The Amazing Race

It’s going to be a 48 hour mad dash. I feel like we are about to audition for the television show “Amazing Race” It’s Friday February 17 in Cambodia and we have to be somewhere in southern Thailand by Sunday. No plane reservation, no hotel reservation and no idea of what we are doing. We leave Siem Reap, Cambodia by bus, headed for the Thailand border. It’s off the bus at the border, unload the backpacks into a little wooden cart being pushed by who knows who, with the good faith we’ll see our bags again sometime within the next hour or so on the other side of the crossing. We clear Cambodia customs, walk across a no man’s land and are processed by Thai officials before loading onto yet another minivan (bags loaded) for the dash to Bangkok. Arriving in Bangkok we immediately head for the internet café to find a flight and book a hotel for the next day. We are in luck! Air Asia the following afternoon to Phuket and we managed to find space at a hotel which was recommended by a couple of our fellow travellers who had spent some time there a few weeks prior. Later that evening we meet with our group, for the last supper, atop the tallest building in Thailand, on the 86^th floor for a panoramic view of the city on the revolving deck.

We negotiate our fare to the airport the following morning, arrive in Phuket later that afternoon, then negotiate another 1 hour cab ride to Patong Beach to check into our hotel around 5 pm or about 33 hours after having left Siem Reap. All the hustle and bustle was well worth it as we were greeted upon check in with cold, moist face cloths, neatly rolled up and a most refreshing mug of very cold pomegranate juice. MMMmmm good. Then to find out we had been upgraded to a magnificent room with sitting area and a balcony with a fabulous view of Patong Bay and the Adaman Sea. Then it was a walk to the resort jetty and a jump into crystal clear, warm waters, teeming with all sorts of colourful tropical fish. Sunset and a cold beer at the jetty bar was the perfect caption to a hectic but rewarding day.

The next day up at seven, then ordered by Jennifer to drop what I was doing and come quickly. There cruising into the bay sailed a luxury cruise ship which was laying anchor about a mile offshore. The day was spent at leisure between the pool, sea bathing and bar hopping which seemed like a just reward for our first 33 consecutive days on the road.

The following morning was spent with a walkabout along the sandy beach of Patong Bay (see my youtube video   http://youtu.be/YddSZ-zYppA ) and a leisure lunch at one of the local beach restaurants. Dinner was at what I think was the most elegant setting I have ever experienced, at our hotel’s Italian restaurant. A table for two at the water’s edge. The sea was lit up by floodlights and the most enjoyable Italian dinner I have ever had as both the service and presentation were impeccable.

The following morning we spoke with one of the guests who had been coming to this hotel for over the past 30 years. She was able to give us some insight and anecdotes to the tsunami which roared into this bay, creating death and destruction on December 26, 2004. Amazing story and even more amazing, to be here. Check another box on the “bucket list”.

Angkor Wat?

“Ankor What ?” is what I said when first hearing of this phenomenon. To be quite honest I have to confess my ignorance of having not knowing virtually anything about this United Nations Heritage Site which was recognized in 1990, other than recognizing the photos of it from some travel brochure. So when all the fuss was made about getting up at 4:30 am to go and photo the sunrise I was taken aback but figured there must be something to it, so up in the darkest hours to ride the bus for the 5 km trek to witness this must do activity. Needless to say I was not disappointed along with the thousand or so other early risers to witness the break of dawn and the shadows of Anchor Wat casting itself mystically across the mirror pond in the foreground. Just one of those things one has to experience personally and no words to express the divine encounter. We would visit the grounds later the next morning as today there was to be a special Buddhist ceremony and access was denied the tourist throngs.

After breakfast we returned to the site to visit five of the other Wats. “Wat” is the generic name for temple and Angkor is the name for “city”. The first temple we visited was for my money, the most intriguing. The faces carved into the stone walls and towers were truly mesmerizing. I could have spent hours there but there was so much to see we had to keep moving. (See my Youtube video http://youtu.be/c-Gd8qKLo58 ) to get a sense of the grandeur of one of the smaller temples. The heat and the humidity of the day made the hotel pool a refreshing respite for our active group. Did someone say “Pool Party”?

