A chilling history

This morning I visited the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng/S-21 museum. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a little history. In 1975 the Khmer Rouge, an extreme communist group took control of Cambodia. They pretty much wanted to send their control back to the middle ages, kicking everyone out of the city to make them work on farms, and destroying any sign of intellectualism/moderism including schools, hospitals, courts, technology. People starved as the Khmer Rouge did not feed the workers enough, and they killed anyone who was suspected of disobeying their rule, or anyone from the previous upperclass. This includes everyone from doctors to lawyers to peasants, along with their families, including children. In their 4 year genocide 3 million people were killed, and the UN backed trial for the war crimes are only getting under way now.

Tuol Sleng was a high school, but during the Khmer Rouge's rule, it became one of the biggest and most famous jails. People sent here had their mug shot taken, were interrogated and tortured (by electrocution, beatings, drowning, and many other gruesome ways) until they admitted to whatever crimes they were accused of. Children, women, men, elderly, young, no one was spared and everyone who was sent here was later killed, minus the few people who were alive when the building was discovered by the invading Vietnamese. Now it is a museum and the old classrooms are clearly cells. The beds have been left in some, with their shackles and photos on the wall of the gruesomely beaten and dead inmates that were found there. Also in the museum are thousands of the photos taken of the prisoners. There are rows and rows of them and the expressions are all different. Some people looked frightened, others angry and defiant. A few were grimly smiling.

After interrogations at S-21, people were brought to the CHoeng Ek killing fields to be killed - again by brutal methods. Sometimes they were shot, but often they were beaten with everything from garden hoes to bamboo stalks, all while blindfolded with their hands tied. Some were buried alive and then covered with chemicals to kill them. They were then buried in mass graves - the largest with 450 bodies. 20 000 in total were killed and buried here in total. There was a tree on the grounds called the killing tree where children were beaten against to kill them. One grave was found to have only headless bodies, another naked women and children. Of the over 100 graves, 86 have since been exhumed and now their skulls and clothing sit in a huge memorial on the site in a glass case. It was chilling to see the thousands of skulls lined up. As you walked around the grounds you could see all of the sunken areas where graves were and beneath your feet bits of clothing and bone were everywhere sticking up through the ground. It actually made me sick to look at and ting about.

It was a very creepy and disturbing view into what humans can be capable of doing to each other. As it was so recent, it is even more chilling to know that many of the people I see on the street lived through this themselves. When I was in Kampot, in southern Cambodia I did a tour on Bokor Hill which is an old abandoned French casino and resort type place from the 50s (also taken over and used by the Khmer Rouge for nastiness in the 70s). Our guide told us his personal history which including being forced to work on the Khmer Rouge farms, watching his sister and parents be killed, then escaping to hide in the forest for 2 years before joining the Vietnamese to fight the Khmer Rouge. It definitely put a face to all of the history I've been reading and learning about. It is definitely still fresh in the minds of the Cambodians who lived through it, I'm sure.

Temples!

So I did not give Laos credit in my posts. It is really an absolutely stunning country that has, for the most part, a laid back feel. The landscape consists of hills and rivers covered in lush forests and fields. Vang Vieng had these huge cliffs - a lot like Krabi actually. It was completely overrun by young teenage travelers there for tubing and drinking which distracted from the beauty. We spent one night at the bucket bar (literally drinks are local whisky and coke mixed in a small bucket and you get one free between 8 and 9pm) staying up until 4am watching the world cup final, plus we kayaked by the tubing bars (which had slides and ropes that looked far too dangerous for me) and we had enough of that scene. One guy I was traveling with had a nasty motorcycle accident so couldn't even go in the river for fear of infecting his scraped up knees. The water isn't the cleanest I've seen. But the caving, kayaking, and lounging were all fantastic here and I got some great pictures.

Luang Prabang was a lovely town, full of monks and temples, plus nice restaurants, great French architecture, and fantastic shopping. We dragged ourselves out of bed at sunrise one morning to watch the monks file out of their respective temples and collect alms from local Buddhists up and down the streets. It was very neat to see, although I felt like I was disrespectful just for watching this daily ritual as a tourist. The night market was great, and now that I am in Cambodia, I realize how relaxed it was there. Of course you must haggle, but it was pretty low-key and not too pushy in Laos. In Cambodia people chase you down to get you to come to their stall, incessantly ask/tell you to buy their stuff and don't make eye contact if you don't want to appear as if you are making any sort of commitment. I spent a lot of time (and money!) shopping in Luang Prabang, but an hour at the night market in Siem Reap and I feel like I have had my fill. Luang Prabang is the kind of place where the days just slip away - we often passed the afternoon at a place called Utopia drinking fruit shakes, laying on lounge chairs reading, or even napping.

The traditional food here in Cambodia is definitely more appetizing and varied than Laos. I have had a delicious Khmer style curry for supper the last two nights. Today was my first day at the Angkor temples. I decided to bike as it is the cheapest way to get around, and also, I could use some exercise. I definitely guzzled a lot of water, and sweat buckets, but probably covered about 30km or more. I hit up most of the temples in the main area, saving the 2 major ones for tomorrow. The temples really are majestic, surrounded by tall trees and jungle. If you could find some peace and quiet away from the children and ladies selling books, bracelets, food, and drinks, it was just amazing. One temple I saw was the one from the Tomb Raider movie. The people selling things are as insistent as the market stall owners and its hard not to get frustrated and numbed by the children chasing you down to buy trinkets.

