I arrived in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, early in the morning and got to work right away on seeing the sights. After lunch, I hired a tuk-tuk driver to take me to The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide. Basically, from 1975-1979 the Khmer Rouge, with Pol Pot as their sociopath leader, killed around 2 million Cambodians (no one knows the exact figures). One of the Khmer Rouge’s mottos was: To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.
The killing fields is the area where they actually did the killing. It wasn’t too interesting to see…since it was mostly just a large field with signs indicating where different things were during the genocide times. There is this there bone memorial, which is this huge Khmer style temple/building stacked high with real skulls of the victims that they dug up when the camp was liberated by the Vietnamese in 1980. Isn’t it fascinating that this went on so recently to our lifetime? It’s just crazy. I don’t think that many people my age even knows about it back home. I had no clue before I first came to Cambodia in ‘04. Crazy. Anyway, to save bullets, the Khmer would just smack people over the head with clubs. Or they’d get their kicks from throwing babies into the air and kicking them them. UGH. it’s really just too awful for words. Sorry to be depressing!!
After the ‘fields,’ the museum was even worse. This is an old school that the Khmer turned into a place for torture. Since this happened so recently, many of the tools of torture are still in tact and laid out for viewing along with photos of the dismembered bodies on which the instruments were actually used. There is also lots of clothing, along with the victim’s skulls and bones. It all reminded me a bit of going to Auschwitz. The eeriest part was the haunting photographs of nearly everyone who entered. There were also many photos of the Khmer soldiers, many who were young boys and girls, as young as 12 years-old. They joined so they wouldn’t starve or be killed like everyone else. For record keeping purposes the Khmer soldiers also took pics of the dead and tortured victims so they could prove to Pol Pot that they were doing a good job. Those pictures are there too, in all their bloody horror. While walking around, I just kept thinking I was literally stepping in blood. It was seriously beyond AWFUL. Our tour guide’s father, brother and 1 sister were killed during Pol Pot’s time. She, her mom and other sister only survived because they walked into Vietnam as refugees. Did you know the the US bombed the shit out of Cambodia too? Yep- during the Vietnamese War- or as they call it over here- the American War. The name makes sense I guess since they weren’t at war with themselves. The US was trying to get the Vietnamese soldiers out of hiding in Cambodia, and it seems that they couldn’t care less about what it would do to an uninvolved nation. Okay, enough about the horrors I saw in Phnom Penh.
The next day I travelled down to the coast to a little beach town called Sihanoukville and stayed there four days. I laid out by the beach as much as possible, but it was awfully rainy, so I did a lot of reading and going to the ‘cinema,’ which was fantastic. This American guy had set up a huge screen in a room with couches and ottomans and comfy chairs and projected dvds onto the screen. He played three movies a night and I saw at least one every night. One night I watched The Killing Fields, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1984 Oscars. It was very moving, especially watching it in the country where it took place. I got a little bored there, being friendless still and all, so decided to head back up to Siem Reap to revisit the temples of Angkor a second time.
On the 11 hour bus journey, I met a Dutch guy named Ron and finally had a new friend! At the bus terminal in Siem Reap, I picked up another- a Belgian lady named Leila. The three of us stayed at the same place and hired a tuk-tuk to go ‘temple-ing’ the next morning, starting with surnise at Angkor Wat. Our pick-up was at 5am and it was too cloudy to actually see the sunrise, but still great seeing Angkor Wat in that beautiful dawn light. This is what it is supposed to look like at sunrise (not my pic and not what I saw): 
The entrance fee for one day around Angkor is $20, more than the Taj Mahal! Just a random FYI- they use US $ in Cambodia, just like in Ecuador. There are such random countries that use our currency.
Anyway, I’m so happy that I went back to the temples. My Godmother Linda passed away soon after our trip to Thailand and Cambodia in a Scuba diving accident, so going back makes me feel closer to her- especially since the places are so spiritual. I did the “Little Circuit” from 5am-4pm and only saw a few of the 70 temples/monuments of Angkor, including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon (my favorite one with the faces), Elephant Gate, Ta Phrohm (aka Tomb Raider temple), Chau Say Tevoda, and Elephant Terrace. It was especially exhausting in the heat and humidity, but since it’s currently low-season in Asia, we had some of the temples to ourselves!
The next day I made a spontaneous decision and booked flights to visit Malaysia and Singapore for 10 days and pushed back my flight to Vietnam by 3 days. Those countries were in the original plan, but since I’d cancelled my flight from Singapore to Indonesia, I thought I would just stay in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos (which I won’t make it to), and Vietnam. Ron was heading to Malaysia on May 2nd, and I decided to join him to check it out and stopover in Singapore for a few days too.
That evening, I saw an ad on a tuk-tuk for Raja Yoga and a free hour meditation session so decided to check it out. I thought it would be yoga, as in the postures, but turns out that Raja Yoga is more a type of guided meditation. Yoga actually means “union,” but my mind is just so trained to assume it always means “exercise.” After the calming session, I asked the Aussie lady running the place what I should do on my last day in Siem Reap and she suggested teaching English at this local school. So that’s what I did!
