Whats up beaches?

Now on a lighter note. I had about a week to kill before heading back to Phnom Penh so I decided to head down to the beaches of Sihanoukville. My original plan was to try and get my open water scuba certification while in Thailand but since I had some time on my hands I went ahead and signed up for a class in Cambodia. Not only would this give me a chance to do some full on diving in the Simlian Island next month but my certification was around 100 bucks cheaper over here. Its true that the visibility and the fish life aren't as good as you find in Thailand but there is quite a bit of beautiful coral despite the dynamite fishing that occurred in the past. Funny story (skip the rest of this paragraph if you get grossed out easily): The dive company takes you to a remote island where there's just a few rustic villages. Well something I ate in Phnom Penh gave me a funny feeling in my tummy and I still felt the effects. So when they served lunch I only made it halfway through before I had to go. Well long story short, I finally pooped in a hole (they have nothing else, but I did bring my own TP). Actually it was a pit I found near the base of a tree but on the bright side I had an awesome seaside view.

Sihanoukville itself is really not all that glamorous. You can tell that there's a lot of money being pumped in and one day could be another Pattaya but thats about it. Everything is priced higher, there are frequent electrical blackouts, and there was bit of seediness that I felt when I was here. I'm still not sure why there's so many men in speedos and I'm even less sure of why there are old larger men in speedos. On the weekends the places book up fast because of all the Cambodians on holiday from Phnom Penh. But on the bright side some of the seafood here is just fantastic. I had a seafood barbecue with barracuda, squid, and prawns. It was to die for. I'm so surprised on how good barracuda is. It like tuna but without the smell and better taste so I had to go back for more the next day. Also there are lots of guesthouses and restaurants here that are literally right on the beach. So if you make it down here give the place a shot but don't expect too much.

Tomorrow I take the speed boat Koh Kong to meet up with a friend before heading off to Bangkok to start my tour which lasts 3 weeks. So it might be a while before I get another post up. Until then...

And by the way there's a commercial on the Animal Planet channel about an elephant rehabilitation center in Thailand that looks like the one I'll be at. If you happen to catch it let me know. I'll be at the Elephant Nature Park run by a woman named Lek. I think its supposed to air Feb 3rd.

Moving on

After spending about two weeks in Siem Reap, I finally headed on my way. A few days earlier Laura befriended a girl named Palynath on the way back from Phnom Penh and she lived in Battambang. So Laura, Rachel, and I shared a taxi through the less than comfortable roads to the less touristy Battambang province to pay her a visit. We were in luck because Palynath works at an NGO, teaches at a school, and is also a tour guide. So after lunch Rachel headed off with her friend Sak and Laura and I got a free tour of the city from an official guide. Its a lot different from the feeling you get in Siem Reap. There's less people hounding you for tuk tuk rides and souveners and it seems to just be more of the Cambodia that you think of. You have to check out the video I took of us riding the bamboo train. Its essentially a bamboo platform placed on a set of axles. There's a motor with a belt that attaches to the back axle and thats how people get to and fro. The next day I also visited a set of caves outside the city where the Khmer Rouge executed numerous people. Its an odd setting seeing this one 'mountain' in the middle of the plains of Cambodia. The beauty there is mixed with an eeriness of whats happened there in the past.

Moving on again I made my way to the capitol of Phnom Penh. Its more of a fast paced city with a lot of bigger buildings, flashing lights, and other quirks you associate with bigger cities. When you are there you definately can tell there are some very rich (by Cambodia standards) people as well as some very poor. But I think here more than any other city there is a pretty solid middle class.

The main two places in Phnom Penh I wanted to see were Toul Sleng and Choung Ek. Skip this part if you don't want to hear about some of the dark and sad stories of Cambodia's past. Toul Sleng was formerly a school that was converted to a prison during the Khmer Rouge reign between 1975 and 1979. Here prisoners were taken in and interrogated and tortured until they confessed to crimes they didn't even commit. There was an estimated 20,000 people who went through the facility and less than a dozen of those survived to talk about it. For some unknown reason they took photos of each prisoner and many of the pictures are on display throughout the buildings. One of the most disturbing things was the amount of children that went through. Its just hard to imagine. But the thing that struck me the most was the expressions on the faces of the victims. They looked as if they had just accepted their fate and there was no fight left in them. Some even had a little smirk on their faces. A lot of these prisoners were taken outside the city to Choung Ek or the Killing Fields where they would eventually end their journey.

