I have ENTERED THE DRAGON. 
My reaction to being able to speak Mandarin everywhere!
I’m not sure where to begin besides saying, “I LOVE BEIJING”; From the ability to speak Mandarin anywhere, to having an amazing host family this is shaping up to be one amazing summer. I’ll start with my arrival, up until preparing for the first day of school.
Getting to my host family’s house proved to be an adventure in and of itself. The family lives in the Haidan district of Beijing, which is in the Northwest part of the city.
If you are familiar with Baidu, I am very near to their headquarters. Upon getting into the taxi though, I only had a rough idea of where that was. It took three phone calls, a few u-turns, and questioning a few pedestrians to finally get there. Having seen the size of Hong Kong apartments, I really had no idea what to expect; It’s safe to say though, this house is AWESOME! It’s three stories; the bottom is the kitchen and living room, 2nd floor are the bedrooms, then the top is like a sun room/workout area. I’m currently sleeping in the daughter’s room because they assumed I need a lot of space.
After living in Adam Schall for a year, I don’t need a lot, but I’m not going to complain.
Currently in the house, there is the mom whose job I cannot determine, the 9-year-old girl named Nina that I help with English, someone’s parents who I call Grandpa and Grandma in Chinese, and the father who I have been told is a car salesman. The dad is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch because his limited time at home is spent playing Diablo 3 on the computer. I assume as the summer progresses I will learn more about them, but that is all I know for now. It’s also worth mentioning the Grandma is pretty much the greatest person ever. She washes my cloths, makes me food, and constantly compliments my Chinese so it’s a very good situation. I really cannot say enough about how blessed I am to be living here with such a great family.
My second day here, was first spent registering at the public security bureau. Every time someone moves somewhere, or rents a house, they must register; I have been told this is really only important for foreigners. After that minor procedure, the mom told me I had the rest of the day free I just needed to return by 5 for dinner. I took this as the impetus to go and figure out how to get to school. Assuming that Beijing would be like Hong Kong, where there are a million signs telling you where to go, I didn’t bother looking at a map…big mistake. Making it to the nearest station to Tsinghua, Wudaokou, was not much of a problem. The area of Wudaokou very much resembles a college town, with pizza chains, bars selling 1 USD shots, and since this Asia; it’s own KTV place.
WuDaoKou
After taking all of that in, I decided to walk in the direction of where I was told Qinghua should be. 20 minutes later, I arrived at Qinghua road but I did not see Qinghua University.
Qinghua Road…But no Qinghua
So once again I decided to follow that road, oddly enough I saw more buildings for Beijing University than Tsinghua but I did eventually arrive at the West Entrance.
Wouldn’t be BEIJING University if it didn’t have a Tea Culture Center
Tsinghua, for all of my CUHK friends can best be described as if you completely flattened CU, then doubled the area. For everyone else it’s huge and even has annexed gardens from the Old Summer Palace. Another analogy I could draw would be if you turned USC’s horseshoe into the entire campus, so safe to say it’s a beautiful campus.
Inside Qinghua
Most Famous Site at QingHua
For my fraternity brother Sean, I’m very jealous you will get to spend an entire year here, however I am not envious of the frigid winter temperatures you will experience ☺
I figured I should probably figure out where certain buildings were, so I took a long route to where I thought I was suppose to go.However, my intended destination was inaccurate and where I was supposed to go was hidden besides a science building.
This map was way more simplified than the actual campus
I’m very glad I know where it is now, so that I don’t have to run around campus before my first day of class. Upon finding that building, I did a little more exploring which you can see in the pictures below.
Inside of the Main Gym
Home of Google, Yahoo, Etc… in Beijing. Right outside of QingHua’s campus
Finally, after about 2 ½ hours of wondering around Tsinghua, I decided to call it a day and head back home.
Dinner itself was very uneventful but afterwards I got a chance to walk around with Nina and her friend Jack. At 9, they are pretty much adorable and from what I gather, they do everything together.
Nina and Jack
This ranges from Math and English, to Dance class, which I decided to watch. The mom told me roughly, “They do dance together to make them more interesting (I’m assuming for college admissions)”. Regarding the class itself, Nina, like most girls, has very little problem dancing away; Jack is not interested however, and I sort of felt bad watching him be subjected to it. After that entertainment, I decided to call it a night and study some Chinese with Skritter. For anyone whose is studying Chinese I highly recommend you get Skritter immediately! It teaches you how to write, memorize tones, and is all around the greatest tool for learning Chinese in the 21st century.
Sunday morning, Nina went off to school (she has class 7 days a week) so I decided to work out, having neglected it since leaving Hong Kong. The Grandma found this quite funny, and told me I should be sure to eat more at lunch. After lunch, I began to try and figure out how I spend my afternoon. My very first world problem is I have been to most of the famous sights in Beijing before, and have little interest in returning to most of them. Therefore, I decided to check out the Beijing Military museum, which I had not been to previously.
The Beijing Military Museum at least on the outside, was the history of China’s military via Machines; everything was on display from tanks to rockets.
The plaque said, “Made in China” Does this mean it’s available at Walmart?
