So it’s been a while.. again. Sorry about that. But I did have the chance to FINALLY go
on vacation somewhere! I spent 7 days in Cambodia. I flew over on the 5th
with 3 other Americans who have been here and we had dinner and walked along
the river our first night. Our second day was packed! And pretty heavy. We
started out touring the Tuol Sleng prison museum, which was a primary
school/high school that was converted into a place for interrogations and
torture during the height of the Khmer Rouge regime. I found that even though I
was in the place and hearing the horror of it and seeing the stains that the
blood left on the floor.. I couldn’t comprehend that one person could do that
to another. It just doesn’t seem possible, yet I know it was. 20,000 people
went through S-21 (the other name for it) and there were about 12 survivors.
The rest, if they didn’t die there, were shipped off in trucks to some fields
outside of town. It is there that they murdered en masse. We walked by pit
after pit where they had excavated the remains of so many people.. There are
still small chips of bones and teeth that come up after a heavy rain. You can
see pieces of clothing half buried in dirt that have worked their way to the
surface. We learned that the serrated edges of sugar palm branches were cut off
and used to slit people’s throats. The worst, and where it became real to me,
was the killing tree. Instead of wasting precious ammunition, guards would find
sport in taking babies by the legs and bashing their heads again the trunk of
this tree and throw the bodies in a pit beside it. Women were raped and killed
and thrown in the pit with them, naked. The tree is still stained and there is
a smell. I don’t know if it was related to what happened there, but the smell
really made it real to me. The history of Cambodia is a tragic one and it
didn’t even happen that long ago. This was taking place from 1975-1979, while
the US and UK supported the Khmer Rouge as the rightful government and gave
them a seat in the UN. No one really knew what was going on inside the country.
Any one with an education was subject to this terrible treatment.
After
the heavy morning/afternoon, we needed something more light-hearted, so we went
down to the Russian market , so named because it used to be that all the
foreigners were from Russia and they would frequent this market. It was a
pretty short trip because we realized we hadn’t eaten lunch, and it was getting
late. So we stopped at a bakery there (thanks to the French influence there,
they have excellent baguettes!), and then went home only to have dinner right
away before being whisked off for our first “seeing hands” massage! I’d never
had a blind massage before and that was pretty interesting. I think I enjoyed
mine more than the others though because they are really tall and their length
was working against them on the table. :/
Wednesday
we woke up bright and early and set off in our taxi for Siem Reap at 7:30 in
the morning! It was a 5 hour drive, but we were able to relax and chat and sleep
and stop to eat spiders. Wait, what? Yea. In Cambodia, there is a place where
they sell fried spiders. Think tarantula size. It took four of us to eat one.
And interestingly enough, once you take a bite, you forget it’s a spider. It
just tasted like crunchy fried oil. The only downside is having the little
hairs break off and lodge themselves in the crevices of your mouth, so if you
don’t do a clean sweep after you bite, you’ll find them later. Gross. We made
it to Siem Reap a little after noon, I think. Heide and our Thai friend Kong
had arrived a couple hours before us, but we were all able to meet up after we
arrived. That night we went to buy our Angkor Wat tickets and to watch the
sunset, which we actually didn’t get to see because they closed that particular
temple at 5:30. We weren’t allowed to climb to the top and therefore were
unable to see the sunset through the trees. But we did get a nice unexpected
hike out of it! Afterwards the 6 of us went to the night market where we ate
dinner and did our first bit of shopping in Cambodia. We were told its nickname
is “Scambodia” and that we should ask for 60% of the starting price for
anything we buy. I didn’t do so hot at first.. but that’s ok. It’s where they
get their money for living, so I’m glad I could help. I ended up buying two
pair of the weird Asian pants that I swore I would never wear and a shirt with
elephants that says Angkor Wat. The shirt is kinda small, but the pants are
great and comfy! .. and elsewhere I got a really cool shirt that says “same
same” on the front (cuz that’s how Thais [and Cambodians] say it) and on the
back it says “but different.” It wasn’t til I got home that I realized it was
printed on a maternity shirt from Old Navy.. Oh well.
