Tag Archives: Cambodia

Update

Welcome Back Me!

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Wow…nothing like a 6 month hiatus from writing.  Welcome back to the interwebs to me! Slowly but surely I will fill in all of the New Zealand entries.  I promise!  For now, here’s an update…
 
We’ve been planning our next trip for a very long time, and have finally been discussing it publicly, at work etc.  For the next adventure we’re off to Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank.  This has received a lot of mixed reactions when we tell people.  Most wonder, “Why would you want to go there?!?!”  Why WOULDN’T I want to go there?!?  To be fortunate enough to be able to travel to countries rich with that much history and global/religious significance–I’d be crazy to say no! 
 
Sure, at first I was a little hesitant.  Nothing good is ever said on the news about Gaza and Israeli conflict.  And, yes, traveling to the “Middle East” might not be a first time travel destination, or for someone who is wary, or who has only experienced all-inclusive, or cruise ship travel, but I don’t think it will be any different than any other travel for us.  We will be meeting people, seeing sights, experiencing culture and foods that are new and different, taking photos and enjoying life.  Yes, we’ll be in a more potentially volatile area than we’ve been in before, but that doesn’t mean there will be issues.  Just because there were riots in Vancouver, BC–would that prevent you from going there?
 
That said, I will note, we hadn’t planned on the Arab Spring for our vacation in the Arab spring.  If you’ve been watching the news (Not local, but international.  We like RT.) you’ll see that there has been some conflict going on recently.  FYI: This has not increased travel warnings from our government, nor have these warnings surpassed the levels for countries we have already visited without issue (ie: Cambodia.)
 
For the amazing sites and history alone, I’d do this trip in a heartbeat.  I’ll be able to add several more UNESCO sites to the tally.  Petra (where one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed), Haifa’s Baha’i Gardens, the Old City of Acre, the White City of Tel Aviv and the fortress at Masada are all on the itinerary.  Besides the markets and souks, I’m especially interested in the religious sites and places of worship.  Though neither of us is religious or church-going, we’ve been raised with Christian holiday traditions in a predominantly Christian country–celebrating Christmas, Easter etc, so it will be interesting to see fervent worship on a large scale that is Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i and Christian.  Even if one was visiting Jerusalem as an atheist, one couldn’t deny that the religious prophets existed as men.   To be in places where people so significant to such a large portion of the global population has been is kind of awe inspiring. For example, being able to walk the Via Dolorosa is pretty profound.
 
I should be writing more.  The photos have been inspiring, and I’ve read a ton of travel books.  Of course, Google, Trip Advisor and youtube had all been awesome too.  Everything is planned and mostly paid for; now we just have to wait for take off.
 
You know all those things you wanted to do?  You should go do them. 
Asia, Cambodia

Our Visit to the Cambodian Landmine Museum

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Cambodian Landmine Museum Danger MinesFor years my only knowledge of Cambodia was that there was a need for landmine removal.  In the late 90’s, an uncle of mine was stationed there for landmine removal, and at the time, I thought nothing of it.  Cambodia was a country that I never dreamed I’d be visiting.  To have that opportunity now,  so amazing!

Fast forward a decade and half…I’ve learned a lot more!  From 1973 to 1997, Cambodia was under the terrorizing rule of the Khmer Rouge.  Almost 2 million people died from starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care, and execution.  Between ’75 and ’78 approximately 100,000 people were executed.

People who didn’t conform to the “Peasant Ideal” were systematically executed.  That means doctors, professors, lawyers, artists, business men, musicians, etc, etc. all killed.  All traces of any unique thought or creativity were erased.   Children, young children, were trained as soldiers.  The Khmer Rouge was still in power until 1996 when the first elections were held, and weren’t removed until 1998.  That said, Cambodia is relatively new to tourism.

