The traffic in Phnom Penh is mad. I rented a bicycle to get around, and I don't think I understand the rules. The traffic is made up of mostly motorbikes, then cars, then bicycles. In general, people seem to drive on the right - unless they are driving on the left. It is quite unnerving to have a motorbike coming at you when you are wedged between a parked car and a moving car. Stop signs are generally ignored. Most intersections have no stop controls. At signalized intersections, the green light is always obeyed, the red - not so much. I had a number of near misses, but I didn't see any accidents while I was there!
I rode the single speed bicycle, with a basket in the front, to the killing fields, about 14 km outside of town. It took 3 hours, because I missed a turn and added an hour to the trip. The killing fields at Choeung Ek, is one of 348 mass grave sites from the Khmer Rouge regime. There is a memorial building, filled with skulls of the victims, and depressions in the ground, where the mass graves were. Strangely, I didn't really feel much while I was there. I was amazed at the relatively small size of the graves, considering the number of bodies that was placed in them.
On another day, I visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly Khmer Rouge S-21 Prison, formerly a high school. They showed a documentary about S-21, while following the lives of a separated husband and wife, thru the letters they wrote to each other. They were both eventually killed. Parts of the museum were left as is, with prison cells, barbed wire, instrument of torture....still there. In other parts, there were picture exhibits of the victims, the brutality and the story of the rise and fall of Khmer Rouge. I spent 4 hours there. Many times my eyes filled with tears as I looked at the pictures and read the writings. How could they think they were making Cambodia a better place by driving the people into poverty and causing the death of 1/3 of the population?
I vaguely remember seeing pictures of starving Cambodian children when I was a child, but I never really knew what went on. Now I see things a little differently. I have more compassion when I see the beggars. And I know they have far more important things to worry about than traffic rules! Cambodia has had the unenviable task of rebuilding a nation without its educated & skilled classes.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
First impressions of Cambodia
I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had a really rough ride to get here. For a couple days, I was on Don Det, one of 4000 or so islands formed by the Mekong River in Laos near the Cambodian border. I left there at 8:00 in the morning and didn't arrive in Phnom Penh until about 10:00pm.
The roads in Cambodia are by far the worst roads I've encountered - and they say the roads are much improved! Large stretches of the main road, from the Laos border to Phnom Penh, is not paved. I also heard that the road from the Thai border to Siem Riep is deliberately kept in bad shape to force people to fly from Bangkok to see Angkor Wat, thereby giving a certain airline business. And this airline pays the government to not pave the road.
In a couple days, I'll go to Siem Riep to see Angkor Wat. I'm not really into temple ruins. When I visited Borobudur, a similar colossal temple structure in Indonesia, I couldn't see what was so fascinating about it. But I'll go anyway. In fact, I plan to visit Angkor Wat for several days in a row until I understand what it is that fascinates people.
Drugs, mainly marijuana, are even more widely available here than in Laos. And it is out in the open. My bus had not even parked and there were people in the window waving bags of weed. While checking into the guesthouse, the attendant was trying to sell me some. Oh...the bus driver had several joints. Luckily, he didn't light up while driving.
It is probably not fair for me to judge the place as yet. I got in late last night. I am staying in the area where backpackers stay, and as I type this, I have not yet left my room to see the city.
The US dollar is the main currency here. The ATM's dispense US dollars! Of course the dollars I brought with me are not considered to be good, because they are old and faded. They want only crisp new dollars. With the new designs, I'm not even sure they're real!
The roads in Cambodia are by far the worst roads I've encountered - and they say the roads are much improved! Large stretches of the main road, from the Laos border to Phnom Penh, is not paved. I also heard that the road from the Thai border to Siem Riep is deliberately kept in bad shape to force people to fly from Bangkok to see Angkor Wat, thereby giving a certain airline business. And this airline pays the government to not pave the road.
In a couple days, I'll go to Siem Riep to see Angkor Wat. I'm not really into temple ruins. When I visited Borobudur, a similar colossal temple structure in Indonesia, I couldn't see what was so fascinating about it. But I'll go anyway. In fact, I plan to visit Angkor Wat for several days in a row until I understand what it is that fascinates people.
Drugs, mainly marijuana, are even more widely available here than in Laos. And it is out in the open. My bus had not even parked and there were people in the window waving bags of weed. While checking into the guesthouse, the attendant was trying to sell me some. Oh...the bus driver had several joints. Luckily, he didn't light up while driving.
