So I successfully completed three nights of being a promotions girl for Reggae bar. While it was nice to get the small income (can't complain when you're getting free alcohol all night plus 300Baht and you're only paying 200Baht for your bed...) I really enjoyed the chance to get to meet so many different people. Holding a pack of flyers in your hand is a great excuse to talk to complete strangers. The Tiger Bar and Reggae Bar promoters were a great group of people, almost exclusively Brits interestingly enough, and we definitely knew how to have fun. I got to watch the sunrise after my first night of work and then sit on the curbside commiserating with other over tired staff the next day. Then I got to see what influence the Thai mafia/police (same thing...) have around here on my second night, then on my last night I was reminded that my job was actually illegal. Technically.
On most/all of the Thai islands, the place is controlled by the Thai mafia. The only reason bars, especially on the beach, party until the sun comes up is because they pay off the police enough to keep them from shutting down the music. Unfortunately, sometimes things don't go to plan. Someone doesn't get their money, or someone elses causes a problem and people get angry. A few days before my first day of work a stabbing occurred at one of the beach bars. The story differs, some people say the guy survived, some insist he's dead, some say it was a fight between two white guys, others say a Thai bar staff member was involved. Either way, the police were not happy about it. After a few days of uncooperation, the police decided they were going to starve out the information that they apparently think is being kept by some barstaff. So on my second night, all the bars on the island got the call that they had to shut down at 1am or there woul be trouble. Most Thai people don't like trouble, in fact they really go out of their way to avoid it, so by 1am the island went dark despite the many many angry football fans who were waiting to watch the semi final game at 1:30am. It was a nil-nil game anyway; at least they didn't have to miss any epic history making match. After walking to the beach just to briefly observe the shocked tourists standing around still trying to order alcohol, I headed home for a proper nights sleep.
Our third night out, the same call went out - 1am shut down. We started work at 7pm - an hour earlier than usual, however Claudia and I showed up at 7:20, unaware of the time change, grabbed our flyers then ran off to sit down for dinner... Very good work ethic, I know. After a yummy green curry we set out to actually start promoting, only to be quickly shut down. A strange looking Thai man had come around taking photos of the white promotion staff, then shortly after that our manager came around taking away our flyers and saying "Immigration police, go go go, come back in one hour." So we walked off around the corner, found the Tiger Bar staff and joined them at their bar to wait it out and share travel stories.
After our hour waiting period I wandered back to find the immigration police had decided that Reggae Bar wasn't such a bad place and they would in fact be spending the whole night there. Hmm.. I walked up to the bar, was very generously still given my full wages, then told to hang around outside the bar and discreetly 'promote' Reggae Bar without the flyers for awhile. That didnt have to last very long since a curfew was already set. This time it seems the cops relented and allowed one of the beach bars to keep their big screens running without sound so as not to upset the football hooligans two nights in a row. After watching what seemed like the longest game ever with some fellow staff at the beach, I made it home in time to sleep for about three hours before an early wake up and a boat ride to the mainland.
Claudia and I made the ferry, then got into a minivan to drive down to Hat Yai where we hired a private taxi to drive us down aross the Malaysian border and back again. Got to love those visa runs. So now we have one night in Hat Yai before heading to Koh Pha Ngan once again for full moon number three. Hey why not, right?
Then, my very big news is that I may be headed Down Under after all! Will keep you updated...
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Living in Paradise
The group split up again temporarily and Emily and I headed down to Koh Phi Phi while Claudia stayed behind to meet up one more time with our old travel buddy Calvin before he headed back to Canada and the real world again.
We spent four lovely nights on one of the nicest islands I've seen. Our guesthouse was situated on a beautiful beach in a protected bay with white sand and blue waters. Not bad.
The tides in the bay are amazing; I suppose because the level of the sand is so even the tides appear absolutely enormous. Around midday there is often only a few feet of beach, but by the middle of the night you can walk out almost 100 feet before you hit any water at all.
We spent most of the time being beach bums during the day and checking out the bars at night. We managed to run into Bella, a friend of Emily and Claudia's from home and her friend Lucy who were traveling around the world and celebrating Bella's 23rd birthday on the island which was a great reason to celebrate!