A Mustang was Even there
I really wanted to go inside the museum itself, but for some reason it was closed. Still having time to kill, I decided to check out the Beijing World Art Museum.
The BWAM, was a museum I had never heard, and after walking around I understood why for the most part. Out of the 4 galleries, only one had something In it, and even the “Permanent” exhibit was closed. The redeeming factor for the museum though, was a room called the Millennium room.
Upon entering the room, I was immediately drawn towards this gold object in the center.
Now Just stare at This….
I have never quite felt drawn to object before, but I felt if there was chairs there I could I have stared at it for hours on end. Surrounding it was a 360-degree mural encompassing China’s entire history from cave men to the reunifications of Hong Kong and Macau.
The enterance: Rockets on the left and Cavemen on the right
If it wasn’t for that room I would say avoid the museum, but it is honestly one of the most interesting things I have ever seen.
[Movie Reference] Prostitutes going down a river, with dueling banjos, would not be the weirdest movie idea to come out of China.
When I finally did leave, I made a quick stop by Wudaokou to recharge my cell phone and to try Chinese Subway. Despite what I had heard from certain individuals, it was just a delicious as its US counterpart, and I’m glad to know I’ll always have a fall back meal. I then headed home, and happened returned at the same time as the rest of the family. We ate dinner then headed off for some fruit.
While walking back from the fruit stand, Nina spotted a street vendor selling beef skewers so we decided to stop and try some.
Nina Enjoying the food
Unlike what I had snacked on previously in Beijing, these were amazing. I was told that the Grandpa is unable to eat them, so it was sort of a special treat for Nina that we were able to stop. After my second dinner we returned home for watermelon then pretty much everyone disappeared. I’m detecting a common theme of: downstairs, the grand parents watch sporting events and military dramas, Nina and her mom disappear somewhere, and I am left to my own devices which can manifest itself into writing these blog posts for whoever is interested. After spending a year not sleeping, and dealing with incessant yelling, it’s great having some peace and quiet. I’m thinking of trying Vlogging / Video blogging, if I can figure out how to get on YouTube here. I would love to answer questions you may have about China or Asia as a whole in five minutes or less; If you have questions please email me at Jaytomsig@gmail.com . If this gets popular I’ll get a new email address but I’m curious to see where this goes. Until next time….
Our motorcycle drivers returned at about 10am and we set off for the three ancient “cities” surrounding Mandalay. The first mostly consisted of a pagoda, which pretty much seemed to be the only thing to see in Burma. What was interesting here was it provided great views of the city. I’d be interested in returning in about 10 years to see how much has changed at least in terms of economic development. We then headed to the next town Anwa.
Unfortunately I really don’t know much of the history of any of these three cities only that I roughly gathered they were former capitals but a earthquake in 1835 brought down a lot of the old buildings. To get to second town we had take a boat across a river that was basically an excuse for a group of kids to try and get us to buy necklaces and postcards. Some of them were neat and only 25 cents so we got some, then crossed the river.
Once across the river we were forced to pay for a horse cart and were finally off to see the “city”. There was really not much here besides some more pagodas, which Mike felt the need to go “Tomb Raider” on. Next we got our first taste of the Burmese government ripping off tourists. We had to pay 10 USD for a “tourist card” and were not allowed to pay in local currency. I would assume this goes straight into someone’s pocket and not into pagodas because they were in bad shape. For example we went into a wooden one and there was nothing to really explain what we were looking at. Perhaps the only memorable moment was running across the wood planks in order to minimize the amount our feet got burned.
Next we visited an old watchtower. Once at the top we could see around, but unfortunately there was not much to look at. After the watchtower we looked at one more temple then headed back across the river. En Route to our final destination we stopped off at a weaver’s shop. Mike wanted to purchase a Sirang, looks like this, so he got one for him and his dad. Unfortunately he’s already forgotten how to tie it so hopefully YouTube can help him.
We concluded the touring portion of the day at a 300-year-old bridge. It seemed to be the place to go as people were taking graduation photos and a lot of young people were milling about on the bridge. We walked about half way across the bridge took some photos then were ready to leave. Unfortunately, we could not find our drivers so we started to explore the area. While walking around we were approached by some guy who offered to take us to see the Moustache brothers later that night. After our drivers refused to take us, we agreed and were glad to have sorted out that problem. We finally found our drivers gambling with other drivers down by the lake and they seemed slightly annoyed at having to leave. They eventually finished and returned us to the hotel where we waited for our new driver, Hashish, to arrive.
Trying to explain why our drivers would not take us to the Moustache Brothers is reflective of Burma as a whole right now. Basically the country is transitioning from an Authoritarian Military Junta into something resembling a democracy. The leader of the Democratic movement is the Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi daughter of General Aung San. She has been under house arrest since late 80’s / early 90’s and was recently released and elected into office. There are now a lot of t-shirts sporting her image but I got the feeling many people are still concerned the government will crack down again like they have done in the past.
How this relates to the performance, is the Moustache Brothers are a group of three brothers who were arrested and sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for lampooning the government. They had been arrested a total of three times and have been visited by US government officials. Because Mike is a Politics major he insisted we go so I figured I would tag along. Before the show our driver dropped us off at a Chinese restaurant. We were in for a surprise when at the end he expected us to pay for his dinner. I found this to be really rude but Mike assured me this was common in 3rd world countries. After dinner we were finally ready to see the show.