It is probably not fair for me to judge the place as yet. I got in late last night. I am staying in the area where backpackers stay, and as I type this, I have not yet left my room to see the city.
The US dollar is the main currency here. The ATM's dispense US dollars! Of course the dollars I brought with me are not considered to be good, because they are old and faded. They want only crisp new dollars. With the new designs, I'm not even sure they're real!
Photos from Laos 8
Lots of buffolo here. They pretty docile, dispite the horns. But what do you do when several stand in the path and refuse to move? I just sat on the bike and waited for someone else come along and move them.
Trying to find the second waterfall, I came to this bridge, and was not brave enough to ride across it. I had to backtrack. About three hours later, I approached it from the other side, still trying to find the waterfall!
Sunset on the banks of the Mekong.
A kitten, sleeping on my journal, as I wait for the boat. Today I leave Laos after 29 days.Photos from Laos 7
"Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), where the Mekong fans out forming an intricate network of channels, rocks, sandbars and islets 14km wide, is one of nature's marvels" according to the Lonely Planet. It is nice. I spent a day biking on two of the islands, visiting the two waterfalls, which are really two massive rapids.
One of the waterfalls. This is really just a small part of it. One photo can not capture the size of it.
Another view of the waterfall.
A warning to people who want to swim there.
This area might be safe to swim, but I wasn't going to risk it.Photos from Laos 6
Patuxai, in Vientiane. Allegedly, it was built with cement donated by the US to build an airport, so it is referred to as the vertical runway.
Looking down from Patuxai.
Monks cutting grass.
Women selling food to passengers in the sawgnthaew.
A sawgnthaew is a pickup truck with two benches in the back and a cover. This one probably has about 15 persons packed in it. The bamboo basket-like containers are packed with live pigs. Luckily, they let me sit in the front seat.Photos from Laos 5
A very narrow single lane bridge on the way to Phathao village (near Vang Vien) and the caves in the mountains.
Me, all sweaty faced, in the cave. This was my first time exloring a cave, and I was all alone. Absolutely no one else. If I had gotten lost...
Exploring a very cramped area of the cave.
Mountain biking from cave to cave, sometimes getting stuck in the mud. I had to wash the bike in the river before returning it.
Another nice view of the area.Photos from Laos 4
Another view of the waterfall. That's another nursing student, who was eager to practice his English.
The view while standing in the waterfall, at the very edge. I was a bit scared as I did this. It wasn't until afterward, that I saw the danger sign warning people not to do this!
The swimming area. The water was so inviting, but I didn't have enough time to swim. I had spent my time hiking up the very slippery hill to the top of the waterfall, while wearing flip flops.
Passenger busses in SE Asia transport much more than people. Today, they're carrying about 5 truckloads of eggs on the roof.
Women selling pineapples on the roadside.Photos from Laos 3
A nursing student in Luang Prabang. I got to see one of their dormitories. It was a small one room concrete building. The floor used to be concrete, but is now mostly dirt. There were no windows. Several small beds were lined side by side along the back wall. The beds had no mattress, just a mat, a pillow and a mosquito net. They were all very friendly, even if most of them spoke no English.
The memorial to Henri Mouhot (his body is no longer there). This is the French guy who "discovered" Ankor Wat. He died here at this location in the jungles of Laos from malaria. I started to get worried, as there were mosquitos flying around me.
Other tourists on an elephant. After my second elephant ride, I still don't like it.
Tat Kuang Si, a really beautiful waterfall.
I just love the English here!Photos from Laos 2
One of the many Budha images on Phu Si (pronounced poosee), a hill in Luang Prabang.
A view from Phu Si.
An imprint of the Buddha's foot or "foof". I don't think the Buddha was ever in Laos, but he left lots of footprints!
Head of a large reclining Buddha.
Temple.Photos from Laos 1
This is the boat (the small one, not the big one) I would take for the 2-day journey down the Mekong River, from Huay Xai (at the Thai border) to Luang Prabang. It was not quite the trip I had envisioned, as the boat was packed full with westerners. I had the choice of moping about this or enjoying it for what it was. We played cards for much of the trip.
Houses on the hills along the Mekong.
Children playing on the banks of the Mekong.
View of the Mekong and surrounding area from Pak Beng. At the invitation of some local guys who were bathing in the river, I went in for a quick dip, being careful to keep my head out of the water. The Mekong is one of those rivers that is the water source and the toilet.
Girl with a big fish. She came down to the waters edge when the boat pulled up. I thought she wanted to sell it, but then she kept it in the water, so we couldn't see it. Then she took the fish back up when the boat left.
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