Temples and School

As a parent who homeschools her children in New York State, I have to report four times a school year for each child about what they are learning. This is the law. How does a visit to the Angkor Wat Complex qualify as school? In my report I always start with Language Arts. For Reading they read the signs about the place,

 plus whatever their mom makes them read from a book. Add to this the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata because these are sculpted in bas reliefs around Angkor Wat Temple. For Writing they have to describe their experience in a blog post or a personal journal. Vocabulary is improved when they find words like apsara (that means dancer)

 or baray (large reservoir of water). Speech is tackled when they answer to their grandparents over Skype, or to total strangers when asked what they did today.

Moving on to Social Studies. This I have usually split in History and Geography. Well, the first one has a total boon here. If we’re talking just about the temples from the complex, we have to start with Jayavarman II (varman means shield in Sanskrit -Vocabulary) who was a Khmer prince returning from Java (Geography) around 800 AD. He conquered some quarreling states, declared himself King-God of Kambuja and established himself around Roluos area. As history demonstrates to us in many cultures, there are people who fight for peace, and their sons who build magnificent monuments for their era (David and Solomon; the kings of Hampi). In our case is a nephew who started building to honor his grandfather, and because in the Hindu and Buddhist mythology Mount Meru is the center of all things in the universe, that’s how he build those temples, like a tiered pyramid (Art). He build in Roluos, but also in Angkor.

At some point the capital was moved to Angkor and every king in his turn built some more temples. In a way they are all the same, but different in their details, size, significance (Art).

Then it’s time for Mathematics. How many people do you need to build something this big? If one man works for 10 days to make a face of a Buddha, for 8 hours a day, how many days would 250 workers would need to make 700 Buddhas? How many stones do you think are in this gopura (the roof—see Hampi). Really, you can turn a temple into simple math, algebra, probability... anything if you put your mind to it!

We arrive at Science. Why do they all look so black and green (lichen, Biology)? 

Why does the moss still grow inside the temples (humidity and indirect light—those are links for branches like Atmosphere and Physics)? How can roots tear a building apart? (Physics—Mechanics) Why does the tree grow on top of the building (that’s where it found a fertile spot)? 

Why are some bas-reliefs faded (erosion, acid rain—Chemistry)? 

Or some are really shiny, like they are from obsidian (Earth science)? Because people touched them for luck (Chemistry, Social Studies).

Foreign languages are practiced. There are so many French visiting Cambodia! OK, our children will not talk yet, willingly, but they understand French. This sparked a renewed interest in the French language in our daughters, and now they are reading on their own  either books or touristic brochures. And they also recognize Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, German. They will ask any Caucasian figure where is it from and respond proudly to the return question, “From Romania!”

Art, besides recognizing it all around, and compared with what we saw in other countries, is practiced in the form of photo taking, shooting video, drawing (and now animating!).

Framed art!

Architecture

You would say that stones don’t make music, and you would be right. Still we found music. We had our personal teacher for an instrument that we bought from him, but we don’t know it’s name in Khmer, only in Romanian, “drâmbă”. It is made from bamboo (reminds me of a potato peeler) and you hold it with your lips, transforming your mouth into a resonating chamber, while you make the instrument vibrate with your fingers. We had lots of fun trying to play it.

Around the temples there were small groups of 4-8 people playing traditional Khmer music, who were injured by land-mines. Their instruments are variations of drum, xylophone and flute, and the rhythms are quick. Why are there so many people, even children, maimed? Because the Khmer Rouge sought and gained power, killed almost half of their country’s population. When Western countries found out, it started a multinational political battle, some helping them and some against them, following their own interests, of political influence and economic growth. So that’s how it came that the Khmer Rouge planted mines, US Air Force dropped bombs, the Chinese, the Vietnamese and other countries all were using Cambodia as a battlefield. There is no evidence where to look for those bombs. You just see the results.

Health is also a subject that can be taught. There are bats living in some of the gopuras.  Around you can find some pigeons and monkeys. Sometimes you find them dead. Don’t touch them as they could carry diseases.

 How do you recognize there are bats? By the smell of their droppings and the high pitched sounds (Biology). Drink lots of water because it’s hot, you don’t want to become dehydrated, wear your hat so you will not have sunstroke, stay in the shade.

Physical Education is covered by the many steps and climbs, and by the long distances that you have to walk to get there.

So there you have it. It doesn’t follow a textbook, but is integrated and most of the time is fun.

I am required to sign and date my report: 

We have covered at least 80% of the planned material.

