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Published: November 4th 2008
Well, it's been awhile since I've updated this... we've been really busy, and the internet's not the best here. So, I guess I'll start from the beginning. And I'll probably add pictures later.
We took a boat up the Mekong River from Vietnam to Cambodia, and it was evident from the very start that the two countries are very different. The vegetation was our first hint- the trees in Cambodia were much taller and older than the ones we had seen in the Mekong Delta, courtesy of the war, which destroyed and defoliated much of the South. Then of course, Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, not Communist, like Vietnam. There were a lot more foreigners there, the traffic was much more normal (comparatively), and the food was spicier, with Thai and western influence. Cambodia was a nice change from the more institutional Vietnam; even the architecture reflected it. (I'll put pictures up when I have a chance). But the more grandiose, flamboyant beautiful architecture in Cambodia is very different from the institutional, communist, functional, modern style we've seen in the Mekong Delta.
The first afternoon there we visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh. It was
really neat to see. We saw the throne hall, lots of little pagodas, and the famous Silver Pagoda, so named for the tiles on the floor, which are one kilogram of silver, each! Very decadent. The Pagodas were crammed full of artifiacts and Buddha, gifts to the pagoda and royal crowns. It was really interesting. The architecture and the grounds were very beautiful as well. We also got stuck in a traffic jam because the King was coming back and they closed all the main roads. While we were waiting at an intersection, we were able to see his black car, between the motorcade, so indirectly, we actually saw the king! hehe.
That evening we went to The Meta House, which is an avante garde coffee shop/bar/art gallery in Phnom Penh. We saw an interesting mixed media photography exhibit entitled "Khmer Obscura." It a lot of pictures around the City, and I enjoyed it a lot. Then we went upstairs and watched some short documentaries on contemporary Khmer music. It was really neat. We met one of the producers/singers/composers there, and that was fun. I really liked this band called Thom Thom. They had some French lyrics as well
as Khmer ones. It's so refreshing to see a lively art scene like this- we really never saw one in Can Tho, which is sort of disappointing since it's a pretty large college town, and you might think there'd at least be a few coffee shop type places with local art on the walls or something. Even Sherman has that, sort of. Anyway, I felt like in some ways there was more culture in Cambodia, or "intellectual, artistic" culture, and I hope that doesn't make me sound elitist.... Not all of Cambodia is like that I am sure- we went to the Aristans d'Angkor, a workshop for underpriveldged people and they just learned crafts by copying, and there was not creativity at all involved it in. They concentrated on making antiquities and carbon copies of wood, stone, ceramics, silk paintings, drawings, etc. It was a little disappointing.
We had a few lectures on NGO's in Cambodia which were interesting. One was this organization called International Rivers, and then another lecture was talking to His Excellency, this man who was some Secretary of State for the Environment and Natural Resources. He was friends with the King. And the King is
Admiring bird
The murals around the Royal Palacesingle, in case anyone wondered lol. but unfortunately not at all attractive. oh well, lol.
We also went to the Tuol Senge (sp?) Genocide Museum. It was the school building turned prison for the Khmer Rouge. I don't really know what to say about it. It was very sobering and chilling being there. The rooms were all open, and we could go in and wander around and touch the iron beds, the shackles, the individual cells made of wood or brick... we saw the blood still on the floor, which they couldn't wash off... they also had pictures of all the men, women and children who stayed there, and were later killed there, or on the Killing Fields. Most of the people in the portraits were scared, some composed and defiant, even the children. One young man's picture sticks in my mind- he was smiling. Some of the men had bandages on their faces from being beaten already, and some of the people were disabled. There was one picture of a woman and her child. It seems even worse that it only happened thirty years ago. It's so recent, but I feel like we don't know enough about it,
and the other recent genocides that have happened or are going on. I know a little more about the Khmer Rouge now than I did in the beginning, but still not much. I am glad to have gone there, despite how difficult it was to see it all. And I really don't know what else to say about it.
We met with some Cambodian students from the University for dinner one night, and that was also very interesting. They were very outgoing and eager to ask questions and tell us about what they were studying; it was so easy to talk with them. We had had a little conference lecture with them earlier, and in class they also asked questions and spoke up, in stark contrast to most of the Vietnamese students we have met, or seen in class. There they are all so silent, afraid to speak up and lose face. Of course there are exceptions, but overall, it was much more pleasant speaking with the Cambodian students in the classroom setting. That might not sound fair of me to say that, but it was such a noticeable difference.
