Last day in Asia

So we are officially done with our trip in asia, and i can say for myself that it is bittersweet.  The last day ended on a serious note as we took a trip to the S-21 prison and killing fields outside of the main town in Phenom Penh.  At first it seemed to shock me that i was ignorant to the fact that so much devestation happened here, and within my general lifetime. Over 3 million people were killed under the rein of the Pol Pot regime and seeing the towers of skulls, mass graves, and reading the literature sure snapped me back into reality that we have it DAMN good.  The most incredible part of it is that most people that we interacted with here were involved in it in some way. For example our touk touk driver himself was forced to work for the regime in the rice fields as a 9 year old boy. And how is his attitude now??!!... One of the happiest most pleasant people we met.  Because it has been such a short time from the rein of power, people still have vivid memories of what it was like and therefore have a strong love for what they do have in this life.  It reminds me that i need to remember what amazing things i have in my life and not dwell on the things that i dont. This reality check was also coupled by the extreme division of classes that we saw here where you can walk a block and see a bentley, rolse royce, and an aston martin for sale, and then a woman and her children starving and begging on the streets.  There is still alot of revovery needed in this country, but all said and done and they are doing their best. I also watch the people in Japan and what they are going thru and it makes me feel fortunate that we three were able to take this trip and experience all that we did.  I cannot thank enough the people that we met like Bang, Tex, Wee, Hoa, Hung, Alex, and all the other travellers that we crossed paths with on this trip, because its not where we went that made this trip but the people that came into our lives along the way.  The travellers mentality is so different from the states because there is a short time that you have with people and you make the best of the hour or day or week that you have with them.  You become open and honest faster than you would with the social norms that restrict us back home.  I mean where else would you be at a coffee shop or on a bus or in a hotel and just strike up a conversation with someone or join their travel path for a short while.  Its amazing how this trip changed us and i could blab on for hours on the unsaids and unseen that made this what it is. All i can say is that i hope all three of us take some of what we learned back home with us and use it to inhance our lives in whatever ways we can. And on that note, encourage those around us to do the same and open their hearts and minds to the possibilites around us, because if you have the 5 minutes of down time to read this, your damn lucky. dont take life for granted

We are on our way home now and its not home because of what we are coming home to, but who. We love you all and hope you enjoyed reading about our trip. See you soon...