Ileana Ruxandra Dascalu Feb, 3rd 2012

P.S. This is not a real report. The children are following real textbooks for Math and Science, and Ioan has also Logic. They worked very hard over three summer vacations to move ahead in their schoolwork and finished before the trip the other subjects. 

China (because this is SUCH an imaginative title)

Oh thank God for China. I understand China. I know Chinese food. China makes sense. Not that I don't love India, no—but despite how much colder it is here, I love China much more.

We flew from Kochi, India, to Guilin, China, then took a taxi to Yangshuo, where we had a real fireplace and electric blankets. We hiked mountains, rode buses, and floated down rivers. Then from Yangshuo we went to Guangzhou, and all I remember from it is we went to see the museum of the tomb of King Nanyue, who was buried in a suit of jade during the Han Dynasty, and his tomb was discovered in 1983. It has colored frescoes in the funerary chamber and is larger than most tombs from the time. I also remember fighting with Maria because I'd taken a brochure for the museum in French, and instead of using Ultralingua (an English-to-French/French-to-English app), I'd ask Mom for translations and wouldn't let Maria read it. Well, I did, but more like "I am sitting here reading. You may read over my shoulder but if you remove this brochure from my hands there will be dire consequences *glares menacingly from corner of eye*." This part was actually written while consulting my pink French brochure.

Also from Guangzhou, I remember when we were very hungry, so we decided to go to Pizza Hut. First we got there, but we didn't go in because Dad didn't want to eat there, and then we went back to Pizza Hut, but then when we decided to eat there, Mom and Dad couldn't find a hundred yuan bill, so they thought that they'd dropped it on the way, so we went to look for it, but then it turned out it had been in Mom's pocket, so we went back to Pizza Hut, and we walked too much on an empty stomach.

Finally, we flew from Guangzhou, China, to Hong Kong, and my reaction to the city was that I liked it. I liked the huge double-decker buses, I liked the skyscrapers and the buildings, the flashing lights, the ridiculously huge crowds (where do all these people fit?), and I especially liked the food. Indian food is only good for so long (why do you think we kept eating at KFC or McDonalds?), but Chinese food is eternal, says the girl who is mad crazy over Chinese food and spends her birthdays at House of Hong and is worried she will not find a Chinese restaurant in New Zealand.

We found our apartment on the eighth floor of The Lime Building, which was at the top of a ridiculously huge hill. This was one of the things I really didn't like about Hong Kong—all the hills everywhere. Why can't it be a normal city, and be flat?

Our apartment had only two rooms: A bedroom/living room/kitchen (complete with bed, couch, TV, coffee tables, kitchen stuff, and table), and a bathroom (complete with whatever comes in bathrooms), but it also had rather good internet connection. I took advantage of it and worked on internet-requiring things from my Day Zero Project (http://www.dayzeroproject.com/), which is where you set 101 goals to complete in 1001 days. They can be anything—learn to speak French, stop biting my nails, leave a message in a public bathroom, take part in Operation Beautiful (http://www.operationbeautiful.org/) or 100 Strangers (http://www.100strangers.org/), eat a meal in a blanket fort... these are just a few off of my list. In Hong Kong, I got to check "Answer the 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind" off my list, and felt the glow of minor accomplishment.

Also in Hong Kong I started getting excited about February Album Writing Month (http://www.fawm.org/), mostly because I'd found a few people to collaborate with. I also made the decision to remove all the music off my iTouch and replace it with every version of rock we had in our iTunes library—now all I have is Alternative, Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Latin Rock, Pop Rock, Punk Rock, Rock, Rock'n Roll, Slow Rock, and Symphonic Rock, which is about 274 artists, 449 albums, and 2059 songs. Not all of them are good, and a few of them are annoying, but there are good ones like "Airstream Driver", "American Slang", "Belated Promise Ring", "Blood in My Eyes", "Break Me Out", "Changing", "Fireworks", "For You and Your Denial",  and I discovered we had a few favorites of mine like "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "Animal" (I'm listening to these alphabetically—I haven't gotten past F from the Alternative genre yet). I'm actually listening to them now as I write this, so probably I'll keep coming back and listing my favorites. Maybe I'll just list my favorites at the end, but I doubt I'll finish the Alternatives before the end of this blogpost. I also doubt I'll finish this blogpost before I finish the Alternatives.

Well that's kinda... contradictory.

Ahem. We continue.

