Phnom phen part 1: The killing fields and S21

There are two things that the lonely planet first mentions on the back of their guide to Cambodia "First ascend into heaven with the sights of Ankor Wat, then decend into the hell of the Khmer Rouge"

Now I found this immediately distasteful, it was as if one of the two things that should immediately define Cambodia as a country is the brutal acts committed by these cruel despots. Its therefore important for me to say before writing this piece that Cambodia is a beautiful and vibrant country, filled with beautiful sights and incredible people. So while it is important to recognize the massacre committed by the Rouge. It is equally important to understand that the country should not be defined by their acts but by the beauty and spirit of a country that has not been broken by these horrific acts.

Now my first impressions of Phnom Phen was of a busy, vibrant city. Filled with sprawling markets, beautiful pagodas, tasty street food and great places to eat. The street food of Cambodia was one that equaled that of Thailand or Vietnam.

It was thus refreshed that I prepared myself to go and see the Killing Fieldings and the torture site of S21. I arrived at a peaceful field whose serene atmosphere belied the history of the place. I was provided with a audio tour set and started my walk around the site. It was then that the true horrors of the place was unveiled, stories of horrific slaughter of men, woman and children where related. All of these were set to the 'inspirational' anthem of the Khmer Rouge, it helped to cover the screams of desperation and despair and allowed the Rouge to continue their insane pogrom.

However against all this horror were moments of hope and inspiration as stories of heroic sacrifice, acts of remembrance by the Cambodian people and my follow tourists and spiritual acts performed by Buddhist monks emerged.

It was a draining experience and by the end I was not sure I wanted to carry on to S21, the former school that had acted as the Khmer Rouge's torture and interrogation centre. I chose not to hire a guide as I wanted to spare myself the additional emotional gantlet of learning the history of that place.

Instead I wandered past pictures of body after body, face after face and finally forced confession after forced confession.

I was left with one powerful impression, that we should beware anyone that would turn our follow man into just objects to be uprooted and destroyed. After all when we treat others like objects how can we expect to keep hold of our own humanity.

It was an important monument for me to witness but afterwards I was ready to move on, eager to see what was blindingly obvious. That this country had much more for me to behold then just the shadows of death and despair.

Kampot

I had been recovering nicely from a stomach bug (or so I thought) when I left Koh Rong. Unfortunately for me it turned out the bug wasn't finished with me and it struck just as I arrived the beautiful town of Kampot.

This lovely river side town was unfortunately where I spent much of my time groaning inside my hotel room. An end was in sight for my bug however and on my last few days I managed to rent a bicycle to take around town.

The place was beautiful, filled as it was with picturesque stilted houses, indoor markets filled with metal workers, a lovely stretch of river and beautiful french building that were slowing edging their way into slightly decay.

The ride I took into the back village of thatched houses, red dust roads and friendly locals was definitely the highlight of my time there.

Cambodia: Koh Rong island

After arriving in Cambodia I decided I desperately needed the beach and so after spending one night in Phnom Penh I jumped on the nearest bus and boat heading to Koh Rong Island. I arrived and was immediately greeted with white sand beaches and crystal clear blue waters.

Life on the island was attractively laid back and I spent most days trekking to and then lazing on some of the best beaches I have had the pleasure of experiencing while traveling. At night I would explore the island's many restaurants and clubs.

The Island was also home to some amazing wildlife including monkeys, many kind of fish as well as some snakes. The best though was saved for when I took a late night snorkel tour of the island's luminous plankton. With each wave of my arms it was like swimming through an ocean of glittering stars.

About four nights in I managed to contract a stomach bug that had been going around the island and was pretty much confined to my dorms for the next three days. After I had recovered though I decided it was time to head out to pastures new.

Sadly though this beautiful island is under the threat of serious development, many parts of the island have been brought up by Chinese developers who are planning to extensively develop the island (including building an airport). These types of developments rarely end well for the ecosystems of islands like this and it would be sad to see this island go the same way.

Christmas In Saigon

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Christmas Eve and proceeded to spent the day wandering around the city. Saigon turned out to be rather a different beast from Hanoi. Affluent where Hanoi was rustic, open where Hanoi was cramped and open all hours where Hanoi wound down at twelve.

