A Slight Change of Plans

The Petronas Towers In KL

After a short flight from Phnom Penh we were in Kuala Lumpur. It's a more modern city than any we've been to in SE Asia with prices to match. Although I think it's fair to say that we didn't put as much energy into it as we should have we were, in general, uninspired by the place. Our impression was probably tainted by the fact that every other person in the city was sick coughing, sniffling, and sneezing their way around town. I think we probably spent half our time there with our handkerchiefs covering our noses and mouths in an effort to stay healthy. Kerchiefs in hand, we toured around and saw some of the main tourists draws and due to dreary weather even caught a double bill at one of the numerous mega-malls in town. We give the new Star Trek movie a 3 out of 5. Iron Man 3 comes in at 3.5... Dawn thought we were rating out of 10.

"What To Do" Conference Over Crappy Potato Burgers

 

 

 

 

Singapore was up next and to help us get to Indonesia more quickly we decided to jump on a cheap flight rather than take the train. And that's where things took a turn for the unexpected due to us missing our flight. Just in case you didn't already know, there are two terminals at the Kuala Lumpur airport and, to our surprise, they're about thirty minutes apart by taxi. We were informed that the terminal was just a couple minutes away by a train shuttle similar to what most of you have likely experienced in other airports. But it turns out that terminal didn't open for a couple of weeks and, in the meantime, the flights were flying out of the cargo terminal. Add to that the backward service of the airline we were flying and you have a fantastic excuse for what was really a bit of poor planning on our part.

When we were told that it would cost more than the original ticket price to change our departure time to Singapore we reassessed and decided to switch things up a bit. A few hours later we were on a flight to Osaka, Japan. This was not only a fairly significant change of environment but also marked the happy turn towards home.

Osaka Castle

We've now been in Japan for several days and are loving it. In sharp contrast to SE Asia, Japan is very clean, organized, and orderly. And it's so quiet. For instance, it took days here before we heard a car honk whereas it's been the norm for us for months.

In addition to the pleasant environment the people here are incredibly friendly and will go well out of their way to help you out. We had a couple with their new-born baby walk us several blocks out of their way to our guesthouse. We asked a man in a shop for directions to a local restaurant he shook his head and said he hadnt heard of it. We can only assume he did some investigating because he chased us down the street five minutes later to tell us where it was. If someone doesn't know, they'll frequently take ownership of the problem and ask someone else. And if that person doesn't know someone will pull out a phone and look it up. Perhaps we've been lucky but I think it's more a indication of how service-oriented and hospitable the Japanese are.

Fushima Inari Shrine

 

 

There have been a few instances during our time in SE Asia where someone has just started speaking to us as if we understood their language. We have engaged in conversations in which neither party likely really knew what was going on but we always enjoyed it nonetheless. Mostly though people have either attempted to speak to us in the English they knew or not spoken at all. However, in Japan almost everyone speaks to us in Japanese and well beyond a simple hello and goodbye. All we can really do is smile and nod when it seems we're supposed to and hope for the best. Even though we feel a bit helpless not being able to respond in Japanese it feels good that we're treated just like everyone else.

One of my favourite aspects of Japanese society is the level of respect they appear to have for others. Bowing is very common from a full torso gesture to a nod of the head. For instance, I'm writing this on a long-distance train and each time a train employee passes through the car they stop at the front, turn around, and bow before proceeding. When we were leaving a mall at closing time many of the employees stood along the aisle and bowed as you walked by. When leaving a stretch of road construction there is almost always a sign of a construction worker bowing. Admittedly, there are times when this is a little uncomfortable as the receiver since it doesn't really seem deserved but perhaps that's what I like about it. You are given the bow whether you have done something to deserve it or not.

Sake Barrels

All that being said Japan has not been without its challenges or unusual inconsistencies. For a society with such order and organization the sidewalks are chaos. We're really happy to be back somewhere that actually has sidewalks but figuring out which side you're supposed to be on while dodging the seemingly out-of-control bicycles requires constant concentration. In my experience, sidewalk etiquette matches the driving rules of the country. Here though the rules frequently change by location and are, more often than not, a mystery. I've also thought of Japan as an very technologically advanced country yet access to wifi in the cities has been far more challenging than any other city we've traveled to. Smoking is prohibited in many parts of Japan's touristed cities yet smoking in restaurants is sadly common making us feel so grateful to live somewhere that you can eat smoke-free.