In Hong Kong we went took this tram sort of thing and there was this huuuuuuuuge queue for it, and we decided to take a one-way ticket, as in, we'd be walking back. So we took the tram uphill and got to this huge building that was shaped weird and kinda stuck out and had a lot of escalators but no elevators (of course not—there were a million shops on every floor; an elevator wouldn't let you see all the stuff you could buy, and then you wouldn't buy it, and they'd be broker than the money in my pocket*), and at the roof you could see all of Hong Kong. Or at least you could if it wasn't so foggy. You could, though, see the bottom half of the skyscrapers.

*There is no money in my pocket. Ever. Because I have no money. Ever.

For Lunar New Year we went to see the parade (the whole point of coming to Hong Kong). At first we were really like, "Okay, there are no spots. We'll just go further down." But then we found some spots and we could all see (except for Ioan, but he could've sat on our shoulders), but then Dad said, "No, we'll find some better spots further down." We didn't, because further down were the white people, who are all at least five and a half feet tall, and our spots from before were behind Asian girls. We dealt with it and we ended up sitting on each other's shoulders, standing in the crowd and trying to see over everyone's heads, sitting on posts, contortionism... Finally though we all found decent spots. We saw jumprope demonstrations, hip hop dancers, jazz choreography, the cheerleaders from the St. Louis Rams, and dancers from Moldova, a country next to Romania that used to be part of Romania, but now it isn't and has a lot of Russians in it. As they passed Maria and I screamed, "La mulți ani!! La mulți ani!!" which is Romanian for "to many years" and is said, like... all the time. For everything. Birthdays, New Year, holidays, name-days, everything. They said something back, but we couldn't understand it. It could've been Russian, it could've been, "Și la voi!", which means "to you too". We didn't understand it, and we were kind of disappointed in the Moldovanians.

There were lots of things at the New Year parade, somethings were funny, some where sad, some where boring, but we walked away happy.

The next day we had plans to hike and do things, but we took the metro, came out, saw the fog, and only got as far as StarBucks. We had a hot chocolate, Maria had a mint tea, and we went home. I concluded that the lack of StarBucks in Watkins Glen was a crying shame. So instead of doing things, we did some school and then just hung out. Later that night we went to the roof of our building to see the fireworks. It wasn't actually that cool, because there were buildings in the way, also the fireworks all came one after another like POC-POC-POC-POC-POC, and you couldn't appreciate one because you were too busy being dazzled by another and then you couldn't appreciate that one either because BAM! another one's been shot up and you're seeing that and there's so much smoke you just give up. Plus we don't actually like fireworks that much. Maria never got the point of them (shiny lights + big noise = pointless awesomeness), and it is my opinion that environmentalists have completely killed the fireworks. "The big boom scares the animals!" so now it's just a little "pop". This is a severe disappointment.

We left the apartment the next day, stored our baggage in a locker before we went to the Space Museum, hung out there for a couple hours, went back to get our baggage, then took a boat to Macau, where we checked into our fancy-schmancy expensive hotel with gorgeous headboards for the beds. There I watched The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride for maybe the third time (it's an okay movie—it's not bad, but it's not good either. All in all, it's okay and entertaining), and the next night I watched Megamind, which, if you did not know, is frickin' amazing. Will Ferrel sounds absolutely gorgeous as the incredibly handsome mastermind of all evil, Megamind, and Minion is hilarious (I don't know his actor's name, but he was the principle from She's the Man), and Brad Pitt singing bad lyrics off-key? Mad crazy. And it's just so hilarious!

Unfortunately, the next day we slept in, so everyone was very stressed as we tried to pack everything up and eat in time to leave. Right now we're on the plane to Kuala Lumpur, so that's it for China (for now)!

Angkor Wat, The Biggest And The Best

Before we left we were asked which one of the places to see are we most excited about. Both of us answered without hesitation: Angkor Wat! The combination of excitement from leaving the cold of China and the anticipation of what we were about to see raised our expectations even more and that is never good.

We started by visiting the Angkor National Museum. I planned a couple of hours then we would have gone, for free, to have the first contact and maybe catch the sunset. Wrong plan. The museum closed on us, I couldn't get my family out of there. It is that good.
Next day we started the exploration of the temples. As my guidebook says "it is a unique repository of incredible craftsmanship on a staggering scale." There are hundreds of temples, between 15 and 25 are major touristic attractions. The local brochure lists them with 1 to 3 stars, from interesting to "must see"; two of them have four stars on that three-star scale. If you know anything about this place, then it makes sense.


There are countless ways to approach the whole complex.  We decided to use the most common approach, the small circuit on day one and the grand circuit on day two. Day three was left to be decided, probably with return visits to the main attractions.

