Monday, 13 June 2005
Phnom Penh Blues
Went to the Killing Fields and the S-21 torture facility musuem yesterday. Pretty horrible places, compounded by the fact that the actual museums themselves were just as bad this time around as they were last time. Given their unique claim of being the sole practicers of so-called ''auto-genocide'' (Khmer vs. Khmer as opposed to German vs. Jew, Tutsi vs. Huutu, etc...), you'd think Cambodians would be able to come up with an interesting and incisive look at the Khmer Rouge, but to be perfectly honest it doesn't seem like a whole lot of thought or introspection went in to either of the aforementioned exhibits.
Both museums point to things like blood on the floor and mass graves and say ''This is unspeakably evil,'' but they just stop there. At the Killing Fields there's a short essay posted on the wall which in part says "The Khmer Rouge looked like regular people but they had the hearts of the most evil demons." Of course, they weren't evil demons. They were uneducated peasants who got caught up in a movement that went too far. It could happen, and has happened again and again all over the world. Too blame it on their being ''evil'' is nothing more than a cop-out.
Phnom Penh itself is the same as it was three years ago. Filthy and poor, the city chokes you as soon as you step out of your room. Not only is the air thick with pollution, the beggars and desperate motorbike drivers practically assault you the moment you leave the guesthouse.
It's a depressing place to be, and we're leaving tomorrow morning. We're heading to a province in the Northeast called Mondulkiri, and we hope to get a better and more accurate impression of the "real Cambodia" when we get there. Fiona is not optimistic, but we'll see how it is.
Posted by flow Frazao on June 13, 2005 at 04:36 AM in Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Saturday, 11 June 2005
Phnom Penh
We left Siem Riep yesterday at 7AM after a bit of confusion with the buses. For a minute there Fiona and I were afraid that we were going to be making the 7 hour drive in a VW minibus, but it turned out that the minibus was just a transport to the real bus. Luckily, it was a decent tour bus sized vehicle replete with air-conditioning. Not bad for $3 a ticket.
The roads were shocking, but nowhere near as bad as the road from the Cambodia/Thai border to Siem Riep. There were even streches of pavement on this highway. After a few weeks of driving on dirt roads, riding on asphalt seems like a dream. It's like floating along in a hovercraft.
However, the most shocking thing was the stops along the way. Every two hours or so the bus would pull off at a rest stop-type place and everyone would pile out of the bus for a stretch. There were four Westerners on the bus (out of about 50 people), so we would just stand there stupidly as everyone did what they did. Some people would head to the bathrooms, some would go to the shady area and smoke, but most of the Cambodians would make a beeline for the fried bug stalls.
Simply put, these people love to eat bugs. It doesn't even matter what kind of bugs. They love them all. Crickets, beetles, cockroaches, and even big hairy spiders. They eat them by the bagful.
I can't say I bought a pound of them, but Fiona and I both tried them. How can you not? Surprisingly, they weren't that bad at all. Crunchy - almost like potato chips. And we were pleased to find that they're not full of weird juices. They just munch right down like Doritos.
The trick is that you have to pull the legs off before you pop them in your mouth. Otherwise the little legs get stuck in your teeth, and there's nothing worse than having to floss out a grasshopper leg from in between your molars.
Posted by flow Frazao on June 11, 2005 at 02:12 AM in Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 09 June 2005
Angkor Wat Photos
A few photos from the past three days at Angkor Wat and around Siem Riep (that's Cambodia). Enjoy!
Posted by flow Frazao on June 9, 2005 at 07:49 AM in Photos, Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Sunday, 05 June 2005
Siem Riep
Getting to Siem Riep (home of Angkor Wat) from Bangkok is no small feat. Obviously, if you're a pussy you can fly in a girly she-plane, but Fiona and I have true grit. We travel overland.
We caught a 6AM bus from Bangkok to the border, where we arrived at about 1PM. After going through the requisite Thai exit stamping process, we stepped up to the Cambodian immigration window. A 30 day visa for Cambodia costs $20, but the Poipet border is apparently the only place in the country that does not accept US Dollars. They would only take 1000 baht (Thai currency). This works out decidedly well for the Cambodian border guards because 1000 baht = $25 USD. So I guess every person that crosses the border contributes directly to the Support Cambodian Border Guards Fund.
After walking through the big archway to Kampuchea, we met up with a German guy and decided to share a taxi from Poipet to Siem Riep. The four of us (me, Fiona, Olaf, and the driver) loaded our crap into the trunk (with the help of about 10 other tip-hungry Cambodians) and headed out of town.
Last time I came to Cambodia I remembered this drive being one of the worst in a succession of long and arduous roads. It has not been improved. It took about three and a half hours to go less than 150km. The potholes defy description. There are actually stretches of road where you wind up driving in the ditches along the sides of the street because they're in better condition than the actual road. It's almost as bad as M St. in Washington DC.
We made it to Siem Riep at around 5PM, and I was/am amazed at the amount of change this town has undergone over three years. Last time I was here there were loads of guesthouses charging between $1 and $40 per night. I remember two or three big hotels, but even they weren't that big. Now there are more than 10 MASSIVE hotels here, some of which charge $2000 per night for the most expensive room.