Aki Ra and his organization devote all of their donated funds to clearing Cambodia’s rural “low-priority” villages. These villages, populated primarily by poor farmers, do not always receive first dibs for minefield clearance projects because of their remoteness and limited traffic. At times, they’re completely overlooked.

from: www.cnn.com

Over 5 million landmines were dispersed all over Cambodia.   It is estimated that it will take about 100 years to clear them all.  About 1 in 300 people is affected by landmines in Cambodia today.  We visited the Cambodian Landmine Museum and spent a bit of time there, just trying to process what we were seeing.  The story of Aki Ra was particularly moving.  If you have time it is worth watching the video and reading the article.

Speaking to people our age, who had such uplifting, positive personalities was awe-inspiring.  Many of our contemporaries are orphans with indelible psychological scars.   And yet, Cambodians were some of the happiest, kindest, most welcoming people we’ve ever encountered.

The country is on the way to recovery, and it will be a long road still.  A huge emphasis was placed on education and literature.   The writing coming forward is a lot of personal accounts  of survivors.  One that I read on the flight home was a heart-breaking read– First they Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.

Anthropologists believe that the Khmer Rouge managed to do away with approximately 80 percent of the country’s literature, even using the National Library of Cambodia as a pig stall. Of the few remaining texts, most were saved because copies were stored outside the country, especially in ex-colonialist France, or by refugees who fled the country.
From: Granges et al. National Geographic Traveler Cambodia 2010 edition.

If you are in Cambodia, and spend any time in Siem Reap Town, be sure to visit the Landmine Museum.  You’re able to donate to the cause at the facility.  There’s a wish list of items on the website that you can pick up in any of the markets to deliver when you’re there too!

Please give if you’re able to help,
~j
Asia, Cambodia

Cambodia: Two Days at Angkor Wat

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During our time in Siem Reap, we allotted two days to explore the temples of The Angkor Complex.  The Angkor Complex and surrounding area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Most people call the entire area Angkor Wat, but in actuality, Angkor Wat is just one of the many incredible temples in the area.

Angkor Temple Map
From: http://www.tourismcambodia.com/

Because we had a lot of ground to cover, we had to decide how to best plan our visit.  There are many options for transportation through the temple grounds–cycling, tuk-tuk, car.   You would be extremely inefficient and ridiculously limited  without transportation.  The complex is gigantic and spread out.

Monkey, Angkor
Monkey’s like Tuk-Tuks!

We decided that day one we would use a car, and day two we would use a tuk-tuk.   Our driver, Dora, was quite possibly the nicest person ever! He gave us so much information about the area, about himself, and about Cambodia in general that we decided to scrap the tuk-tuk day two, and go with him again.  He was awesome!  (FYI:  It really was nice having the air-conditioning.  We were spoiled Day 1, so that was a definite bonus!)

The Temples

The temples were built between the 9th and 15th centuries AD, starting with Preah Ko (AD 875-890), and ending with Bayon (AD 1175-1240).

Of all of the temples in the complex, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are the most impressive.  Angkor Wat is the said to be the world’s largest religious structure.  It is definitely the most famous and most ornate.  We started the day at Angkor Thom.

Angkor Thom
One of the many faces of Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom is more like a city of temples, (see the map above) including Bayon, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, the Terace of the Leper King and the Terrace of the Elephants.   Our first impression was of the massive causeway and gates.   The Asura statues lining the causeway are all slightly different than each other.

Each one is different!
Asura statue at the Victory Gate, Angkor Thom
Scars of war – This Asura statue has been shot; that’s a bullet hole.

The temples are filled with details, from panels depicting various scenes of day to day life, to bas-reliefs of apsara dancers, to walls and walls of carved writing.  It’s overwhelming, and impossible to see all of it in two days.  Even writing this now, I’m finding it difficult to focus on just one thing.  Let’s let the pictures do the work!

Here are some of the lovelies we saw:

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Reconstruction & Restoration

Angkor was “rediscovered” in the 19th century, having been abandoned for centuries, and was once again lost to the world during the 70’s due to war.  Since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in the late 90’s, the temples have undergone massive restoration efforts.   Mines (unexploded ordinance) had to be cleared from the area, not to mention an overgrowth of vegetation.