I will not get into too many details. I'll list the places that we visited for reference. If someone is interested in the specifics of any given construction, there are many available resources. Suffice to say that they are all quite different and they are all marvelous. They were built over a period of at least four hundred years encompassing the major shift from Hinduism to Buddhism and changes in the techniques, materials and taste that would be expected in such a long time.

We started with Anghor Thom, "the Great City". It had a million people in 1200. There were houses and hospitals and palaces and temples. Of course the wooden structures are long gone, but the important ones, built in stone and brick are still there, some undergoing major renovation. We battled the crowds in Bayon temple and then visited Baphuon palace, the royal palace Phimeanakas, the terrace of Elephants and the terrace of the Lepper King; it was lunch time when we were done. There are many restaurants set up for tourists at certain spots and we followed the recommendation of our tuk-tuk driver for lunch.
Then we continued the whole afternoon with one temple after another. Tommanon, Chau Say Tevoda, Ta Keo, Ta Phrom, Banteay Kdei, Prasat Kravan. Preparing for the trip we saw the movie "Tomb Raider." Well, I am sure that the whole of Cambodia saw that movie, everybody knows it. It was shot at Ta Phrom, this is a stunning temple, they are restoring some parts but they left the jungle as it took over the buildings over the centuries.

The next day on the Grand Circuit we visited Preah Khan, Peah Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon and Pre Rup, before stopping for lunch in front of the Angkor Wat. We were already tired, but decided to see Phnom Bakheng first, before the grand finale. It was on a hill, we walked all the way up and then climbed a hundred stairs more. By the time we arrived at Angkor Wat we were a bit "templed out"; we saw so many amazing things that little could have impressed us. I don't know what if anything would have phased the children anymore, maybe if one of the temples from a Miyazaki movie would have come to life.
The Angkor Wat is the biggest temple in the world, but besides that it is also the most beautiful. The complex covers 210 hectares (500 acres) and is surrounded by a 200 meters (650 feet) wide moat. There is a long walk across the moat, past the outside wall and then to the main temple. At this time the main entrance is closed for renovation, we took the right side and had the first contact with the lower level bas reliefs, a 800 meters (2500 feet) long rectangular corridor that is sculpted all the way in minute, wonderful detail.
We only went for part of it and then entered the inner court, surrounding the central sanctuary. The stairs for the upper level were "closed one day for cleaning." By this time, Maria found a place to sit and decided that she doesn't want to keep going. Ileana took a quick tour and declared herself satisfied with what she saw so far. The rest of us continued diligently to explore every nook and cranny and look at the hundreds and hundreds of carvings. They are awesome, but at that point in our day, we already had too much and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. It didn't help that we couldn't see the upper level, the sanctuary where in the past only the king and the higher priests had access.
After a while, Maria rejoined us and we finished the visit with the rest of the bas reliefs, came back in front of the temple and saw the beginning of the sunset. There are two little lakes and seeing the reflection of the temple in the sunset attracts a lot of photographers. We took our family picture and left on the side exploring more of the outside walls.

While Angkor Wat should not be the first thing to see when somebody comes here, it also shouldn't be left for last. The anticipation was raised so much that nothing would have satisfied it. Instead of being blown away, it was a slowly growing admiration for every thing that I was seeing. And that is OK in the end.

We all liked the Bayon temple most and the third day started with another visit there. We arrived earlier and had large parts of the temple to ourselves. Each one of us was free to roam as wanted. It was great!
Then we took an hour ride to the spectacular Banteay Srei temple. Built earlier than the others, it had an interesting comparison of the development of the temples here and other constructions around the world, confirming once again the amazing accomplishments of the Khmer civilization. Banteay Srei means the "Citadel of women", it is said that it must have been built by women, the carvings are too delicate for the hand of a man. We could not really get close to them, but it was a beautiful, little temple, different than all the others, and well worth the trouble of reaching it.
On our return we stopped at the land-mine museum and another dramatically beautiful temple, Banteay Samre. Not many tourists come here and we could explore in peace, being impressed again by how different it is from everything else.

We had “lunch” on some plastic chairs sharing four coconuts and we went back to the Angkor Wat. We went straight to the stairs to the upper level. A long line confirmed our hopes, the cleaning was over. Maria had a sleeveless shirt. They didn't let her climb. Ileana went through fast and then changed shirts with Maria. We enjoyed the delicate apsara bas reliefs and the stunning views all over the temple and the fields. The height of the upper structure is 65 meters (200 feet) above ground level, same as the Cathedral of Notre Dame (built a little later). It is amazing. We enjoyed every moment of our second visit. And without doubt it is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments of humanity and one of the most beautiful things we've ever seen.