Apart from the people trying to sell me things, I have found Cambodians to be incredibly friendly - children all waved and shouted hello to me as I biked by and when I looked lost (its a huge area), a man came and pointed me in the right direction. The waiter at the restaurant I was at today was also very friendly - its not hard to get a smile from people in this country which is commendable given the violent history of Cambodia.

Beautiful!

This will be a short blog as a lot of people are waiting to use the computer. This country is probably the most beautiful place on earth. In our last town, Vang Vieng, we were surrounded by huge limestone karst mountains covered in forest, then on the drive to Luang Prabang we went on a REALLY winding road through the mountains and the views of the valleys were just stunning.

In Vang Vieng we skipped the tubing and instead went on an amazing kayak trip down the Nam Song river, stopping at a couple caves along the way. One we had to swim underwater to get inside. It was very cool. The tubing scene was kind of gross and full of drunk 18 year olds - not really our scene.

I am in Luang Prabang now, a very French looking river town with great shops and an awesome night market. I forsee myself spending a lot of money here...even by Canadian standards. I am so in love with this country!

Loving Laos!

So I've been in Laos for about 2 days now and I am already loving it for so many reasons! First of all, as it was once under the control of the French there are bakeries everywhere selling delicious baguettes and pastries. I've kind of said screw it to my budget and waistline for good reason. Secondly, I've finally found the backpackers! I've already met more people than I did in all of Thailand, and many are traveling solo too. It's great to have some company. The captial I think has around 300 000 people, but its got a fairly relaxed feel to it. Things have been pretty easy so far, granted the tourist district is pretty set up for, well, tourists. The only thing I am not liking about this country is the heat - as hot as it was in Bangladesh with no ocean to jump in for relief.

I went to the Lao National History Museum yesterday - lots of old pottery, but it also goes through the struggles for indepence as this country was under control of the French for a long period, but the US were also in here as well in 70's I believe. My Lao history knowledge kind of sucks. ANyways, the captions for the displays were so strongly anti-American, it was very entertaining. For example, "The guns the Americans brought to Laos to kill innocent Laos people." or "The surrender of the Imperalist Americans and their puppets."

Today we went to Buddha park. We took a public bus which was packed with a door that slammed open and shut as it pleased. It was interesting as we really had no idea where we were supposed to get off and got a little worried when it started heading towards immigration into Thailand at the Friendship Bridge. But we got there ok and it was really neat. It's just a small park filled with huge Buddha statues. There were tonds of them and they were all different. There was also a big pot type thing that you could climb to the top of. I got a lot of neat pictures.

So tomorrow I am heading to Vang Vieng which is kind of the party town of Laos. I will be going tubing down a river stopping at bars along the way which should be a lot of fun. After that its jup to Luang Prabang which has some great markets so I can catch up on my souvenir shopping.

The Island Life

Well I just got into Krabi after about a 3km hike with all of my baggage from where the stupid tour bus dropped me off. I've actually been doing an awful lot of walking lately as I'm trying to save the moolah. Also why I am eating bread and peanut butter all day. My parents must be so happy reading this. So Koh Phangan really looks like the google images that come up. It takes a 3 hour bus ride and another 3 hours on a ferry to get there. Most people headed towards Haad Rin (the site of the full moon party, and the party spot on the island) but I headed the other way up to Bottle Beach - a secluded beach on the north side of the island, accessible only by a longtail boat or a very shaky motorbike ride. I have no idea how to drive a motorbike so I opted for the boat. It was secluded and gorgeous, and I was able to meet up with a couple I had met in Krabi. I spent several days here just lounging on the beach...and I will probably have skin cancer popping up from my ears to my toes as a result. My malaria medication has a pharmacist label on it saying to avoid excessive or prolonged sun exposure while using the medication. Well that's kind of difficult when you have gone to Thailand to lay on the beach for a week. I have never been so sunburnt in my life - sunscreen had no effect and I literally roasted. By the end I had to hide on my balcony until the sun went behind the clouds.

I was on Bottle Beach for Canada Day and there were no fireworks of course, lol, but there was another group of Canadians there. The resort staff gave us these huge white chinese lanterns to decorate and then we lit candles in them and sent them flying beside a fire on the beach. It was pretty cool and seem an appropriate way to celebrate.

Most people in Thailand are Buddhists and as a result pretty much every little business/house/restaurant has their own little shrine set up with rice and other offerings out. I don't know much at all about the religion (I've been a bad cultural tourist, not learning any Thai either), but the shrines are very ornate, usually gold and colorful with flowers decorating them.

After Bottle Beach I headed to Mae Haad, which is renowned for its scuba diving and snorkelling. I lacked the time and money to do a scuba course so opted to snorkel. The water wasn't perfectly clear, and I was just going off shore so it didn't look as colorful as National Geographic makes it out to be but it was still pretty cool. However, I kind of suck at it as the masks completely seal off your nose and I kind of got freaked out and felt like I was suffocating just breathing through the snorkel. Everything under water looked so much bigger and there were lots of differnet kinds of fish swimming through the coral. I also saw lots of sea cucumbers and a sea urchin, which sent me back to shore to put on my sandals. My last day I was in Thong Sala where I spent just a bit too much money on food and souvenirs so I am trying to last on about $5 for the next day and a half before I fly out, as the cheapest rooms were full at my guesthouse in Krabi. All in all, 4 novels, several peeling sunburns and many hours in a hammock later, I am ready to head out from Thailand and into Laos. Wish me luck!