Restoration efforts were prominent, and globally funded.  Given the importance of Angkor archeologically, and to the Cambodians economically, conserving the site is of utmost importance.

Banteay Srei Conservation Project, Cambodia
West Gopura Restoration Project, Cambodia
West Gopura Restoration Project, Cambodia
Angkor Wat Causeway Restoration Project
Phimeanakas Temple Conservation Project
Scaffolding at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

There is so much to say about our time at the Angkor Complex.  So much history, so many interesting things and people that the photos will have to do a lot of the work.

If you have the opportunity to visit Cambodia, you won’t be disappointed.  The people were the most gracious hosts, and the small bit of scenery we saw was unbelievably gorgeous.

~j

Asia, Cambodia

Sua s’dei Siem Riep

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Just about half way through the trip, we left Vietnam for Cambodia.  The flight out of HCMC was delayed, our gate was changed 3 times, and then the power went out to the entire airport–pitch black, power outage.  It. Was. Out.  After an hour or so, the power came back on, and our gate was changed back to the one we started at…seriously?!?!

Eventually we landed in Siem Reap.  We arranged to be picked up at the airport through the guest house we were staying at.  SO AWESOME!  Our tuk-tuk driver introduced himself as Batman, and we were off!The Siem Reap Garden Inn was a tiny little piece of paradise. (The pool is new since we were there.)  Everyone we dealt with seemed genuinely interested in making our experience the best possible which is not something found everyday.  The level of service was probably something we won’t see again.

Beng Mealea road signSiem Reap is one of the most welcoming places we’ve ever been to.  It is an oddly dichotomous place in that is a major tourist hub with a 100% tourist related enterprise as the main focus.  And, then there are obviously Cambodians going about their day to day business.  Kind of like Las Vegas – there’s the Las Vegas strip, which most people from Vegas would avoid like the plague, and then there’s normal Las Vegas where people live, work, go to school etc.   We were lucky enough to see both sides Siem Reap.

As we had limited time in Cambodia, we had a lot of ground to cover.  Our first day was spent with Ta from Peace of Angkor tours.  This has got to be one of the most memorable vacation days we’ll ever have.  He took us to Kompong Khleang and along the Tonle Sap.  We also visited Beng Mealea, and climbed along the walls of the ancient temple.  Ta was fortunate to be one of first people to “rediscover” the temple, and said at the time, there were actually tigers on the temple grounds.

As promised quite a while ago, here are some of the photos from our day with Ta.

Cashew fruit and nut
The kids were super excited to have their photos taken.  This grandmother wanted hers taken as well.  Just before she posed for the camera, she was hacking away at the edge of the bowl with a machete.  At 78 years old, she was still sharp as a tack.  We had a great time visiting Kompong Khleang.  The stilt houses were absolutely fascinating.  The residents were insanely hospitable to us.  Due to Ta’s kindness, we were invited inside a stilt house to roast cashew nuts picked right from the tree.

We were privileged to see a wedding, where they asked us in closer to take photos of the bride and groom.  And, we also saw/followed a funeral procession for a while.  Richard, a person we were with, said we almost had “hatches, matches and dispatches,” covered.

We had an extraordinary tour through one of the villages outside of Siem Reap, and we were fortunate enough to float on the Tonle Sap River (which in itself is a crazy thing–yep, I’m a nerd!).  None of this experience would have been logistically possible for us without our guide, Ta.  He really made the day one we’ll never forget.

The second half of the day we were at another UNESCO Site, Beng Mealea.  This temple has collapsed walls, and jungle-ish overgrowth that gives it an appeal unlike the other temples we saw in Cambodia.  We were able to climb on the walls and take pathways that would definitely not have been acceptable in the bubble wrapped North American tourism sector.  It was pretty fantastic.  See for yourself…