Wow
this post is getting long and believe it or not, it’s taken me over a week to
write. The rest of the trip goes like this. The next day we woke up dark and
early and set off for Angkor Wat at 5am to catch the sunrise there. It was a
long day of walking in the hot Cambodian sun, but we got to see some incredible
things that man has done. Pictures will be posted on Facebook. It was a tiring
day and My sunscreen didn’t work well, but luckily I had been using my
umbrella, so there were only minor sunburns. After our time there, we went home
and swam in the rooftop pool at our hotel and then ate dinner and all got
massages at the hotel spa. The next day we went to Tonle Sap lake, which is the
biggest lake in SE Asia. It ended up being kind of a bummer. Though it was
really interesting to see the community that lives in poverty on the lake (like
literally ON the lake, think floating houses), we were taken to the general
store where we were then pressured to buy things for the children at the
school. We ended up spending $10 each to buy a giant bag of rice to give them.
Luckily we got it down from $70 to $50.. Then we felt bad for not being happy
about giving it. We just felt forced, you know? We didn’t really have that much
money with us either. After we visited the school and dropped off the rice and
took pictures with the kids, the boat took us to the crocodile farm and fish
farm, which are tiny little pools on a floating barge where they also have a
restaurant and tourist shop and information about how the community lives in
the different seasons. As interesting as the whole experience was, it left a
bad taste in my mouth. When we were finally pulling up to land, our guide told
us that if we liked our tour, we should give him $5 to help him go to school.
We didn’t have much more money and were tired of feeling conned, so we each
chipped in and collectively gave him $5. We weren’t happy. And that put the
outing at $21, officially more than Angkor Wat and it was not worth it. And
that was when I realized that the sunscreen I bought truly did not work at all.
My arm got soo red. That was disappointing. After that we had a snack at a
butterfly garden restaurant then went to the old market to do more shopping. It
was there that I purchased my cool backpack made out of elephant cement bags.
Then we went home, swam more, ate dinner and played Telephone Pictionary, one
of the greatest group games ever invented. We laughed loudly and generally had
a great time.
Friday
was Heide’s birthday, so we planned the day to surprise her. First we went to a
pottery place and she got to try making a pot on a wheel. The bummer is she
forgot to pick it up on her way out of town the next day. :/ From there we went
to the silk farm and got to see just how silk is made. It was funny to talk
about the way we ooh and ahh over what man can do at Angkor Wat and then
quietly take in the intricate amazing things God can do with a little silk
worm. It’s crazy stuff. Just because one is bigger and statelier doesn’t mean
it’s cooler. After that we went to lunch and then sent Heide off alone with our
tuk tuk driver and $10. She didn’t know she was going to get another massage,
but we arranged it with the driver in advance. It was a fun surprise. She said
she didn’t know what she was doing until she was in the private room and they
asked which kind of massage she wanted! While she did that, the rest of us
checked out the sister “school” of the silk farm where they train people from
the local communities to do wood-carving or stone-carving or painting or
lacquer-ing.. then we went back to
the old market to wait for Heide. After that we went to the best ice cream
place ever, recommended by my friend who had been to the country 3 years in a
row. It was so cool to think he had been in the very same spot so many times. I
felt connected to home for a brief instant. Then we went back to the hotel to
rest before taking off again to a free “concert.” It was put on by a cellist-pediatrician
who started a hospital (now there are 4 or 5 of them) where they treat children
for free. It would have been nicer if I had been prepared to be talked at for
over two hours. I was under the impression that it was going to be an hour of
cello music, and for that I was very excited. I wish I had been ready and more
receptive. As one of my friends said, it was neat that we got to end our trip
with good news, especially since we started it out so depressingly. I agreed
with that but was still in a sour mood. :/ Then the place we wanted to take
Heide for dinner was closed and I was even more disappointed. I snapped out of
it after we finally ate at a restaurant on Pub Street. It was there that we
talked to a band of French cyclists who were traveling around the world. The
girl we talked to hadn’t been home in 4 years. Though traveling the world and
getting to see and experience so many places and peoples and cultures would be
amazing, I don’t know if I could be away from home for that long. Finally after
dinner, we tried the fish foot massages that we’d seen everywhere. It tickles
SO badly! It is a crazy experience. From there we went home and it was after
midnight. Heide’s birthday had officially ended. She told us it was the best
birthday she’d ever had! :) That felt good.
The next morning we all set out on
our journey home. It was a fantastic vacation and I’m so grateful I got to go
and for the people I went with.. and for my grandparents and uncle, whose
Christmas gifts helped finance it. ;)
I still have more to update on,
but that will come another time. This is sufficiently way too long. (Sorry!)
Much love.
Trace
