March 27, 2002
Dear Family and Friends,
It is almost as big of a culture shock arriving in Bangkok as it is arriving in India. This is my first visit to Thailand after years of hearing of it and all its enticements. The soaring skyscrapers, the ultra modern Light Rail Transit, the obvious wealth in Bangkok, all are in stark contrast to what I have seen. I suspect that the advantage Thailand enjoys over other South East Asian countries is the fact that it was never colonized by any European power. I am glad I made the stop in Sri Lanka; otherwise I'm sure I would have been totally overwhelmed.
Strangely though, as busy and interesting as it is, I do not find myself taking photos at every turn as I did in India and Sri Lanka, and my first days in Bangkok were spent getting my Vietnamese visa and booking the flights in and out of Cambodia and Viet Nam. I checked into the Maxim Inn (a recommendation of John McClurg's) on Suhkumvit Road between Soi 7 and Soi 9. It is modest, but quite comfortable and inexpensive. I checked out the hotel recommended by Glenn and Lorraine, the Royal Benja, but they travel on a much larger budget than I do, so I took a pass.
Carole (Holmes) arrived as scheduled at 11:59PM on February 19th; it is great to see someone from home. We talked until about 3:00AM, as I caught up somewhat on news from Canada, and Carole got more details than I'm sure she wanted to hear about India and Sri Lanka. (Now that Carole has arrived I will have to actually write the truth and stop making this stuff up. Just kidding. I'm still going to make it up.)
Prostitution is legal in Bangkok, as most everyone knows, and there are hundreds of old white guys holding hands with beautiful young Thai women, true eye candy. It is such a discordant scene when one comes from Canada. Carole and I have had an ongoing discussion/debate on the whole issue ever since. Generally we agree, but I remain worried that Carole is going to grab one of these guys and lecture the hell out of him.
Two days after Carole arrived we caught an early flight to Seam Reap, Cambodia. Like the tens of thousands of other tourists who come here, we are here to visit Angkor Wat, World Heritage site and one of the ancient eight wonders of the world. From the 8th to the 13th century, Angkor Wat was the centre of the Khmer civilization that ruled all of what is now Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, as well as parts of Viet Nam, Myanmar, and China. The temples of Angkor Wat were originally Hindu and only in the 13th century was Buddhism grafted on.
Angkor Wat is best viewed in the light of early morning (or late evening), so Carole and I were sitting there at 6:15AM along with hundreds of other tourists to watch the hazy sun light up the ruins. We spent the next twelve hours going from one spectacular ruins to another.
I think we both enjoyed the Bayon in Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, the most. The Bayon is a very large complex with over 50 towers, each with four huge Buddha faces staring out to the compass points. Ta Prohm is one of the largest remains of the Angkor Wat ruins. It has been left as it was found by the French archaeologists at the end of the 19th century. Huge trees have grown up, over, and through the stones in a riot of disorder. It is quite wonderful. Movie buffs may know it as the setting for the movie The Tomb Raiders.
We ended our long day atop Phnom Bakheng, the highest hill in the area, watching the sun set on Angkor Wat. We were two very tired travellers by the time we got back to our hotel about 8:00PM.
The city of Seam Reap itself is quite small with mostly unpaved roads, lots of red dust, and lots of tourists. There is a major building boom underway, as Cambodia tries to cash in on the current burst of tourism, but the country remains very much third world, and is one of the poorest in Asia. The rest of the time in Seam Reap was spent wandering around town, going to the market (my favourite pastime), and visiting the Vietnamese floating village nearby (one’s arrival there is announced well in advance by the fermented fish smell).
Early on Carole demonstrated she is unclear on the concept of bargaining. She generally ends up paying about twice the vendors opening price in a personal campaign to eliminate the endemic poverty. (John, you better send more money.) Carole has also slathered on so much guilt that when I try to bargain, I now usually pay the full asking price, much to the surprise of vendors.
On the fourth morning we caught the boat to Phnom Phen. It is a 5 1/2 hour trip across the Tonle Sap Lake and down the Tonle Sap River, a distance of some 150 km. The Tonle Sap Lake is unique in the world in that, during the dry season water flows out of it and becomes the Mekong River. In the wet monsoon season, the river reverses its flow and fills up the lake, increasing its size from 3,000 square kilometres to over 7,000. This process has made Tonle Sap Lake one of the most productive lakes in the world for freshwater fish. The river is lined with houses built on high stilts so we are able to gauge how much higher the lake would be in the rainy season.
