Legacy of war

Most of this region, and Cambodia especially, has had a long history of violence in recent times. A trip to the Cambodian Land Mine Museum illustrated how the legacy of these wars live on. The statistics of the number of landmines and 'dud' shells (UXO) that are still in the country is astounding. They estimate that there are millions of these things still in the ground. At many of the Wats there are little groups of men missing limbs playing music for tips from the tourist to raise money. One (and no) legged folks are a common sights in Cambodia, but I never put the two together. Evidently, children are the most common victims as they tend to play in wooded areas and off of the well traveled paths, and also they don't know to stay away from mines when they find them. When I thought about it, this really seems to add insult to injury. Not only are these the poorest people I've ever seen, but they also have to worry about their kids being killed by mines. Ironically, the US government deployed and supplied the majority of these mines, and yet they aren't aiding in the clean up, nor have they signed the landmine band. I also learned the nifty fact that landmines are designed to mame, not kill, because a wounded solder is more of a liability to the enemy then a dead solder (they have to use resources to care for the wounded ones).

The whole thing also made me realize how much other countries have influence the wars in Cambodia (well, lots of other places too). None of the landmines and munitions which were used in this country were built in there, they were all build in the US, the USSR or China. Cambodia has been pushed and pulled over and over by the big guys. It would be interesting to see how they would look today if all that energy had been spent making the place better instead of bombing it.

Wats up doc?

I took over 400 pictures at the Wats (aka temples) surrounding the Siem Reap area. So these are just a select few! There are dozens of Wats there, the most famous of course being Angkor Wat. The whole thing is pretty damn stunning. The shear size and scale of the buildings are massive, and the amount of work it must have taken to construct them is nearly unimaginable. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, and many of these structures are over a 1000 years old. The Khemr people loved their gods, and it shows! One of the most interesting parts is that that during the past 1000+ years the local populations have switched back and forth between Hindu and Buddhism several times, and each time many of the statues and carvings would be remade (or just destroyed!) to reflect the current religion in favor. Equally amazing is that people STILL worship here, in and among the tourist are people kneeling and praying!

Currently in Vientiane, Laos, which is a quick stop over on the way to Luang Prabang, which will hopefully lead to a river boat ride up the Mekong to Northern Thailand. Saw the Mekong for the first time in my life today- quite a thrill!! And one hell of river!

People on the move pics

Finally found a place that would work with my camera, but the Internet connection is so slow that it takes for ever to upload pictures. I figure everyone has seen tonnes of pictures of Angkor Wat, so I figured I'd put up something different- pictures of some of the fun vehicles around here!

Also some folks have asked why I didn't get the Vietnam visa ahead of time and the answer is I'm lazy! The issue with Vietnam is that you have to specify exactly when and where you will be coming and going, any variation and it's paper work city. If I had been WAY more organized about this trip, I would have had a real plan and could have gotten the visa ahead of time. As it turned out, I was pretty much guessing at dates arrival and departure dates, and this was on the day I was planning on apply for the visa!

Hope everyone is well!

Cambodia...

All I can say about Cambodia is yowzers. I've seen poverty before, but Cambodia is a whole new level of poverty. I've never seen anything quite like it. The trip down from the boarder to Siem Reap was quite an experience. It's about 160 km (100 miles) and it took 5 over hours. The main "highway'' (and only road) was pretty much what we would consider a 4 wheel drive only road. We are talking ROUGH. The country side was filled with rice patties, farmers and tiny, little dity huts. I saw a fellow peddling his bike with only one peddle because the other peddle had broken off. He had tied his foot to the good peddle so he could pull the peddle on the up stroke. That's what I call poor. At dinner tonight some kids from the street wanted to eat the stuff left over from my plate. They were way too hungry to worry about any pride. I think it's the kind of poverty that you have to see in order to believe. I've seen it an I'm still not sure I believe it. Do me a favor, and take a minute right now to be thankful for what you have, because there are a lot of people who have almost nothing. The only difference between us and them is that we were lucky enough to be born in the right time and place.

In the 1970's, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, and for some really bad reason, they decided that it would be a great idea to kill or deport every single person who was educated. Close to 2 million people were slaughtered. It's been almost 30 years after the Khmer Rouge were over thrown, and long term result of their policies on this country is clearly visible. The country has no infrastructure, no resources, and seems to have some serious economic hardship. Being left with no one with any skills or abilities takes a long time to over come.

Siem Reap is the closest town to the Angkor Wat ruins (and many other temples), and it seems clear that tourism is the only real source of income. Compared to the rest of this country, this town is a sharp contrast. There are foreigners everywhere, and where there are tourist, there are people catering to them. It is also clear that this influx of tourist money is a new thing as there are shiny new big hotels, and just around the corner are huts with barefoot children trying to sell you postcards for a dollar. It is a stark reminder of the haves and the have-nots. The temples are amazing, though after 2 days, they are starting to all look the same. I'll write more about them when I can get some pictures to show (I can't post any pictures yet as the computers here are quite old, and they don't want to work with my camera).

I have to take a minute to describe the driving system here (and that is using the word system lightly!). The drive down from boarder was truly insane. The trip was made in a cab (ie a guy with a car) shared with a couple from Australia. Cars were rare on the road, as it was mostly filled with scooters, bikes, people, water buffalo, dogs and occasional big trucks/buses. The road was dirt, and full of LARGE pot holes. The drivers would careen down the road narrowly dodging the endless obstacles. I sat in the front seat, and so I got a first hand view of the craziness. When it got dark, it was even funner! Most of the scooters didn't have lights, and of course none of the bikes, children, cows, etc were visible in the dark. It was a complete free for all, and I am completely amazed that no one was killed. The driver was unphased through it all. Somehow this was all normal for him. Here in the city, things are just as wild. The general rule of the road seems to be that you only have to worry about things that are in front of you. So if you pull out in front of another vehicle, that's THEIR problem, because you are in FRONT of them! IT'S NUTS. Ah, but it does make for some good fun!