On our last day there the four of us went on a boat trip to explore the other beaches and the second island of Koh Phi Phi which has, among it's features, the beach used in the movie "The Beach." We headed out and although the tide was pretty strong, Lucy and I were determined to go check out the famous beach. It was a pretty tiring swim from the boat and then a rather dangerous climb up and over some rocks on a very wobbly bamboo ladder, but we made it nonetheless. It would probably have been the most beautiful beach I'd ever seen if it weren't for the hundred other people there thinking the same thing. The sand was soft and pure white and the water amazingly clear.
After that and some more snorkeling stops we hit Monkey Bay, a secluded beach inhabited by..monkeys! How did you know?? The four of us were the first ones to get on our kayaks and land on the beach. As we started to walk towards these monkeys I picked up a little plastic toy mobile phone thinking 'oh cute, the monkey's have toys.' Then these 'cute' monkeys starting approaching us...at a full on sprint...and growling... I RAN back into the water which turned out to be a good choice since they can't swim and therefore couldn't get near us. Unfortunately Emily ran the other way and so after I chucked the plastic phone at them to get them away from Bella and myself they turned on poor Emily and one of them managed to sink it's teeth into her knee before she could hit them away and run to safety. A little traumatic. She is now safe and sound back in England and halfway through a course of Rabies injections. Thanks Thailand. I skipped over this in my last post, but while we were in Pai, Emily also got her hand almost eaten off by a baby elephant. Thai animals and Emily Foot - maybe not such a good idea apparently.
After that we reunited with Claudia who had one night out with me in Phi Phi before we headed to Koh Lanta for some serious peace and quiet. Lanta is a beautiful island but thanks to low season it is really really quiet. Almost eerily so. I enjoyed my time with the girls but this place wasn't for me. After three nights Claudia and I are now back in Koh Phi Phi! Our bank accounts are feeling very pressured, so to give them a little rest we have become one of those annoying people who stop you in the street with a flyer and try to get you to come to their bar. Yup. I'm a bar flyer girl. Hey it pays and covers my accomodation and most of my food/extra costs each day while we do it, so it doesn't hurt. Last night was our first night and I actually enjoyed meeting all the other travellers like us who needed a bit of extra cash and an excuse to stay on this island just a bit longer.
After this our trip may be coming to an end sooner than I would like. Money being the main driving factor of course. I was thinking about the idea of going home today, and while it seems strange, I think I am getting close to achieving what I wanted out of this experience. There's still a small hope that Claudia and I will make it to Vietnam, but barring that happening, it looks like a couple of weeks to make some last memories on the islands before a flight back to London town. Hopefully I will then be making it Stateside to see mum and dad and my other American loves for a few weeks before getting back to London to try and ride out this recession!
Meanwhile, back to the beach for a few hours before it's time to hand out those flyers!
We spent four lovely nights on one of the nicest islands I've seen. Our guesthouse was situated on a beautiful beach in a protected bay with white sand and blue waters. Not bad.
The tides in the bay are amazing; I suppose because the level of the sand is so even the tides appear absolutely enormous. Around midday there is often only a few feet of beach, but by the middle of the night you can walk out almost 100 feet before you hit any water at all.
We spent most of the time being beach bums during the day and checking out the bars at night. We managed to run into Bella, a friend of Emily and Claudia's from home and her friend Lucy who were traveling around the world and celebrating Bella's 23rd birthday on the island which was a great reason to celebrate!
On our last day there the four of us went on a boat trip to explore the other beaches and the second island of Koh Phi Phi which has, among it's features, the beach used in the movie "The Beach." We headed out and although the tide was pretty strong, Lucy and I were determined to go check out the famous beach. It was a pretty tiring swim from the boat and then a rather dangerous climb up and over some rocks on a very wobbly bamboo ladder, but we made it nonetheless. It would probably have been the most beautiful beach I'd ever seen if it weren't for the hundred other people there thinking the same thing. The sand was soft and pure white and the water amazingly clear.
After that and some more snorkeling stops we hit Monkey Bay, a secluded beach inhabited by..monkeys! How did you know?? The four of us were the first ones to get on our kayaks and land on the beach. As we started to walk towards these monkeys I picked up a little plastic toy mobile phone thinking 'oh cute, the monkey's have toys.' Then these 'cute' monkeys starting approaching us...at a full on sprint...and growling... I RAN back into the water which turned out to be a good choice since they can't swim and therefore couldn't get near us. Unfortunately Emily ran the other way and so after I chucked the plastic phone at them to get them away from Bella and myself they turned on poor Emily and one of them managed to sink it's teeth into her knee before she could hit them away and run to safety. A little traumatic. She is now safe and sound back in England and halfway through a course of Rabies injections. Thanks Thailand. I skipped over this in my last post, but while we were in Pai, Emily also got her hand almost eaten off by a baby elephant. Thai animals and Emily Foot - maybe not such a good idea apparently.