To me, that is an absolutely retarded amount of money to spend on a hotel room. I'm fairly sure it sounds pretty outrageous to you as well. Now try to imagine how it sounds to a Cambodian who makes $15 dollars per month. "Retarded" does not begin to describe it. A girl who works at our guesthouse told us last night that $2000 is the price of tuition for four years of university at the best school in Cambodia.
We've spent the last two days reading up on Angkor Wat and the history of Cambodia. Last time I came I went into the temple not knowing anything about it, and I didn't really know what I was looking at. I'm lucky enough to get a second chance at seeing the largest religious complex in the world, and I don't want to blow it. I may not get a third time around.
Tomorrow morning we're going to go to Ta Prohm at sunrise. If you're a connoisseur of bad movies and beautiful women, you'd know this temple as the setting of the first Tomb Raider movie. It's the only temple at the Angkor Wat complex that's been left alone without any reconstruction at all. The jungle is slowly reclaiming it, and it's some of the most magnificent destruction I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to seeing it at sunrise.
Finally, I've posted some pictures of our first few days in Cambodia. This is a double rainbow I was lucky enough to see from the rooftop bar of our guesthouse:
Posted by flow Frazao on June 5, 2005 at 10:27 AM in Photos, Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, 02 June 2005
Cambodia Bound
Tomorrow morning at 5AM we're leaving for Cambodia. It's going to be a long day, but hopefully we'll get there before dark. The last thing you want is to be driving in Cambodia at night.
This will be my second trip and Fiona's first. Last time I went I had a 30 day visa, but I only managed to make it 14 days. It was a difficult place to be. There's an awful lot of poverty, and it was the first time I'd seen anything like it. Hopefully this time around I'm better prepared and can see a bit more of the country.
We're going to start off in Siem Riep (home of Angkor Wat) and we'll spend a few days relaxing there. We're both coming off some pretty nasty colds, so a few days of taking it easy will be really nice - especially after the last Celta-riffic month.
After Siem Riep we're not sure where we're going to head. At some point we'll make it down to Phnom Penh so that Fiona can see the Killing Fields and the S-21 museum. I've heard that the Ratakiri province in the Northeast is pretty remarkable, but it may not be possible to get there because of the monsoons.
Speaking of which, you may not know this about monsoons (I didn't, at least). I used to think that monsoons were constant, driving rain that didn't let up for months. Not so. Here in Bangkok they're really severe thunder and lightning storms that last for an hour at the most. To be honest, they're not that much different from the summer storms I remember in DC and CT. Of course, they're a lot more exotic with a bunch of food vendors running down the street through the pouring rain screaming in Thai the whole way.
Posted by flow Frazao on June 2, 2005 at 05:37 AM in Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Holy Shit!
Look at that hair!
We finished the class a few days ago and promptly shaved Fiona's head. It looks good in a post-apocolyptic, road warrior sort of way. She keeps looking in the mirror and saying "Jesus Christ. Look at me. It's going to take years to grow back." She's right, of course, but I can tell you without reservation that there are few things more weirdly exhilarating than shaving a woman's head.
Anyhow, I put up these and a few other shots in the Thailand gallery. Check em out.
Posted by flow Frazao on June 2, 2005 at 04:54 AM in Southeast Asia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CELTA - It's Over!
After a long month, the class is finally over. Here are a few pics taken on the last day of class (thanks to Bier for taking most of them).
Posted by flow Frazao on June 2, 2005 at 04:25 AM in TEFL | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Corby Case: Getting Out of Hand
It's been very interesting for me to watch the Australian media's downhill slide over the past three years. When I first visited three years ago, I remember watching the news in Melbourne with a kind of envy. It was during the run-up to the Iraq War and I wished American news could be as objective as the reports I saw in Oz.
I returned a few months ago and found that in a very short time there had been drastic changes. Gone was the BBC-esque programming I remembered. In it's place was a Fox-esque replica that constantly drilled home the horrors of the pedophile in YOUR neighborhood and the dangers of letting strangers photograph your children on the beach.
Now the Schapelle Corby case seems to have completed the Australian media's downhill slide into American news. It seems as though the media in Australia have managed to whip people into such a frenzy about the whole thing that now we're seeing reports like this:
A full scale emergency was triggered Wednesday morning when an embassy official discovered a white powder after opening an envelope addressed to Indonesia's Ambassador in Australia, Imron Cotan.
The Indonesian embassy in Canberra remains closed and staff have been sent home after undergoing a decontamination process following the attack.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had been briefed on the contents of a note included with the biological agent but would not comment on its contents at this stage, citing the police investigation.
The threat on the embassy comes amid a torrent of ill-feeling towards Indonesia in Australia and follows death threats made to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra last month and the sending of bullets to the Indonesian consulate in Perth in April.
When I first started following this case, it was out of a perverse interest in how things could go horribly wrong while travelling. Now it's snowballed into a Scott Petersen/OJ Simpson/Terry Schiavo free-for-all, with Corby's verdict being broadcast live to the nation and redneck bogans mailing "anthrax" to the Indonesian embassy.
Posted by flow Frazao on June 2, 2005 at 03:18 AM in Australia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack