Temples of Ankor - Nature

The next set of photos for Ankor focuses on trying to show how the temples fit into nature. On top of being just generally amazing temples in their own right, over a millennium many trees have started to grow from within the rocks. As Vee mentioned too, what's really neat is that you'll be driving through (say) a forest and out of nowhere comes a temple. Sometimes, you even have to walk quite a ways from the "entrance" until you find one. All-in-all, a fantastic experience. If only it had been a *few* degrees cooler...

Temples of Ankor - Artistry

Two sets of photos of Ankor (you try to cut down 150 photos to less!): the first focuses on the jaw-dropping artistry.
At first glance of your first temple, it's hard not to get the slightest chill. Ours happened to be Ankor Wat as the sun was setting, a long-time dream-come-true for me. The size, detail, style - every aspect is breathtaking (as is the 35 degrees plus seemingly 120% humidity).
As you tour them, though, you start to feel as though they're millennium-old jungle gymns for history buffs. You can basically touch everything, climb on everything, and naturally take pictures of everything. While they're quite similar, they're all quite unique as well. Even though we saw eleven three days, it's easy to remember aspects of all of the them.

Angelina Jolie and Maddox? No such luck.

Well I promised some that I would try and obtain an autograph of Angelina Jolie or Maddox while in Cambodia. Unfortunately they were nowhere to be found...even more unfortunate? Neither was Brad...life will go on, albeit differently, but it will go on.... *single tear*

But Cambodia has been a treat, especially rural Cambodia. The bus ride from Phom Penh to Siem Riep and our drive to the temples on our tuk tuk was especially breathtaking; stunning country side with rice paddies and palm trees; water buffalos wallowing in mud and enjoying the sun; Cambodian houses all on stilts so that underneath, hammocks adorned the shade with sleepy parents, children and family dogs lazily watching life slip by. The Cambodian people are SO freindly with such amazing smiles. They are constantly cooking, lying in the shade, or doing endless chores in the sun, (with no running water or electricity!) while their children run around barefeet, laughing and playing with each other. But these cutie pies are never too busy to stop their games, wave at you and scream "hello" all while giggling away with each other while you pass them on your tuk tuk. They are simply the sweetest little pumpkins.

The temples themselves are ridiculously cool, and so old - 1000 years!!! You drive into what seems like endless jungle and with the next turn in the road you see these incredible formations. We saw around 10 in total, with some certainly more well known then other, especially Matt's favorite - Ankor Wat. It is crazy to see the huge Shiva, Buddha and other god's faces carved out of rock, and the scale of these sites is beyond impressive. Certainly something I won't soon forget.

So as our time here comes to a close this marks the last lengthy stay we have in any one place. Tomorrow we leave for Vietnam for a week then Japan for two then we are on our way HOME! Am I excited for the rest of the trip - YES! Am I excited that home is on the horizon - YES! I miss you guys!

I also have to give a shout out to all my Marvelous March Birthday Folk (whom I love and miss very much!) My Mom, my brother, Michelle, Matt and Noemi! Happy Birthday!!!!

Lots of love,
Vee
xxoo

Genocide (graphic content warning)

The first three photos are from the Genocide Museum at Tuol Sleng (S-21), and the other three are from the killing fields. Let's start with Tuol Sleng first.
The first photo shows one of the four main buildings in this high-school-turned-prison/torture house. What's at first shocking is the suburban setting: it's an unassuming high-school surrounded by houses and businesses. The barbed-wire was installed after someone committed suicide to prevent (ironically?) other inmates from following suit. At the time, all the windows were shut to block the light. Men were placed in tiny cells (maybe 6' by 3') and women/children were placed in the larger classrooms. All slept on the bare floor. The next photo is in one of the many rooms displaying the photos of the inmates. (With Vee is our guide.) The third photo is of one of the last 14 people murdered by the KR as the Vietnamese army descended on the city. The photos were taken by the Vietnamese as they discovered the rotting corpses.
The killing fields are just as real. The skulls and bones (and clothes!) of those dug up from mass graves are now on display - and you can actually touch them!. The only other thing I'll point out is that some of the skulls that were dug up still had blindfolds on - as you can see in the 5th photo.