The first half of the show was very entertaining with the most militant of brothers insulting the government and saying, “ Burma is a rich country because we have gems and a lot of prostitutes”. After his skit though it started to take a turn for the worst. The family, before becoming involved in politics were originally just a singing and dancing troupe. That may have been interesting when they were younger but it was weird seeing 60-70 year olds doing dances designed for people who were 20. The brother who was in charge actually seemed the most subdued presumably because he had grown tired of fighting the government and wanted to simply spend time with his grandkids. Following the show we talked to the brothers for a little bit, bought t-shirts, and then headed back to the hotel. When we got back Hashish tried to get us to give him more money for his “kids”. Following my mom’s advice about being hesitant about giving away money we simply walked away and turned in for the night.
Today began on a very stressed filled note. Mike and I had swapped out tickets from a 8am bus for a 2am bus to ensure we arrived with time to spare in Bangkok for our flight later in the day. We were told to be out front at 1am so at about 12:45 we strolled into the lobby and checked out much to the surprise of the guy working the front desk. 1am came and went and we began to worrying we were going to miss our bus. We enlisted the front desk man to periodically call the company and finally they sent someone at 1:45. En route to where we were meeting the bus we saw this guy race back that mike said he heard snoring. This guy then I believed crashed into another bike and went flying across the pavement. Having seen what my injuries did with very little speed I can imagine this guy was cut up badly. What was weird is the guy driving us to the bus simply said, “he was probably drunk and that happens a lot”. I hope the man was okay but we did not have time to check.
As we were waiting for the bus we ran into another exchange student from CUHK and it was nice to exchange stories and hear about her time in Laos. In typical South East Asian Fashion the bus arrived 30 minutes late and I assumed I could finally go to sleep for real, unfortunately it was not to be. Within about 30 minutes the A/C cut off so we were left with riding in a sweat lodge. About two hours later I guess the driver had become fed up as he pulled over and tried to fix it. As a testament to how tired I was, I started falling asleep on a bench near where we parked but luckily stayed awake so I could catch the bus when it was eventually “fixed”. To say it was fixed would be a misnomer but it definitely improved.
We arrived at the Cambodian Thai Border another 2 hours later but it had yet to open. The bus dropped us off at their company office where I saw the 2nd weird event of the day. A guy walked off the parked bus, walked to the front then walked straight into it and proceeded to collapse on the ground. I was worrying he was having a stroke or seizure but no one seemed to know what to do. Fortunately he recovered but with one side of his face pretty cut up. After that dramatic moment we finally were ready to head to the border.
Cambodian and Thai relations are currently very strained. They periodically fight over a disputed temple and from what I understand simply do not like each other very much. This created the longest time I had ever spent at a border crossing. We first had to get approved to lead Cambodia, which involved queuing up in something roughly resembling a line. It more resembled a pushing and shoving match, as there were no formals lines for each counter. To top it all off it had already begun to become hot, so for an hour we were forced to wait with no idea when we would be finished. After that ordeal we walked the short distance to the Thai Border. Along the way we passed a casino that was actually nice when compared with the ones on the Cambodian/Vietnam border. What I was confused about was based off who we saw crossing the border; do they really generate enough income to justify the expenses? Nonetheless, we pressed on and were soon subjected to a second line at Thai Immigration.
They had tried to expedite the process by making foreigner lines but this did not work very well. While waiting in line we also saw Cambodians who looked about our age waiting to cross the border I assume to work. It was somewhat sad seeing them look enviously at Mike’s iPhone but will probably never able to afford it. After the second hour of waiting we were finally through and headed to a Thai restaurant. As always, I had to order Thai Fried rice that was delicious but while there we were beginning to worry if we would make our flight.
Having three people requesting to leave apparently had an effect as they split us into multiple groups with mine leaving first for Bangkok. I quickly accessed the situation, as I would not be able to do any work so I decided to try and get some sleep. My window seat was uncomfortably between the puller to slide open a window and the small window itself. According to mike. This created a situation where I would just bang my head against various objects trying to fall asleep. However, I don’t remember this and nor did my head hurt so I’m going to assume that it did not happen.
When we finally arrived in Bangkok our first task was to locate somewhere to change money. We had heard Burma doesn’t accept Dollar bills with any tears or marks on them, so we were forced to convert our old money to Thai baht then trade it back to USD. Once that was done we decided to head to the airport. En route to there we had to pull over to watch the king’s entourage pass, which was a sight to behold. We had somehow lucked out and the taxi driver claimed to have lived in Ashville. We talked about the area and he told me he had event been pulled over for DIU. It’s one of those conversations to chalk up as only in Bangkok.
We arrived to Burma with no idea what to expect. I had arranged a tour with a organization called Sunbird which I highly recommend if you ever travel to Burma. She managed to find us a night bus to Mandalay in order to avoid paying for a room in Yangon. After buying the tickets we parted ways and mike and I had to wait for about 3 hours in the Yangon bus station. It was quite interesting as we were the only foreigners but it did not seem to faze anyone. When we finally got on the bus we were in for a treat as it was new and quite comfortable. The only downside was that we had to stop at 1am for a mandatory food stop. Once that was finished we slept the rest of the way and arrived in Mandalay at 6am.
