the first thing he said to me was ‘I’d like to continue cycling on my own.’ No room for discussion there! He said he felt like he was being a tour guide and that I was not as eager to ride as him. I still don’t really know what all of it means but I was pretty bummed out not because I was losing my partner but because I thought we had become good friends over the last 2 weeks and now he’s like have a nice life. The whole thing has come to a bizarre and twisted end. I’m happy that I met him though because I would have never attempted to cycle here alone after Vietnam so because of him I’ve had a great cycling experience here. I have 2 more days to cycle now to the coast on my own at which point I’ll take the boat back into Thailand and then work my way back to Bangkok. Life is really strange sometimes…or should I say people are strange.
Miles Biked Today: 60 (96 km)
Time: 5 hours 11 minutes
The memorial temple at the Killing Fields, filled with skulls from the 17,000 Cambodians who were killed at the site
One of the many mass graves
Ready to ride…
Add comment March 4th, 2002