Phnom Penh - National Museum and Royal Palace

Before I get to posting genocide-related photos, I thought I'd first show some snaps of the national museum and royal palace. After Chiang Mai and Bangkok, we thought we'd be "templed out", but Khmer architecture is a little less gaudy (that may be too strong a word for it) than purely Thai architecture. Inside the royal palace though, is a "silver pagoda" (it's the gold and white temple behind the stupa in the first photo) - so named for the silver tiles that adorn the floor. Also inside is a Buddha statue covered in diamonds and another emerald Buddha as well. So this was a nice surprise. The next two photos were taken inside the palace grounds.
The national museum was, unfortunately, like so many other SEA museums - by which I mean unimpressive. That being said, the building itself is really quite stunning (it's the red one). We had to go here first, against our plan, because the palace takes a 3-hour lunch break, which we did not know about prior to visiting.

The Genocide Musem and Killing Fields

Well today was definitely a bit of a downer but an eye opener none the less. Matt and I went to the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields.

The Genocide Museum is essentially the prison where the Cambodian people who lived in Phnom Penh were taken by the Khmer Rouge. These poor people thought they were being liberated by the K. Rouge after years of war, but instead were immediately evacuated from their city, and many of them brought to this prison. It was a very graphic experience, as in the first few cells, each had a picture of the last prisoner found in that room who had been tortured and killed. The more you explored this prison the more pictures you saw. The K. Rouge were very detailed and documented every prisoner who came through. So many rooms showed many of the thousands of prisoners captured - all of them with a mugshot photo taken with their prison ID. The look of fear in their eyes was palpable, and a lot of them had been "roughed up" already. The K. Rouge also took pictures of the tortured who died and sent them to prominent leaders of the opposition to show them they had succeeded in killing them.

Women and children were also captured, photos taken, then tortured and killed. There were 17 thousand prisoners in all and only 7 survived.

Many of the rooms had photo essays as well as paintings that one of the inmate survivors had done. These revealed many of the atrocities that occurred there. The methods of torture were horrible: fingernails pulled out then doused with alcohol, fingers amputated, water boarding, the list just goes on and on.

But the most horrid picture depicted the babies who were either tossed in the air to be shot, like a target, or tossed in the air to be lanced with a bayonet. Other babies were simply grabbed by the legs and their heads smashed against a tree. Ugh, it was just hideous.

After these poor people were tortured, then confessed to something they did not do, they were then taken to the Killing Fields to be "liquidated". Mass graves were everywhere, and the actual monument has 17 stories of the skulls and bones of some of the killed. Even the children and babies.

It was such a horrid reminder, much like the Jewish Death Camps, of how humans can be so cruel to each other. It also reminds you how fortunate you are and really just lucky in the end, to be born in Canada. Seeing those poor mugshots, makes you think how if the tables were turned, and you were in the that very same position, how scared, lost and hopeless you would be.

Even our guide had been touched by this cruelty. She had lost her brother and father to the K. Rouge, and was 13 when she finally got to return to Phnom Phen. She saw many die on her journey and was visibly shaken when she had finished our tour. As a result of this mass genocide Phnom Phen has only truly been back on their feet for 30 years. All of this took place only a few years ago - 1975-1979. That is truly the most unbelievable part of all of this - it happened so recently.

Matt and I feel so fortunate and grateful to have had this opportunity. But I must say, it makes us miss home, our friends and our family just that much more.

Hope you are well, and happy.
xxoo

Kanchanaburi (2 of 2)

The first photo here is from the veranda of our very rustic wooden bungalow which overlooked the River Kwai. Cheap place, but a nice view nonetheless.
The other three photos are of Erawan National Park, and the waterfall of the same name specifically. The waterfall has seven levels, and it takes roughly 1 hour to hike to the top. We did this with a young German named Marko who was all on his own. You can swim in all the pools though some are certainly better than others. We swam in the pool shown in the second photo (the first of the park) and actually went into the waterfall (you can see someone there with their arms up). It was a pretty invigorating experience!