Today began bright and early at four in the morning. We had heard from our friends that you had to experience sunrise at Angkor Wat. I had somehow formed a mental image that this would be like something out of a movie so we eagerly set off at 5 with a tour guide a friend recommended the day before. We arrived about 30 minutes early in order to secure a good spot. Once the sun rose however, we would quickly discover the theme of today would be..*drum roll *…Disappointment L
Firstly, you could barely see the sun until the effect generated from it’s rising had already dissipated. We got some okay pictures of the sun and temple reflection however it just didn’t seem to justify the early time we had to wake up. After this very un-dramatic event there was nothing else to do for about an hour except sit around and wait for the temple to open.
Angkor Wat was built sometime around the 12th or 13th century by King Jay (abbreviated) the 7th as a Hindu temple. He and his entourage would come visit the temple periodically from their capital located 3km away. The temple consists of 3 layers. The first features stone carvings depicting scenes from the Ramayana (Hindu bible) and could be viewed by anyone. The second floor used to house Buddhist statues with valuables under them. Valuables were buried to make the statues holy, however the treasure has been taken and statues beheaded or removed. What’s left is just a hole in the ground that the tour guide said used to contain a statue. The final level was reserved for the King and was only opened on rare occasions. When the king passed away he was interned inside the higher level in a gold vase that was subsequently stolen. This could all have been overlooked if you were allowed to explore the area. Instead it is very restricted and almost sanitized with signs recommending a path for you.
After finishing at Angkor Wat we took a short drive to Angkor Tum. Having Hay as a tour guide helped a lot as there was nothing really explaining what you were looking at. He told us how the area that now looked dry and shriveled used to contain a moat and other smaller pools. The one major Buddhist temple in the area featured at massive reclining Buddha that has since fallen into decay. Among the many joint missions between the Cambodian and other country’s governments, they are trying to restore it to somewhat of its former glory. However, it runs risk of coming off as overly tourististy. Another negative of this temple was Jay VIII destroyed anything remotely related to Buddhism so a lot of the stone carvings were forcefully removed and the tour guide tried to describe what it would have looked like. We could not see the old palace as apparently it had been completely destroyed so we headed to the Elephant Terrace.
The Elephant Terrace was where the King would watch Elephant and other similar performances. The European equivalent would be a hippodrome where a variety of acts would take place within its walls. Fortunately most of the stonework was preserved here so we could see all the carved elephants unobstructed.
The Final area we headed to was called the jungle temple or Tomb Raider Temple. It earned the later distinction because of the 2003 movie Tomb Raider set a lot of its scenes in or around this temple. Unfortunately that means its overly touristed and was impossible to get a lot of good pictures. The biggest take away from Angkor Wat is I could see how it could have been interesting at one point. Traveling through the jungle and happening upon it must have been an amazing experience. Now though, it’s so over sanitized and receives way more visitors than it was designed for. In my opinion, the should fully restore certain areas but then make people aware of where they could go for the more authentic experience.
After finishing at the Jungle Temple Hay suggested we take a break, as there was nothing to do for three hours. Mike and I headed back to the hotel and began to fill out some of the postcards we had neglected. Upon fulfilling this important duty we went on a quest for the post office. Having a rough idea where it should be we luckily had a tuk tuk driver who knew where it was. We dropped them off then went back to Blue Pumpkin for an afternoon snack.
We soon returned to the hotel and were headed off to a lake that was apparently the biggest in South East Asia, when filled, it measures 300 x 300km. The road to the boat was fairly uneventful besides allowing us to see another part of Siem Reap. However, when we arrived at boat we were in for a new experience, the boat traffic jam.
Having just entered the rainy season many of the rivers are at dangerously low levels. To put this in perspective we had to stop at one point for 20 minutes for them to drag one boat out of the mud. It was a full team effort with around 4 boats being employed to drag the one out. Once the problem was resolved however the rest of the trip was uneventful. We arrived right before sunset so we had time to go on the roof of one of the water houses. At this one house in particular, they had a crocodile farm used to harvest crocodile babies, which are prized throughout Asia. The question this left Mike and I with, was how do the kids manage to swim in the water and avoid getting eaten/attacked by them. After seeing this sight we headed to the roof where we had this kid act as pre-sunset entertainment. He was trying to give us shiatsu massages followed by random dramatic performances. Safe to say it was entertaining and we couldn’t help but tip him. The sunset was great as a storm was brewing in the distance so it produced some great vistas especially when we were headed back to the pier. We concluded our evening at another well-known restaurant named Red Piano. The food here lived up to its reviews and we were once again amazed how much we got for so cheap. In light of our plans to head to Burma we patronized Blue Pumpkin for a 3rd time to get the next days breakfast.
Today began bright and early at 6am. Our original plan was to try and catch the ferry up river to Siem Reap in order to get a unique view of the country. Unfortunately the river ferry wasn’t running as we were told the water level was too low. I’m honestly not sure if we were brought to the right place because the “ticket Seller” then tried to push some VIP bus option off on us. Feeling a little suspicious Mike and I decided to take a different bus so once again I got to “enjoy” Cambo Pop and people yelling into their cell phones.