The following day we were back at the “City Temple” but at a more reasonable hour. I consider ourselves lucky to have been able to tour the Wat in a very open and free manner. You could climb over and under and up or down anything. It is only a matter of time before they put some restrictions on where you will be able to wander. No insurance company in North America would ever underwrite a liability policy with the access we were allowed. (See my 2^nd video http://youtu.be/Uux70illOfY ) Apparently someone did fall down a staircase a few years back and was killed. The rumour is that the third level will be closed off next year and access denied until some repairs are completed. This also happens to be the place where the film "Temple Raider" starring Angelina Jolie was filmed. I never saw the movie but we had our picture taken in what apparently was an infamous doorframe where a notable scene was filmed. Guess we'll have to rent the movie when we get back. We returned at 3:30 to beat the crowds for the sunset but all our efforts were somewhat in vain as the clouds materialized and even though I know the sun went down we were not privy to its exit.

Siem Reap itself was quite an interesting place but undoubtedly would not exist except for the fact it is catering to those making the pilgrimage to the temple. Our guide said 6,000 to 7,000 tourists a day pay $40 for a three day pass. If you can believe this, according to our guide, Angkor Wat was sold to a Vietnamese consortium for 1 ½ to 2 million dollars back in the 90’s and only has to give back to the Cambodian government 40% for restoration purposes. Next to the Louisianna Purchase and the sale of Alaska by the Russians to the Americans, that has got to go down as one of the best deals of the century. Donald Trump, eat your heart out.

The Kingdom of Cambodia....... Pol Pot and the Killing Fields

I realized later that day that entering Cambodia was like crossing into the third world. Scrutinized by the Vietnamese officials to get out and the Cambodian officials to get in, this one horse border crossing town was a waste land with nothing to offer but dust and a hot wind blowing down the long road to Phnom Penh. Riding the local bus, we crossed a river by ferry and I was taken aback by the poverty of the local people. Beggars, handicapped, dirty children with hardly any clothes on their backs and adults so poor, trying to peddle sundried crickets, fried tarantulas, fried cockroaches, fried small birds and who knows what else. Everyone is begging for money but what is one person like me supposed to do?

I saw a poster on Facebook today which was so profound that I will remember it for a long time. A picture of Whitney Houston with the caption “One person dies and a hundred million cry” beside another picture of starving children with their hands outreached with the caption “One million children die and no one cries”.

Phnom Penh was a history lesson of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge led by their barbarous leader Pol Pot. We started out by visiting the infamous prison Tuol Sleng,  where over 20,000 people were tortured into false confessions for three or four months before being sent off to the Killing Fields for final disposal. It is estimated that over 3 million people were executed by bludgeoning, hammering a nail into their skulls or their throats were slit by a razor sharp cactus like leaf to avoid wasting bullets. The memorial itself is surreal with about 9000 skulls of adults and children laid out on 17 levels. Many of the burial pits were exhumed but many were left intact and the masses are still left buried in unmarked trenches. The Viet Nam war had just ended and the Americans and the rest of the world had no appetite for any further involvement in South East Asia so these barbarians were allowed to act unimpeded until Viet Nam took it upon itself to put an end to the genocide about four years later in 1979. To date there has only been one leader convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the crimes which started in 1975. Pol Pot himself died by a heart attack after he was finally captured and arrested in the jungle while in hiding back in 1998.

Phnom Penh itself is a tale of two cities. We did an overview of the city as a group by three wheel pedi-cab. (See Youtube video http://youtu.be/ttm7y6k_QOM ).The seat of the government with all the trappings that go along with it. A beautiful palace, the construction of large office buildings, the apparent overwhelming recovery of an economy rebounding from years of turmoil and a brand new esplanade which goes on forever following the river. Then you venture not too far from the city centre and the poverty slaps you in the face again. The smell and stench in some areas of the city and the constant begging of adults and children alike is enough to depress anyone if you haven’t already been affected by the killing fields. The main industry is garment manufacturing and the pay is $70 per month! You can work overtime and make up to $150 but by the time the employer deducts the food and lodging they are lucky enough to send $50 back to their families in the country. I’ve seen enough. Time to leave this place.