We spent more than a month in Guatemala studying Spanish and traveling the country. By far my favorite place after a long day at school (well, 4 hours…) was to take the bus to Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs complex up in the mountains. Although negotiating for a pickup ride to and from the complex was always frustrating, I loved climbing through the fields and clouds. Naturally hot water flows straight from the mountain into rock pools and sitting there relaxing while looking out into the clouds is a wonderful experience. This picture is from Mother’s Day, which was incredibly crowded, but somehow still relaxing.
Archives for November 2010
Angkor Wat
I don’t remember when Angkor Wat first captured my imagination, but for me it has always seemed like an enchanting and exotic place. Obviously I’m not the only one given how many movies have been filmed on-site.
There is no denying that the Angkor temples are incredible both in architecture and design. Huge pyramids and towers covered in carvings, the pyramids are an inspiring site from up close and afar. Incredibly detailed despite time and weathering, the temples are nothing less than enchanting. Strangling trees wrap intricately carved religious figures and buildings giving the area an almost Narnia feel. It was exactly as I imagined it and standing below the main level in the Bayon looking up at the towering faces carved into the stone I felt as though I stood in an exotic, fantasy world.
The temples at Angkor, dozens in all, are left over from the reign of the Khmer empire which reigned at an interesting point in Cambodia’s history. Extending over land from Myanmar to China and the Malay Peninsula the empire reigned for nearly 500 years. During the Khmer empire the court changed religions, from Hindu to Buddhism. Most interestingly, the temples were still used and hardly changed at all and scenes, gods and religious figures from both religions are found through out the sites even today. Angkor Wat itself is in fact, is decorated in some pretty fabulous bas-reliefs depicting the Hindu epic Ramayana and Mahabharata. The cultural and religious mixing made for some really interesting art, I only wish I had an art historian or religious scholar with me to tell me the stories.
Although my sister originally planned to visit us again for Thailand we convinced her to extend her vacation a little bit and join us starting in Cambodia. With so much history and atmosphere the only thing the three of us could really do to take it all in was spend the whole day wandering around. From temple to temple we roamed, picnicking in the cool shade of Ta Prohm and climbing through the Bayon. Despite the numerous roaming vendors and pushy souvenir stalls, the temples maintain an captivating atmosphere.
IF YOU GO: One day was enough to do what the tours call the “petit tour” of the major sites, after that we were templed out. We stayed outside of town at Angkor Spirit Palace which we highly recommend. Shuttle buses run regularly to/from Phnom Penh. Despite what the guidebooks say there are connections from Siem Reap to eastern Cambodia that don’t go through Phnom Penh. Be careful with the Khmer massages- ours was basically an hour long tiger balm rub down. There is good and inexpensive souvenir shopping in Siem Reap. Browse the “old market”, but buy what you want at the Central Market further down Sivatha Street where starting prices are about half that of the “old market.” Check the quality of everything though, most clothing in the market is irregular or second-quality. Please do NOT buy from children selling in the temple complexes. Simply responding to their requests by saying firmly that you do not buy from children will send most of them away. They wouldn’t be there if tourists didn’t buy from them – they belong in school not selling trinkets.
Foodie Friday: Rice or Noodles?
Often times meal choices in Asia revolve around something to do with rice or something to do with noodles. Much the same as being in Central America where if we didn’t have egg, rice and beans for lunch we were certainly having it for dinner. Thankfully here we at least get the choice between rice and noodles.
What you may find interesting is the insane amount of instant noodles that have worked there way into daily Asian cuisine. To list the differing varieties of instant noodle sold on the street is to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump. There’s instant noodles with veggies, instant noodles with veggies and chicken, instant noodles in soy sauce, instant noodles in fish sauce, and well the list goes on and on. Now I love instant noodles, but there comes a time when you just can’t handle them anymore.
Hitting my instant noodle limit in Cambodia, we walked into a western bar/restaurant in a small town. The only such place in town, we sat down and were greeted by one of the most outrageous expats to date. Of course he was the owner, and like so many expat come entrepreneur we’ve met around the world, he was in an um… altered state. Assuming that a real western restaurant would say instant noodles in stead of just noodles on the menu, I ordered noodles and veggies. As the words escaped my mouth a plate of instant noodles was put down on the table next to us. Asking to change my order if the plate was instant noodles, the owner jumped down my throat and went off on a tirade about how the locals eat instant noodles. In shock, I agreed with him, but still changed my order.
Yes, locals do eat instant noodles. But, they also eat so many other varieties. While instant noodles are the cheapest and fastest and thus the most popular on the street, there are a plethora “real” noodle options. Egg, rice and regular wheat noodles come in all different varieties and you probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that the name of your favorite Asian dish actually describes the type of noodle it’s made with. In fact, in Chinese Lao Mien (Lo Mein) actually means mixed noodle without broth!
Translated as just “noodle” on the menu, I hardly ever know I am going to get a thin, round, rice vermicelli or a long flat, wheat, fettuccine like noodle. Same goes with rice- it may be regular long grain steamed or it might be sticky rice.
So although instant noodles might have a stronghold in daily cuisine, its not that hard to find some “real” noodles, or if you really want to avoid instant noodles, there’s always rice!
Let’s Talk about Genocide
As a traveler, it can be hard to deal with a country’s political situation or history. Sometimes its as simple as jumping through hoops to get a visa, but other times its something much more morally complex. We’ve dealt with this a number of times along our journey, first and foremost being Sudan. Sudan, a country whose President is wanted in the International Criminal Court for three counts of genocide, whose government doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist and who continues to perpetrate genocide on its lands.