We finally arrived into Siem Reap and it was strange how the streets we first saw were completely empty. We eventually arrived at the main road and then it returned to normal though still not packed. Our Tuk-tuk driver initially did not know where our hotel was so we drove around the city for a while. Luckily, we had already negotiated a $1 price so he was only hurting his bottom line. Finally about 30 minutes later we arrived at the hotel I had reserved via GroupOn 8 months earlier, The Paradise Angkor Villa Hotel.
If I can offer one piece of advice about this hotel…NEVER STAY HERE. I was at first unsure if they would honor our GroupOn request but somehow through begging and pleading they decided to let it slide. We had hoped we would be staying in a nice room but were quick to discover this was not the case. It was 50/50 chance whether or not our AC would work. Sometimes our room would be boiling and other times it would be like the North Pole. To top it all off the Internet rarely worked which was aggravating as we are still trying to finalize our trip to Burma. Despite all of this we eventually got settled and headed into town.
Being the start of the rainy season, you can leave one place with very few clouds and arrive in another in the midst of a downpour. This is exactly what happened to us, as soon as we reached downtown Siem Reap we were soaked. Luckily we found our destination fairly quickly, Ecstatic Pizza. We had heard this was the place for pizza, which we had been craving, so we settled in and ordered some food and something called a happy shake. We could never quite figure out why the shake was called happy. It tasted like every other South East Asian milkshake, which is to say it tasted just all right. After dinner we tracked down a place called Blue Pumpkin. I had read somewhere that they had homemade ice cream so it was something that couldn’t be missed. Needless to say, that ice cream was amazing. We also discovered they discounted their baked goods by 30% after 8 so we loaded up for tomorrow as we will be heading to Angkor Wat for the Sunrise.
If you have ever seen the movie The Killing Fields, then you will understand most of the destinations we visited today. For those that haven’t, in a 3 year 8 month span the Khmer Rouge “The Red Khmer” killed 3 million or 3/8’s of their population. Originally this targeted the intelligentsia and former government officials however it soon spread to everyone else. Operating under the slogan of “to remove the grass you must pull out the roots”, everyone in a “traitorous” family would be killed.
Our first stop was Tuol Sleng prison also known as S-21. S-21 was originally a Phnom Penh high school but when schools were closed and the cities emptied in 1976 the Khmer Rouge turned it into a place of death.
There was really nothing done in terms of remodeling, instead holes were just created to serve as walkways between rooms and cells were built.
The Prison is often criticized by outside observers because they put very little effort into maintaining it. I read that’s because the entrance fee mostly goes into the museum director’s pocket. The most obvious example of its poor upkeep is the blood that’s still on the floor and how a lot of the rooms provide no information.
Regarding what you can see at the museum, it features four buildings A, B, C, and D along with a courtyard where the executions occurred. Building A was for high-level prisoners i.e. Government officials or high-ranking Cadres. Building B was a group holding cell where 60+ people were crammed into a room and shackled to the floor. Jailers would periodically come by and pull people out for torture in order to extract “confessions”
Building C contained isolation cells that were really small but I believe were just for individuals. The biggest problem was that nothing was really explained and we did not want to hire a tour guide. The final building D was just used as a gallery for artwork inspired by the events that took place here.
Some Sad Facts about the Prison
· Of the thousands of people that came into S-21, only 7 were released. (some reports say others were released)
· None of the Jailers were ever prosecuted, and only Duch who I’d consider an Adolf Eichmann of Cambodia was recently sentenced to just 30 years in prison. The trial for the other leaders including Brother #2 Nuon Chea is currently ongoing.
Brother #2
· Detailed records were kept on every prisoner, so you can read their outlandish confessions they were made to sign
· 9 Foreigners are believed to have been murdered here
Our time at the museum concluded with a movie about a love story that took place at the prison. I found it extremely dull as it did not provide much information about the prison. We had expected to travel straight to the killing fields next, but our Tuk-Tuk got a flat tire so we were forced to wait in a café for 40 minutes and be subjected to the original Fast and Furious Movie. After the Tuk-Tuk was fixed it was off to the Killing Fields.
If a Prisoner had the misfortune of surviving S-21, after about 5-6 months they along with their entire family would be driven about a hour away to a former Chinese Graveyard. People nearby assumed the area was just a Khmer Rouge meeting place, as Revolutionary music would be heard at all hours of the night. This was not to done to develop patriotic spirit, but instead to muffle the screams of victims. Victims were told they were being moved to a new house but instead would be lined up beside a pit. Eventually they would be hacked to death with whatever was available at the time. Even babies were not spared, as there was a certain tree that was used. It was a very powerful place to experience and was very disheartening to see the depths to which humanity can sink. The visit concludes with a visit inside a sepa that contains 10 racks of all the bones that have been collected.