The Only Veggie Thing On The Menu (We're Pretty Sure It Had Fish Sauce)

Aside from perhaps rural Laos, Japan has been hardest from a language perspective. It seems that fewer people speak English here than any other country we have visited and signage, packaging, and menus are often void of anything recognizable to us. Thank goodness for the artful plastic displays of dishes served that many restaurants display! Speaking of food, being a vegetarian here is not easy. No doubt this whole trip has been challenging for finding Dawn-friendly grub but I think Japan wins the prize. To give you an idea, out of the over 32,000 restaurants listed on Trip Advisor for Tokyo only twelve are identified as vegetarian friendly. That's 0.0003%!

OK, now to a quick summary of what we've been up to. After somewhat recovering from our red-eye flight we spent a day wandering around Osaka seeing a few of the sights. Admittedly, we didn't find too much of interest other than the Osaka Castle and surrounding park. More than anything, the time there allowed us to start becoming familiar with the dizzying array of train lines and soaking in everything that's different about Japan.

Our Kyoto Neighbourhood

From Osaka we jumped on a train for the short hop over to Kyoto where we ended up spending several days. So far Kyoto has been the highlight of the trip. Seeing as Kyoto was the capital of Japan until Tokyo took over the distinction in 1868, the area is packed with temples. We saw a fair number of temples and balanced that out with walks in our very pleasant neighbourhood and shopping. Neither of us really enjoy shopping that much (except for food perhaps) so it came as a bit of a surprise how much we dove right in to the Kyoto shopping scene. There are just so many neat things to look at. In particular, I now have a near obsession for Japanese treats and I can't help but dart into every candy shop I see to view the amazing and sometimes weird creations these shops sell. Department store basements tend to be full of these shops and without Dawn to break me free of my candy art trance I'd probably spend hours in these places.

Artful - And Sometimes Weird - Candy

 

 

 

This is already an exceedingly long post so I'll leave it at that for now. Up next... Tokyo.

 

There's A Bomb In My Rice Field

As we get closer to the end of our travels I begin to reflect. Reflection is often a good thing for the reflector but it may not always be good for the dear reader. I will try my best not to get too carried away.

One of the things that has struck me more than anything about the people in the regions we have visited is their attitude towards danger; very few people really seemed to consider it in their every day lives. For example, on more than one occassion, in more than one country we watched plain clothed (as in no safety gear) electricity workers lean a bamboo ladder against a telephone pole, climb up and start picking away at the various wires. At home proper safety equipment must be in place and the perimeter secured before anyone will even get near the wires. In SE Asia entire families ride on one scooter with no helmets or even shoes. We've seen new borns touted in one of their mothers arms while she controlled the motorbike with the other. I often wondered if it isn't necessarily a disregard for safety as much as it is simply living in the moment without anticipation. Buddhism, which is a preponant of living in the moment, dominates over here so it makes sense. Perhaps we in the west are overly concerned with the future and what could happen and so we live in fear and we call it safety to make oursselves feel better. We strap our kids within a inch of their lives in the backseat. Safety first!

Many of the countries we visited still have bombs in their soil from previous wars. This subject came up while we were staying at the Meas family homestay in Cambodia and our host Siphen said quite casually during dinner, "there's a bomb in my rice field." Matt and I looked at each other in shock. "What?!" She laughed at our surprise and told us how the bomb has been there for years. "Someone from CMAG (Cambodia Mines Advisory Group)came to look at it but it is too dangerous to move so they left it." We noted that it must be frustrating not being able to farm that field and she laughed again and said, "we still use the field we just stay away from the bomb." For the second time in five minutes Matt and I had to pick our jaws up from the table. At this point we really shouldn't have been surprised because it certainly wasn't the first time we had heard stories of UXOs (unexploded ordinances) being in close proximity to family homes and villages.

When we were in Laos we toured the Plain of Jars where we were first introduced to MAG and UXOs. We rode to the jar sites in an air conditioned minibus, not too far along in the ride our guide pointed out a group of people working in the fields some distance from the road, "see those people in the beige uniforms(they had no protective gear other than sun hats)? They are MAG workers clearing the bombs today." he said. "How often are they here?" someone asked. "Everyday they are here." Our guides name was Boon Me and he told us stories of how when he was a child he used to build fires on top of the cluster bombs in order to blow them up. "That's so dangerous." I said "I know." He smiled. "We would have to make sure the fire was a good size to give us enough time to get away." "How far would you need" "Oh, three hundred meters or more. We run very fast" he kept smiling.

Boon Me and Siphen put everything in perspective without even trying. Can you even imagine? Our parents told us not to go too far from the house so we could hear them call us for dinner. Boon Me's parents told him not to go too far because they weren't sure if there were bombs in the forest that could blow off a limb. Each rainy season when Siphen and her family take a break from school for rice planting she has to keep an eye on the bomb down the field.