Planning to stay here for a couple more days, and then head to Laos, and then to northern Thailand, unless something better comes along!

The good, bad and the trouble with visas

Falco sang that, "one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble". I think I understand what he meant! It's a odd town. My orginal plan had been to not even stay in Bangkok, but instead to head striaght to Veitiane, Loas, and stay there while I waited on getting a visa for Vietnam (more on the visa in a minute). This plan was dashed when I could not find a hotel that wasn't full for the day I was planning on arriving. Granted, my search was limited to places online with email booking, and I could have likely just braved it and found a place. But the fact that the 1/2 dozen places I tried were full (it is the high season here) gave me visions of going from place to place in a place with little ability to communicate and no idea where I'm going. That's a little too much adventure even for me! So I decided to play it safe and simply stay in Bangkok where I could confirm a room at a place that speaks English. That hotel turned out to be a nice one too, with airport pickup and a free 'american' breakfast! (the breakfast was 1 fried egg, toast, tea, and deep fried hotdogs- exactly my normal breakfast!). So anyway, I found myself in Bangkok with some time to kill. So far I have been resisting the urge to hide out in my hotel room, although that is the much easier thing to do, it sort of defeats the whole point of being here. So as bit of a compromise, and to ease into the whole thing, I've been sticking to fairly touristy places. Yesterday was a good day, I headed down to the royal palace, visited a set of wats (temples - they are EVERYWHERE) rode in a tuk-tuk, and got scamed at least 3 different times! I had pretty low expectations of Bangkok, and so far it's lived up to them! There are some pretty amazing things here, but there are a good deal of not so pretty things too. There are a LOT of foriegns here. Lots of asians from japan, korea, china, as well as a lot of white folks. I've learned that I really can't pick an American out of a crowd. Everytime I think I've got one pegged, they open their mouths with very broken English. The problem with there being a lot foriegners is that they easy targets, which means there are a lot of con folks looking to seperate the tourist from their money. They call these folks touts. So far basically every person you meet is looking to convience you to take some thing you don't want! most cab drives offer to take me 'shopping' or on a tour of the city. 'Helpful' people on the street who see you reading a map and ask where you are going, are quickly trying to guide me to their uncle's hotel (which is always better then the hotel I'm staying in!), or personally guide me to my destination (for a tip of course). It gets old quickly! It also makes you more then a bit distrustful of everyone! So far I've manage to stay out of most of it, but I ended up at a resurant last night that, while good, was VERY overpriced. The other odd phenomenom is that NONE of the taxi drives know where they are going! I know that getting 'lost' is an old trip to jack up the fair, but I moved to a new hotel to day (close to town, my old one was almost an hour from the city), and it took a dozen taxi drives to find one who knew where I wanted to go. And I had the addresss AND map! It turned out the place was 3 blocks away! Yesterday a tuk-tuk driver took almost an hour to go about a mile, he kept going back and forth. Fortuniately it's a fixed price for the ride! To try and avoid some of these issues, I picked a new hotel near the subway, so I can to and from places on my own! Anyway, on to the visa. Today was a less good day. First thing in the morning I set off fo the vietnam embassy (it's monday here) in order to secure a visa. Turns out it, as well as most everything officail, is closed for the new year. In fact they are closed until Friday! I was worred about this. So with the help of a actually semi helpful local, he pointed me to the TAT, which is basically a travel agency, and will do the leg work for getting a visa for you. It's actually a pretty good deal because for 15 bucks they will wait in line and deal with all the red tape for you! That's where the good news ends! The deal is that because the embassy is closed, they can't do anything until friday, and because there will be a lot of pent up demand on Friday, they won't guarnentee they can get me the visa before Moday. That's a week away. I of course have to leave my passport with them (the visa is attached to the passport at the embasy), which means I really can't travel far while I wait, which means another week in Bangkok. I've only been here 2 days, and I can tell you, I couldn't make it another 7 days! The other big issue with the visa is that it is SUPER restrictive. You have to state ahead of time where and when you come and go, and I'm just not 100% about that yet, which is tricky. So after some reading and thinking, I've decided that vietnam isn't going to happen on this trip, it simply makes things too complicated. So my new plan is to spend more time in Cambodia and Loas, with my friends in Chiang mia and maybe even hit the beach for a while. I think in hind sight, I will see this as the better idea, Vietnam I think is best saved for another trip where I can focus on it alone. The good news is that I can leave Bangkok first thing in the morning!! I will be off to Siem Reap in Cambodia. It's near angkor wat, as well as several other interseting places. It's a 14 hour bus trip and crazy boarder crossing- so wish me luck! I've got a nice place lined up when I get there, it's run by Norwedgends!

Bangkok Baby!

Well I made it to Thailand! The trip was pretty smooth and easy. I had made arrangement ahead of time with a hotel, so they picked me up at the airport and I picked a place that spoke English! They have wireless too so I am actually typing this on my iPod! It's hard to type so this is going to be short, but I'm just impressed it works. Will post more after I figure out how to use an Internet cafe.

Misc Korea Images

As I leave Korea behind, here are a few random pictures that caught my interest. It's been a good visit, having a native speaker to guide and translate makes one world of difference. This luxury is about to come to a screeching halt! I'll report on Thailand soon!