War Remnants Museum

For the first time in  my life, I was in a place where America didn't win.  The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was a realistic portrayal of the American War through Vietnamese eyes.  The museum housed relics from the war like photographs, biographies of reporters who died during the war, weapons, and even a sculpture made from gun metal.    

One of the exhibitions in the museum was about Dioxin, or "Agent Orange".  Agent Orange is a deadly toxic material used for chemical warfare introduced by the Americans to Vietnam.  One tablespoon can wipe out a city of 8 million people...  There were photographs of Vietnamese people who were atrociously affected by Agent Orange.  It was common to see missing limbs, scarred faces, stunted body growth, etc. 

Another exhibition at the museum portrayed the war through children's eyes.  These pictures showed smiling American and Vietnamese soldiers returning to villages with smiles and hugs... it was nice to see, although I don't know if that actually happened.  There were some beautiful drawings that depicted world peace.  It would have been a nice way to end the viewing but of course there was more!

The next exhibition we saw were called the "Tiger Cages".  Tigers, no.  Prisoners, yes.  The cells were similar to the prisoner cells Pol Pot created during the Khmer Rouge.  There was also a guillotine that they used, imported by the French.  

The last exhibition we saw was the best one!  It had posters and photographs of people from all over the world that protested America's involvement in the war.  There were some great quotes from American professors, Martin Luther King Jr., and other world leaders:

"The situation in Viet Nam poses serious moral problems which are not merely diplomatic or tactical.  Our nation is possesed of an immense power.  To permit its utilization for unreasonable and barbarous purposes endangers the very foundation of American influence."

-An excerpt from a declaration signed by 1000 American professors 

"Come home America.  Come home from your dark country of racism... from your tragic reckless adventure in Vietnam."

-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

There were some other quotes from the American Declaration of Independence & from the Geneva convention that clearly showed the hypocrisy of America fighting in Vietnam.  My photographs show these quotes.

My next post will be from beautiful Hoi An!  Til then.      

Cu Chi Tunnels & Cao Dai temple

Yesterday, I visited a province in the Mekong delta region called Tay Ninh.  Tay Ninh has the largest population of Cao Dai worshippers.  Cao Dai is a religion that combines beliefs from Buddhism, Confuciousism (abc?), Hinudism, Islam, etc.  Cao Dai literally translates to "high tower".  Cao Dai is another name for God.  Anyways, in Tay Ninh we saw a Cao Dai temple as well as the traditional prayer ceremony that occur 4 times a day.  It was really fascinating to see how all of the different aspects of each religion was apparent in their practice.  

After we visited the Cao Dai temples, we went to an area called Cu Chi.  Cu Chi is famous for the intricate tunnel system built by rebel soldiers.  These guerillas were called VC: Viet Cong, Victor Charlies, or simply Vietnamese Communists.  In our tour of the area, we saw many trick traps that the Cu Chi guerillas used to harm or kill their American/right winged Southern Vietnamese enemies.  It was interesting to see how the Cu Chi guerillas contributed to the Vietnamese victory in American War (Vietnam War back home).  The main attraction was the tunnel system.  The tunnels stretched 60 km long and were half of one average American tourist size.  For the area we were in, they widened the tunnels twice the size and it was still REALLY SMALL.  To walk through the tunnels you had to crouch (squat really) and do a "duck walk".  It was nuts.  In the real tunnels, Vietnamese men, women and children would crawl on their stomachs with supplies to transport.  In the tunnels they also built schools, kitchens, areas to eat, etc.  

In my next blog, I will write about visiting the War Remnants Museum.  This museum stores artifacts from the American War and was definitely made me ashamed to be an American...    

Good morning, afternoon and night Vietnam!

Hello!  I am blogging from the famous Pham Ngu Lao street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  It is in no way comparable to the the sleezy, nasty, skeezy Khao San road in Bangkok!  Instead, it has all the conveniences minus the sketch.  I have to admit though, HCMC is a little too metropolitan to me and I am really looking forward to seeing places like Hoi An, Hue, and Dalat.  I am staying at a hostel but they were sold out of their dorm rooms so I'm staying in a double with a girl I met at reception, a fluke really.  I overheard her saying she also wanted to stay in the dorm but they were sold out.  So I asked her if she wanted to share a room.  Voila! problem solved.   