And last but not least, Miss Universe 1212!

Write Your World (amino): Siem Reap to Bangkok

Write Your World (amino): Siem Reap to Bangkok, pt 1: (post from Maria's blog)

Nutsy day. Woke up at 5:30… though I set the alarm for 4:30, and we went to the bus station by Tuktuk. It was… interesting waiting for the bus. We ate baguettes which everyone in Cambodia seems to have… but which seems to come from a bakery no tourist can ever find. The reason we had them was because the hotel was nice enough to give them to us for breakfast.

So as we were on the bus (which was really just a large van, seating 12 in the main body and one more person in the front), we stopped twice, once for gas and the bathroom, and once five kilometers from the border, where a man there told us all to get out (only some of us actually did).

He told us to give him our tickets, in exchange for which he gave us a red, rectangular sticker.

As we were waiting to leave, an American comes to us and says, "The ticket is your receipt. You give him your ticket, you don't have a receipt and you pay twice. Go and get your ticket back."

(Mad dash for the tickets ensues.)

The guy who gave us the stickers ranted and railed, telling us that we'd never manage to get to Bangkok without him, that we'd never find a bus, that we had to give him the tickets— but with at least 20 people all demanding their tickets back, in the end the guy gave up. Our drivers spoke no English, or if they did, they didn't show it.

Basically, the people were acting very suspiciously— trying to guilt and frighten us into giving away our tickets, into getting off the van, etc. They were yelling, not answering the questions we asked them, and always giving new information without following up on it.

When we got to the border, another guy was there, telling us that without the red stickers we'd never get on our bus. Four Czechs, who had a plane to catch back home, gave up and gave their tickets away. The American, whose name we found is Derek, offered a photocopy of the ticket, but no luck— it had to be the real thing. We followed the Czechs as far as we could, past immigration. When we got out, people offered us taxis— and laughed when Dad said he had a bus.

We waited with Derek and a New Zealander (who was in Cambodia for six months and had a small guitar with him) to wait for the Czechs, who we'd spotted going to the bathroom.

They led us to where another guy had led them and told them to wait a bit for the van, which was coming (presently?). During this entire time, two Israeli women (a mother and her daughter, who I think live in… France?) and a Korean woman going to Bangkok to meet her friend at the airport were waiting for us.

Then the van showed up. Part 2 will be up on the 6th:


Siem Reap to Bangkok, pt 2


Where I last left ourselves, we were waiting for the van. When the silver van showed up, the driver absolutely refused to let those without a sticker get on— even though the Israeli daughter had a red sticker, he pushed her mother.

Huge scandal (I just realized that scandal translates to scandal in Romanian— a big noise/fight) ensues.

The driver gets in, is waiting, and then one of the guys shows up and tries to make us all move away from the van. Derek, the American, refuses to budge from behind the van.

"They're not going to cheat me." He says, "And I'm not moving from this spot."

"Is your life really worth ten dollars?" Mom asks him.

Ileana wants to stand there too, but I explain to her that she's Mom and Dad's responsibility— if she gets hurt Mom and Dad get in trouble for it.

As the van backs up a foot, we all kind of get out of the way, except for Derek, who hammers on the back window and tells the guy to stop.

Another foot.

"HEY! NO!" Derek shouts.

And then he gets out of the way. We all get out of the way. And the van backs up and zooms away.

"POLICE! Please, someone call the police! The police!" shouts one of the Israeli women, the daughter. (I think her name is Zslil or Zstil)

The spectators shake their heads. A guy from one of the travel companies comes out and tries to explain that she has to go find the police herself— the police station is that-a-way.

"I WANT EMBASSY ISRAEL! NBC MY COUNTRY, NOW!" shouts her mother.

As Zslil explains, "Hot blood."

If this was a comedy movie… it would be a very good one.

Derek and the New Zealander with the guitar are trying to figure out how to best get to Bangkok. The Korean girl is looking around, somewhat lost (her English isn't very good), trying to figure out how she's going to get to the airport to meet her friend.

"POLICE!" "WHO are you? I want to know. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE COMPANY?"

Dad tries to find an ATM. Derek and the New Zealander try to figure out how much a bus costs. We're all going with our own agenda, hoping to find the best solution for everyone.

