Cambodia surprised me

Entrance to the "Killing Fields" memorial in Sien Reap

Cambodia is a country that I had little or no interest in visiting when I decided to visit South East Asia. You see, I had closely followed events there during the terrible period, 1975-1979 when the despot, Pol Pot murdered over a quarter of the population in that country. His terrible regime was backed and armed by the Chinese communists.

Skulls found in mass graves in the region, on display

 

His reason for the genocide, resonated a great deal with us thousands of miles away in Jamaica, as it was in our view, a typical aspect of a communist cleansing.

This was the period during the cold war era when communists were trying to foist their violent ideology on the world. We too in Jamaica were in grave danger of being overcome by communists, as local communist forces were being armed and assisted by the Castro regime in neighboring Cuba.

From 1976-1980, we fought an "undeclared" civil war to keep the communists at bay, so the atroicities we were learning about in Cambodia which were broadcast daily by the British BBC, would not overtake us. By the time Pol Pot was stopped in Cambodia, he had massacred over two million of his countrymen and totally dislocated the population by moving people from their homes and dispersing them all over the countryside.

A shrine to the victims at the "Killing Fields" memorial

That period has long passed and the Berlin wall has fallen, so in 2018, communism was no longer a threat, but my memories of the story of Cambodia remained so entrenched, that it took my friend Gabby, a Jamaican resident in Vietnam, quite some time to convince me that Cambodia was worth visiting. The cheap air fares in the region were also another incentive!

The final spur though came from a young lady I met on a visit to Ha Long in Vietnam. She was a teacher in Britain but had been undertaking the arduous task of having to work while studying for her master's degree. So she said she decided to take a break to tour Southeast Asia and had been doing so for some three months. When I picked her brains about which was the most scenic country she had visited so far, the unhesitant answer was Cambodia.

On a  Tuk Tuk tour of Angkor

With only two days to spare, we flew from Thailand to Siem Reap, a highly recommended UNESCO World Heritage site.

 That was probably the best decision of my life as from what I saw of Cambodia in that short time, certainly indicates that my British friend and Gabby were both on target.

To begin with, the Cambodian people were by far the most friendly, helpful and humble people I encountered during my short visit to South East Asia.

In questioning some who I met about the events during the Pol Pot genocidal period, while I discovered that most had not even been born then, just about everyone knew someone who had either been killed, forcefully relocated or imprisoned during the period so knew everything about it. I also learned that nothing was taught in the schools about that aspect of their history but the older generation always spoke about it, always expressing bewilderment with the question; "Why did he do that to his own people?"

No one seemed to have a real explanation and it is something that I suspect will remain unanswered during their entire history.

The impressive Angkor Wat (Wat means temple)

While the government does not give much information about the period, I was told, to their credit, all over the country there are killing fields memorials where skulls retrieved from mass graves are put display along with written, harrowing tales as told by survivors and of course shrines for the souls of the dead.

We got the opportunity to visit the memorial at Siem Reap and it certainly brought home the real brutality of that terrible period and communism in action.

Cambodia is now open for business though and no more is this more obvious than in Siem Reap where the

A young Buddhist monk performs rites at Angkor Wat

US dollar is even used interchangeably with their own Reil. That province is certainly very tourism oriented with a night market where just about every type of Asian food can be found as well as arts and crafts. And the prices are really good.

The big drawing card is, of course,  the Angkor Complex which has been recognized and protected by UNESCO  for 25 years. This is located on over four hundred acres of land, much of which is still in the forest.

Here you have on display, one of the largest collections of religious monuments in the world some of which are still being used.

Hindu carvings are visible all over

This area was originally constructed in the 9th century as the center of the Khmer Empire but was finally abandoned in the early 1400's.

What you find here are the most intricate designs and architecture and even where huge tree roots take over buildings, they seem to do little damage as happens with modern buildings.

A massive tree trunk envelops this temple but does little damage

As I toured a minuscule section of the vast complex in wonderment, I was also enthralled by elephants all around transporting people and the monkeys which wondered easily among their human relatives!

When one baby tried to climb up the long, colorful Cambodian skirt which I had to buy to enter the sacred temple complex, I was tempted to pick it up but was reminded that they often have diseases.

One of the most inappropriate businesses I saw in' Cambodia though was a restaurant near our hotel named "Trump cafe."  Although I wondered about the choice of name, was amused to see that during

 my entire two days there, I never observed anyone entering or leaving the premises. Does this mean the American president has no fans in that part of Cambodia, I wondered?



Some other images from Angkor

Elephants demand right of way!

