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Published: March 25th 2008
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Full Moon at Angkor Wat
No this is not a post card... Hello again to all our friends and family from Cambodia!
This little country between Thailand and Vietnam is an eye-opener to say the least. With its “Wonder of the World” Angkor Wat built between the 9th and the 16th centuries and the heinous genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979, this country’s motto could be “Shock & Awe” to the extremes on each end of any scale.
We started our trip in Phnom Penh and for the first night stayed in the sketchiest place yet. The floor boards were rotting away beneath the loose linoleum (the place was built on stilts over a grungy lake), you could see the lake water through a hole in the bathroom floor that doubled as the shower drain, and the fan in the room sounded like a helicopter but was as effective as an 8 year old blowing the candles out on his birthday cake! While it was only $6, I think we should have been paid to stay there…so the next morning we switched over to a $12 guest house and loved it! Phnom Penh is such a crazy city, packed with super old motorbikes and scooters buzzing around old bicycles and
Monument at Killing Fields of Choeung Ek
About 17,000 men, women and children were killed here between 1975-1979 and buried in 129 mass graves. The monument houses 800 skulls from the victims. hand-pulled carts over hot and dusty roads, but the fact that just before I was born the country had suffered genocide and famine that killed over 2 million people, things now look like they are headed in the right direction.
We visited the Tuoi Sleng Museum (aka S-21), a high school that the Khmer Rouge converted into a prison and interrogation centre during their reign. During the 3.5-year reign 17,000 people moved through S-21, all of which except for 13 either died during interrogation or were sent to the Killing Fields and murdered. It’s a very eerie place, with “mug-shots” of nearly every victim on display, and it’s scary to think this happened only 30 years ago. At S-21 we actually met one of the 13 survivors who was speaking to a group; it was obvious to see that words cannot describe his experience. After S-21 we made the 20km drive out to the Killing Fields to see the monument for the victims and walk around the area. This was a very somber but educational day in learning all about the Khmer Rouge and the recent history of Cambodia. The following day was a little bit lighter as we
Nak & Kels
We bought Nak (our Tuk-Tuk) driver a new visor for his helmet, because he was in an accident a month ago and broke it. Thanks for telling us... visited the museum and the Royal Palace, and purchased our visa for Laos from the embassy.
Then the following day we got on a not-so-express bus to Siem Reap, where the site of Angkor Wat is located. Angkor Wat was built between the 9th and 16th centuries and is one of the 7 Wonders of the World. There are over 40 “monuments” that are built out of huge carved stone, mostly sandstone and lava stone. The area is massive, way bigger then I expected, and the temple buildings are huge! The first night we hooked up with a Tuk-Tuk driver who took us out to see the sunset from one of the monuments that had “ump-teen-I-don’t-know-how-many” stairs, but from the top it was a beautiful view. Then the next day we did sunrise at Angkor Wat, which was really great because you beat most of the tour groups that go there every day. (Actually my first words when we arrived to Angkor were: “It’s just like Disneyland!” This because of all the tourists who visit every day.) Then after sunrise we were taken by our Tuk-Tuk driver to a bunch of different sites, where we explored and hiked up
and down the steep stairs and tried to match the Japanese tourists with most photos taken! (We actually took about 450 pics over the 3.5 days we were at Angkor! Fortunately (or unfortunately) for you this computer is a little on the slow side to load all of them!) The second day we pretty much did the same thing, with our Tuk-Tuk driver taking us to the remaining sites that we hadn’t seen the first day. It actually becomes kindda hard seeing so much “amazing” over and over again. The temples/monuments/sites are so incredible and I can’t imagine what it would have been like building them and now restoring them…that’s one mega-puzzle! The last day we decided to rent bicycles. For $2 we each got a “vintage” (aka old and rickety) one speed bike, fully equipped with basket and bell! Even though the temperature was above 35C, we took our fluids and embarked on the 10km ride to the temple, dodging insane traffic and ringing our bells when in danger, as if the noise would protect us! The ride was a lot of fun and we re-visited some of our favourite places. I also had intended to bring THE Towel
(the wedding gift from Reed and Chris) to snap off a shot, but forgot it; this lead to a full cycle back to the hotel to get the towel and then back out to Angkor, making the total kms traveled around 40km for the day. But by the way my ass feels today, it might as well have been 400km! That’s dedication! The whole Angkor experience was totally amazing, even with all the kids and other hawkers trying to sell you everything from wooden flutes, to postcards, to food and drink to t-shirts to bracelets to whatever, one 7 year-old girl even demonstrated her ability to count her 10 postcards in 15 different languages! Seeing Angkor created a bit of an urge (and discussion) to see the other 6 Wonders of the World (and everything in between) and since Kels is two up on me, I’ve got some catching up to do! It also left me thinking that Aliens might really exist, honestly, how the hell did they build all this stuff???
Well, I have plenty of time to ponder Aliens over the next couple of days, since they are gonna be transit duzzies! Tomorrow we leave Siem Reap
for the Thai boarder with a shared car for 3 hours, then we cross the boarder into Thailand and take a 6 hour bus to Bangkok, then on a 12 hour overnight train from Bangkok to the Thailand-Laos boarder, then a 90 minute bus ride over the boarder to the capital of Laos, Vientiane! Giddy up!
So now you all know what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks since we left the Philippines! Keep the news and updates from home coming, and if you ever feel like reaching out, NGOs for Cambodia are a great causes.
Until Next Time….
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Ashley
non-member comment
its still -10 here in Ontario...3 feet of snow. ;( have pity..
Isn't Cambodia amazing? I found the people to be absolutley beautiful. So friendly and welcoming dispite all that they have been through. I too took the tour through Tuoi Sleng Museum, such a horrific event. Its hard to believe we, the western world, just sit around and let things like that happen. And the majority of us are so ignorant to anything that took place over there. So sad. Anyway, wanted to ask you two where your going to be come Sept? still travelling or will you be back by then? I'm taking off for a few months at that time. Not sure where yet. Thinking Austrailia, S.E.A..... in to Europe. We will see. Keep these blogs coming...love em! xoxo ash