I hope the Czechs made it to the airport without getting fleeced out of more money. They needed to catch the plane badly.

In the end we decide to take a bus, all to the north part of Bangkok. The New Zealander goes a different way, but the five of us, Derek, and the Korean girl are all on the same bus for 6 hours. The Israelis stay to figure things out with the policeman (and I don't have words enough to describe that smiling policeman!). We found one of the conmen. Dad took his picture.

Thailand, we're told, is MUCH better, even if they have a fake border crossing 20 yards from the real one.


February 7, 2012 at 1:38 PM
What an adventure, huh? Live and learn I guess. Sorry for the misinformation on the stickers, I feel really bad about that. I guess I was being a bit overly cautious. I still wonder if the 4 Czechs made it ok to Bangkok.
I hope you enjoyed your time in Thailand. 
Sincerely,
Derek
Reply:
Maria March 1, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Sorry for the late reply! I took an internet fast while in the islands of Thailand.
I would love to know their experiences-- I imagine the guys stopping them on the side of the road and saying something along the lines of 'More money. Now.'
No worries! It was an interesting, spicy experience. Our group wouldn't really have 'met' otherwise.
Maria

One Week in Cambodia

"So far, is there any place where you would consider moving?" Ileana asked me this after 14 hours on the road, the day we left Cambodia. "Maybe just one. Siem Reap." The name means something bad about Siam (Thailand), Cambodia's neighbor to the west. It is a small size city at the gate of Angkor Wat. A few years ago didn't even have a paved road, now it has plenty and it has hundreds of hotels from five stars to the cheapest guesthouses. After twenty years of wars it is safe to travel here and people are coming from all ends of the world.

Typical motorbike

Cambodia is the place of one of the worst tragedies of the human race. Caught in the Vietnam war, between the conflicting interests of United States, Soviet Union, China and Vietnam, it was briefly a communist country, with several factions fighting for power and the country divided in several areas. It had the Khmer Rouge regime, they killed almost a quarter of the population in a four year period. By some accounts Cambodia lost almost half of its 7 million people in a way or another. The Khmer Rouge wanted to revert to the the 11th century way of life and drove everybody out of cities. They destroyed everything, except for Angkor Wat, the symbol of the khmers glorious past. People were executed for any reason, including for example wearing glasses. The Americans helped install the Khmer Rouge to counteract the Vietnamese and they also helped their ousting, the same way they installed the Talibans in Afghanistan and took them off a few years too late. The details are different, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and stopped the worst atrocities, installed a government of reformed Khmer Rouges, that didn't look well for the west, they continued to support the other factions and on and on it goes until street demonstrations in Sweden forced the western governments to push in the right direction and broker a peace accord. The king was in exile in North Korea, China and Europe. It doesn't make much sense, but this is what I could make of what I learned.

Cambodia is the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world with the Americans dropping 2.7 million tons of bombs, more than the allies combined during the whole World War II. Their 20 years of wars saw the highest number of land mines ever placed, produced all over the place. By some estimates it would take a thousand years to clean them all. They continue to kill or mutilate people to this day. I visited the land-mine museum and an American volunteer gave us a lot of information. He said that in the First World War they would lay land-mines in designated areas, the armies knew where they were and were forced to avoid those places. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouges would take young children, give them a bag of mines and send them out to place them. If they returned with some mines left, they were shot in the head on the spot. Quite often a child would place mines in the morning only to be hurt by one in the afternoon. They were not designed to kill but mostly to hurt somebody really bad. They would react to a weight of 13 kilos, much less than the typical ones. And they would explode on contact, not like in the movies. One of these child soldiers became a CNN hero of the year in 2010. At some point when he grew up he started to disable the mines that he placed, then started to help peasants clear their land and in 10-15 years he neutralized about 50,000 mines, surely the most by any human being. Taking home some of these mines he was visited by curious people, he opened this museum, he then opened an orphanage for some of the maimed children and so on. The operation continues with help from some Australians, Canadians and from the American Department of State, even if the guy was forbidden by the Cambodian government to disarm mines anymore. His team does it in a scientific, relatively safe way, he used to do it by himself using just a stick. No school, no formal training! Ileana and Ioan joined me for the museum visit and we liked it and learned a lot!

A Great American, trying to help 

And the real statistics were not know until late in the 90s!