Then we took another boat to Siem Reap,
Bayon Temple
I thought this temple was more beautiful than Angkor Wat itself on Tonle Sap Lake. It too was a very touristy town, with lots of Western influences. From there we went on a day trip to Angkor Wat and saw just a little bit of that. It was great to be there, but I wish we could have spent more time! We sort of "wasted" the morning seeing the East and West Barays, which were their sources for water, and it was interesting to see them, and how huge they were, and how important, but if we could have stopped and seen some of the ruins we rushed past on the bus, that would have been nice. As it was, we were still able to see Angkor Wat, the main complex area and the Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom. I liked Bayon Temple a little more, I think, but again, I wish I could have seen more of it. It was fun imagining how it would have been in its prime. And there were some neat temples? set off a bit from the main one, but still within the gates, that hardly anyone visited, so we just hung out there for a while, having it all to ourselves. That might have
The many faces of Bayon Temple
Ancient civilizations are fascinating been my favorite part of Angkor Wat. So, we didn't see any of the "real" jungle temples, but we got a taste, and I'd love to go back, or see more, or compare them to the ones in Peru that I have seen, or go to Central America and see some Mayan ones....
We went to a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake soon after that. We took a boat through the "flooded forest" which was really interesting (and the boat ride harrowing!). We got lost in the flooded forest and had to follow some local fishermen out to the lake, which we had been trying to avoid because it has larger waves, and we were in a small boat. But there was nothing we could do to avoid it, apparently, since we'd gotten lost, so it was full speed ahead. It was exhilerating, but also nerve-wracking because we definitely tipped pretty far over sometimes, but we never capsized. And, I don't know much about boating, but we were going parallel in the waves, so we were rocking side to side a lot, and I thought perhaps we should be meeting the waves head on, perpendicular, but I don't
know. It was probably one of the most exciting boat rides I've been on.
And the trees in the flooded forest were about 15 meters tall, and the water, since it's the wet season, was eight to ten meters deep! So we only could see parts of the trees. The trees in normal conditions would be about 30 meters tall. They served as a storm break for the village, as well as a source for natural resources like fish, watersnakes, firewood, and birds, which they aren't supposed to poach. The forest has been decreasing in size rapidly, from 1 million hectares to now about 300,000 ha, even though there's a biosphere reserve there, and all of that. They also have flooded shrublands, too, which was sort of hilarious to see. I could just imagine it being dry and seeing tumbleweeds, except it was water, not dry. Anyway, it's depressing to see amazing places being lost. I guess that's why I study environmental studies 😊
So the floating village, Prek Toal, was really neat! It was different from the "floating islands" of Lake Titicaca in Peru, but at least as interesting. All the houses floated, as did restaurants, stores,
and the school. Boats of course were the main transportation, and in the dry season, everyone moved their houses out onto the River, as the forest dried up. Then, when it was the rainy season again, they'd move the houses back into the shelter of the trees. One of the more lucrative incomes was raising crocodiles for leather, and the house where we stayed raised crocodiles. They too were in a floating wooden cage with chain link and wood on top. It didn't look very secure, but none escaped while we were there hehe. And we ended up star gazing on top of them, seeing the Milky Way as clear as I have ever seen it, and a few shooting stars! it was beautiful and relaxing, until one of the crocodiles grumbled at us and we all scurried off in a hurry. It was an experience. We also saw lots of endangered birds when we went into the core of the biosphere- a grey-headed fish eagle, the second largest bird in the world- some endangered pelican, lots of coromrants and darters, a few bee eaters, and various other birds. It was pretty cool.
When we returned to Siem Reap,
we took a cooking class and learned how to make a Khmer dish called "Amok," which is a little like curry. We also learned how to make this really good green mango salad and sweet potato tapioca dessert soup. I love Khmer food! It's so yummy! I have the recipe, so maybe if you're lucky, I'll cook it sometime hehe.
Then we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and driving through the countryside was beautiful! It was all so green and lush. We saw lots of water buffalo, cattle, and even horses- the first horses I've seen in two months! It made me sad to think, though, that only thirty years ago people were being murdered in these little towns by the Khmer Rouge. It reminded me of how I felt driving through Normandie, France, on my way to see the Beaches, and the land was so lovely, but it was sobering to think that so many people had lost their lives in a beautiful, calm peaceful town....