Riding elephants, hugging tigers and all that

This elephant participated in a cultural show

I fell in love with Thailand years ago, when in the mid sixties,  I saw the movie "The King and I" (1956)starring   Yul Brynner.  When that movie was made, they used the old name for the country, Siam.

It wasn't until 2018 that I got the opportunity to visit that fascinating country and my first surprise was seeing how many big companies still retained the old name Siam. 

My greatest anticipation as I prepared for the trip, was to ride an elephant, something I had often seen in movies and which looked so sexy.

Well I am on cloud nine, as not only did I ride an elephant, as  uncomfortable as it turned out to be, but also I fed one and even hugged the trunk of another after seeing the very enjoyable and  professional (must see) cultural show "Siam Niramit."  It was to the delight of all of us that as we left the theater, we were met by and engaged with the entire cast, including the elephants which had performed.

Riding elephants  through the bushes and  through a river

 However, I was able to do something else in Thailand which I would never have dreamed of in my craziest moments, that was was to interact with real live beautiful big cats........ five tigers no less.

This was so absolutely enthralling that I dedicated an entire blog to the experience at; https://joanmyviews.blogspot.com/2018/10/beyond-my-wildest-dreams.html

However, I still  have to share some photos below!


Many of the other things I saw and experienced in Thailand were certainly exciting and educational, but clearly, in only a week, I saw too little.

My first outing was to take a tour on the majestic Chao Phraya River, which runs along a large section of the banks of the extremely well developed and modern city of Bangkok.

What immediately struck me on that trip, was the great efforts made by the authorities to promote the idea that the King, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodinradebayavarangkun is held in high esteem, by flooding the city with his portraits.

However those of us who follow international news, cannot be fooled, for it is really the army which runs that country and this even caused the present king's retroactive ascension to the throne in 2016, to provide much amusement worldwide! 

This present king is the only son of King Bhumibol Adulyadej who was highly beloved and revered. He ruled that beautiful country for 70 years. 

However, by the time he died, his son and heir was twice divorced and had already become a notorious playboy, living mostly in Germany. Thus, the generals did not think he had the type of  character acceptable to become king.  He was therefore not allowed to be sworn in for months as he had to be rehabilitated! 

The royal palace can be seen from the harbor

Also, as he no longer has a wife, the photos of the  young, beautiful royal matriarch that you see all over  the place, are actually those of his mother, who is now 87 years old! 

Despite the fabulous palace,  and the opulence I saw at his country home plus all the trappings of wealth  and power of the monarch, the real power remains firmly controlled by the army, something I was reminded of on reading an English version of the "Bangkok Post." In an article in that publication in early October, it was reported  that demonstrators were detained by the military for "Attitude Adjustment."  This when opposition activists tried to petition the king to move the National Council for Peace and Order!

The politics of that country therefore belies its liberal appearance but since I was a mere tourist, I will move on!

As we toured the harbor, I was struck by how much sections of some buildings along the banks seem to be suffering a similar fate as many in Venice, where rising waters are creating a real danger.

A week  is much too short to determine how religious the Thai people really are,
but the proliferation of beautiful personal shrines which adorn almost every street and the exotically adorned, gold plated gates you see at many entrances of many communities and buildings, gives the city such an attractive look.

And the food you know is out of this world. I did get one shock though when I bought what I thought was a boiled egg in the street, only to find a baby chicken inside. I hear it is a popular food there but it turned me off of eggs for two whole weeks!

Private shrines similar to this are all over 

Apart from the food, fauna animals, as one who revels in history, my other real thrill was visiting the former kingdom of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO heritage site which lies less than 100 kms from Bangkok.

To get there, we traveled in a minibus organized by a tour company, so shared space with other tourists from South East Asia, mainly the Philippines, China and Korea. That is when I was fascinated to learn that the lingua franca in the region is really English. I had previously assumed that persons in the region knew and communicated in each other's language as happens in Europe. For, after all, their written word looks very similar to my untrained eye!

Ayutthaya has a proud and fascinating history and it is amazing how so many of the "ruins" remain in such sturdy condition, considering that kingdom was established from the mid-1300's.

This had been one of the main kingdoms in ancient Thailand and it remained powerful, influential and wealthy in the entire region until 1767 when it was destroyed in a war with Burma.

The kings of Ayutthaya operated as absolute monarchs, deriving their authority from Hinduism and Buddhism, so evidence of the dominance of these two world religions are everywhere.

For me personally, the education in Buddhism was very important from the perspective that there is no one image of Buddha as I had preciously thought, but several including the black Buddha and a reclining Buddha exist. 