After that we reunited with Claudia who had one night out with me in Phi Phi before we headed to Koh Lanta for some serious peace and quiet. Lanta is a beautiful island but thanks to low season it is really really quiet. Almost eerily so. I enjoyed my time with the girls but this place wasn't for me. After three nights Claudia and I are now back in Koh Phi Phi! Our bank accounts are feeling very pressured, so to give them a little rest we have become one of those annoying people who stop you in the street with a flyer and try to get you to come to their bar. Yup. I'm a bar flyer girl. Hey it pays and covers my accomodation and most of my food/extra costs each day while we do it, so it doesn't hurt. Last night was our first night and I actually enjoyed meeting all the other travellers like us who needed a bit of extra cash and an excuse to stay on this island just a bit longer.
After this our trip may be coming to an end sooner than I would like. Money being the main driving factor of course. I was thinking about the idea of going home today, and while it seems strange, I think I am getting close to achieving what I wanted out of this experience. There's still a small hope that Claudia and I will make it to Vietnam, but barring that happening, it looks like a couple of weeks to make some last memories on the islands before a flight back to London town. Hopefully I will then be making it Stateside to see mum and dad and my other American loves for a few weeks before getting back to London to try and ride out this recession!
Meanwhile, back to the beach for a few hours before it's time to hand out those flyers!
Saturday, 25 April 2009
It was always you Thailand..
So after my tour of Laos and Cambodia I headed back into the familiar Land of Smiles. It was nice to be in a country where I didn't have to learn the language or customs as they were already old familiars to me.
The group split up a little due to various forms of travel. Matt and I took a very long bus from Sihanoukville to Bangkok. Actually I think it ended up being three buses? Four? Five? I lost count. But eventually we got to Khao San Road where we met up with Claudia and Calvin who had flown in from Phnom Penh.
There we also found Emily, Claudia's friend from home who came to join us for a few weeks and we had one night in the big city before we said a tearful goodbye to the boys and the girls headed to Koh Pha Ngan for a week to join the infamous Full Moon Party. This is the same party I went to for my New Years Eve, so my time on Koh Pha Ngan was "same same, but different" (don't ask, it's a Thai phrase, I don't know why they say it, but there you have it).
Our group became pretty huge after we met up with my friends from London, George, Sophie and Claudia, on top of meeting up with a couple - Graeme and Donna who we had briefly seen in Luang Prabang, and the five people they had also befriended on the island. On top of this Juliet had two friends from home meeting her, one of them brought a boyfriend and another friend in tow, AND Juliet's friend from Chang Rai plus a friend joined us too so it was quite the crowd.
We spent a week in Koh Pha Ngan and it was pretty interesting watching the island go from relatively quiet to completely overrun by the time the full moon hit. Unlike New Years, this time we all managed to stay on the beach until the sun had risen which was quite a sight to see, although not all of us remember it...
I enjoyed beign on the island for longer and getting to know some people. I befriended a group of Thai guys who work at an art gallery there and who welcomed me into their studio to hang out, listen to guitar and have a few drinks each night when I was walking home from whatever bar we had been in. Koh Pha Ngan is a strange island and I'm not sure I could stay there for too long, but I'm happy I got to know it a bit better this time.
The next day was reserved for being as lazy as possible before Emily, Claudia and I said goodbye and made our way up to Chang Mai for Songkran from April 13th - 15th. Songkran is the Thai New Year celebration; it's also celebrated in Cambodia and Laos I believe. It was essentially a three day long water fight on the streets. We reunited with Calvin who had been doing some volunteering work in the hilltribes outside of Chang Rai, and every day we went down to the streets armed with our super soakers ready for action. We parked ourselves near a backpacker corner of the city where the bars blasted music and people slowly drove down the streets in pick up trucks with enormous barrels of ICE water on the backs to soak unsuspecting pedestrians. The most fun was probably watching the Thai ladyboys strutting down the streets in their heels, hands in the air, getting drenched and loving it.