 

 

 

Everywhere you look in Vietnam one is reminded of war. Wether it is the craters in the ground or the propaganda in the cities. Similarly Cambodia and Laos are riddled with craters, UXOs, and even landmines.

I want so badly to be able to wrap this up in a tidy life lesson or one liner that will be quoted for generations to come but I can't. I have the luxury of concerning myself with "safety" because frankly Boon Me and Siphen and thousands of other just like them can not. They are too busy getting on with their lives trying to put food on the table and live in the moment. So for now I will feel a little sad and maybe even frustrated but also grateful to live in a country that hasn't had war on its soil since 1812, that has carseats and enforced helmet laws. Most of all, I will keep these folks in mind the next time I am complaining about how there was a "just a little bit of pork," in my vegetarian fried rice.

If you aren't already overwhelmed with causes consider donating to one of these:

MAG Mines Advocacy Group is a not-for-profit organisation clearing landmines, UXO and other remnants of conflict in over thirty five countries worldwide.

COPE Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise is a Laos run non-profit organisation that provides comprehensive rehabilitation services for UXO survivors.

 

And The Winner For Best Temple Is...

I know, I know. It's been way too long since we've posted something. Sorry folks, we've been on the move and haven't had much spare time to share where we're at.

One Of The Rolous Group Temples

 

When we first arrived in SE Asia we made a decision to circle our destination countries clockwise so that the temples of Angkor would be some of the last temples we saw this trip. We sort of imagined it as the cherry on the sundae. Throughout Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam we saw more temples than I can remember. If we had hit Angkor earlier in our journey I think it's fair to say that it would have spoiled many of the temples we enjoyed along the way. The vast temples of Angkor are amazing and incomparable to any other temple complex we visited.

Our Swish Ride Day One

 

 

During our week-long stay in Siem Reap, the gateway town to the ruins, we spent five days cruising around in a tuk-tuk trying to take in as much as we could. We saw most of the biggies but left many sites unexplored. Indeed, there are over 1000 temples at Angkor spanning an area of over 1000 square kilometers. These magnificent temples were built by Khmer kings over the course of 600 years starting in 800AD. It is estimated that the areas surrounding the temples had over one million inhabitants at a time when London had a population of about 50,000.

Angkor Wat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most famous of the temples is Angkor Wat which is purported to be the largest religious structure to ever be constructed and is truly impressive (even at five in the morning!) But we found many of the smaller sites equally impressive. For example, a few of the temples we visited have been left unrestored with an impressive display of nature's consumption of the structures. And some of the temples have incredibly detailed 3D stone carvings and inscriptions. In addition to the temples we found the region very enjoyable to ride through from our tuk-tuk vantage point. It reminded us of rural Laos due to the vast farmland and basic village homes that we drove through. So as not to overload you with more details about the temples I'll leave the rest to the pictures. Photos (especially those taken by a couple of amateurs) just don't the temples justice but hopefully what we've included here will at least give you a sense of what we saw.

Our stay in Siem Reap saw a happy reunion with some friends we met in Laos. And since the last time we saw Emily and Adam we went bowling in Vientiane we sought a similar outing and found it in Cambodia's only mini-golf course. It won't be winning any awards for course design but the prize for 'super friendly (albeit drunk) guy of the night' went to the owner of the place. He would not let us leave until one of us had sunk a hole-in-one which went along with the prize of a free beer. Ironically, Dawn was the winner and took a bottle of water instead.

Dawn With Her Champei Lei, A Gift From Our Guesthouse in PP

 

 

Exhausted from hot, sweaty days wandering the temples we headed back to Phnom Penh where we began and ended our Cambodian adventure. In both Thailand and Laos we left the day our visa expired. If this is any measure of just how much we loved Cambodia, we overstayed the visa! The $10 penalty was worth it.

Cambodia was the end of our vague travel plan leaving us with some challenging yet exciting decisions. We considered spots on four different continents for our next possible destination but decided it made most sense to stay in the region and head down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the intent to move from there to Singapore and then onto Indonesia where we'd spend the remainder of our time on the road. It didn't quite work out that way but we'll save that for another post.