The first thing you see when you get to Choung Ek is a large stupa where hundreds of excavated skulls and clothes are displayed showing what happened. The skulls sometimes had bullet holes through the top but often they just showed signs where they had been bashed in with a blunt object. Outside of the memorial there really isn't all that much. Its essentially rows upon rows of mass graves that were excavated after the end of the regime. Most of the prisoners were brought in at night and were taken one by one for execution. Some had to dig their own graves. There is one grave that was filled with women and children while another one contained only headless bodies. Its hard to imagine what the prisoners as well as the soldiers went through. But as you meet and talk with the locals you really get the sense they just want to move on. I think thats why so many people I've come across really love this place.

My Tomb Raider experience

So after a week and half in Siem Reap I still hadn't been to the legendary Angkor Wat and truthfully I didn't see what all the hype was about. But what is a visit to Cambodia without seeing the iconic ruins. So I tagged along with Laura and Louise and tried to squeeze all the major temples into one day. If you are interested in trying and seeing the temples here's a tip: don't get the 7 day pass unless you plan on taking it real slow and going every other day. If you're really fascinated by them get a 3 day pass and hire a guide for the first day. I on the other hand, I opted for the one day pass. I didn't get to see some of the further out temples but that was ok by me.

Walking across the moat and into the entrance of Angkor Wat is amazing. The size of the structure and the details of the carving put it alongside the Roman Colosseum and the Pyramids of Egypt when you consider the times that they were built. After marveling at the size and beauty of Angkor Wat, we headed off to Ta Prohm (made famous when a miss Angelina Jolie climbed through its rubble in Tomb Raider). This was my favorite place of the day. The jungle just takes over and you really feel like you're in the jungle; well aside from the bus loads of Korean tourists shoveled in every half hour. Tip #2: go here between noon and 2 o'clock when the buses head back to the city for lunch. We also visited some smaller lesser known temples before ending the day at the Bayon Temples. Its basically a head with 4 faces and there's something like forty some odd heads all of different sizes, but I can't remember what each face stands for. Another must see along with the previous two I mentioned. By the time we finished up there it was late in the afternoon and everyone heads up to the top of a hill to watch the sunset. Well its not setting over Angkor Wat, its crowded, everyone is tired and you have to clamber down in the dark afterwards. Tip #3: Don't do the sunrise, nuff said. If I would've changed anything it would have been to skip the sunset and try to make the sunrise at Angkor Wat which looks amazing in the pics I've seen.

After my day crawling through ancient ruins I was thoroughly impressed and extremely glad I went. Its something that pictures or videos just don't do justice. But if you're planning a visit do it soon while its still in the state it is now. There are reconstruction and preservation projects going on but it seems like a lot of the new construction is going to take away from that "jungle" feel that you sometimes get. Next stop Battambang.

Helping out some more

We decided to cut the school teaching short after Laura found a brochure for a very rural orphanage in a village called Pouk. Talk about roughing it. This is the type of place where you sleep in a wooden shack and poop in a hole. The first day when we first arrived we dodged cow poo as we hiked through someone's yard to get to the orphanage. There was no electricity, no running water, no valet parking. But they were absolutely thrilled to see us. Being so far out and with limited funding they get very little support from outside of the local village.

Helping out here was so rewarding because they had essentially nothing so that made everything we gave that much more special to them. During our 3 days there we played games, taught English, worked on crafts, laid in hammocks, and much more. We (well maybe it was more the others than me but I'm unemployed so give me a break) bought for them some new bikes, all new school uniforms, sandals, bananas, oranges, notebooks, hammocks, and probably more. I don't think some of the kids were able to go to school until we arrived simply because they couldn't afford the uniforms. Here are some pics of the ones I named. The first two are P and Q (the story behind their names is a long one), the next one is Smiles and Dimples and some of their friends, I didn't give the last two names but they were a lot of fun.

Doing my part

Ok, so lets rewind a little bit. After arriving in Siem Reap and exploring for a little while I worked at a countryside school about 35km outside the city for a week. It was one of the few volunteer projects I could find that allows for free short term volunteers. I just didn't feel comfortable paying to volunteer and not really knowing where my money was going. This project was funded by a tour company originally called the Sage Foundation but now its owners are going seperate ways so the name is going to be different.