I spent the day yesterday and today walking around central HCMC.  I visited the HCMC Fine Arts Museum, which is more of a gallery considering most of the displayed works are are on sale.  There were some interesting photographs and oil paintings.  I couldn't take pictures unfortunately.  I also visted Cho Ben Than (Ben Than Market) and it was standard but cool.  I'm trying to find things that are uniquely Vietnamese but so far I've failed because the only thing I've bought is a black cotton scarf.  Also unfortunate, I cannot buy too much because I only have my pack which is 70 liters and most of it is full!  

Today I heard someone say that the best way to get to know a country is through it's stomach.  SO TRUE.  I had my first bowl of Pho and surprisingly, it was delicious.  I am looking forward to eating some good French food though, maybe in the ritzier part of HCMC.  I'm going to the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow and Cai Dao(abc?) temples.  blog later :)  

A slow-life moving at warp speed

Only read this post if that title made sense.  Just kidding.  I cannot believe today is December 2, and in one month and one day, I will be back in Miami.  The last few weeks were unbelievable.  Here, at Sustainable Cambodia (SC), things have been so crazy!  I've been working on several projects simultaneously.  I love having the responsibility and freedom to work as much (or as little) as I want to.  I think it's the "option" of choosing my workload that drives me to work harder... as strange as that sounds.  

Today is the first free weekday I've had in a while.  I took the day to bike around Pursat and have lunch at a "nicer" restaurant-- to celebrate a day off!  Pursat is famous for their marble carving.  So after lunch I stopped by a small marble carving shop to see what they sell.  I found some nice, reasonably priced marble Buddha statues that I may buy before I leave.  Outside of the shop the owner is working a huge marble elephant.  It is massive!  I've seen him working on it since I've been here, usually on the weekends.  

A few weeks ago (during the Water Festival) I visited the Southern coast of Cambodia and spent the majority of my time in a town called Kampot.  Kampot is a beautiful, sleepy town not overcrowded with tourists (unlike it's neighboring Shianoukville).  On my first day there I visited a place called Tek Chhou Rapids.  It was a breathtaking path just getting to the rapids!  We had to walk across a man made bridge to the middle of a mountain and then we hiked down the mountain to the rapids.  There were many Khmer people enjoying their Saturday.  My guide said it was unusally crowded, probably because of the Water festival.   The Water Festival is usually celebrated in Phnom Penh or Siam Reap with many boat races and water sports.  Anyways, after the rapids I took a stroll along the riverside in "downtown Kampot", which was one street.  I had dinner at an ex-pat/backpacker restaurant called "Rusty Keyhole" where I was forced to sit with a Canadian couple because the place was packed.  It was okay though because they gave me great advice about travelling in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Laos.  The next day I visited 15 km outside of Kampot, called White Elephant cave.  It was a nice excursion into the countryside.  The cave was pretty cool but was closed off towards the back because of flooding from the rainy season.  The cave is named the White Elephant cave because there is a rock formation that looks like a white elephant.  I took a picture of it but I had to really squint my eyes and use my imagination to see the elephant resemblance!  

Two weeks after I went to Kampot, I decided to take my last trip to Phnom Penh and visit all of its sights with Adi and Laura, two SC co-volunteers.  I managed to squeeze everything I wanted to do in one 4 day visit!  It was great.  We found central lodging by the Independence Monument.  We were close enough to walk to many of the "attractions" in Phnom Penh.   The first sight I saw was the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda; they are in one compound.  The royal palace is huge and well... nice?  I wasn't very impressed by the Palace because every building had the same basic architecture.  Definitely not worth the $6.25 admission.  The adjoining Silver Pagoda however, was worth the money.  Every tile in the Pagoda was made from 1 kg of silver.  The Pagoda also houses 2 buddhas-- one made from pure Jade and the the other made from gold and embellished with over 2,000 diamonds.  

