Home Safely

After hanging out in Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday, I hopped on a plane Saturday night. Over 40 hours later, I arrived here in Winston-Salem, where I am slowly recovering from jetlag. So with all journeys, this one has finally come to an end. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed posting throughout the summer. Thanks for reading my blog!

Back to Phnom Penh, Home Away From Home

Friday: Caught the bus to Hoi An where I explored the impressive imperial architecture on foot.

Saturday: Spent the better part of the day at the beach with some Dutch and English travelers who I met. Took the overnight bus to Nha Trang.

Sunday: Arrived in Nha Trang bright and early. Went scuba diving for the day on the stunning reefs off of Hon Mun Marine Protected Area.

Monday: Again spent most of the day diving and the rest just relaxing. Enjoyed a scrumptious (not to mention dirt cheap) dinner of succulent lobster on the side of the street. Midway through my meal, all at once everyone got up, grabbed their food and stools, and sprinted into an adjacent alleyway. I followed suit, the woman operating the streetside stall conveyed to me in broken English that the police had come and they had no permit, and I resumed my task of picking off every edible piece of meat from that lobster. An interesting dinner indeed.

Tuesday: Spent the better part of the day exploring on foot and caught the overnight bus to Saigon.

Wednesday: Arrived in Saigon and immediately went on a half-day tour of the Cu Chi tunnels where we crawled around and I got to shoot an M-16. Returned to Saigon and I explored on foot with a long visit at history-rich Reunification Palace. Checked into a guesthouse, ate some delicious pho at Pho 2000, and just walked around Saigon soaking up the urban atmosphere.

Thursday: More exploring on foot with a long visit at the hard-hitting War Remnants Museum. Took a shower and grabbed lunch before making the bus journey to Phnom Penh. Arrived in the evening and chilled out with friends.

Southbound on the Vietnamese Coast

Sunday: Our trip to Halong Bay was cancelled due to a typhoon, so instead we checked out Hanoi on foot. We perused the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, browsed the Temple of Literature, and cruised the lake. After dinner, we attended an impressive water puppet show, a Vietnamese cultural tradition where the puppets appear as if they are floating on water.

Monday: Explored the city further and spent some time doing some much-needed relaxing. In the evening I said farewell to my travel buddy Matt Hoffman.

Tuesday: Woke early for the drive to Halong Bay (the typhoon had passed). Cruised the bay, stopping to explore a cave and swim, and later kayaked during a beautiful sunset. Had dinner on the boat and laid on the deck observing the stars and enjoying the conversation with all the Brits on my boat.

Wednesday: Enjoyed more scenic cruising in the morning before a quick swim. Transferred back to Hanoi where I immediately boarded the overnight bus to Hue.

Thursday: Arrived in Hue first thing in the morning and spent the day exploring the majestic Citadel and Imperial Enclosure, not to mention some of the fascinating museums and idyllic lakes in Hue.

Signing off from Hue, Vietnam.

Falling In Love With Laos

Again, I'm on the move and Internet isn't terribly reliable, so this post will be short and to the point.

Tuesday: Took a long but incredibly scenic bus ride to Luang Prabang and explored on foot. Climbed to Phu Si, a temple situated on a hill in the middle of town with a heavenly view of the surrounding quaint city against the backdrop of rugged mountains and the peaceful Mekong.

Wednesday: Caught a tuk tuk to Kuang Si waterfall where we hiked and took advantage of the rope swing into the falls. Again explored on foot and sampled the ubiquitous Lao food with it's discernible French influence.

Thursday: Drove a few hours to a put-in point on the Nam Ming River and paddled the whitewater down to the Nam Khan River. Continued on the Nam Khan until the afternoon when we reached a Hmong village (accessible only by boat) where we ate a delicious Lao dinner and stayed for the night.

Friday: Woke at the crack of dawn (the Lao way) and paddled the Nam Khan all day until we reached Luang Prabang. Ate another good Lao dinner on the banks of the Mekong with a picturesque sunset and chilled out by the river for the evening.

Saturday: Soaked in the atmosphere of Luang Prabang for one last time before catching a quick flight to Hanoi. Arrived in Hanoi and ate a scrumptious dinner of Vietnamese pho at a streetside stall and explored part of the city on foot.

It's a bit weird being in the city again after spending time in eternally tranquil Laos. I absolutely fell in love with Laos; the people were warm, the natural beauty stunning, and the generally relaxed pace of life appealing. It definitely won't be the last time I travel there.

Signing off from Hanoi, Vietnam.