Vast Walls Of Pre Rup Temple

Banteay Samre

Three Monkeys At Banteay Srei

Carvings at Banteay Srei

Ta Som

Beng Melea

Some Of The Crowd That Joined Us At Angkor Wat For Sunrise

Angkor Thom

Ta Prom

 

 

Rice Paddies, Crabs, And A Rabbit

From Sen Monorom we made our way two hours south of Phnom Penh. Near a town called Angk Tasaom we stayed three nights at the Meas Family Homestay. A British couple we met in a cave in Vietnam suggested the homestay as a worthwhile stop. The large property is situated in a rural setting surrounded by rice fields dotted with patches of sugar palms. Very picturesque and we thoroughly enjoyed riding bicycles along the paths worn into the the small dykes separating each rice patch. The riding partnered with lounging in the hammocks made for a very relaxing stay.

 

 

Siphen and Mach

 

 

 

 

Our hosts, Siphen and Mach along with their extended family, supplied us with three meals a day and kindly spent time with us to tell us more about Cambodia. Both lived through the Pol Pot years and had some pretty heartbreaking stories to tell. We had been exposed to these type of stories while visiting museums in Phnom Penh but hearing Siphen tell us about her brother being dragged away by the Khmer Rouge never to be seen again made it much more personal. Mach had a similar story about his uncle and further described how he was separated from his family and forced to work from dawn to dusk with little food to eat and only dirty water to drink. They also told us their stories of reunification and about the challenging years following the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

The Meas' School House

What made our stay here particularly special was the time we were able to spend with local high schoolers. Siphen and Mach are teachers and have a built an after-school program for students to practice English. Each afternoon about 30-40 kids show up at a school room they have built on their property to spend time with the homestay guests or Siphen to practice their English. Needless to say we both have a much greater appreciation for the work that teachers do to manage large classrooms of teenagers.

The Boat To Koh Tonsay

 

 

 

Unfortunately, Dawn fell ill at the end of our stay with what was most likely food poisoning. With a comfortable, air conditioned room called for we headed back up to Phonm Penh to give Dawn time to rest. After several days there we headed back down south to a town along the Gulf of Thailand coast near the Vietnam border called Kep. The town, most famous for its crab, is a pretty sleepy place with a handful of resorts. We checked into our $23/night spot with a nice pool and a great view of the ocean. There isn't too much to do in town so after our first day we had pretty much done it all. So on our second day we took a 30 minute boat ride out to Koh Tonsay (AKA Rabbit Island) to spend the day on the beach. The island is meant to have the nicest beach in southeastern Cambodia. Although we enjoyed lounging in hammocks and swimming in the rather warm ocean, the beach really wasn't that noteworthy.

On our list of things to do in Cambodia was to spend some quality relaxation time on one of the islands off the southwest coast of the country. A necessary evil to finding your way to these islands is often a stay in Sihanoukville. The town is a magnet for twenty-somethings interested in little more than getting drunk and making foreigners look like ignorant twits. Since we needed to stay the night we travelled out of town to the 'quiet beach'. The beach was lovely but the thumping electronica music until 2AM kind of ruined the place for us. What's more it seemed that all the good accommodations on the quieter island we were heading to had shut down for the season. So with not much going our way we decided to cut our losses and make our way to Siem Reap. From here we will spend the next several days exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding region.

 

One Of The Meas Making Breakfast

Doing Our Laundry At The Meas'

Some Of The Meas' Students

Some Of Meas' Neighbours

Tuk Tuk Kids In Kep

 

I Think It Is Important For You

So Long Vietnamese Propaganda

The bus journey from Saigon to Phnom Penh was fairly uneventful and by uneventful I mean the bus left us, the only Westerners, at the border because it was lunch time and everyone wanted to get food. So while we were sorting out our Cambodian visas and stamps the rest of the people on the bus were enjoying lunch two kilometres down the road. When we got out of the border station we found one of the bus attendants waiting for us with mototaxis. I was not thrilled with the idea of having to get on the back of a motorbike but after much futile arguing we gave in and were delivered back to the bus. After the bus attendant made fun of us to his colleagues we were rushed back on the bus and on our way to Phnom Penh.

We were met in Phnom Penh by our tuktuk driver Ratha (so happy to be back in a land with tuktuks). He carted us off to our hotel and made plans to pick us up the next day to see Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields) and then to Toul Sleng Genecide Museum because, in Ratha's words, "I think it is important for you."

Mass Gravesite Craters At Choeung Ek

Choeung Ek is the most well known of the over 20,000 mass grave sites in Cambodia. At first glance it seems a quiet orchard. When you look closer you can see the bones of the people who were murdered there. The pathways are littered with them because whenever it rains, and the rains are starting now, more bones come to the surface. There is a memorial stupa in the centre of the field that houses around 5000 skulls. You can walk inside and find your age group. The Khmer Rouge spared no one; there are the skulls of children and adults. When you get that close, how they were killed is painfully clear. Because the regime didn't want to "waste" ammunition most people were bludgeoned to death or tossed in a hole with lime and DDT thrown on top. The soldiers played music to mask the screams so the people who worked in the surrounding fields would not become suspicious.... Truckloads of "prisoners" were brought to Choeung Ek and none were ever transported out.