The next day I visited Tuol Sleng was a high school that Pol Pot turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge in 1975-1979.  Most of the occupants in this prison were intellectuals who were deemed traitors to the Revolution.  Its ironic because Pol Pot and those govenring the Khmer Rouge all studied in France at good universities.  I saw the prison cells where the victims had to stay.  There was this really intimidating gallow with two huge pots with water under the gallow.  They would hang the prisoner upside down and when he passes out because all of the blood rushed to his head, they would dip his head into water to wake him up and make him re-live the torture.  It was a really haunting experience to visit Tuol Sleng but I'm glad I could see the remains of an important part of Cambodian culture.  

After Tuol Sleng, Laura and I visited Russian Market & O'Russei Market where we bought massive amounts of fabric to have clothes made for us here in Pursat.  I'm excited to play fashion designer for a day!  Unfortunately, authentic Cambodian silk was too expensive for me to buy.  It's okay, I don't really think I would like an article of clothing made from silk...too fancy.  

I know I've written this in other posts, but I really can't believe how slowly time moves here.  And despite that, I don't feel bored or drab!  If you know me, you know that is a miracle!!  

I started to plan my travel plans for after I leave Sustainable Cambodia and Cambodia.  My first stop is Ho Chi Minh City on December 12.  I am planning to travel north to Hanoi in a span of 7 days and then cross into Luang Prabhang, Laos (flying).  After traveling to central Laos to Vietianne, I will travel to Chiang Mai and then finally to Bangkok for NYE and to fly home.  I hope the protests at Suvarnabhumi will be over by then!  I can't imagine they would last too long since Bangkok is the most popular SE Asian travel hub.  It is the start of the high travel season so hopefully a resolution is in store.            

Home life

Last night I had my first Cambodian home-stay.  I was testing out my Khmer and came to the conclusion that I still have a long ways to go before I am fluent but it was a fun experience!  Another volunteer, Adi, has officially moved out of the volunteer and stays with a family who lives across the street from the SC school, so I decided to tag along.  Also for the first time in a very long time, I watched a half hour of televison.  There were some interesting channels, including a European fashion channel and 2 Indian channels (one dubbed in Khmer... so strange!).  I'm half way around the world and ZeeTV is still a part of my life!  

My home-stay family has a mother, father, a 24 year old daughter, a 15 year old son, another who son who studies in Phnom Penh, miscellaneous cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends that come and go.  The organization of a Khmer family is really smart when you think about it.  Almost every family that I've met in Pursat is not just 2 parents and their 2 under 18 children.   Their entire family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) lives together and each generation is responsible for a different part of the household.  All of the children live at home until they are married so that they can save up to buy their own houses.  Even though I think it's smart, I don't know if I could live at home for 25 years (no offense Mom & Dad!).  Maybe it's not so practical in American culture where independence is valued more than partial financial stability.    

Instead of waking up to clucking roosters, I woke up to a crying baby and a blaring television... about 3 hours earlier than I wake up!  

We Love Our Thailand

My most recent visit to Thailand was a refreshing one.  Their Western city planning combined with their obsession with the Royal family is unique to South East Asia.  Well, at least of the South East Asia I've seen.  

We left Pursat around 10 am and arrived to Poipet, the border town between Cambodia and Thailand at around 1 pm.  The immigration (surprisingly) only took 15 minutes for me and my 3 traveling companions.  The difference was noticeable as soon as we crossed the border.   We were in some serious [reverse] culture shock.  Smooth paved roads, drivers who obey traffic laws, stop lights and stop signs, manicured lawns, high rise buildings, and 7-11 stores!  It felt like I was back in the States.  After an hour in Poipet, we drove another 4 hours to the port town of Ban Phe.  We stayed one night in a sketchy motel and vowed never to stay in Ban Phe again!  There were definitely some un-holy acts going on in the rooms next to ours...