Killing tree for Babies
We next headed to Cambodian Royal Palace. With a steep entry price of 6 dollars, (most are 2-3) we had expected to be in for a treat. While some of the buildings had interesting architecture, it was not worth the money. First of all, half the palace is restricted for some unexplained reason. I could completely understand not being allowed into some buildings but I didn’t understand why I could not walk around the gardens. Secondly, those buildings that you could see pretty much as a whole prohibited photographs. I managed to snap one of the throne room, but everywhere else the security guards freaked out. We finally just gave up and left, as there was no point in spending more than 30 minutes there. Having finished way earlier than expected we decided to walk around the area a little bit. We passed the memorial dedicated to Vietnamese / Cambodia cooperation in ousting the Khmer Rouge, and then decided to check out a Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant. Unfortunately it was not open so we headed back for another amazing dinner at Mad Monkey. Having not really eaten the entire day I indulged in fruit, local food, and even a small pizza and it was all very good.
After dinner we decided to go try and find a place called Flick’s Movie House. We had read on Wikitravel (which is a amazing website) this was something you had to experience in Phnom Penh because you watch a movie spread out on a futon and they bring you popcorn. Safe it say it was a good experience and a very interesting way to experience Sherlock Holmes 2. Tomorrow it’s off to city #5 Siem Reap home of Angkor Wat
Today we hoped to catch a 9:30 bus to Phnom Penh since Mike told me there was no way in he could get up early enough for the 7:30 bus. According the bus company’s website, such a bus existed, however I went to the bus stop and discovered their website was wrong so we were stuck with the 12:30 bus. At the time I was a little upset cause I thought we had lost a day in Phnom Penh but decided I should do something interesting before we left Kampot. I had seen blind massages advertised all over the city so I decided to get one since it was only 4 bucks. Despite what I had heard, it was not anything special and if anything only made the injury to my calf hurt worse. By the time it ended Mike and I had time to quickly grab lunch, then it was off to Phnom Penh.
In Phnom Penh, april showers don’t bring May Flowers instead May Showers bring May floods. The streets into Phnom Penh were somewhat flooded so it was interesting seeing people wading through the water outside the bus window. We finally arrived at our destination the Phnom Penh Grand Market and were soon Tuk-tuking to our hostel The Mad Monkey.
The Floods
If you are ever in Phnom Penh, stay at the Mad Monkey or at least stop by for food as it is out of this world. In reading reviews I heard a lot of positives but was not sure just how good it would be. Mike and I ordered a variety of food and I think we both agreed it was the best we had so far, especially the desserts. We decided to not doing anything after dinner and instead just had a relaxing night in the hostel.
Today Mike and I met up with a tour group and headed to Bokor Mountain. We had originally hoped to take motorcycles up to the top but were told that this was not possible (we would find out later that was not true) To explain a little about this area the French basically built two resort areas in Cambodia: Bokor and Sihanoukville when they occupied the country in the early 20th century. Sihanoukville is a beach resort town about 2 hours away while Bokor is a mountain retreat.
When originally built, the Bokor resort consisted of a hotel and a casino that were featured prominently in the Korean movie R-Point and the American movie City of Ghosts. When the French left Cambodia, The Cambodian royal family eventually took over and added facilities including a police station, place for courtesans, and essentially turned it into a small town on a mountain. It stayed that way for about 10 years until the Japanese arrived and made it a military fortress. At this point it became very difficult for anyone to go to Bokor Mountain without military credentials. After the Japanese were defeated, the next major occupants were the Khmer Rouge, the perpetrators of the infamous killing fields. Using it as their base of operations in the area, it was here that one of the last major battles of the Khmer vs. Vietnamese occurred in their failed invasion of Vietnam. As a downside of this, the mountain became notorious for land mines so tourists were advised to stay away.
Over the last 20 years the mountain has seen a radical transformation. When first reopened to the public, you had to bribe the Park Guard/Ranger on duty and then attempt to traverse up something roughly called a “road”.
The Old Bridge
Recently, this area has been the sight of major investment that has led to both some tacky and useful additions. On the tacky side they added a hideous statue honoring a deity in addition to an ugly yellow hotel meant to be a 5 star destination. The ultimate plan for the area is to turn it into something called Sky town that is basically suburbia in the clouds. To accomplish this goal, the investors have paid for a completely new road and removed the need for bribing the guard and even placed a sign that says “entrance fee no longer necessary”.
Views from the Road Up
King’s mountain “Palace”
Tacky Statue
Mike Tries to be the lion king
Panorama Shot from the Statue
I Really Liked this Shot
Rallying My People *ask my Mom*
The new hotel
The ride up the mountain is one of the most beautiful I have experienced and my only regret is that it was not on a motorcycle. Going up you were treated to amazing vistas of both the bay and Kampot city. It was also cool while going up seeing the fog set in that had featured heavily in movie depictions of the area.
The Fog
The two main buildings that the Bokor “ruins” are known for are the church and the casino. The church has been left largely untouched so you can still see a lot of the bullet holes from when the Khmer and Vietnamese squared off here.
The Church
Mike Contemplating The Future
The bullet holes
Casino in the Fog
A Failled USAID Project
There was not much park training going on
Mike and I decided to take a long way to visit the casino and passed through some more of the town’s old facilities that were now occupied by squatters. We met this cute kid that I had to take a picture with and who wanted to talk to us. After a little mountaineering/trail creation we arrived at the casino. Unfortunately it was not what I was expecting as a lot of the original paint had already been scrapped off for remodeling. The plan is to turn that building into something of a visitor’s center which seems a little premature considering there’s nothing else really there now.