One person and some mines

On the street there are some signs of the atrocities, mutilated people begging in front of some restaurants, but most of the Cambodian population is too young to remember. And they are clearly moving forward. They have a stable government, a 6% growth rate and they have a king! In 1993 Cambodia became the first ex-communist country to have a return to monarchy. Romania should have been the first in 1989 and unfortunately my country payed and will continue to pay a significant price for missing that chance.
We chose to visit just Siem Reap in Cambodia. There are many more things to do in this country, but we have such a limited time. In addition we didn't want to bother with malaria prevention - apparently Siem Reap is the only completely safe area in that regard.

After Macau we spent one night in Malaysia, woke up at 3.30, had breakfast at 4, took a shuttle to the airport at 4.30 am. We arrived in Siem Reap at 8 am, local time, and we were already tired. One full day of rest - spent some time reviewing our resources and trying to plan for the next few days. They have one/three/seven day passes for Angkor Wat at a cost of $20/40/60. Since you can use the three day pass in any of the next seven days, we agreed to try to squeeze everything like that and save $100. The second day we rested some more and only left the hotel at 2 pm! We went to visit the Angkor National Museum, a nice modern building with a rich collection of items from the ruins and a lot of information. Ioan knew more than us about some of the Kmher kings, he played some computer game and learned from that.
So what's all about? The Khmer civilization, a few hundred years of great military, cultural and social achievements, expressed in the development of cities and temples unrivaled anywhere in the world. As successive kings ruled over the empire they would add to the previous temples or sometimes they would build their owns. It was between 800-1400 AD, then the Khmers fell and all of the temples (except Angkor Wat) were abandoned. The whole area is huge and there are hundreds of ruins of some interest. Some people visit just the highlights, some would spend weeks exploring the sites. We visited on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 10 hour days of being in the sun walking all over. We rested on Wednesday and Friday without doing anything else in Siem Reap. If people have time and energy there are several attractions, including a visit to the floating villages. There is a unique phenomenon here in this area, a huge lake (Tonlé Sap) would grow 10 times during the monsoon and the river feeding it or from it would flow in reverse! People live on houses built on stilts and tourists come and take pictures. We skipped. First because it seemed more of a commercialized attraction, but also because it's the dry season, the lake is at the smaller size and the trip would have taken for ever. We spent the day writing postcards and sent 39! Let us know when you receive yours.
There is a mystery in Siem Reap; I couldn't solve it despite desperate attempts. They have these delicious baguettes, an inheritance of the French colonialism; they serve breakfast on them and use them for sandwiches by the side of the road. But there was no place for us to buy them, even Liz, a teacher from England who has been there for two months, couldn't find them. Otherwise our hotel, Tanei Guesthouse, had all the comfort and a decent breakfast for $50 per night (2 rooms-5 beds). Unfortunately we were too lazy to use the pool.

They use dollars here as well as the local currency, riel. Since it is 4000 riels for one dollar and the biggest bill is only 10,000, everything is in American dollars which you just get from the ATM. By contrast with USA where you only get $20s, here they have all sorts of bills, depending on the bank. The cost of life is most of the time very cheap, some imported things would cost more. Like a dollar store, sometimes it seems cheap, but it's not (i.e. a coconut or a stamp). Sometimes it's unfair, they sold the Angkor Wat guide, a book of several hundreds pages with glossy paper and color photographs for $1. A few times we had lunch for $1.25 per plate, shakes for 75 cents and a big bottle of beer for $2. We had fish massage for $1. Ileana Ruxandra had an one-hour foot massage for $4. And everywhere everybody smiled and was nice to us and spoke English. All the children and the adults learn the language and are happy to exercise it.

We learned about local traditional arts when we saw a great show at the Cambodian Children's House of Peace (http://www.santepheap.org). My family danced on the scene at the end, Ioan showed his skills and my girls made friends with some of the girls there. Again the human contact seems to be the most valuable experience on this trip. And the unforgettable image is my daughter, Maria, hugging Ali, the waitress of a made up sidewalk "restaurant."
After one week in Siem Reap we all fell in love with Cambodia and its people. If I would solve the baguette mystery I could stay here a very long time...

One hour in a fish bowl, making friends

Great show at the Cambodian Children's House of Peace

Pancake on the street

Our hotel, Tanei Guesthouse

Favorite restaurant on the side of the road

Bye bye Ali!

Learning From Cambodia

Cambodia is my favorite country so far. Why?

It's a friendly place. It's quiet. It's happy.

Three illustrations:

1) You smile at someone, they smile back. And you don't even have to worry about whether or not you look weird. Nope! This is the culture. It's friendly. It's open. It's welcoming.

2) There are no horn honks. There are few cars. People walk slow.  NO ONE HONKS.