After three days of this we were exhausted. Emily, Claudia and I went to Pai, a village I visited in December (click here for the post) . My one day there was spent on rented motorbikes exploring around the various natural hotsprings and waterfalls. The village was significantly quieter than it had been in December, most likely because it was not a holiday weekend and it is summer now and Pai is a big tourist spot for Southern Thais to come in the winter so that they can feel the cold...I know, it's strange, we don't get it, but feeling cold is a novelty here. But it still had the feeling of a sleepy hippie town. After that I unfortunately had to leave to go to Myanmar...
The fun thing about visas is that they expire... A very long bus ride and a quick walk across the boarder and back again and I had a brand new visa, plus a new fun stamp on my passport, so everyone wins, especially the Burmese who are 500 Baht richer for every person like me. Rip off if you ask me....
After meeting the girls back in Chang Mai we headed down south for some more beachy goodness!
The group split up a little due to various forms of travel. Matt and I took a very long bus from Sihanoukville to Bangkok. Actually I think it ended up being three buses? Four? Five? I lost count. But eventually we got to Khao San Road where we met up with Claudia and Calvin who had flown in from Phnom Penh.
There we also found Emily, Claudia's friend from home who came to join us for a few weeks and we had one night in the big city before we said a tearful goodbye to the boys and the girls headed to Koh Pha Ngan for a week to join the infamous Full Moon Party. This is the same party I went to for my New Years Eve, so my time on Koh Pha Ngan was "same same, but different" (don't ask, it's a Thai phrase, I don't know why they say it, but there you have it).
Our group became pretty huge after we met up with my friends from London, George, Sophie and Claudia, on top of meeting up with a couple - Graeme and Donna who we had briefly seen in Luang Prabang, and the five people they had also befriended on the island. On top of this Juliet had two friends from home meeting her, one of them brought a boyfriend and another friend in tow, AND Juliet's friend from Chang Rai plus a friend joined us too so it was quite the crowd.
We spent a week in Koh Pha Ngan and it was pretty interesting watching the island go from relatively quiet to completely overrun by the time the full moon hit. Unlike New Years, this time we all managed to stay on the beach until the sun had risen which was quite a sight to see, although not all of us remember it...
I enjoyed beign on the island for longer and getting to know some people. I befriended a group of Thai guys who work at an art gallery there and who welcomed me into their studio to hang out, listen to guitar and have a few drinks each night when I was walking home from whatever bar we had been in. Koh Pha Ngan is a strange island and I'm not sure I could stay there for too long, but I'm happy I got to know it a bit better this time.
The next day was reserved for being as lazy as possible before Emily, Claudia and I said goodbye and made our way up to Chang Mai for Songkran from April 13th - 15th. Songkran is the Thai New Year celebration; it's also celebrated in Cambodia and Laos I believe. It was essentially a three day long water fight on the streets. We reunited with Calvin who had been doing some volunteering work in the hilltribes outside of Chang Rai, and every day we went down to the streets armed with our super soakers ready for action. We parked ourselves near a backpacker corner of the city where the bars blasted music and people slowly drove down the streets in pick up trucks with enormous barrels of ICE water on the backs to soak unsuspecting pedestrians. The most fun was probably watching the Thai ladyboys strutting down the streets in their heels, hands in the air, getting drenched and loving it.
After three days of this we were exhausted. Emily, Claudia and I went to Pai, a village I visited in December (click here for the post) . My one day there was spent on rented motorbikes exploring around the various natural hotsprings and waterfalls. The village was significantly quieter than it had been in December, most likely because it was not a holiday weekend and it is summer now and Pai is a big tourist spot for Southern Thais to come in the winter so that they can feel the cold...I know, it's strange, we don't get it, but feeling cold is a novelty here. But it still had the feeling of a sleepy hippie town. After that I unfortunately had to leave to go to Myanmar...
The fun thing about visas is that they expire... A very long bus ride and a quick walk across the boarder and back again and I had a brand new visa, plus a new fun stamp on my passport, so everyone wins, especially the Burmese who are 500 Baht richer for every person like me. Rip off if you ask me....
After meeting the girls back in Chang Mai we headed down south for some more beachy goodness!
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Tori Rubino
My senior year at BU was split between two continents. After finishing my junior year (third year) I went back to London where I worked and then stayed to study for one term.
When I returned for my last term before graduation I was lucky enough to find a room in Boston University's Student Village building with three girls still in their junior years. Leeor, Julie and Tori.