Asia, Vietnam

Mekong River Trip

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Mekong River
Mekong River
We decided to do the first trip on the Mekong to get away from the hustle of the Ho Chi Minh City for the day.  We booked a tour to take us to one of the floating markets.  Now, when I say floating market, I picture ladies with conical hats in boats selling flowers and pineapples etc…NOPE!  This was a HUGE out on the open water, with large boats, floating market.  It was like wholesale for the tiny markets–basically the Costco of the floating markets, and definitely not as visually appealing, but still cool to see.  Because there are so many boats, merchants display whatever they’re selling at the top of poles.  You see the veggie you like dangling way up in the air, and you know that’s the boat you want to see.  FYI: Buyers had to make some serious purchases of serious quantity.
Mekong River Boats

The tour also took us through the process of making puffed rice, rice paper/wraps, coconut candy, and fed us a bizarro lunch, complete with live traditional Vietnamese singing.   The fish looks kind of disturbing in the picture, but it was “crusted” with puffed rice, and was actually tasty.  The fresh Vietnamese spring rolls were not my favourite, but Jon ate them–cucumber, pineapple, fish and all!

Fish with popped rice “crust”
Making rice paper

Our Boat for the dayFor me, the most interesting part of the day were the stilt houses on the delta, and the different styles of housing, methods of fishing, and strategies for gardening we saw.

Seeing a different lifestyle, and how it all just falls together made the day trip worth doing, even if being on a tour was slightly cheesy.

 

Happy Travels,
~j

Asia, Cambodia

I <3 Cambodia!

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Today could be the best day of our trip so far. The day was supposed to involve a boat trip to a fishing village of Kompong Khleang, lunch, a car trip for about an hour to the Beng Mealea Temple to tour there for an hour, and then back to the hotels for 6:00pm.

We started at 6:45am with our guide, Ta, picking us up at the guesthouse we are staying at. Ta asked if we needed anything, so he took us to the market to buy bug spray which we forgot to pack. We picked up one other couple, Richard and Pauline, and headed out to the Tonle Sap Lake. Along the way we passed through the flood plain of the Tonle Sap where all of the houses are on stilts. Ta was super informative, and also really keen on giving us an authentic Cambodian experience with genuine hospitality.

We stopped to have bamboo filled with rice, coconut milk, some sugar and salt and some black beans for breakfast from a roadside “shop.” Next food experience was Lotus seeds. A woman was selling them, and Ta asked if we wanted to try them. He bought us each a pod of seeds to eat. They taste like fresh peas from the garden. We also saw some kids set up like a lemonade stand on the side of the road. We asked what they were selling, so Ta stopped and bought us some of the fruit. I don’t know how to spell the name, but they looked like yellow/orange figs that peel open to reveal a super sticky, SUPER sour apricot like fruit with several large pits. Ta bought all of the fruit from the kids. He said they were so excited.

While driving we saw a funeral procession which we followed for a while, and then we saw a wedding which guests were inviting us in to take photos. That seemed really weird to me. We saw tons of adorable little kids. They are super keen on seeing their photo on the camera. My display screen was a smudgy mess from them pointing out themselves in the photos. My God were they cute though!

And, the next random food experience-Ta asked if we had tried cashew fruit since we had been in Cambodia. The 4 of us were pretty sure he meant cashew nut, but no there is an actual fruit like an apple that grows off of the nut. He said it wasn’t really the right region, but if we saw a tree he would stop. So we did! We literally invaded some random yard to check out the tree.

The fruit looks like a cashew nut attached to a small pepper-shaped, orange-coloured apple. The fruit is kind of mushy, not crisp. It is very juicy, but at the same time it dries out your mouth-quite an odd flavour sensation really. The home owner was quite happy to have “barang” (foreigner) company. She let Ta use the fire in the kitchen to roast the cashews for us.

While they were roasting we sat in the stilt house with the woman, her daughter, her neighbour, her kids etc etc. It was pretty crazy. The neighbour was 42 years old; she has 11 kids, her oldest child was 28-her youngest 5 months! She asked Ta how many kids we have, and when I said none, she offered me the baby, because “who is going to look after me when I’m old?”

We finally ended up at Beng Mealea where we climbed through the Temple. This is one of the few unrestored “jungle” temples. FYI: there is no fricken way the tour would happen in Canada. We were able to walk on roof tops and wall tops of the crumbled temple. Loved it.