3) People are smiling all the time. Even when they're not smiling, one smile makes them light up.

There are dirt roads in Siem Reap, with tuk-tuks hitched to bright red motorcycles. Little kids are running around the temples holding up postcards and flutes, offering to sell one for one dollar, or two for one dollar… anything for one dollar.

It kind of makes you hurt a bit.

And it makes you re-evaluate what you need.

Yes, the economy of Cambodia and the economy of the USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, are completely different, but just think for a second of how many things you may have that you think you need, but you don't.

I now realize that while I might hate it for a while, I could do without the laptop or an iPod for the entire trip. And, in the end, I'd be happier.

Why? Free internet is rampaging through the world. A notebook works just as well as a keyboard. The latest music isn't necessary for your wellbeing. In fact, music isn't really necessary at all-- not the in-your-ear-all-the-time variety, at least. And book exchanges are paradise. If I ever travel again like this, I'll probably purge a couple of things from my bag:

1. The tablet and pen. I brought this for comics. I knew even before I left I could probably live without it, but at the time I wasn't much in the mood. And it fit so nicely in my bag!
2. The school supplies. Besides the fact that I haven't used them because of the tablet (lifesaver when doing Khan Academy, which is pointless without internet), the next time I take a trip like this I probably won't need them. Hopefully.
3. The notebooks. I only have a sketchbook and a notebook, but one thing is clear-- if I had a moleskine or some equally lightweight but good-quality notebook, I wouldn't need the heavy stuff.
4. The laptop. Like I said, the internet is rampaging. And book exchanges are everywhere. Book exchanges are lifesavers, I kid you not. And I'm not writing as much as I used to. And I type fast, so any blog posts I ever wrote would be very quickly typed up, probably in 15 minutes. Not forgetting, of course, advanced planning.

This does not mean I'll be packing off my laptop and notebooks and tablet off to Upstate New York. For one thing, I have to live with four other people, and no matter how nice they are, one needs an escape route from them.

But it does mean that I'm reassessing my needs and wants, which, after all, is part of what we're on this trip for. And Cambodia definitely helped with that.

Write Your World (amino): Khmer Food

Write Your World (amino): Khmer Food:


The most touristic street in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is Pub Street.

While I guess that is an apt description, I wouldn't exactly call it riddled with pubs. There are fish massages (Dr. Fish— NO PIRANHAS!), massage parlors (for feet, hands, bodies), beers, tennis games on huge screens which everyone watches as they eat.

Prices vary widely. We first ate at a restaurant whose name I don't think we'll ever remember. It faces a tourism agency that also offers a fish massage (cheapest on the block— one dollar for an unlimited time in the water). Signs advertise Khmer food.

Everyone on Pub Street wants you to come to their restaurant. They hold up laminated menus. The first night, after walking up and down and up and down and up and down, we stopped at that first restaurant. It advertises Khmer food, and has red plastic chairs with green and white checkered table-clothes.

The waittresses smile widely, waiting for us to order.

For the next four times we come here, I will be ordering the same thing: Fried Cashew Rice with Pork. It has cashew nuts in it, but otherwise is exactly the same as any other fried rice. I don't think I've ever liked fried rice much, but this was good.

The shakes are $0.75, and we order almost everything on the menu. The lemon shakes are delicious. A Dragon Shake uses something called a dragon fruit, which is bright pink on the outside, but white with black dots on the inside. I think. I've never seen it named, but I've guessed.

When we show up a second time, we get wide smiles and big waves.

The third time, we're hustled to one of the five tables, next to the counter. There is a long counter, you see, running at the 'back' of all of these restaurants. Behind the counter, there is a shake-making machine, a stove top in which the cooks (and waitresses— there seem to be no actual designation for each person) make the food. Delivery men come up and plonk things down on the counter. We get bright smiles whenever we show up. Other return guests— finding that this is the best restaurant, I suppose— are greeted with smiles just as wide.

When we first arrived, an old man showed up with a shopping bag and three ice cream cones, which he handed out to each girl. "Today's my last day." He said, "I brought you some ice cream."

As she took our order, Ali, who seems to be the main waitress, plonked the ice cream cone face down on the table. When we went there today, she hugged Ileana 'hello.' It felt like this very big family.

(It's not restricted to just there, by the way

When we told Ali we were leaving, she reached over the counter (she'd hopped over to help with the cooking), shook our hands, hugged us, and told us we were beautiful and to come again.

I mean, what's a better way to spend your last meal in Cambodia?