I was pleasantly surprised by Cambodia. I had spoken to people who had traveled to Cambodia, and everyone had the same thing to say; outside of Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, there isn't much else. I was also warned about the poverty and begging in Cambodia, and told to be careful; "it's not like Thailand" everyone said. Yet, just like in Thailand, I expected one thing, and the complete opposite happenedm. I loved Cambodia!
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| Angkor Wat |
We spent three days in Siem Riep, which is where Angkor Wat is. Angkor Wat is the largest religious strucutre in the world, and has been in continuous use since it was built in the 1100s. Angkor Wat is of course magnificent and the other temples are just as amazing. On Day 2 we biked around to three different temples in the area, and by the end of the day I thought my legs were going to fall off. Of course the gears on my bike were really tight so I had to bike twice as far to get anywhere. But whatever, my lazy ass needed the exercise. On Day 3 we got up early to experience Angkor Wat at dawn. Just beautiful.
In addtion to Angkor Wat, our guesthouse, and the city of Siemp Riep were both lovely. Siemp Reap is built up to accomodate all of the tourists who come to see Angkor Wat, and as a result, EVERYONE in the city speaks English! It was great to be able to communicate with others in an easy manner! Our guesthouse was also wonderful. They provided free tuk tuk service throughout town. The people running the guesthouse took such good care of us, we felt like part of their family!
After Angkor we headed to Phnom Penh, for the more educational part of our trip. In Phnom Penh we went to the S21 prison, which was a high school turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. We also went to the killing fields. Both were disturbing and upstting; upsetting because I didn't learn about the Cambodian Genocide in school, so it's unbelievable that this happened while the world turned a blind eye. Without giving too much boring history, Pol Pot was batshit crazy. He was a radical communist who, after going to school in France, wanted to create “collective farms” and a class struggle between capitalists and workers. He wanted to return Cambodia to an agrarian society. Yet these “collective farms” were forced labor farms and he created his agrarian society by forcing everyong to the countryside. On April 17, 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh, and forced everyone out. They shut down schools, offices, religious sites, pagodas, and took people from their homes. Within four days, the city was empty. Pol Pot basically went on a killing spree, killing anyone who was an intellectual (lawyers, judges, professors) or thought to be a CIA or KGB spy. Wearing glasses was a sign of being an intellectual. He got rid of schools, a monetary system, and almost anything else that makes a society function. If you were not killed right away you were brought to S21 or another prison camp (or labor camp) were you were then tortured or worked to death. After being tortured for a while you were then sent to the killing fields. Out of the 20,000 people who were sent to S21, only 7 people survived. ONLY SEVEN!
I could go on and on about the atrocities committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, but I won't. The basic line is that he killed anywhere from 1 to 3 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979, which is just horrific. Even worse, is that he was basically off the hook. His only punishment was house arrest.
Vietnam
After a somber two days in Phnom Penh, it was off to Vietnam! We spent two nights in Ho Chi Minh in the Southern part of Vietnam. HCM is a vibrant city with tons and TONS of motorbikes! Crossing the street in Vietnam is a bit scary, because there is so much traffic; you can only walk forward very slowly, and bikes and cars don't stop for you, they just slow down and whiz around you. In HCM, we went to the War Remnants Museum about the Vietnam War. It was very interesting to view the war from a non-American perpsective. Needless to say, this museum focused on the atrocities committed by the Americans during the War. I had a flashback to my American Studies 1960s class at Skidmore, because a lot of what we covered in that class on the War was seen throughout the museum.
Right now we are in Hanoi. It is SO nice and cool up here! Cambodia was SO HOT, but Hanoi is very similar to Chiang Rai. It's wonderful to be able to walk around and not be constantly sweating! In Hanoi I got to meet up with a friend from Skidmore. Jay just moved here three weeks ago, so we had a nice joint discovery walking tour of the city.
Today we got back from Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Halong Bay is absolutely breath-taking with it's blue-green waters and limestone cliffs (3,000 islands) jutting out. It looks just like Pirates of the Caribbean! On Halong Bay we stayed in a traditional Vietnamese “junk” boat. We went swimming and kayaking, while on Cat Ba Island we went biking and to the beach. Both were great, but short-lived. I would love to go back some day because it was just so beautiful and incredible!
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| Halong Bay |
Tomorrow we are off to Perfume Pagoda, which is a complex of Buddhist temples built into limestone mountains. It is similar to Halong Bay, but instead of being on the sea, it is on a river.
Soon we are off to Laos for a week followed by 10 days in Bali! Part 2 of this trip to come soon!