From Sudan through the Middle East into Israel, and were confronted with our own Jewish history, as well as a rather surprising number of Sudanese refugees for that matter. From Israel we, rather ironically, flew to Berlin. We toured Germany for about one week and in that time visited one of Hitler’s first, and possibly most feared concentration camp, Dachau. Continuing east through Europe those images stayed with us as we saw traces of the war through several former Soviet states.
Next stop, Turkey. No mention there of the Turk’s work in the Armenian Genocide, that’s because all those Armenians are either dead or living in the West. Once we got to Armenia though, the floodgates opened on what was the first genocide, of far more than one, in the 20th century. We left Armenia for Kazakhstan, final resting place to many who were sent to, and never returned from, the fearsome Soviet Gulags.
And now, we find ourselves in Cambodia where the horrors of the 20th Century continue to follow us. In one morning we visited a school that was turned into a torturous prison and then moved to the fields where those prisoners were killed; appropriately named ‘The Killing Fields.’ These sites date from the 1970s.
When the US pulled out of Vietnam, it did the same in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge rolled into Phnom Penh two weeks before Saigon fell. The North Vietnamese sent those who fought for the Southern Vietnamese government packing to the US and Australia. The Khmer Rouge, on the other hand, sought a more enduring solution.
The Khmer Rouge turned a Phnom Penh high school into the S-21 prison, where 17,000 men and women were held and subjected to Nazi-like levels of cataloging before being sent to ‘The Killing Fields’ for their final solution. At the prison, even without a guide, it was easy to understand what was happening as locals closely scanned through photos of the victims on the walls, stopped at one and cried as they took a photo.
Visiting the fields themselves was even worse, seeing the tree that babies were swung against, by their ankles, to kill them so they couldn’t grow up and enact revenge on those responsible for their parents; deaths. Walking through the fields pieces of clothes, teeth, and bone poke up through the dirt and grass. Many of the mass burial pits have not been cordoned off and walking along the dirt paths, no matter how hard you try not to, it is clear that you are walking over remains. In several places people had collected these bone fragments and teeth under small shelters in a makeshift memorial to those who had died. A newly built pagoda/stupa stands in the center of the area. Filled with the skeletal remains of 8000 bodies found in one of several mass graves on site, the bones are behind glass, but on more than one it is easy to see how the person was killed.
Although 17,000 may not sound like a large number in comparison to the 12 million killed by the Nazis, the total loss of human life at the hands of the Khmer Rouge however, inclusive of far more travesties than I’ve discussed here, are currently estimated at around 2 million; somewhere between one quarter and one third of Cambodia’s entire population at the time.
Travel is fun, enjoyable, and generally fills us with great memories and stories we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Just as importantly, it can show us the other side of human nature and world history, one that unfortunately is not so wonderful…
The scenic route to Cambodia
From Southern Vietnam there are two ways to get to Phnom Penh – the easy way and the scenic way. Gluttons for punishment or a sense of adventure, depending on how you see it, we decided to go the scenic way. Three days by boat through the Mekong Delta.
For me the Mekong is one of those mythical big rivers. Like the Nile or the Amazon, the Mekong is the lifeblood of Southeast Asia. Running from its head waters in Tibet 2,703 miles to the South China Sea, the Mekong Delta is the center of Southern Vietnam’s economy. From lively and extensive floating markets, to small villages and Buddhist temples hidden in caves, the area is rich in activity.
Our Mekong Delta tour was pretty much as expected, a tour that shuttled us through tons of places in very little time stopping at everyone’s souvenir shop along the way. Typical on these kinds of tours, we sampled tropical fruits while listening to traditional music (CD: $10), coconut candies (one package: $1), and a rice noodle factory (1 kilo of noodle: $2). And then there was the Burmese Python, which thankfully was free to touch. As you can tell by the pictures, I was slightly freaked out by the whole thing. Slightly is an understatement.
Although the area is undergoing dramatic economic development, most of the population still lives by the river’s waters. That’s the real draw to the area, and although we spent most of our time on uncomfortable wooden boats, it was interesting to see life along the river.
Besides being the local “highway”, the river also supports several floating markets, floating residences and a huge variety of floating businesses from fish farming to restaurants and even the border post. That’s right, Vietnamese Immigration is a floating building on the Mekong. We’ve crossed numerous border, a few have been over water, but I’m pretty sure this was our first floating border post. Thankfully the Cambodian officials chose to build their post on land and at least for a little while we were able to get off the boat.
In a van for the last 40km to Phnom Penh, our driver turned on his favorite music- 1998 pop music. Song after song from artists that should never be heard from again (Jamaraquai, Aqua…) we laughed in disbelief as song after song blared through the speakers. Finally we surrendered and by the time we arrived in Phnom Penh the entire van was singing along to such favorites as “Barbie Girl” and “Spice up your life.” Welcome to Cambodia.
If You Go: Two and three day tours are easy and affordable and easy to book in Ho Chi Minh City. You can get around the region independently but it is time consuming. Be prepared for an onslaught of souvenir shops. If you do cross the border into Cambodia, you will have no choice but to pay a $1 stamping fee(bribe)to the immigration officials. Visas for Cambodia can be arranged at the border,but if you do the tour in reverse,you’ll need your Vietnamese visa in advance.
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