The Thai alphabet is definitely influenced by Sanskrit

(I also suspect that the reason why the Thai alphabet looks more like Sanskrit than the Chinese type alphabet that one sees in most other south east Asian countries, is because of the immense influence that Hinduism had on the development of the country.)

SOME IMAGES FROM AYUTTHAYA

The black Buddha in the back is highly revered

The reclining Buddha

The ancient palace is undergoing renovation

Thailand is a country which has in excess of forty rivers, so it is not strange that a great deal of commerce is conducted on water, called floating markets. The largest and most famous is at Damnoen where I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice portrait of our own Bob Marley on sale.

Impressions of Vietnam

Vietnam was never on my bucket list but when a planned trip to Kenya fell through, I said "what the heck, why not visit my friend's
courageous daughter Gabby in Vietnam. She had gone off to that country to teach English a year ago, although she never knew anyone in the region or a word of the Vietnamese language.

It was with some trepidation that I took the decision as I am quite a foodie and had often heard that they ate things that I would never consider digesting, like cats and dogs! "As I don't know the language, how will I know if I get my pets to eat?" I worried as I packed my bags with all sorts of junk food including barbecued pork rind!

Sadly, some beautiful scenery is barely visible because of the heavy pollution

I needn't have worried though, as when I finally expressed my fears to Gabby, she assured me that cats and dogs are delicacies there, so I would never get them to eat by mistake.

 I was even pleasantly surprised when during my visit I did notice that some people had pet dogs on leashes and even on their bikes, indicating that the trend to eat those animals was probably slowly, very slowly receding. During that same period when I was there, however, I only saw what could be considered, one pet cat, as it had a collar. I saw no stray cats.

The destination was far better than I expected in most ways but far worse in a few.

My biggest disappointment was the high level of pollution in the capital city, even following us to the beautiful countryside. One often hears about the terrible pollution in India and China but had never heard of it in Vietnam, so it came as quite a shock to see almost everyone wearing masks in Hanoi. I got one, but it didn't help much since the immediate effect was the severe stinging of my eyes.

I personally have never seen such a high level of pollution anywhere. It even blots out the sun completely many days. This is caused by the extremely highly developed manufacturing industry which apparently operates without any form of regulations.

My next shock was the absolute chaos in traffic in Hanoi.

That capital city has a population of some seven million people but it is rumored that there are six million motor scooters of all shapes and sizes.
(This of course makes it impossible to judge ones status or wealth by their mode of transportation as just about everyone in the city use bikes to get around.)

Many roads n the city have bike lanes, but very few riders use them. I have never seen such anarchy on the roads in my life. In fact, I would describe what I felt on the first few days as total culture shock as I saw riders, some even texting on their phones,  ride out in front of bikes, cars or trucks without appearing to look at all. It was not unusual either to see a bike with up to six persons on board, most being children and while the adults usually wore helmets, the children are never provided with any.

I must admit that after about three days, when I did drum up the courage to take a bike taxi with a Grab, rider (Grab is the Asian equivalent of UBER and they have both bike and car taxis,) I was pleasantly surprised to be supplied with a helmet.

The ride was not as scary I expected,  but on reaching my destination, my driver who was traveling behind a truck was nearly crushed as the truck driver stopped suddenly, then started reversing without checking if there was anyone behind him!

 My poor rider, he nearly had a heart attack.

What I found interesting too was the total absence of police or soldiers on the streets or anywhere, in a so-called communist state with an amazingly low crime rate.

This is a fairly clear sidewalk!

With the chaos on the roads,  I had expected to see regular, terrible accidents but amazingly, never saw one during the time I was there.  On one occasion, I did see one policeman trying to direct traffic during peak hour, (all day looks like rush hour anyway!) only to observe in amusement that the bike riders simply ignored him and did their thing while a few drivers obeyed his signals. However I hear that just about every car you see in the city, has a dent on the side and every rider has a muffler burn amusingly, dubbed the Hanoi kiss!

As to the treatment of pedestrians, Oh lord....they are of no value at all to those on wheels as no one pays any attention to any pedestrian crossing or traffic lights. In fact, I dare say, trying to cross a road in Hanoi appeared to me at first to be the ultimate challenge and almost like making a date with death! And where the sidewalks are in good shape  (not full of holes and broken slabs) they are captured by merchants or used as parking lots for the bikes.  So it's on to the streets for walkers.

