What Would Happen If...: ... An island had a secret?

I'm currently sitting on my bungalow's front porch early in the morning looking right past the sandy white beach out into the ocean while a guy is practicing his guitar next door. It's peaceful and beautiful with barely any other tourists here. We're all starting to think Koh Rong is the hidden gem of Cambodia - a small island with so much untouched beauty that it sort of makes you think you were the first to discover it.

The scary thing is, everyone on the island is whispering about this big secret that happened a few days ago. Apparently a 55 year old American woman was hiking across the island and went missing. A search party went out to look for her and found her in the jungle with ripped clothes and slashed wrists. All the signs pointed to rape and murder that was trying to be covered up as a suicide. People are saying the body was already burned and the Cambodians here are trying to cover it up because they don't want the story to get out to the public and affect the tourism here. Who knows what parts are true and what are false, but I decided against doing a hike alone this morning. Just to be safe.

Anyway - Koh Rong is still gorgeous and we're excited to be here for a few days especially after being in some of the bigger cities for a week. After a few days in Siem Reap and visiting Angkor Wat, Anna and I headed to Phnom Penh to see the Killing Fields. We did an audio tour and were shocked at how many of the remains were being stored. Bones and fragments were piled up in glass cases all around the site - none looked to be preserved in any way. Apparently when it rains, many bones surface to the top of the wet ground and the groundskeepers have to go around and pick them up. It was extremely sad and impactful. I just finished reading "First they killed my father" which talks about the genocide from the perspective of a five year old who experienced it. Definitely recommend it to learn more about all that went on under the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge when somewhere around 3 million Cambodians were killed.

On a lighter note, Cambodians are extremely sweet and hospitable and this island really is gorgeous. I'm fighting a cold (of course) but am happy to be here and praying a lot for Ellis and my friends and family back home. Miss them all a lot but am trying to enjoy every moment while I'm here.

A few photos...

Apparently this isn't just an American thing?