We rose early the next morning and took the first ferry to Ko Samet, an island off of the Gulf of Thailand.  Ko Samet is a quaint beach town full of local Thai vacationers as well as foreigners, so there was an interesting mix of people.  We stayed at a placed called TubTim resort.  It wasn't so much a resort, but a bunch of wooden cottages scattered over a beach.  It was basic accomodation, a big queen sized bed and a bathroom.  We did have a nice little porch, good for hanging out after a few beers.  The highlight of Ko Samet was of course their beach.  And everything you can find on their beach!  There were people selling crepes, massages, manicures/pedicures, sarongs, bedspreads... anything you could possibly ever need.  During the day we usually hung out on the beach for a few hours and then explored the rest of the island.  The food, for a change, was delicious everywhere!  

After two days though, we had enough of the beach and were ready for a nice, metropolitan city!  We boarded a mini bus (when I say mini... there was barely enough room to sit up straight, most of the passengers had to slump for the entire ride!) and 5 hours later we were in Bangkok.  In Bangkok we stayed at a place called Suk11 which was in an area called Sukhumvit.  Sukhumvit is a nice area full of upscale apartment buildings and hotels.  Luckily, Suk11 is a backpackers hostel and thus super affordable.  Not only were there soft beds and comforters (a luxury in Pursat), there was HOT WATER.  Showering was no longer a race to finish as quickly as possible, but 10 minutes of heaven.  Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit... 

We spent two days in Bangkok visiting different areas of the city, but not really sight seeing.  It wouldn't be a complete farang (foreigner) visit without a stop at Ko San road.  Ko San road is backpackersville in Bangkok.  We got to Ko San road at 10:30 am on the first day and saw a people starting the party.  Beer and loud music is a constant on Ko San road.  We did find a nice spa that was really cheap!  I got a manicure, facial, haircut, and my eyebrows waxed for under $20.  Sweet!  We also found a delicious Indian restaurant so we had a last minute diwali dinner of paratha and butter chicken.  It was great.  The second day we spent at the BMC and Siam Center.  Both are these mega malls full of stores and vendors (like an indoor market).  Siam Center had more western stores and restaurants.  Anyone with a shopping habit should make it to Bangkok at least once in their lifetime.

Bangkok reminded me of Miami in every way except the pad thai sellers on the street.  The high rise apartment buildings, trendy cafes on the corner, etc.  I could definitely see myself living in Bangkok if there was an opportunity.  

Returning to Pursat was nice because we could communicate more efficiently than we could in Thailand.  

Mid-October Update

Today marks one month and 3 days since I've been in Cambodia.  Surprisingly, to those who know how short my attention span is, I still love every day!  I feel (physically and mentally) my life becoming less complicated with post-college angst and becoming more productive for Sustainable Cambodia.  Trying to keep with my new found productivity, I am venturing to Battambong province (by myself!  a first) to work on job applications, updating my resume, writing persuasive cover-letters, and hopefully a first draft of a personal statement.  I am crossing my fingers that I accomplish all of these tasks.  One of my co-volunteers found a guest house in Battambong that has free Wi-Fi for all of their guests in their rooms, .  It's a bit pricey for a guest house (the last place I stayed costs $5 per room) but the Wi-Fi in my room is a luxury I am willing to pay for. 

Next week, two other volunteers and I will venture to Ko Samet, Thailand.  It's this small, sort of mainstream beachy resort island.  I don't know if I would usually go to a place like this but I think after a month of hard work, this is a well-deserved treat!  

Apparently, the tensions between Thailand and Cambodia are increasing.  Thailand has been making claims on established Cambodia lands and provinces and temples...WTF.  I am hoping I read that incorrectly on the BBC website.  

I taught my first volunteer class yesterday.  The students I teach are the top english speakers in the school.  I wanted to see how far I could challenge their comprehension skills so I printed off fact sheets from the UN website about the 8 Millennium Development Goals and assigned one goal per group.  I also asked them for suggestions for class themes and here are some of their sggestions:

I was pretty amazed at their enthusiasm for learning.  It made me appreciate how scarce education here in Cambodia is and how available it is in Western countries.  Upon further reflection, I feel almost spoiled to have so many great educational opportunities at my fingertips.