They both shared a certain sensibility however, both were busy and hectic with the strange mixture of culture, spirituality and a pronounced emphasis on making money.

My first stop was the Bitexco tower in downtown HCMC, where I was offered a stupendous view over the city. After this I wandered the streets of the city itself, taking in the sights, sounds and views that the city had to offer.

I slept well that night and got up ready for a full day of sight seeing, I started my tour at Vietnam's war museum, where I got to witness first hand the devastation that Agent Orange and chemical weapons had caused, not only on the people (and in horrible detail children) of Vietnam but also on the countries wildlife and forest (much of which is still recovering).

After this I visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda and enjoyed the sheer level of beauty and craftsmanship that pervaded every level of the temple. Buddhas mixed with Taoist deities, all wrapped in a cloud of sweet smelling incense. That evening was Christmas day for me and I was pleasantly surprised to run into a few familiar faces from Bangkok. I spent the evening getting pleasantly wasted before moving on to the azure beaches of Cambodia.

Cat Tien: The importance of preserving Vietnam's wildlife

Shocking fact of the day, there are only 70 wild elephants left in Vietnam. Think about that, its not a very high number. In fact the WWF has advised that Vietnam might be one of the first countries in Asia where elephants actually go completely extinct.

I wanted this update on my blog to be a little different as I wanted to raise awareness of the very real threat that exists to Vietnam's wildlife (and sadly this also extends to alot of wildlife in Asia).

Poaching in Vietnam is rife, with animals like the incredible sweet Pygmy Loris being taken wholesale from the jungle, having their teeth pulled out or clipped (so that they cannot use the venom that is one of their distinct features to defend themselves) and kept as pets for Vietnamese family. The fact that large numbers of them will die of stress or that they in fact do not make very good pets is something that will lead to many of them then being abandoned to die.

The same happens to the rapidly dwindling numbers of Gibbons left in Vietnam. Whose mothers will be shot and killed and whose's babies are then sold as pets. The conditions that they are then kept in leads many to die of malnutrition or to suffer painfully cramped and cruel conditions.

My advise to any Vietnamise reading this blog who want to take one of these creatures as pets is simple, don't. These animals belong in the wild, not in a cage.

Cat Tien is one of the national parks hoping to turn the tide on the destruction of Vietnamise wildlife and forests (which sadly disappear more and more each year). The Gibbon sanctuary there works hard not only to rescue wildlife from conditions such as this but also seeks to rehabilitate them so they can once again enter the wild.

It was one of the few places in Vietnam where I got to see a truly wild area of countryside. I took showers and had stick insects land on my head, almost stepped on snakes, watched fireflies burning in the night, disturbed porcupines on the way to the bathroom and saw more monkeys in the forest then I can count.

But if the people of Vietnam want to keep any of this beauty and wonder then they have to act now. Or else have a future where they have no wildlife left.



If you want to help you can donate to Go East, who are working to protect Vietnam's wildlife:

http://www.go-east.org/

Dalat

My first impression of Dalat, besides beautiful surrounding countryside that (sadly) didn't extend to the city  was distinctly leopard print shaped. My tiny but very comfortable alcove at the hostel I was staying at was decorated in some of the most garish upholstery I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

I'll be honest and say that Dalat wasn't the best places i've been in Vietnam but in its own way it still had a certain charm. I started my first proper day there by visiting an old fashioned steam train, I then took a stroll through a particularly pretty floral show before heading to some of the temples that lay around the town. After being entranced by some particularly lovey statues of Quan Am, a Buddha of compassion.

While wandering the temple I was invited by the local woman there to stay and share the truly delicious food they had made. I chatted to them about why they were making food, what it was the monks did in terms of charitable work and even made a donation to help the poor there.

Afterwards I took a taxi to see the appropriately named crazy house, A particularly strange piece of architecture designed to make you feel like you had wandered into a scene from Alice in wonderland. All strange shapes, abstract structures and weird animal statues.

That night I went out for a tasty group meal with people from my hostel, after chatting to four traveling journalists I even got interviewed by them for their website (Human Unscripted, find the link below).

After exhausting all that I felt Dalat had to offer I decided to move on to the wonders of Cat Tien national park.


http://humanityunscripted.com/