Leeor and Julie lived down one end of our hallway and Tori and I lived on the other. Our rooms were all the size of closets, and small closets at that, but Tori always managed to keep hers immaculately clean. I like to think I'm a tidy person, but Tori's room got a professional service every day; nothing was ever out of place.
Her dedication didn't end with her room. She was probably one of the most responsible students I knew, managing to actually NOT go out when she had to read or study instead... what a concept!? She was dedicated to her friends and never had a bad word to say about anyone. She was a peaceful, fun and happy girl who never gave me a reason to frown.
We shared an obsession with the show Lost, especially when ABC decided to put every single season up online for free; we would often sit in our rooms less than five feet apart with a thin wall between us for hours watching episode after episode and running into each other's rooms to talk about what had happened.
She studied in London when I was there working before heading to Asia, but we never managed to connect in my home city because of our difficult schedules.
A few weeks ago I was sitting in an Internet cafe not unlike the one I'm in now, in Vientiane, Laos surrounded by six of my friends and a few dozen strangers when I received an e-mail from Julie telling me that Tori had mysteriously passed away in her sleep on March 8, 2009 at 21 years old. I didn't know what to do or think then, and it's hard to know even now. I wanted to write something to let people know what a great girl she was, but finding the words that don't sound like every boring cliche you've ever heard is difficult.
Perhaps the strangest thing about it all now is occasionally surfing through Facebook and finding her profile still up and running. Her wall has turned into a place for friends to grieve and talk about the things they remember about their time with Tori. It's given everyone a chance to show their respect and share their stories instead of limiting it to those who were able to speak at the services. Anytime I think of Tori I can go to her profile to see her photos, see what friends have written lately, and maybe one day write something myself.
I know it was a little while ago now and the memorial services have already passed but since I couldn't be there, here's my contribution to the things that have been said about Tori Rubino since she left us. I miss her and the part she played in my last months of university. She didn't deserve to miss out on that herself.
When I returned for my last term before graduation I was lucky enough to find a room in Boston University's Student Village building with three girls still in their junior years. Leeor, Julie and Tori.
Leeor and Julie lived down one end of our hallway and Tori and I lived on the other. Our rooms were all the size of closets, and small closets at that, but Tori always managed to keep hers immaculately clean. I like to think I'm a tidy person, but Tori's room got a professional service every day; nothing was ever out of place.
Her dedication didn't end with her room. She was probably one of the most responsible students I knew, managing to actually NOT go out when she had to read or study instead... what a concept!? She was dedicated to her friends and never had a bad word to say about anyone. She was a peaceful, fun and happy girl who never gave me a reason to frown.
We shared an obsession with the show Lost, especially when ABC decided to put every single season up online for free; we would often sit in our rooms less than five feet apart with a thin wall between us for hours watching episode after episode and running into each other's rooms to talk about what had happened.
She studied in London when I was there working before heading to Asia, but we never managed to connect in my home city because of our difficult schedules.
A few weeks ago I was sitting in an Internet cafe not unlike the one I'm in now, in Vientiane, Laos surrounded by six of my friends and a few dozen strangers when I received an e-mail from Julie telling me that Tori had mysteriously passed away in her sleep on March 8, 2009 at 21 years old. I didn't know what to do or think then, and it's hard to know even now. I wanted to write something to let people know what a great girl she was, but finding the words that don't sound like every boring cliche you've ever heard is difficult.
Perhaps the strangest thing about it all now is occasionally surfing through Facebook and finding her profile still up and running. Her wall has turned into a place for friends to grieve and talk about the things they remember about their time with Tori. It's given everyone a chance to show their respect and share their stories instead of limiting it to those who were able to speak at the services. Anytime I think of Tori I can go to her profile to see her photos, see what friends have written lately, and maybe one day write something myself.
I know it was a little while ago now and the memorial services have already passed but since I couldn't be there, here's my contribution to the things that have been said about Tori Rubino since she left us. I miss her and the part she played in my last months of university. She didn't deserve to miss out on that herself.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Travelling family
I've talked a lot about where I've been going over the last few weeks but not that much about the people I've been sharing the experience with.
This is where I get all emotional about how great friends are...stop if you've heard this before, bottom line is - the friends I've had with me here are the bomb.
The places I've seen have been amazing but this experience would not have been nearly as fun if it weren't for the people I've been with.