The prisoners who were brought to Choeung Ek came from Toul Sleng or Security Office 21 a high school turned prison. The Khmer Rouge shut down all schools during the Pol Pot era because he felt people should only get diplomas from hard work in the fields. Now it is the Genecide Museum, one of the most haunting places I have ever been. The rooms that were once classrooms and then prison cells now house devices of torture, shackles, and rusty bed frames but the most disturbing are the photographs. Yes there are photographs of prisoners who were tortured to death but perhaps even more haunting are the rooms filled with board after board of faces. The prison guards took head shots of every person who was caged at Toul Sleng, almost all were killed. I forced myself to look in to their eyes. Some were numb, looking like they had nothing left inside because everything had already been taken away. Some smiled, especially the teenage boys; was it an act of defiance, their first time in front of a camera, or were they completely unaware of what was to come? Some had looks of revenge in their eyes; if they had been given half the chance they would have escaped and come back with reinforcements. And then there were the children; children in their mothers arms and alone looking in the camera with overwhelming fear, confusion, and oblivion. Heartbreaking can't even begin to describe it... I think you get the idea.

Much of what we value in society Pol Pot tore apart. Schools and hospitals were destroyed, religion was banned, currency was abolished, people with any education or perceived education (people who wore glasses) were imprisoned and killed. Families were forced from their homes in the cities and made to walk for days to work camps in the countryside. Children were separated from their parents and sent to children work camps. People were forced to work from sun up to sun down with little food to survive. Those who were not killed directly died of starvation and disease. Between April 17th 1975 to January 7th 1979 Cambodia lost nearly a third of its people to Pol Pot and his vicious Khmer Rouge regime.

So Ratha is right; as hard as they are, these places are important to visit.

Ratha Our Tuktuk Driver

 

 

 

 

After all the tears of the day we decided to console ourselves with a great dinner at Friends restaurant. Friends International is an organisation that takes at risk youth and gives them jobs and mentorship. It is one of many NGOs throughout SE Asia that work to support people with disadvantages. Helping to teach skills and provide income to individuals who would otherwise find themselves completely without support or livelihood.

The rest of our time in Phnom Penh was spent with less emotionally charged activities. We visited the Russian market so named because of all the Russian tourists who used to frequent it, the central market, the twisted gun, the national museum and the Royal Palace.

After Phnom Penh we ventured east to the remote Mondulkiri province to spend time in the jungle. Oh and also hang out with ELEPHANTS!! The whole time we have been in SE Asia I have wanted to visit elephants but most of the opportunities that presented themselves involved riding them or watching them perform some kind of circus tricks. Not my idea of fun or humane. Needless to say I was thrilled when Matt found the Elephant Valley Project (EVP) near Sen Monorom.

Tidy Work

 

 

 

We were picked up at 7:30 in the morning and after a short ride and safety lecture we hiked our way down to what the EVP staff call "heaven" where we met Bob and Onion bathing in the river. Then along came Ruby, Mae Nang, and Ning Wan. It was heaven indeed to watch these graceful beauties soak in the river and then cover themselves in mud. We spent a few more hours with the trio and then hiked back to camp for lunch. Matt volunteered in the afternoon hoeing the banana fields while I hiked into another part of the jungle to meet Moon, Buffet, GeeNowl, and Easy Rider. Similar to the morning myself and a few other wide-eyed foreigners watched as the elephants waded in the surprisingly deep river (Moon managed to immerse herself almost completely) and rally for top spots in the mud ravine. Day two we cut and harvested banana trees in the morning. In the afternoon we watched the elephants make tidy work of the 12 inch wide banana stalks. Our last day Matt split his time between volunteering and elephant gazing. I on the other hand did no volunteering and simply soaked in as much elephant time as possible. It was lovely. Especially when one of the elephants got close enough for me to give her a little pat behind the ear.

We left the camp in the late afternoon and spent the night in Sen Monorom, a lovely mountainside town with a few streets, a market, and a very fine pizza joint.

Please forgive the length of this post, which Matt says is far too long. We have been in Cambodia for just over a week and I already have so much to say. The people are incredible. They have been through so much and they keep on smiling with forgiveness in their hearts. They continue to tell their stories without apology. It is truly humbling.

Bracelets Left Behind on the Gravesite Fences

Mahouts (Elephant Handlers)