I want to say a huge thank you to your bro and sis. I was trying to arrange something for them in Phnom Penh, but none of my contacts was in the capital at the time, would have made a hell of an interesting addition the trip report.
Cambodia is a massive part of who I am (I had a place there for a few years in rather testing times). It has been a little difficult to make sure that I don't comment too much on this thread, Cambodia back then could provide (for most people) a lifetime of experiences in just one week. It is the one place in the world that I will never return to because the time that I was there was so unique and I don't want to replace my memories with new ones. So seeing the place through others gives me great pleasure - the country is developing extremely well.
There is not a week that goes by where someone says something which triggers a video replay in my mind of the time that I was there. The most difficult thing for myself and the few others who lived there during this time is that it is impossible to make others understand what it was like and the experiences that occurred, a high percentage of those who were there are no longer here.
It was often the smallest detail in a photo that your bro and sis provided that started a video replay in my mind (your brothers seating position whilst having a beer for instance). There are no words that I can say which will give the sense of gratitude that I have for this thread, has moved me far more than I would admit to.
Thank you!
As an added note:
Cambodia has a tragic history, during the Vietnam war Cambodia became an innocent casualty, with a weak puppet government installed it led to the Khmer Rouge taking over the country in 1975. During the next four years somewhere in the region of 2 - 4 million people were killed (over 25% of the population) in an act of unbelievable genocide.
War in the 1980's followed by a complex 3 way Civil war throughout the 1990's and finally in 1999 the country had some semblance of peace for the first time in 50 years. Although I remember in 2000 when the heads of the UN arrived and left in the space of a few hours because they thought the country was too dangerous to stay in.
If any country deserves to prosper then Cambodia is well overdue.