Aki Ra

After our six hour bus journey travelling through some seriously poverty stricken villages we arrived in Siem Reap. After looking at the map and not having a clue were we got dropped off we thumbed a tuk tuk with two Polish people already in it, rammed our bags in and hung off the sides for a dollar each! Scared of the police we got dropped off outside the centre by the driver and walked in. We failed miserably to find Hotel 89 recommended by our illegal liquor making hungarian mate we were directed by a moto rider "hotel cheap cheap thata way!" which we listened to for once and he was right! $3 each with air con and ensuite done just fine. After a visit to the night market and some tasty street food we called it a night!

Todays plan was to go the 8th wonder of the world - Angkor Wat...which never happened because we didnt get to bed early enough! So we decided we would visit the other popular tourist trap - The Landmine Museum. We took a tuk tuk (?) and travelled through lots of villages along the way. Many places had wells donated by companies and people from around the world which looked to be helping the local farming immensely. As we drove through in a typical Cambodian way, the children smiled with whatever teeth they had, waved at us and shouted helooo! We arrived at the Landmine museum and read the story about how the founder Aki Ra - an ex child soldier taken from his parents to plant mines for the Khmer Rouge - had dedicated his life to removing what he had planted many years ago. Aki was an expert at his trade and until 2009 his only tools were a spear for prodding and a knife for disassembling. The government made Aki Ra stop using this method and use metal detectors and were protective clothing not his usual shorts and sandals approach. Inside his museum was a short film on his life and many of the deactivated mines Aki Ra has defused. There was a souvenir shop we got tshirts from and other bits as all.the proceeds go to the children. Behind the museum is an orphanage which houses 20 or so children from local communities who are disabled through mine explosions. We spoke to a worker at the Museum named Bill Morse who now lives in Cambodia and has dedicated his life to the cause along with his wife. We had dinner in the Orphan Cafe outside and headed back to Siem Reap for a few drinks in Pub street and an early night for the Angkor Wat tomorrow.
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