Juliet - one of the first people I met when I arrived in Thailand so many months ago now who will always keep me entertained with her drama from getting her passport lost by the Laos immigration office to swimming half drunk down the Mekong river with a broken hand... :)
Calvin - The youngest of our 'family' yet still the 'dad' somehow, whose feet haven't touched a pair of shoes in months. (By the way Calvin you're rubbing off on me, I've been barefoot since arriving in Koh Phangan)
Matt - I don't think he knows why he stuck with us for six weeks, but we're so happy he did, even if he did get a bit grumpy sometimes. ;)
Claudia - In Claudia I've managed to find someone with almsot the exact same ideas as me about what traveling should be like. Thanks to her I've got someone to go see Vietnam with and to hopefully get a job with!
Zoe - She wasn't with us for nearly as long as I would have liked but my time in Van Vieng wouldn't have been the same without her, as well as the rest of Laos of course!
Chris - I think he was healthy for about two days of the five weeks I knew him... Moral of the story, M-150 is dangerous stuff....
Patrick - The 'talented bastard' whose guitar skills have kept me entertained many a night..
Sophie, Claudia and George - My lovely London friends who I have joined in the islands for a week or so who remind me of what I miss from home.
These are the people who are in all my photos that I will one day manage to post, and they are the people who have made this the best trip of my life. Can you taste the cheese yet?! Whatever, deal with it.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, briefly
Spent a few days in the capital, Phnom Penh. Mixed feelings about the city, it was really overwhelming, definitely the biggest city I've been in for awhile, Laos cities aren't so hectic.
We got used to it though and went to see the S 21 Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. Trying to explain how intense that experience was in words is very difficult. S 21 was a high school turned into a prison/torture camp by the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields is where the prisoners were killed and buried in mass graves.
Walking through the hallways and classrooms in S 21 is a strange experience. There are hundreds of photographs of past prisoners, including some photos of the dead bodies that were still found in the prison when it was liberated, photos of dead bodies placed in the rooms that they were found in. The floor still has what looks like drops of old blood everywhere, then makeshift cell walls constructed of brick and wood are still intact in one building where prisoners were kept separately instead of in large groups.
At the Killing Fields, the first thing you see is a huge tower built to preserve thousands of skulls that are stacked up as high as the eye can see. After that, walking around the mass graves that are now large holes in the ground would have been hard enough without the scraps of clothes and piles of bones that are still sticking half up from the ground.
Luckily after a day like that we had a nice guesthouse lounge that we went to every night at #11 Happy Guesthouse to meet new people and have a few drinks although it all seemed a little surreal after seeing what we saw. It was hard to look the bar tender in the face knowing what his family probably went through. With such a young history, there isn't a face on the street that isn't marked by what happened. While people in the west were celebrating peace, love and happiness and focusing on stopping the Vietnam war, it seems that almost nobody was really aware that right next door to Vietnam this huge genocide was going on. America's war wasn't even confined to Vietnam, US bombs were dropped in Cambodia too which gave the Khmer Rouge fuel to drive the paranoia and force everyone out of the cities into the country to essentially work as slaves. It's intense stuff that deserves a lot more publicity than it gets, so look it up and read about it if you have time.
After that we moved to Sihanoukville where I am now. It's a sleeping beach town and will be a nice place to relax. Then back into Thailand to see some of my favourite Londoners and party on the islands before we all head up to Chang Mai for Songkran!
And happy birthday to my dad who celebrated another year of life yesterday. It is really hard to keep track of dates out here, but at least I got that one right. :)
We got used to it though and went to see the S 21 Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. Trying to explain how intense that experience was in words is very difficult. S 21 was a high school turned into a prison/torture camp by the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields is where the prisoners were killed and buried in mass graves.
Walking through the hallways and classrooms in S 21 is a strange experience. There are hundreds of photographs of past prisoners, including some photos of the dead bodies that were still found in the prison when it was liberated, photos of dead bodies placed in the rooms that they were found in. The floor still has what looks like drops of old blood everywhere, then makeshift cell walls constructed of brick and wood are still intact in one building where prisoners were kept separately instead of in large groups.
At the Killing Fields, the first thing you see is a huge tower built to preserve thousands of skulls that are stacked up as high as the eye can see. After that, walking around the mass graves that are now large holes in the ground would have been hard enough without the scraps of clothes and piles of bones that are still sticking half up from the ground.