View from the slums
With the Kid
Example of What the casino looked like before the road and remodeling
The Casino In the Middle of Being Worked on
View From Suicide Pint
The views from the casino more than made up for its lack of original artwork. The area behind it was known as a suicide point because rich men would gamble away their savings, then jump to their death instead of facing the possibility of being a pauper. Today though it’s just nice to look out and we were fortunate to catch a break in the fog to get some great photos.
Break in the fog
Mike and I next decided to head into the casino itself. That earned us some surprised looks from the workers, however as I expected they were not paid enough to care. After knocking off the original casino from my bucket list we headed to a different pagoda on the mountain.
View from the Top Overlooking suicde Point
Looking out from the Casino
Front View
This pagoda was apparently the Cambodian royal’s response to the church built on the other side of the mountain. Having been in Asia for so long I’ve become semi temple/pagoda out and would not mind not seeing another average temple for a while. We then headed to a waterfall that was actually enjoyable. We were told that later in the summer you can go swimming in it, however when we were there the water level was still too low. Upon finishing the waterfall visit it was time to return to Kampot.
Our Van
The Waterfall
Kampot
We soon arrived back in town and decided to rent motorcycles instead of taking a sunset cruise as it was starting to rain lightly. Unlike Phuket where despite getting hurt I had enjoyed cruising around, in Kampot I didn’t, as there was nothing to see. On the way back from one of the slums we decided to take a shortcut across a rickety bridge. Taking that bridge would be my downfall of sorts as the bike hit something on the bridge and caused the brake pedal to cut my calf, yes it was weird. I went to the local doctor who seemed just as confused as I was how the only place I was hurt was on my calf. This instance proves why my family jokingly considers me a master of self-destruction. Seeing as it was starting to get dark and Kampot has very little in way of lights, we decided to call it a night after getting dinner and discovering both a delicious and gross dessert place. On downside we bought “cheesecake” which was literally cheese on top of a semi sweet base. I did not try it after smelling it and seeing Mike’s reaction. On the Bright-side I got a lovely pineapple crumble I wish I could make. Tomorrow we will return to Phnom Penh and hopefully see some of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge.
Today Mike and I met up with a tour group and headed to Bokor Mountain. We had originally hoped to take motorcycles up to the top but were told that this was not possible (we would find out later that was not true) To explain a little about this area the French basically built two resort areas in Cambodia: Bokor and Sihanoukville when they occupied the country in the early 20th century. Sihanoukville is a beach resort town about 2 hours away while Bokor is a mountain retreat.
When originally built, the Bokor resort consisted of a hotel and a casino that were featured prominently in the Korean movie R-Point and the American movie City of Ghosts. When the French left Cambodia, The Cambodian royal family eventually took over and added facilities including a police station, place for courtesans, and essentially turned it into a small town on a mountain. It stayed that way for about 10 years until the Japanese arrived and made it a military fortress. At this point it became very difficult for anyone to go to Bokor Mountain without military credentials. After the Japanese were defeated, the next major occupants were the Khmer Rouge, the perpetrators of the infamous killing fields. Using it as their base of operations in the area, it was here that one of the last major battles of the Khmer vs. Vietnamese occurred in their failed invasion of Vietnam. As a downside of this, the mountain became notorious for land mines so tourists were advised to stay away.
Over the last 20 years the mountain has seen a radical transformation. When first reopened to the public, you had to bribe the Park Guard/Ranger on duty and then attempt to traverse up something roughly called a “road”.
The Old Bridge
Recently, this area has been the sight of major investment that has led to both some tacky and useful additions. On the tacky side they added a hideous statue honoring a deity in addition to an ugly yellow hotel meant to be a 5 star destination. The ultimate plan for the area is to turn it into something called Sky town that is basically suburbia in the clouds. To accomplish this goal, the investors have paid for a completely new road and removed the need for bribing the guard and even placed a sign that says “entrance fee no longer necessary”.
Views from the Road Up
King’s mountain “Palace”
Tacky Statue
Mike Tries to be the lion king
Panorama Shot from the Statue
I Really Liked this Shot
Rallying My People *ask my Mom*
The new hotel
The ride up the mountain is one of the most beautiful I have experienced and my only regret is that it was not on a motorcycle. Going up you were treated to amazing vistas of both the bay and Kampot city. It was also cool while going up seeing the fog set in that had featured heavily in movie depictions of the area.
The Fog
The two main buildings that the Bokor “ruins” are known for are the church and the casino. The church has been left largely untouched so you can still see a lot of the bullet holes from when the Khmer and Vietnamese squared off here.
The Church
Mike Contemplating The Future
The bullet holes
Casino in the Fog
A Failled USAID Project
There was not much park training going on
Mike and I decided to take a long way to visit the casino and passed through some more of the town’s old facilities that were now occupied by squatters. We met this cute kid that I had to take a picture with and who wanted to talk to us. After a little mountaineering/trail creation we arrived at the casino. Unfortunately it was not what I was expecting as a lot of the original paint had already been scrapped off for remodeling. The plan is to turn that building into something of a visitor’s center which seems a little premature considering there’s nothing else really there now.