Afterwards, Ta told us about some of his other tours and projects. He dropped us downtown at about 7:15pm so we could easily find somewhere to eat dinner. He also gave us his card and said if we needed anything, help, directions, information anything, to give him a call. He also gave us a map and made sure we knew how to get back to the guesthouse. I have more about Ta, but can’t possibly fit it all in. He was an incredibly inspiring person. I’m sure I will be talking to him again some day. For sure.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Asia, Cambodia

That’s downhill right?

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On one of the days that we’re in Cambodia we’ve planned to visit the Tonle Sap–a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Yes, UNESCO strikes again!

What’s so interesting about this body of water? Despite having over 400 species of fish, and just as many mammals, birds, and reptiles, the most fascinating feature is the direction of the river flow changes depending on the season. True story.

Tonle Sap MapDuring the dry season from November to May the Tonle Sap is a tributary of the Mekong. The River flows towards Phnom Penh. In June, heavy rain fall backs up the Tonle Sap and creates a large lake, and water is actually pushed from the Mekong into the Lake. At the end of the rainy season, the River changes direction again.

So, what makes this area worth visiting? (Besides being uber-nerdy?!) Well, the wildlife and scenery, the floating villages and stilt houses to name a few things. The sad part is that we’ll only see the region in the dry season, and not the other extreme. The depth of the lake changes from 1m to 10m during the rainy season. Check out the photo at the bottom of the Peace of Angkor page to see both seasons. We’re actually booked in with Peace of Angkor for the day to visit Beng Mealea and Tonle Sap. I hope it is a good one.
Asia, Cambodia, Thailand, Update, Vietnam

Strange Currencies

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No, I’m not going to bust out the lyrics to the song, I’m gonna talk about money! Little known fact: I like collecting currency when we’re on vacation. Not so much the bills, but the coins. This isn’t about amassing a foreign fortune, but it does work well with the photo projects when we return home.

Obviously, I have to do a little pre-trip research before we leave to make sure I know what I’m after. The best part is in Vietnam I will be collecting DONG! Giggle away my little minions; that’s funny as hell!The exchange rate is approximately 20,000 Vietnamese Dong to $1US. I think it’ll be crazy to be paying for items with 50,000₫ notes. (That’s only about $2.50.) Also try wrapping your head around being able to take out a maximum of 2,000,000₫ from a bank machine. Apparently, that’s the machine limit. (That’s about $95!)

The least valued currency for exchange alternated between the Zimbabwean Dollar and the Vietnamese Dong for a while. Now the least valued currency is that of Somalia with the Vietnamese Dong running 2nd. Thanks VietnamWiki for the photo. Vietnamese Dong

The Cambodian Riel is approximately 4010៛ to $1US. Unlucky for me the coins are rarely used. That could be a bit of a struggle collecting them. The Thai Baht is about 30฿ to $1US. Gotta love travelling with exchange rates like that. It definitely helps the bank account!

FYI: All of this learning, and now I know a lot of currencies are actually descendants of the Spanish Pieces of 8. How very Piratey! Arrrr!

Update

UNESCO Update and Next Destination…

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So, the UNESCO World Heritage Site tally is up to 16. If everything hadn’t gone wrong with air fare to Chan Chan in Peru, we’d have seen that too. Yellowstone National Park was the last UNESCO site visited. If all goes according to plan we’ll add at least 5 more on our next trip.

Next intended destination–Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Fingers crossed for affordable air fare. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit three sites in Vietnam–Complex of Hue, Ha Long Bay and Hoi An Ancient Town , one site in Cambodia–Angkor Archaeological Park and one site in Thailand–Historic City of Ayutthaya.

I’m uber excited for Vietnam, mostly for the over night stay in Ha Long Bay, and for the trip through the floating markets on the Mekong River. Ooo, and the architecture and history in Ho Chi Minh City. And for all the photo potential! Gotta love being a nerdy traveler.