Luckily after a day like that we had a nice guesthouse lounge that we went to every night at #11 Happy Guesthouse to meet new people and have a few drinks although it all seemed a little surreal after seeing what we saw. It was hard to look the bar tender in the face knowing what his family probably went through. With such a young history, there isn't a face on the street that isn't marked by what happened. While people in the west were celebrating peace, love and happiness and focusing on stopping the Vietnam war, it seems that almost nobody was really aware that right next door to Vietnam this huge genocide was going on. America's war wasn't even confined to Vietnam, US bombs were dropped in Cambodia too which gave the Khmer Rouge fuel to drive the paranoia and force everyone out of the cities into the country to essentially work as slaves. It's intense stuff that deserves a lot more publicity than it gets, so look it up and read about it if you have time.
After that we moved to Sihanoukville where I am now. It's a sleeping beach town and will be a nice place to relax. Then back into Thailand to see some of my favourite Londoners and party on the islands before we all head up to Chang Mai for Songkran!
And happy birthday to my dad who celebrated another year of life yesterday. It is really hard to keep track of dates out here, but at least I got that one right. :)
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Siem Reap, Angkor What?!
Siem Reap was fun, Angkor Wat is of course amazing. It was exhausting though! Three days ago we went in the afternoon; we hired a tour guide who was great. He spoke very good English and was a history teacher before which meant he really knew his stuff. It was a lot of information to take in, but it was nice having someone tell you the significance of all the different temples instead of wondering around by ourselves aimlessly without having an idea of what these building really were/why they were built etc. We watched the sunset sitting on top of one of the temples which was pretty cool although unfortunately the sky was pretty cloudy so the sunset wasn't as dramatic as it could have been. Then next day we got up and went back again but this time we got there for sunrise, which again wasn't as good as it could have been because the sky wasn't clear, but it was still quite a cool experience to walk through some ancient temples when it was still pitch black outside and see them light up in the morning. We went around the main temples that we hadn't seen the day before plus a few smaller ones on our second day. One of the temples was used in the filming of Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie so that was the most touristy overdone of the temples although next to Angkor Wat (the big 'main' building) it was by far my favourite. These enormous trees have grown throughout the temple and taken over so it is a really cool site to see - these ancient sandstone walls then broken down by the huge dramatic trees with enormous root systems. A few hours after sunrise we had started to see lightening in the sky and eventually it did start to POUR with rain. We decided to press on though and our tour guide had an umbrella so he didn't mind. We got completely soaked but it was actually great fun because the rain cleared out a lot of the other tourists of course, and for some reason seeing these temples in the jungle with this big rainstorm going on gave it a really dramatic atmosphere that was pretty cool to see.
There was a large Japanese tour group at the Tomb Raider temple (or Tha Prom if you want to call it by it's actual name) at the same time as us with their umbrellas and everything. The open area by the entrance had turned into a shallow mud pool except for just along the sides so they were all waiting to go along single file to get in. After about 30 seconds of that we decided we were all soaked and dirty already so we just took of our sandals and walked straight through the mud to get in which worked out well because we were able to take some photos before all the Japanese filed in!
By noon we were already exhausted. We lasted for another hour or so before calling it a day and going back for some much needed sleep.
On our third day we took a tour of the floating villages which was pretty interesting. We hired a boat with a guide and we slowly made our way down the river to the Tonle Sap lake which is the biggest lake in Southeast Asia and is one of the major sources of income for Cambodia as well as a major source for their diet. The lake is full of a huge variety of fish that make up most of their diet around here. Unfortunately we're here during dry season we the river and the lake were both at their lowest levels, although the lake was still so big that I couldn't see the other side over the horizon. The villagers move their 'houses' every year, living on the lake during the dry season, and living further down the river during wet season because the lake water gets to rough with all the rain and storms.
It was very strange seeing things like a floating Catholic church (one day I'll manage to get all these photos up, but for now just picture a Cathedral on water...not because that's what it looked like, but because that's a funny image :) ) and a floating school. The first school building we passed had the enclosed playground on the roof, the second school had a second floating platform that was an enclosed basketball court/playground. Kids just ran around the boats and the younger ones splashed around in the river.
We also saw floating ducks (ok, ducks float everywhere, but they were farm animal ducks being kept in a floating cage), floating pigs and floating chickens.
