Back in Bangkok part 2!

Finally! Back on the ball to finish the previous post. My excuses are many: I had office training for a week which involved power points and many after-training-session-drinking-sessions, then I left for a week for the beach where the internet was few, far between and expensive. And then I was just lazy the last few days. But I'm back now, and ready to start where I left off!

Cambodia!!
What can I say. Sigh. I love Cambodia. My heart broke a little bit, but I desperately want to go back (and will do in just a few weeks!). After a tough couple of days in Vietnam (Cu Chi Tunnels, etc.), we boarded a bus to head down toward the Mekong Delta and to Phnom Penh. Along the way from Saigon to PP, I read a great book called A River of Time by Jon Swain, a British journalist who was living in Cambodia during the VM war and was in Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge overtook the city. Needless to say by the time I got there, I was captivated and humbled by how ignorant I have been on the whole history of the area.

Without going into a huge history lesson, it was and is still to a great degree, a mess there. In the 70's the Khmer Rouge, a stringent communist party hell bent on decimating Cambodia and wiping it clean of all it's culture, history, educated class, morale, etc., came into power, emptied all of the cities, sent the people into the country to be rice farmers (in matching uniforms, and a tiny ration of rice per day), and killed anyone in their way. If you had any sort of schooling or were related to anyone one educated at all, you were likely tortured and then send to The Killing Fields. Babies included. It was a bleak time, it lasted over 4 years and really wiped their entire society clean. Of course it's much more complex than that, and there's so much more to tell and to learn, but I leave it to you to read up if you're interested. We, however, spent a fun-filled day at Tuol Sleng and The Killing Fields on our first day in Phnom Penh and let's just say afterwards, I really needed to lay in the fetal position in my hotel room for a while. Pretty sure I did that after Cu Chi tunnels, too.

I've never been to Auschwitz, but I imagine Tuol Sleng is similar. It's hard to go into much detail, mostly because I don't really want to, but also because you just can't believe the things that went on there. To children, too. Lots of children. The Killing Fields is the same thing. It's where most of the prisoners were sent and summarily executed and thrown into mass open graves, just outside of town. They used to play music on loudspeakers so that neighboring villages couldn't hear people screaming. And as you walk around the graves, which are mostly excavated but still there, when you look down all you see are remnants of bone and bits of leftover clothing. That's really all I have left to say about it. Except one thing: incredibly, the entire place was full - FULL - of butterflies. Everywhere. I hope that means something good, at least.

Happily, the rest of our time in Phnom Penh was great - I love the city. After all I saw that day, I couldn't help looking around, again, in amazement that a people can rebound so quickly and be so friendly and beautiful. I know I can be a bit gushy, but it was actually hard for me to walk down the street and not start weeping for these people. That said, there is so much that needs work in the government, especially. It's incredibly corrupt and the party in charge is a faction of the original Khmer Rouge, which is frightening. Also, one of the biggest problems, as you may already know, is the huge population of street kids. It's one of the first things you'll encounter in Cambodia - getting off a bus, walking down the street, getting in a tuk tuk, kids will surround you, asking for money, selling you books. And they are simply the most adorable kids ever. But so sad, and, obviously, not in school - very SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. But they have some sort of spark in their eyes and your heart just breaks for them. I'm not an Angelina fan, but I do see why she brought one home with her.

There's a great NGO that I became familiar with in Cambodia called Friends International, and I was actually required by my boss to be trained by them to recognize issues with kids on the street. The training is called is called Child Safe, and I spent two hours one day learning how to recognize when a child on the street is in trouble (going into a hotel with an older man, for example) or simply what to do when they ask for money (not give them any, but encourage them to go to the child safe center). Anyway, they basically provide a shelter, give them a job and a trade, reintegrate them back into school and provide family counseling, if necessary. I got really into it, and can't wait to go back and support them and hopefully volunteer at some point. They also own two restaurants in town both run entirely by former street kids - the waitstaff, the chefs, etc. And the food and service are spectacular - two of the best meals I had (besides the tarantula - only had a leg, but that was enough. Eek!). This is the site, if you're interested: http://childsafe-international.org/CAMBODIA/CSCambodia.asp

Next we flew to Siem Reap, our last stop. It's much prettier than Phnom Pehn, but tourism has really boomed there because of the main tourist attraction, The Temples of Angkor. If you've seen TOMB RAIDER, you've seen the temples. They are massive, span several square miles surrounded by moat, and Angkor Wat at sunrise (despite being entirely too early for my liking) is one of the most spectacular things I've seen. I actually managed to get away from the tour groups and masses of people and just sat, meditatively, for an hour as the sky turned purple behind this spectacular temple. It truly was a spiritual, beautiful experience. And the Tomb Raider temple was pretty cool, too. Ha!

Other than that, we just bounced around the markets, and I got my 11th massage of the trip, and also donated blood at the Children's Hospital (it's safe - don't worry!) which is another amazing organization that I would love to support. If I were a nurse (hint hint, Katie!!) I would totally volunteer there for a while. In fact, if any of you medical people are interested, let me know!!

Then we were back to BKK and the trip was over. I trained, as I said, then sat my butt on a beach for 5 days and played soccer on the beach with my English friends I made on the way, tried not to drink too much Sangsom (Thai Whiskey, Red Bull and Coke - it's brutal, and very popular), and got a wicked tan.

Tomorrow I start my first actual trip that I lead on my own. I'm nervous but mostly really excited. I've gotten to really like Bangkok, too, but I'm itching to get back on the road and revisit all the places I didn't get enough of (all of them - ha!).

I'll try to keep the posts more regular from now on - thanks for reading!!

Love,
Erin