Last days in Cambodia

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OK, sorry everybody for falling WAY behind on my updates.  I'm now in Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam.  Before leaving Cambodia I had a chance to visit the killing fields of Pol Pot and the massive memorial that is situated there.  Its a stark reminder of the darker side of human nature as the tower is filled with the bones that have been unearthed from the many, many mass graves in the area.  Countless thousands of people lost their live here in very horrible and cruel deaths.

The centre of the tower was filled with skulls from the numerous mass graves in the area. All were executed by the Pol Pot regime.
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After the killing fields I went to a shooting range (not quite appropriate I know) where there was a selection of large rifles and handguns to choose from.  All told I would fire and AK-47, an M60, an M79, as well as two grenades, and the king daddy of them all: the B40 RPG.  It was pretty clear to me that this was the only chance I would get to fire any of these military weapons and I went for it.

While our escort fixed up the M60 I was handed a grenade

The memorial commemorating the victims of the execution camps and killing fields.
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After a drive to an old army training centre to pick up the ammo, we made for a deserted area near the mountains to set up.  First of course was the RPG.  Once the launcher was loaded and pictures all around were taken I finally got to pull the trigger.  I'll will never forget the feeling of the initial explosion of the launch, as well as watching the shell speed toward the hills.  After five minutes of me laughing so hard my stomach hurt, we got the AK-47 lined up.  What a piece of junk.  This old thing was in rough shape and consequently jammed every five rounds.  Next came the M60 and what a beast! This gun weighed in at a hefty 40 pounds, and with the string of ammo dangling out the side I felt pretty powerful.  Again, old equipment so again, a few jams.  While our escort fixed up the M60 I was handed a grenade (minus the metal outer shell for safety) and proceeded to a small knoll where my guide instructed me how to throw it.  After pulling the pin I heaved that thing as far as I could and... waited.  Turns out that the fuse on the grenades are longer than I thought.  After the throw there was at least three seconds before I heard and felt that satisfying BOOM and doubled over laughing.

Our guide from the shooting range prepping the weapons.
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With the M60 repaired by now it was back to business.  I fired the remaininng 10-15 rounds in true Rambo style- spraying bullets left and right.  There was a pond nearby and when the bullets hit the water it was just like in the movies with plumes of water jumping up from the impact of the bullets.  I managed to get some pretty good videos of the whole affair except for the RPG, which was my fault for setting the camera wrong.  The guides offered me a discount on one more grenade and I couldn't refuse.  This time the casing was left on and I was to throw it into the nearby pond.  Of this I was sure to get a proper video.  It can be found on my Facebook page at Facebook.com-just search for my name in the Calgary network.

This is the RPG, my favorite. The picture doesn't show just how big my smile is, or how hard I laughed after firing this monster.
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Back in Phnom Penh for the evening and my tuk-tuk driver is offering to show me around the riverside and take me to a music club that popular with the young'uns.  After washing the smell of gunpowder off and putting on my best shirt (which isn't saying much) we headed out on the town.  The music club was nowhere near full when we pulled up and the acts on the stage were as bad as they were loud.  It was almost painful but definitely entertaining.  Once the DJ woke up and started playing music with a beat the dancefloor filled up with the locals and the evening was underway.  I'm not much of a dancer but my tuk tuk driver was busting a move something fierce.  Using a short break in the music as an excuse we took our leave the Spark Music Club and got some fruit in one of the many markets scattered around the town.  As I had to get up early the next day to catch a bus to Ho Chi Min we called it a night my driver dropped me off at my hotel.

Again, me smiling with weaponry. I still have the pins from the grenades.
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The next day at the depot I discover that the woman at the ticket office forgot to mark down my seat as sold the day before and consequently the seat was sold again.  When I showed up to board I was told that the seat would be occupied but there was still a seat available...next to the driver.  Since there was nothing that I could do I accepted the fact that I had a long ride ahead of me on a very uncomfortable seat.  But it was not to be.  One of the passengers had not shown up and I was given a seat in the middle of a Chinese family.  Seems somebody upstairs is still looking out for me.  The bus ride was pretty uneventful, as was the border crossing, which was nice for a change.  I said goodbye to Cambodia and landmines and said hello to Vietnam.