View from the slums
With the Kid
Example of What the casino looked like before the road and remodeling
The Casino In the Middle of Being Worked on
View From Suicide Pint
The views from the casino more than made up for its lack of original artwork. The area behind it was known as a suicide point because rich men would gamble away their savings, then jump to their death instead of facing the possibility of being a pauper. Today though it’s just nice to look out and we were fortunate to catch a break in the fog to get some great photos.
Break in the fog
Mike and I next decided to head into the casino itself. That earned us some surprised looks from the workers, however as I expected they were not paid enough to care. After knocking off the original casino from my bucket list we headed to a different pagoda on the mountain.
View from the Top Overlooking suicde Point
Looking out from the Casino
Front View
This pagoda was apparently the Cambodian royal’s response to the church built on the other side of the mountain. Having been in Asia for so long I’ve become semi temple/pagoda out and would not mind not seeing another average temple for a while. We then headed to a waterfall that was actually enjoyable. We were told that later in the summer you can go swimming in it, however when we were there the water level was still too low. Upon finishing the waterfall visit it was time to return to Kampot.
Our Van
The Waterfall
Kampot
We soon arrived back in town and decided to rent motorcycles instead of taking a sunset cruise as it was starting to rain lightly. Unlike Phuket where despite getting hurt I had enjoyed cruising around, in Kampot I didn’t, as there was nothing to see. On the way back from one of the slums we decided to take a shortcut across a rickety bridge. Taking that bridge would be my downfall of sorts as the bike hit something on the bridge and caused the brake pedal to cut my calf, yes it was weird. I went to the local doctor who seemed just as confused as I was how the only place I was hurt was on my calf. This instance proves why my family jokingly considers me a master of self-destruction. Seeing as it was starting to get dark and Kampot has very little in way of lights, we decided to call it a night after getting dinner and discovering both a delicious and gross dessert place. On downside we bought “cheesecake” which was literally cheese on top of a semi sweet base. I did not try it after smelling it and seeing Mike’s reaction. On the Bright-side I got a lovely pineapple crumble I wish I could make. Tomorrow we will return to Phnom Penh and hopefully see some of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge.
Today began at midnight with Mike and I boarding a bus for Phnom Penh in Ho Chi Minh. We were initially worried we would have to buy new tickets as the lady in charge of our hostel forgot to give us the tickets we had already paid for. Fortunately, all it took was a quick phone call and she arrived apologizing profusely but with tickets in hand. The next 5 hours were a blur as I slept until we arrived at the border at about 5am. We then had to wait an hour for the border to open but at 6am we were into Cambodia.
View of the Vietnam Side
Cambodian Side
Upon crossing the border, we were greeted by the Cambodia Casino Strip. I was initially not sure what I was looking at until I saw the names Venetian and Los Vegas Sand. The reason I didn’t recognize it, was because the hotels appeared really dated and perhaps trapped in the 80’s. Obviously this area does not generate the income of Los Vegas or Macau so I was puzzled why they even bothered building here. After passing the strip we stopped at a local restaurant. If a food safety inspector would have arrived this place may have earned a C on a good day. A lot of the food appeared to be left out overnight so I refrained from food poisoning on a plate. After about 30 minutes it was time to begin our travels within Cambodia.
Black Temple Complex
I think the biggest difference you instantly recognize between Vietnam and Cambodia is the later features far more temples. It seemed like every mile there was another temple ranging from something small to massive complexes. This allowed for the remaining 4 hours to Phnom Penh to pass by in a flash. On the way we also passed a lot of luxury gated communities that seemed to suggest these people would leave for work then quickly retreat to their homes. When we finally got off we had no idea where we were.
Oreo Ferris Wheel
Grand Market of Phnom Penh
Somehow we managed to piece together where our bus station for Kampot was. We got there and had about an hour to kill before the bus left so we decided to walk around. We managed to discover Phnom Penh’s Chinatown so it was interesting seeing signs in Chinese, Khmer, and English. We did not have time to check out the food but I’m guessing we will upon our return to the area. The bus trip to Kampot took us through a lot of poor areas, which were all filled with signs supporting something called the Cambodian People’s Party. I’m not sure who they are running against but my tally was something like 100-0 in terms of signs for People’s party compared to their opponents. (According to Mike they are the current Party in Charge) The Journey’s other highlight was watching Cambo-Pop music videos. I remembered seeing a movie about kids infected with arsenic from contaminated water learning these songs for a competition. In that case the joy from the kids succeeding caused me not to focus on the songs quality. With nothing else to do on the bus ride however I was forced to listen and I must say they are awful in terms of production values.
Cambo-Pop
Four hours later for a grand total of 14 hours spent on buses, Mike and I arrived at the Rikitikitava lodge in Kampot. To say this is place is amazing, would be a understatement. It reminds me of what I imagine a African Safari Hotel would look like, complete with a lot of earthen colors. We did not do much after arriving besides kick back, relax and just take in the amazing view. Tomorrow I will finally go to see Bokor Park that was famously featured in the Korean movie R-Point.
View from the Hotel