Our boat is designed to hold about 150 persons but at least 250 of us file on. We have assigned seats but soon decide we would prefer to be out on the deck as it is quite claustrophobic inside. The boat is approximately 150 feet long and 15 feet wide. I know very little about naval architecture, but this boat is more unstable than a canoe. It is very tippy and would take on a serious list to one side or the other and stay that way for a very long time before finally righting itself. All the while, we were screaming along like Slo-Mo. There were hundreds of fish boats with nets strung across the river. We zipped right over top of them.
The countryside is much less the jungle I expected and is quite bare of trees save a few palm trees intermingled with another bushier tree growing to about 25 feet high. A few low mountains can be seen off in the distance through the haze.
We arrived in Phnom Phen at 1:00PM and caught a taxi downtown, and found rooms in the Sunshine Hotel, right on the riverfront. Cambodia has a real 'Asian' feel and look to it, and I like it a lot. Many trees are in bloom, traffic is not so hectic, being mostly bicycles and motor scooters. It’s a lovely sight watching scooters whizzing by, sometimes with a family of three or four, but often with just a beautiful young Cambodian woman as a passenger, back straight, sitting side-saddle, not holding on. Another common sight, not so nice, is the large number of children with eye infections and bad teeth. Many old women have their hair shaved very short.
Cambodia, and Phnom Phen in particular, was once regarded as the paradise of South East Asia. However, Cambodia has just emerged from a decades (some would say centuries) long nightmare. Following 100 years of French imperialism, independence was finally achieved in 1953, but in 1969 Cambodia was drawn into the Viet Nam conflict and endured carpet-bombing and raids by the Americans and South Vietnamese. Civil war with the indigenous rebels, the Khmer Rouge, followed and Phnom Phen fell to them in 1975. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, and with the support of the UN, the United States, China, and others (the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing), the Khmer Rouge unleashed one of the bloodiest purges ever witnessed. Estimates of up to 25% of the 8 million Cambodians were slaughtered in an attempt to create a peasant, agrarian paradise.
While in Phnom Phen I paid a visit to the infamous Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Carole declined to go, but I almost felt obliged to, maybe to acknowledge the suffering endured. The way to Choeung Ek is marked with highway signs pointing the way to the "Genocide Memorial"; the signs themselves are a shock. Nearly 9,000 people have been exhumed from the mass graves, with 43 of the 129 graves left untouched. There is a memorial built at the site, a glass structure about 30 feet high, with skulls of the victims, sorted as to age and sex, displayed. To understand the true horror of this atrocity, one must know that the Khmer Rouge recruited children, aged 10 to 15, to carry out the killing. They were taught that all authority had to be eliminated, and in the process they killed friends and family, often including their parents and grandparents.
It was only in 1998 that peace was secured and Cambodia now is trying to build itself out of this horrific legacy. Remarkably, one sees no animosity or anger in the people, only broad smiles and a genuine desire to make their visitors welcome. Service in hotels and restaurants is excellent, and often as many as three people will jump, and run, to open a door for you. A few of the locals have called me "Poppa", much to Carole's delight. I'm not particularly thrilled with this title, but I take some solace in that they have also called Carole "Sir" a number of times.
Cambodia is not an easy country to visit but I'm very glad I went. Apart from the splendour of Angkor Wat, it is an incredible example of the human spirit's ability to overcome even the most evil of pasts.
It is not inexpensive however. Generally all pricing is in US dollars and the official currency, the 'riel', is only used in lieu of US coins. One US dollar equals 4,000 riel, so a 1,000 riel note is equivalent to one US quarter. The US dollar is so widely used it is sometimes difficult to get riel. Carole and I went in to a bank to do so and were turned away because they had no riels. With pricing in US dollars, prices are relatively high for South East Asia. A bottle of coke costs one US dollar whereas in Thailand it is about 25 to 30 cents. A cup of coffee can be $1.50US. I am afraid this pricing will be a major obstacle for Cambodia in developing tourism.
And so after Cambodia, I am now back in Thailand, having met Lorraine when she arrived two days ago. It’s wonderful to have her and I'm hoping we will find a nice spot at a Viet Nam beach where she can get some R & R. I'm also, of course, thrilled to now have two women to correct me on my deportment, and behaviour. I am guaranteed to come back a much improved person.
After a hectic day around Bangkok the day after Lorraine arrived, the three of us caught a bus to Hua Hin, one of the oldest beach resorts in Thailand, some 230 km south of Bangkok. It was an uncomfortable ride down for Lorraine, but we were all happy for the respite from the traffic and heat of Bangkok. Hua Hin has been the refuge for Thai royalty for over one hundred years and has some of the nicest sand I have ever seen for beach. We had a great day and arrived back in Bangkok tonight. We will spend one more day here before heading to Ho Chi Minh City (old Saigon).
So enough for now. I hope you are all well and I look forward to boring you with all my pictures when I get home.
Merv.