On the Road

I'm posting from Laos, where the Internet is shoddy and expensive, so here's a quick rundown of where I've been since I left Phnom Penh.

Wednesday: Took the bus from Phnom Penh to Battambang where I hung out with some Cambodians who I had met back in the capital. They showed me true Cambodian hospitality and fed me well and put me up for the night.

Thursday: Woke up early and explored the beautiful French colonial architecture and quaint riverside scene in Battambang by moto. Rode the bamboo train with my Khmer friends in Battambang. A quick description can't do it justice, but the bamboo train is basically just a platform of bamboo propelled at unsafe speeds along the train tracks by a moto motor, and whenever an oncoming train approaches the guy in the back grinds his foot into the rail to slow down and everyone piles off and lifts the train off the tracks. Quite an experience to say the least. At noon I took the bus to the Cambodia-Thailand border at Poipet/Aranyaprathet where I got stamped out of Cambodia, walked across the bridge separating the countries, and hopped on a bus to Bangkok. Arrived at Bangkok in the evening and explored on foot until my buddy Matt Hoffman arrived.

Friday: Hoffman and I explored Bangkok on foot, taking in the numerous temples, riding the ultra-modern Sky Train, and breathing in the urban atmosphere. After meeting a Duke grad for dinner, we caught a tuk-tuk to the train station, and hopped on the overnight train.

Saturday: Arrived in Nong Khai, headed over the Thailand/Laos border, and got stamped into Laos at Thanaleng. We took a bus into town and checked into a guesthouse in the middle of the tiny capital city of Vientiane. Thoroughly explored the entire city on foot in one afternoon, taking breaks to sample the delicious French cuisine left behind as a result of Laos' status as a former French colony, and enjoyed our first authentic Lao meal for dinner.

Sunday: Caught the bus to Vang Vieng, Laos where we took in the beautiful scenery all afternoon. Enjoyed more delicious Lao food and stayed the night in a simple bungalow on the banks of the Nam Song river.

Monday: Rented bikes and pedaled through villages and rice paddies to a cave which we explored for a while. We swam and took advantage of the rope swing in a swelling river before taking a wicked hike to a viewpoint overlooking all of Vang Vieng and the surrounding landscape. Marveling at the limestone karsts swathed in mist and anchored by verdant terrace rice paddies, I decided that Laos is easily the most naturally beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life.

Signing off from Vang Vieng, Laos.

The Adventure Continues

*Above find a crudely-made map of where my travels may take me over the next month. This map excludes the places I've been so far and the entire route will be overland travel by train, boat, or bus. Keep in mind that the chance of me sticking to this exact route is roughly the same as the chance that I will go for one meal without eating rice, so I'll try to post another more accurate one at the end of July when I'm finished.*

The past week has been yet another blur. Over the weekend, three of my Khmer friends here in Phnom Penh traveled to Sihanoukville on business, and I accompanied them. Our road trip through the stunningly beautiful Cambodian countryside was a blast, punctuated by more pit stops than necessary at roadside markets, where we filled ourselves with Khmer noodles and loaded up on snacks for the drive.

After wolfing down a seafood lunch and completing their business in Sihanoukville, we swam in the ocean and hung out on the beach for the evening, before gorging ourselves on yet another seafood feast. Before bed, we took a walk along the beach, where courageous entertainers juggled torches for the benefit of travelers lounging about at seaside bars. In the morning we woke for an early swim, where we witnessed a spectacular sunrise, various hues clashing in the sky over miles of pristine coastline. On the road back to Phnom Penh, a wicked rainy-season downpour and a wild goose chase for fresh Cambodian oysters kept us entertained on the drive.

Warning: Those with a weak stomach should stick to the next paragraph. Since over the past month I have been attempting to sample anything and everything from Cambodian cuisine, I thought now would be a good opportunity to list the unique things I've eaten here in Phnom Penh: fried crickets, cow stomach, dog, fried ants, fried grasshoppers, snake, fried cockroaches, scorpion, fried worms, fried beetles, and fried tarantulas. Now that I've reclaimed your attention, I shall continue.

Over the past few days, I have been busy with last-minute meetings with students, as I wrap up my work here in Phnom Penh. I find it hard to believe that the curtain is descending on my official BN International Summer of Service, but fear not faithful blog reader, for the adventures will continue unabated.

