Phnom Penh and Singapore

After leaving the temples of Angkor Wat I traveled by bus to Phnom Penh. Unlike the rest of the countries I've been to, it was my only time seeing the countryside!

Phnom Penh is along the Mekong River and has been capital of Cambodia for many years. It is also home to the King. I had a very busy 2 days to fit in all the sights. 

I went to the National Museum, Tuol Sleng Prison and the Royal Palace. It was a heavy on history day! I next paragraphs are heavy on writing, but I thought it was important to write a small amount on the rule of the Khmer Rouge after visiting the Prison and Killing Fields.
 

The yard of the prison.

The most tragic aspect of Cambodian history is the rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979 , but the country had been in a civil war for a few years prior to them storming the capital. The party, led by Pol Pot had an extremist communist view and believed that an agricultural state was the ideal. They exiled everyone from the cities to forced labour camps. Thousands of people were round up for being "subversives". Having a university degree or wearing glasses was often enough to bring people into prisons, torture them to make a "confession" and send them to execution. Eventually, the Khmer Rouge were forced out of Phnom Pehn and into the mountains in Western Cambodia, leaving a trail of landmines as they fled. Shockingly, this genocidal-regime still had a seat in the UN up until 1993, and the party didn't officially dissolve until 1996. The wounds from this time still remain open, as the leaders of the party are currently being tried for genocide. Pol Pot, unfortunately will not have to go through this court case, as he died in 1998.



Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge kept meticulous records of those they "interrogated".



Tuol Sleng Prison. Was previously a high school, this wooden beam was previously used for phys ed, but was used in the prison day for torture.

The next day I hired a tuk tuk driver for the day and set off to the Choeung Ek memorial, also known as the Killing Fields. It was in this old Chinese cemetery that the Khmer Rouge regime sent prisoners (mostly from Tuol Sleng prison) to be executed. They were taken in trucks from the prison at night, driven outside the city along potholed roads and lined up in front of mass graves. As the Khmer Rouge wanted to save bullets, the prisoners were often bludgeoned to death, or near death and thrown into the graves. All the buildings at the site have been destroyed, but all the mass graves remain. Several have been excavated and some of the recovered bones were used to make the memorial, others have been covered in cement to allow the dead to rest in peace.

Skulls in the Genocide Memorial

Old Chinese grave in front of the memorial

There is a constant reminder of the death this land has seen, as every rainy season, the earth exposes bone and fabric from the graves of those who were murdered. It was evident on my tour around the site, and a reminder of the thousands of lives lost. Although at times difficult and emotional to visit such sights, it is important to understand this history and what led to the Khmer Rouge's extreme communistic dream. These memorials are made to educate future generations so these atrocities never happen again...but it's the sad truth they do. Rwanda in 1993, Bosnia in 1995, the list goes on...the human race has a short memory.

The Royal Palace

Silver Pagoda in the Palace Grounds - named due to its silver tiled floors

Mekong River at dusk

Buddha at Wat Ounalom. My last stop in PP. It was raining and no one was around, there was a monk who opened the door and let me in, then proceeded to bless me. I even lit some incense and said a thank you for my amazing trip. I don't know if it was the temple (famous for Buddha's eyebrow buried in this stupa) or the old kind monk, but I got a little teary eyed. My time in SE Asia, has been some of the best of my life!

 

On to brighter things! 

Singapore was my next stop. It felt like one trip ended, and another was beginning. To be honest, I wasn't ready to leave Cambodia and was sad flying out...but, I know I'll be back! Too many adventures left to be had!

Singapore and Australia means the budget traveling is over, but I get to see friends...and dive again!

Singapore is a city state at the very Southern tip of Malaysia. It was an English colony until the 1950s after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819.  In 1959, Lee Kuan Yew took over as president and turned a once sleezy trade port into the high power city it is today. I must say, it's one of the cleanest places I've been. Littering is a fine-able offence and I saw a sign saying if you stole a bike, you could get 3 years jail time. Sometimes it felt like being in Orwell's "1984". But I did feel safe, everything was efficient and did I mention clean.
 

Based on the recommendation of my host, an old high school friend Zoe, I spent a full day and night at the Zoo! It was a full day well spent. The Zoo is unique that it has few cages and uses moats, electric wire and other barriers to keep animals in their habitat. For the visitor, you feel so close to the animals! Zoe joined me in the evening for the night safari, a trip through a separate zoo seeing animals doing their nighttime behaviours. A very fun experience!

Getting up close with the Orangutans....so cool!

Pretty much in heaven right now!

Could have reached out and touched this sloth...able to get so close to the wildlife!

Fruit bats  - well, flying foxes at arms length.

I spent the final day exploring downtown Singapore. It's history from an English colony up to it's modern, extravagant current self.

Old Chinatown, with the new high rise buildings in the background.

The Merlion statue at the waterfront

More river views

After 2 days, it was time to say goodbye to Zoe and get on a plane to Cairns, Australia....diving the Great Barrier Reef was next on the list!

Angkor Wat

I thought the temples of Angkor Wat, outside the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia deserved their own blog entry due to their absolute beauty and the many, many photos I took.

In brief, Angkor means "holy city" but has come to refer to the capital of the Khmer Empire between the 9th -14th centuries. At the kingdom's greatest strength, Angkor was home to 1 million people ( at the same time, London England had 50,000). All that remains of this great capital are the many brick and stone temples. Many other dwellings were made of wood, but these have been lost to
time. The temples are both Hindu and Buddhist depending on the era they were constructed. Many are well preserved or reconstructed and others have been reclaimed by the forest. Fortunately, war left Angkor mostly untouched and allows for thousands of tourists to visit each year.

