History & Culture

Angkor Wat

November 22, 2010 By Jillian

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.

Underground with the Viet Cong.

November 15, 2010 By Danny

Ah, Yes. The Vietnam War. That’s the one where the US goes in, a lot of people are confused as to the reasons why, there is a war, and then the US comes home. Everyone thinks there are Soviets but no one seems to be able to find one. There is long hiking trail called Ho Chi Minh where guns and ammunition just seem to grow and then there are tunnels that require the use of some kind of orange toxin to kill the plant life in order to find.

Wait, did you say tunnels?

Yes. The Cu Chi tunnels, located less than 50 miles outside of Saigon, are now one of the most popular tourist attractions of the new Vietnam. For less than ten dollars you can purchase round trip transportation with a tour guide and enter the the region that served as the southern terminus of the Ho Chi Min Trail. If you want to shoot the M-16 or AK-47 you’ll have to pay extra to purchase a clip of rounds.

The tour starts with a video loaded with, understandably, anti-US propaganda but then rather ironically finishes with a ‘California, USA’ logo, courtesy of the TV’s manufacture.
Following this, we were shown to a series of fox holes, like the one Saddam Hussein was found inside. The gist of all that we saw was just how small it was, built by and for ‘little people’ without the use of machines. The entrance to the rabbit hole was about 12 inches by 6 inches and covered with plant life.

The tunnel system itself extended all the way to the border along the Saigon river and in the Cu Chi area alone there are rumored to have been over 200km of tunnels, all dug by hand, initially to be used against the French in the 1940s. It was explained to us that there were multiple levels, allowing for cooking and for the care of wounded, as well as the dismantling of unexploded munitions to be used as land mines for protection from enemy tanks.

Termite mounts hid bamboo poles used as air vents and to keep dogs from sniffing them out, US Army uniforms were places just below the surface. The soles of shoes were put on backwards to make the tracks appear to be leading in the wrong direction. Different types of bamboo booby traps that were historically used to catch monkeys and tigers.

As US and S. Vietnamese forces grew increasingly aware of the tunnels and their role in waging the war in the south, the area increasingly began a target for US bomb attacks; according to our guide, the region was hit with 2 bombs per square meter over a several year period. The one bomb crater we saw easily had a diameter of 10 meters. Water was poured into entrance holes by helicopters but this did little to hurt the Viet Cong as the network was designed so that the water drained into the river below. There was no ‘sewer’ system inside the tunnel, however, and all excrement needed to be carried out in buckets… gross.

IF YOU GO: Book a tour from Saigon for about $5 per person. At the entrance gate you’ll need to pay an additional 80,000 VND ($4) to the site directly. Take extra money if you want any souvenirs or to shoot a gun. Tours leave Saigon around 0800 and return before 1400.

Water Puppets, Primates and Tam Coc

November 10, 2010 By Jillian

Those of you that have been following along with us are probably now thinking- how did you get from Beijing to Hanoi? Well it’s a long story, but basically traveling during National Holiday in China completely screwed up our itinerary. Since we were so limited in what transportation was available, we cobbled together a strange route through China that had us end in Beijing. Unwilling to take a 3 day train to Vietnam, we bit the bullet and booked a flight, through Malaysia. Yes, from Beijing to Hanoi we spent a day in Kuala Lumpur, which frankly was awesome. Shopping capital of the world- we even found multi-grain cheerios!

We briefly stopped in Hanoi and instead headed to the coast and spent a few days in Nihn Bihn. An Endangered Primate Center is the biggest draw at the Cuc Phong National Park, but after spending so much time in heavily polluted China we were glad to have a day in the fresh air hiking through the jungle and took less than 15 minutes for the bugs to find Danny, reminding both of us of the many joys of the tropics. We hiked to a tree which is claimed to be over 1000 years old and even hiked into a pitch black “pre-historic” cave. No animals were spotted through any of this, outside of stickbugs and other insects, as hunting in the park has diminished animal populations so much that there are hardly any animals left in the park.

The next day I found myself sitting in a row boat watching a woman row with her feet. Yup, you read that right. Rowing with her feet. Through the caves and stone arches of Tam Coc – Bích Dong (means 3 caves) we admired the scenery as every other boat that passed stared at our boat driver rowing with her feet. Sure there were other drivers using their feet, but our lady rowed that way for the full hour long trip. It was impressive, but then again, why hadn’t anyone else thought of that before? Surely these can’t be the only people in the world innovative enough to use larger muscle groups to row. I guess necessity is the mother of invention, as was the hard push we received on the boat to purchase some local embroidery.

Back in Hanoi we filled a full day sightseeing and sat through a rather amusing water puppet show. A traditional form of entertainment, the water puppet shows are traditionally performed along river banks. Now the shows are performed from pools inside auditoriums and although the story lines were a little lost on us, we enjoyed watching the puppets flip back and forth on long sticks. It was a little kitsch but cute and worth the $3 price of admission.

Plenty of other sites abound in Hanoi, we enjoyed the Ethnography museum- be sure to check out housing examples in the back, some of which were put up in the traditional way by villagers. We also stopped by the “Hanoi Hilton,” where John McCain’s flight suit is on display. I wonder what would have happened if he had become president?

IF YOU GO: We stayed at a great hotel in Old Hanoi called the Allura, shop around and you should be able to find something comfortable and decent without any problem. Buses to Ninh Binh run from a bus station in the south of the city very frequently and are less than $3. From Ninh Binh we were able to arrange a car to take us to the national park, but be aware that the primate center closes mid-day for lunch. A little restaurant on-site serves food until it runs out- this can be rather early, so bring snacks and water. We rented bikes in Ninh Binh to get to Tam Coc for the boat trip and took a route along the river.