Ron and I arrived at the school at 8:30 the next morning and stayed until 11am, teaching and playing with the children who ranged from age 3-16. The school is comprised of 3 classrooms with the children separated by skill-level, as opposed to age. There they teach the poorest children in all of Siem Reap and lots of orphans as well who live with the nuns on the school grounds. I visited all of the different classrooms and helped the teachers wih the lesson plans. The teachers hardly spoke any English, so how the hell were they teachingit to the kids? I definitely give them major props for doing their job for probably very litle money. It was difficult jumping right in and teaching because I had no idea what system they used to learn and couldn’t tell if what I was saying was actually sticking with the kids or not. Plus, it was my very first time teaching anything to anyone. We sang a few songs (If You’re Happy and you Know it and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes) and learned a few phrases in the classroom, but recess time was the best. I taught about 60 kids “duck, duck, goose” and they LOVED it! I don’t think I’ll become a teacher anytime soon, but it was an extremely rewarding experience and I’d love to participate in another volunteer teaching day somewhere in Vietnam. Definitely the highlight of Cambodia for me.
On May 2nd, I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I am right now. KL, as the locals call it, is a big, modern city filled with mega-mall complexes and yummy street food. I was originally planning to travel around Malaysia and possibly go to an island for some snorkelling or the jungle for some canopy-walking and trekking, but ended up just staying here. I’ve really been enjoying being back in a modern city and have seen five movies, so far, since I’ve been here- Lars and the Real Girl (***1/2), Iron Man- at the Imax- (***), Street Kings (**1/4), Fool’s Gold(*) and Over Her Dead Body(*). Today starts the French Film Festival here so will see a few of those today, before making my way by bus down to Singapore tomorrow. I’m obsessed with the beautifully silver, giant Petronas Towers, but confused about how they rank as far as the world’s tallest buildings go. Let’s just say they’re up there. I’ve visited the Lake Gardens complex, including the bird park & Islamic Arts Museum, the Batu Caves- a Hindu temple set in giant caves outside the city, the Central Market, Chinatown, Little India, and a riduculous amount of shopping malls, including one with a roller coaster andtheme park inside. Some American chains they have here include: TGI Fridays, Chilis, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, California Pizza Kitchen,Gloria Jean’s, PIzza Hut, KFC, and a McDonald’s on literally every corner. No, I have not eaten at any of them.
Ron and I did a day trip to Malacca, where the Dutch ruled from 1641-1795. We mostly wandered around the colonial city, seeing tons of different sights, but the highlight came in the afternoon. We had just finished dining at a Chinese restaurant (so much Chinese cuisine in Malaysia), when we heard this loud banging and singing coming from somewhere nearby. I thought it was a parade, but turned out to be a traditional Malay wedding celebration. We ran over to see what was going on and the bride’s mother and family invited us to join in the festivities! First, I was led into the bride’s family home to participate in the formal ‘blessings’ of the bride and groom. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing, but her Aunt talked me through it. I had to pick up little green leaves/herbs from a bowl and sprinkle them over the seated bride and groom. Next, I cleaned off their hands and picked up a giant portion of yellow sticky rice and placed it in the groom’s hand and guided his hand to feed the bride the rice. Next I did the same with the bride feeding the groom. I suppose it’s a bit like our cake-feeding tradition, except neither bride nor groom were smiling and looked pained eating the rice. I wonder how much they’re force fed during the ceremony? I was given a hard-boiled egg in a porcelain basket as a thank you. Afterwards, we had to eat with the family, even though we had just finished lunch and it was also the Aunt’s birthday so had to indulge in some cake as well. I was stuffed to the brim, but I felt it would have been rude to turn anything down. I kept saying terima kasih (“thank you”), but everyone insisted they were absolutely honored to have us ‘white folk’ present at the celebration and it made them all very proud! Wow. So strange how some people in the world would admire me just for my pale skin color. I also find it fascinating that nearly every skin product in Asia contains whitening cream- just the opposite of our self-tanners. I chatted with the Aunt for around two hours and asked about the head scarves that a lot of the Muslim women wear. She said that girls start wearing them when they get their first period. How embarrassing- everyone knows when you first start ovulating!!
Last night, I had an interesting conversation. I was checking out at my internet cafe and the guy behind the desk asked ‘Are you American?’
I replied ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘Which part of america?’
i answered, ‘Illinois- have you been?’
He says ‘No, I’m IRAQI”
Stunned, I could only muster up, ‘Oh, well yikes, sorry about all
that!!!!’
I’m sure it wasn’t the best thing to say, but the whole exchange was honestly very pleasant and he gave a little nod and a ‘oh, that’s okay’ as I left. I felt a tad uncomfortable, since I felt a bit guilty.
Anyway, off to Singapore tomorrow!
I uploaded new pictures to my website- links in the blogroll under Cambodia and Malaysia. Enjoy!
xoxox