I had a wonderful two days exploring some of the temples. Seeing the famous Angkor Wat and Bayon temple were amazing, but I most enjoyed exploring the ruins without anyone else around! My trip has been full of peaceful moments, I'm glad I was able to find more in Cambodia.

Bayon Temple - 37 towers with faces in 4 cardinal directions



Bayon Temple



Baphuon Temple - only recently opened to the public. Restoration was halted during the Khmer Rouge period and all documents lost. They had a hectare full of blocks - a giant puzzle to piece together with no instructions



Elephant Terrace



I love taking pics through windows!



Sandstone sculpture on the Terrace of Lepers

Thommanom Temple

Another view from Thommanom

Climbing the stairs at Ta Keo

Gorgeous Forest Temple - Ta Prohm

Loved the forest reclaiming the temples!

Ta Prohm - made famous in Tomb Raider

Me at Angkor Wat!

Angkor Wat - the national symbol of Cambodia. View seeing all 5 towers!

Wandering the temples - many monks there!

My driver Nit - making our way to the next temple

Looking at the storm rolling in from Angkor Wat

Stunning Banteay Srey temple - red sandstone and immaculate carvings!

Lost my patience several times with the chinese tour bus tourists. Do you really need 7 ridiculous poses? and then the next person does the same thing!

Ta Som in the rain!

Hiding the from rain at Ta Som

Ta Prohm - loved all the green moss

Ta Prohm

May have stalked these monks. I just loved the orange with the stone

Went back to Angkor Wat for some shots in the sunlight

Beautiful Angkor Wat!

One of my fav temples - Preah Khan. Another forest temple. It was a massive complex that you could just get lost in. I found myself walking through quiet corridors, coming upon beautiful views! It may have been raining, but low season is peaceful!

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Laos - Land of the Mekong River

Laos is actually known as "The Land of a Million Elephants", but for me it's where I finally encountered the Mekong River. My Lonely Planet of Northern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam encompasses the Mekong region, but I hadn't yet really seen the river that is the lifeblood of the region. 

I've never been very good at explaining my emotions (I can never find the right words - I need to work on my vocabulary), but this river amazes me! I've seen beautiful sunsets over the ocean in Thailand and stunning mountainous vistas in Vietnam, but looking at the flowing waters of the Mekong with wooden fishing boats and black jagged rocks jutting out in the current stops and quiets the world, just for a moment. I'm not sure exactly what it is about the river that gives me such a powerful feeling. But when I look at it I see a rich history of powerful civilizations now lost to history, colonization, war, but also the life it has given to this country. There are times you look at the river and feel transported back 100 years (if you can ignore the powerlines..hehe). Or, maybe I'm just feeling at peace after traveling through so many Buddhist countries!

I don't think my pictures will give it justice....there's something about Laos. 

Taking the "slow boat" - a two-day ride down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang

Mekong at dusk at the half way point - Pak Beng

The Mekong from the slow boat. The sky was amazing during our boat ride

With Cindy and I traveling together, we were obviously renting scooters (because we are real biker chicks!!). I lucked out this time with a pink bike AND pink helmet....biker babe alert! We had a great ride out to Kuang Si Waterfalls along a winding road though small villages surrounded by forest. Unlike Thailand and Vietnam, where the majority of land has been used for agriculture, Laos is still 70% natural forests (although thanks to big brother China, that is changing). We then drove to the other side of Luang Prabang to see the Pak Ou caves, famous for their many Buddha statues that have been brought there by worshipers for over 100 years. The views of the Mekong near the caves almost made me cry (obsessed with this river much...).

Road to Kuang Si

Cindy on the rope swing into the waterfalls. I was too chicken to try

Beautiful waterfalls

The Mekong at dusk

Taking the boat across the river to the cave

Buddha images in Pak Ou caves

Mekong river and the sunset - wish I could have better captured it

We decided to do a 2 day trek/kayak with an overnight stay in a Hill Tribe village. Like Thailand, many Laotians are from the mountainous areas and are minority people. We decided to trek to see the amazing Lao forests and to stay in one of these villages to learn about the people and their culture. It was a long, hot trekking day and at the end I was definitely out of gas. We stopped in three villages along the way; two Khmu and one Hmong village. Our guide, Vir (pronounced Year), is Hmong himself and in his kind, quiet way answered all of our queries and helped translate in both Hmong and Lao the questions to the villagers. In the third village, we were given lovely bamboo accommodations and supper by our host family. In the morning (I slept for about 10 hours!!), we set out to kayak down Nam Khan (not the Mekong...oh well) before being picked up and transferred back to Luang Prabang. It was great being on the water, but I could have used more shade...

The path out of our first (Khmu) village

Playful Khmu children

Views along the hike

Cindy hiking uphill

AMAZING countryside

I loved the mountains and the sky!

Downhill

Stunning!

Water Buffalo along the river - notice the pink ones. They are light colored and get sunburned.

Our last day in Luang Prabang, we spent relaxing (massage and body scrub for me!), eating a delicious dinner and having a great night out. It was a quick 6 days in Laos, but amazing! I'll be returning someday to soak up more of the beautiful Laos countryside!

Bamboo bridge across the Nam Khan

BBQ - Lao style

Hip Hop/Break dance show at Hive Bar. These boys were great! Then we met the owner, Troy from Winnipeg - then the real party started when the Beer Lao and Lao Lao (rice whisky) started flowing! You can always count on friendly, generous Canadians no matter where in the world you meet them!

The Nam Khan joins the Mekong river in Luang Prabang

Buildings in Luang Prabang