China Through a Child’s Eyes

November 4, 2010 By Danny

To My Kindergarten Class –

Hello from China. I came here for vacation and lots of things here are different.

When the traffic light is red you are supposed to go because it it’s more fun than waiting, but when it is green you have to go slow because all the people that have red go too. I was confused and didn’t know that red and green both mean go and so when I went across there were lots of cars going on both sides of the street and some were even on the wrong side! I think that they don’t know how to play red light green light in the schools here.

Then there were bikes and one carrying 3 people hit a dog. We had to stop in the middle road 6 times to let the cars go ahead of us and then when we finally got across, a car was driving on the sidewalk. I think the car thought the sidewalk was the street because of how many people were in the street. They should make a video game out of it – it would be fun!

Then I saw a special pet shop that sold lots of dead animals, but like snakes and insects and stuff, but someone said it was a medicine store so it must be a special place to take your pet for help if it’s sick and then they just keep it there for you in case it dies. People were coming and paying lots of money for little baggies filled with bugs and snake skin so maybe it was a wizard shop and not a medicine shop…like in Harry Potter.

Lots of people must have pets though because everywhere where we went we saw turtles and frogs and lots of other things that you could buy. I tried to get a pet frog but the tour leader said the one I picked out wouldn’t taste good and that I should pick out another one later. Then he said that once we got to the south I could pick out my own dog…I’m going to get a Lassie dog if my mom lets me.

They are something called communist here and that means that everyone shares everything, just like we’re supposed to do with the glue in school, so that there aren’t any poor people. It is very nice that all the people take care of all the other people but I think it only works if you’re a communist too. Some people drive around in really fancy James Bond cars while other people ride bikes with their entire family on them. Maybe they aren’t communist or they’d have a car too! The train even has different areas, there’s the nice part where you sleep in a room with 3 other people or a not nice one where the whole train car is packed like a can of sardines (that’s what my grandpa would say) with a hundred people, animals and bags. It looked like they couldn’t even breathe!

They have lots of candy here. Some is really yummy, but there isn’t any chocolate. Most of the candy has strange flavors like corn, tea, shrimp, milk and stuff like that. I miss chocolate candy. I think all the people are on diets all the time because they wear masks over their faces so that they don’t eat the candy, even though it tastes bad.

One morning we got up early to see where the communism got started. It was a place called Tienanmen Square and is famous because sometimes they bring in tanks and park them in the road so that people can stop and look at them, I guess we don’t do that back home because I never saw it before. They also have big picture of Chairman Moe on the wall. Everyone here likes Moe, but my dad always said Curly was the best. I think it is fake-like though (sorta like when you get a bad birthday present) because it is just a picture and not a statue and if they really liked him then they would have made a statue.

I like it here but I want to come home soon, everywhere I go people try to take pictures of me. It is weird because they take my picture and then the tour leader yells at them for doing it and then later when the tour leader isn’t looking they come and ask me if they can take my picture because I look like a movie star, even though I’m not that old yet. I say yes but then they have two pictures but only asked for one. I think when they take two pictures instead of just one they call that ‘saving face’ because all the grown up people complain about how they always try to save face and getting two pictures of my face must be doing that.

See you soon!
Danny

An Army of Pottery

October 27, 2010 By Danny

An army of over 8,000 soldiers, 500 horses, 100 chariots, and millions of tourists annually. This is what China’s first great emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who also began construction of China’s Great Wall, needed with him as he journeyed to the afterlife.

The so called Terra Cotta Army was commissioned around 200 BCE. Each member of the army has a different, unique face and is made with solid legs to carry a hollow, terracotta body. The heads were actually attached later as the bodies needed a vent in order to allow hot air to escape while being hardened in the oven. The army consists of foot soldiers, archers, calvary men and generals all over 6 feet tall. The construction of the army was likely one of the first uses of the assembly line, despite what Ford might try to tell you.

The army had been forgotten by history until 1974 when a local farmer happened upon a large head while trying to dig a well. This farmer now sits about 100 meters from the site of his failed well with an autograph pen in his hand and in front of a ‘photos prohibited’ sign. The archaeological site itself is huge and features three different pits all filled with various soldiers in varying army formations. The vanguard is always in front and on all sides has soldiers facing ‘out’ in order to protect the group.
The most interesting part, outside of the size and scale of this ancient undertaking, is the current undertaking. As the site was being excavated, archaeologists found that the beautifully painted statues they were uncovering, lost their beautiful paint in as little as 30 minutes. Looking at the scale of the army it is easy to see just how much paint has been lost, but the vast majority has yet to be excavated for that very reason. The pits that house the excavated soldiers are mostly still unexcavated….and there are as many as 600 sites in the surrounding hills that have not even met a shovel yet.

IF YOU GO: There is a city bus (#306) that runs regular service from the Xi’an train station to the Terracotta Army. It is cheap and if you choose to book a tour you will be limited in the amount of time you can spend there as the tour promises to take you to additional, smaller and less significant sites as well. We signed on for the services of a guide, Jason, at the entrance of the site for 100 yuan and found this extremely worthwhile. Visit the gigantic pit #1 last so that you aren’t disappointed with the other pits. We stayed at the 7 Sages hostel in town which represented excellent value even if the staff was filled with bad advice.

Angkor Wat

Underground with the Viet Cong.

Water Puppets, Primates and Tam Coc

China Through a Child’s Eyes

An Army of Pottery

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