For the next three and a half weeks, I’ll be working my way through a clockwise route around mainland Southeast Asia, passing through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia on my odyssey. Although Internet opportunities may be few and far between, I’ll do my best to keep my blog posted on my whereabouts and experiences, so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: Depressing

As a history major, I am naturally fascinated with the 1975-1979 period in Cambodia, and after devouring First They Killed My Father and other resources about the Khmer Rouge (KR), I yearned to know more about this blight on human history. After closely following the trials of Duch, taking place as I write this here in Phnom Penh, and visiting the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, my curiosity was peaking. After speaking to a handful of older Khmers, both formally and informally, about their experiences during that trying time, I settled on Dr. Ker Sovuthy to interview because of his candor and amiability. I recently sat down for two hours with Dr. Ker in Phnom Penh to discuss his personal experiences during the brutal Pol Pot regime.

Dr. Ker was born in 1960 into a relatively wealthy family in Phnom Penh, and his father held the title of district chief, a position within the Lon Nol regime. When the KR began a forced evacuation of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, the Ker family remained behind, but when the KR dropped bombs on their house the following day, they had no choice but to join the hundreds of thousands of others fleeing the suddenly dangerous city.

After enduring a forced march that stretched on for over a month, during which KR soldiers frequently shot or bludgeoned those walking too slowly before fifteen-year-old Dr. Ker’s wide eyes, on 20 May he witnessed his father being dragged away by soldiers to a ‘reeducation camp.’ Young Dr. Ker and his family of ten knew all too well the fate of those hauled off to these camps, and sadly enough, as a former official within the Lon Nol regime, it was almost certain that Dr. Ker’s father was mercilessly executed merely hours later.

After diverting course to prevent soldiers from recognizing them as the family of a Lon Nol official, Dr. Ker’s family endured another month of forced marching, after which they were settled in a work camp where everyone worked in the fields from dawn to dusk. Just three months later, his entire family was forced to transfer across Cambodia to Banteay Meanchey province, and during the entire journey Dr. Ker and his family were convinced they were being taken to one of the notorious killing fields or torture houses where they would meet their end. Fortunately, they were moved to another work camp in the dense forest, but unfortunately, the entire family was forced to split up.

Dr. Ker (now sixteen years old) spent the next four years working here, often carrying 120kg bags of rice (the imperial equivalent is 264lbs) through the fields and digging mysterious 16 square-meter holes, which he much later discovered would become mass graves for those who died of exhaustion/malnutrition or execution. In 1976 two of his brothers died from exhaustion-induced sickness, and after months of two meals a day of salt and rice the weight of Dr. Ker’s lanky frame dwindled to dangerous levels, but he says he was sustained by a remarkable desire to live. This zeal served him well when he barely escaped being axed to death by a soldier who disapproved of his pace of digging.

Upon hearing that the Vietnamese had liberated Phnom Penh from the KR, Dr. Ker and his brother located each other and escaped the work camp, along with a group of like-minded others. KR troops pursued them day and night, killing all they could, and Dr. Ker barely escaped a few close encounters where others in his group were executed only a meter away from his hastily-chosen hiding spot in the bushes. After escaping similar situations and being separated from his brother, Dr. Ker walked to Phnom Penh (this is a remarkable distance to traverse on foot), where he waited hopefully for his family, sleeping in the streets and foraging for food in the deserted capital city. Fortunately, after enduring this four-year-long hellish nightmare, topped off by months of anxiously waiting to learn the plight of his remaining family, Dr. Ker was reunited with his family, and together they endeavored to piece together a new life in Phnom Penh.

What struck me most about my interview with Dr. Ker was the matter-of-fact nature with which he related accounts of horrendous crimes perpetrated by KR soldiers. Hearing him describe in vivid detail the last time he saw his father, the death of his two brothers, and myriad near-death situations, I was struck by the calmness and composure with which he recounted his tortured past. When I asked him about what sort of emotions he was experiencing during these traumatic times, Dr. Ker said merely that the overwhelming desire to live superseded all other emotions, and this drive to live helped him stave off numerous encounters with death.

Although redeeming features of this era of Cambodian history elude me, Dr. Ker hopes that Duch will be brought to justice, in the first of several genocide trials by the ECCC in Phnom Penh. The imperative lesson from these dark days is the ease with which ‘civilized’ society can slide into such murderous chaos with no international intervention. For now, the Cambodian government must not run from the ghosts of its past, and as the younger generation of Cambodians tends towards apathy and disbelief (yes, there actually is a substantial contingent of Khmer youth that selectively accepts or outright rejects conventional knowledge on the KR period), schools must focus on educating students in order to ensure that similarly atrocious actions are never perpetrated again.