Woke up pretty late today at 8AM, the same time that the
girls and I agreed to leave and explore the city yesterday. The “Filipino time”
(a stereotypical reference to being late) in me went down hoping that maybe
they’re still asleep, and I can have my chill break and refreshing shower. But
lo and behold, the Europeans are on time! So I just put on my contact lenses,
brushed my teeth, and left with the same clothes that I have.
We first went to the nearest palace just a couple of blocks
away just to check out what’s happening. Worshiping Buddhists, mini pagodas,
after 10 minutes we’ve seen everything. From there we took a “tuktuk” (a
popular local transport wherein a motorcycle pulls a set of modern carriage
good for 4 passengers) as an arrangement for a whole day tour, meaning they’ll
wait for us. Offers went as high as 45USD, but we were able to haggle with the
kindest driver for a price of 15USD, or 5 dollars each. First destination: the killing fields.
About 45 minutes away from the city, the Killing Fields, I
must say is the SINGLE BEST TOURIST DESTINATION HIGHLIGHT OF MY WHOLE TRIP.
Though I’ve done some reading prior to going here, I still find it hard to
grasp how such humanity crimes could have happened only during the 1970’s. I
believe people then should know better already.
So for my fellowmen who are saying that Marcos’ martial law during the
same time was bad, well they haven’t heard about Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.