We visited a floating restaurant for lunch that also had a crocodile farm, a fish farm and a snake cage. We also went and visited one of the floating schools although I have my doubts about how much of a school it really was. It was a Saturday after all, and the building seem to lack any obvious education material. We started to get the notion that these children just sat in this building all day for the tourists waiting to be given candy, money and things like notebooks that they can sell back for money all of which they got while we were there. It was an interesting thing to see though overall.
Tomorrow is Phnom Penh. Not sure exactly what the plan is although I think the main thing to see is the S-21 Museum and the killing fields which I'm sure will cheer me right up....
It is pretty strange being in a country with such a recent gruesome history. I was in a pharmacy yesterday being served by a woman who looked to be at least in her 60s or so which I noticed because there are very few old people here - probably a compounded effect of the Khmer Rouge history plus the simple fact that life expectancy is shorter here, but trying to imagine the things she had gone through was pretty hard. You can still feel the history around you; more than once I've walked past people, often beggars, with limbs missing; a few times we've seen street bands made up of land mine victims who are playing traditional Cambodian music to try to make money instead of just begging. Every night when we walk home from going out to dinner or a bar we're accosted by a dozen children who literally cling on to our clothes or arms trying to get us to buy them food.
Despite all that I've actually been really impressed with the Cambodian people in general. They speak great English - better than in Thailand and Laos, and they have a great sense of humour. All of our hostel staff, restaurant/bar servers, guides, etc have been so friendly and they really know how to have a good laugh.
There was a large Japanese tour group at the Tomb Raider temple (or Tha Prom if you want to call it by it's actual name) at the same time as us with their umbrellas and everything. The open area by the entrance had turned into a shallow mud pool except for just along the sides so they were all waiting to go along single file to get in. After about 30 seconds of that we decided we were all soaked and dirty already so we just took of our sandals and walked straight through the mud to get in which worked out well because we were able to take some photos before all the Japanese filed in!
By noon we were already exhausted. We lasted for another hour or so before calling it a day and going back for some much needed sleep.
On our third day we took a tour of the floating villages which was pretty interesting. We hired a boat with a guide and we slowly made our way down the river to the Tonle Sap lake which is the biggest lake in Southeast Asia and is one of the major sources of income for Cambodia as well as a major source for their diet. The lake is full of a huge variety of fish that make up most of their diet around here. Unfortunately we're here during dry season we the river and the lake were both at their lowest levels, although the lake was still so big that I couldn't see the other side over the horizon. The villagers move their 'houses' every year, living on the lake during the dry season, and living further down the river during wet season because the lake water gets to rough with all the rain and storms.
It was very strange seeing things like a floating Catholic church (one day I'll manage to get all these photos up, but for now just picture a Cathedral on water...not because that's what it looked like, but because that's a funny image :) ) and a floating school. The first school building we passed had the enclosed playground on the roof, the second school had a second floating platform that was an enclosed basketball court/playground. Kids just ran around the boats and the younger ones splashed around in the river.
We also saw floating ducks (ok, ducks float everywhere, but they were farm animal ducks being kept in a floating cage), floating pigs and floating chickens.
We visited a floating restaurant for lunch that also had a crocodile farm, a fish farm and a snake cage. We also went and visited one of the floating schools although I have my doubts about how much of a school it really was. It was a Saturday after all, and the building seem to lack any obvious education material. We started to get the notion that these children just sat in this building all day for the tourists waiting to be given candy, money and things like notebooks that they can sell back for money all of which they got while we were there. It was an interesting thing to see though overall.
Tomorrow is Phnom Penh. Not sure exactly what the plan is although I think the main thing to see is the S-21 Museum and the killing fields which I'm sure will cheer me right up....
It is pretty strange being in a country with such a recent gruesome history. I was in a pharmacy yesterday being served by a woman who looked to be at least in her 60s or so which I noticed because there are very few old people here - probably a compounded effect of the Khmer Rouge history plus the simple fact that life expectancy is shorter here, but trying to imagine the things she had gone through was pretty hard. You can still feel the history around you; more than once I've walked past people, often beggars, with limbs missing; a few times we've seen street bands made up of land mine victims who are playing traditional Cambodian music to try to make money instead of just begging. Every night when we walk home from going out to dinner or a bar we're accosted by a dozen children who literally cling on to our clothes or arms trying to get us to buy them food.
Despite all that I've actually been really impressed with the Cambodian people in general. They speak great English - better than in Thailand and Laos, and they have a great sense of humour. All of our hostel staff, restaurant/bar servers, guides, etc have been so friendly and they really know how to have a good laugh.
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