The program was set up for volunteers to be assistant English teachers or help with repainting the school walls. The students are extremely well behaved. They stand up whenever you enter the room and wait for you to let them sit down. I felt like a drill sergeant. The class sits in the front of the room instead of fighting for the back like I did when I was in school. A lot of times when the other classes let out early there would be dozens of faces crowded in the windows to see what we were doing. All in all it was a great experience and getting to know the kids was extremely humbling.

If you consider the Khmer Rouge destroyed most of the educational institutions and executed most of the educated, the country has come a long ways. And the government doesn't provide nearly enough financial support. Teachers only make between 30 and 50 dollars a month and when you consider that English speaking tour guides can make that in a week its no wonder there's a shortage of teachers. I've passed many schools that were built by funding from other countries. The textbooks seem very inadequate and thats if you're lucky enough to get them. But still many of the younger kids you run into in the city know decent English and are very smart. There is a lot of optimism and hope in the country and I think with a little support the the Cambodians can go a long way.

Back to the Motherland

Well I guess I last left off when I decided to travel overland to Siem Reap. Lets just say its not for everyone. After crossing the border into Cambodia I might as well have had SUCKER tatooed on my forehead. But honestly I didn't really care I just wanted to get there. Besides I was only getting overcharged anywhere from a nickel to a dollar each time. The road from the border to Siem Reap is... well its awful. Two and three foot potholes littered the road almost the entire way so a trip that probably would have taken 40 minutes in the states ended up taking about 5 times as long. Apparently Bangkok Airways had a contract with the Cambodian government not to pave the road so more people would fly, but not my cheap ass.

I did finally arrive in one piece and since then I've been working at a school which I'll describe in another post. But coming over to a third world country is a little overwhelming if you're not prepared for it. You do see a lot of poverty in Thailand but not to this scale, especially away from the cities. I was cruisin along on the back of a moped when I saw these kids playing with a scrap of styrofoam so I stopped and offered them my bag of sun dried cranberries. But don't worry about me, I'm not staying in a shack made of sticks and pooping in a hole. My place is actually very nice and after a long day at the school I've been coming back and going for a swim and relaxing in a hammock overlooking the pagoda next door. All that for the price of a mere $5, you can't beat that. Also a decent breakfast and maid service make this the probably the best hostel I've ever stayed in.

But Cambodia is a really awesome place if you can get past the poverty. The food has been excellent and very cheap, the people are great other than the pushy tuk tuk and moto drivers, and I've met some wonderful people who are doing great things over here. The other night I had dinner and some drinks with the workers of several NGOs and others who have recently set up companies to help out the people of Cambodia.

On the downside the sun can be brutal at times, I'm slowly being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and I haven't found a place that shows the playoffs....

Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

Flying into Bangkok I knew either one of two things were going to happen: a) I was going to have to buy a ticket out of Thailand because they require proof of exit within 30 days or a valid Thai visa or b) my luggage was not going to show up when I did. Well after clearing my way through customs I had just one hurdle to clear. Of course 20 minutes later when the luggage carousel was empty and I was sitting there with my thumb up my arse a lovely Thai woman approached me and explained that my bag was still in Beijing and it wouldn't be available until the next day.



Luckily I had stowed away enough essentials for a day in my carry on so I made my way to my hostel. Finding the place at 2:30 in the morning with a driver who didn't understand a word I was saying seemed like the icing on top of the cake but thats another story. Not to be down I spent the next day walking about and trying some local cuisine so on the bright side I spent about $2.10 on my meals that day. By around 8 that evening my baggage had still not arrived and I was worried I'd out of clothes to change into that night. Did I mention its pretty toasty over here? Just as I was about to give up the guy from the airport arrived with my bag so we all celebrated by putting away some Chang and Singh beers. Turns out that might not have been the greatest idea as I slept too late to catch the bus to Cambodia the next day.



I ended up going over and checking out Wat Po (the giant reclining Buddha) and the famous Thai massage school next door. Honestly, I've had just as good massages in the states but you can't beat the price for $12. You can actually get them cheaper throughout the city but I wanted to make sure I got the real thing to compare it to. I'm sure I'll have a chance to do it again soon. But as luck would have it as I was packing my stuff to leave the next day I realized I my passport wasn't around. After searching on end for the next half hour I gave up and prepared for the worst. But I got up late that evening and went to the lobby to hang out for a while. My luck may have turned as the guy sleeping below me came out with my passport in hand. Since it was already around 1 or 2 in the morning and Katrin was staying up anyways I decided to just rough it and go without sleep that night. So after a couple speed bumps and two days later I was finally off for Cambodia...