We celebrated Halloween in Hanoi, which was pretty much one of the chillest Halloweens I've ever had. We bought a lot of American candy- M&M's, Snickers, gummies,
Puzzling Uses
Not sure, but it's beautiful Peach O's, and a great find- Lion bars! They were really good. And a few people wore costumes consisting of Vietnamese workout clothes- green spandex and thong leotards. It was pretty awesome!
From Phnom Penh we flew to Hanoi, and have been here for about a week, I think. It's been an adventure the whole time we've been here. There's a typhoon somewhere and it has been raining and flooding a lot! We went to a store and when we came out the water was about a foot deep and we had to find a drier path home. A lot of motorbikes stopped working because of all the water everyone had to drive through. That night we walked through water about knee deep to get to dinner, which was less than a block away. I've never been in a real flood, but it's been causing lots of problems in Hanoi. We were supposed to go to this rural homestay 150 km away for two nights, but the first day we couldn't get out of the city because of the flooded roads! We drove around trying to leave for HOURS, often in water around 2-3 feet deep. People were wading
through it, walking their bikes or motorbikes.... we saw some iintersting things-slabs of half a pig on the back of a motorbike, partly submerged in flood water. gross. and then some people capitalized on the ineffiecient transportation, and had rafts for hire. Sometimes the water came through the door of the van, but luckily it wasn't much of a problem. We finally gave up and turned around and went back to the hotel, which we had to rebook.
We also saw the famous Hanoi water puppet show, which was pretty fun. I liked it. And we went to this commune when we finally got out of the city, after a nine hour bus ride there, and then six on the way home. So long! But we had a lot of fun, mostly. And we went on a bike ride there, which was fun, but wet and muddy and slippery. It was fun. Oh, and some of us had 3-4 shots of rice wine with BREAKFAST- so at 7.30 am! crazy.... and also slightly uncooked jellyfish- another first.
Anyway, now we're going to a Muong minority village homestay tomorrow with the other group, so that should be good. Hopefully
we can get out of the City. It rained more today. Anyway, pictures to come! Hope we have an awesome new President tomorrow....!
Late update-- we DO have an awesome new President-elect! And the Muong Village in Cuc Phuong was amazing! We also saw lots of butterflies in the rainforest, and awesome huge trees, and then we went to a primate sanctuary in Cuc Phuong National Park. They take illegally captured monkeys and reintroduce them into the wild, which is so wonderful! It was founded by a German man. They also have a breeding program for the animals that can't be reintroduced, as well as a semi-wild place they go before the real "wild". It makes me really happy to see this side of conservation and preservation. We also went to a turtle rescue and breeding center, also in the park. They can reintroduce turtles much more quickly, since they breed a lot faster than monkeys. I've always liked turtles, so it was fun seeing them, as well.
We also took a night hike to a "pre-historic man cave". The hike was up some really steep stone steps, of sorts, which were really slippery and had at least
one really big tarantula (beside where I had placed my hand, in the dark, unknowingly...) The cave was nice and open, which I like, and we saw some burial places and it was a cool cave, in general.
Then, in the homestay in the Muong Village, we went on a little walk up a small hill, and saw the beautiful view, and a waterfall, looking down on the terraced rice fields. We were there right at the time that farmers were coming home, and bringing their animals out of the fields where they had been grazing, so it was neat to see some water buffalo. Even though we were on the other side of the creek, mama buffalo wasn't too happy to see us, and made mean faces at us. But the northern Vietnam is very beautiful, and if I were to recommend visitors see one national park, it'd have to be Cuc Phuong, even though I personally like Tram Chim better. (In the Mekong Delta, with the Plain of Reeds, and lots of birds).
We took a super long train ride back from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, which was really lots of fun. We had
The Flooded Forest
Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia sleeper cars, and slept, played cards, ate nasty train food (pig hearts), and talked. It was lots of fun! Seriously. But it was a 33-hour train ride....
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Courtney
non-member comment
Pretty Pics
All your pictures are so pretty. Do you miss TexMex? Are you gonna miss Vietnamese food? I'm kinda hungry now, g2g.