Newlyweds pose in the street for photos

 I could not believe my eyes too when I saw sections of several sidewalks, both in and outside of Hanoi, with long beautifully decorated tents installed as reception halls for weddings. The Vietnamese seem to be great lovers as there are streets lined with nothing but flower shops and ever-present, are women with bicycles loaded with bunches of flowers which they sell on the streets and around the lakeside.

A dedicated bleacher!

 Although Vietnam describes itself as being socialist, it is among the most capitalist cities I have ever seen with every type of small business, especially food businesses. I am really surprised how slim everyone is!

And whereas one would expect a socialist society to be somewhat ordered, when it comes to town planning, the word that springs to mind immediately is anarchy. So it is not unusual to see the most fabulous building on the first few floors and literal shacks on their tops.

 Really weird.

Another practice I found culturally shocking was the widespread use of bleaching creams by Vietnamese women. It is as every woman there wants to be white.

 At first, when I saw women fully covered from head to foot as they rode their scooters, stupidly I thought they covered themselves up so if they fell, they would minimize the bruises. I was quickly disabused of this thought when it was explained to me that they remain fully clothed from head to foot in the boiling sun in temperatures in excess of 80 degrees because they fear the sun darkening their skin. It was uncanny, as uncanny as the habit of most young men growing the nails on their left hand to extraordinary lengths.

When I find out what's behind this practice, I will certainly let you know.

With bleaching being so prevelant, I should really not be surprised at the level of racism in the country, but I was, for this is 2018 and I had no idea racism could be so open in any country of the world still.

Shrine at Ho Chi Minh museum complex

Let me make it clear, I personally never experienced any form of racism and in fact, found everyone I encountered, extremely nice and helpful. But it is a well-known fact that visitors and residents never have the same experiences.

 I was really very appalled when my friend who works there, revealed that many employers will tell you up front that the salary scale for black people and whites are not the same. Blacks must, therefore, accept considerably less pay for doing the same job!

She also had the terrible experience of persons refusing to serve her in their establishments or telling her to leave because she is black. Yes in Hanoi in 2018.

Another shock I got, was the seeing the easy availability of all drugs, prescription and otherwise, by  simply going into the pharmacy and asking for it. I have no idea if Vietnam has a serious drug abuse problem, but I am sure the American druggists who are widely reported to be killing themselves with overdoses of prescription drugs, would have a ball in Vietnam where everything is so easily available!

Shrine at a local pagoda

As someone who loves to travel, I often find myself having to make it clear up front that when I write about a trek of mine, I pay more attention to the natural beauty of a country, rather than cultural practices or the type of government.

This is where I move from the negatives to the absolute beauty of what I saw in Vietnam.

 Despite being a communist country which long imposed on restrictions on religion, the government does not appear to prevent religious adherence, so pagodas (temples) with the most beautiful shrines are all over. I was really taken in by the way their elaborate shrines are cherished and protected.

Nowhere are they more cherished and on display than at the Bia Dinh Pagoda, in Ninh Binh province which was the ancient capital of Vietnam during the 10-11th century.

This sacred area which has both old and new temples, covers over 500 hectares in the mountains and forest, is a treasure trove of absolute beauty and great pride to the Vietnamese people.

(These photos cannot really depict the breathtaking beauty there but nevertheless, I must share them.)

Apart from the temples and pagodas, Vietnam has a proliferation of lakes which the government uses to establish fantastic recreation areas for the people. It is so pleasant to walk around these lakes and see people fishing or just hanging around with their kids.

Pollution in that country is really severe though and it affects the lakes as much as anything else. Unfortunately, therefore, while those lakes provide visual pleasure, I saw no one crazy enough to be swimming in any.

I am somewhat of a waterbird so always go on the tours involving the sea. Ha Long Bay was quite a hit for me.

This is  is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Gulf of Tangkia, which is approximately 175 km from Hanoi.

I found this area so beautiful that I dedicated an entire blog with photos to it elsewhere. (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2018/10/unforgettable-beautyha-long-bay.html)

Another spectacular UNESCO protected area just minutes from Bia Dinh is Trang An in the Red River Delta. This area is said to have provided shelter for humans for 32,000 years and it is  where one of the King Kong movies was filmed!

"Awesome" was the word which kept springing to mind as we wended our way slowly past huge kast formations and under fabulous caves, in a canoe propelled by a lady no less.

With the immense beauty of their land and their rich history,  the Vietnamese people have a lot to be proud of and this pride is on display in the three museums I had the opportunity to visit in Hanoi.  My favorite was, of course, the Woman's museum for very view nations revere their women to the extent that they dedicate an entire great museum to them.

The similarity to craft in Latin America is striking

Here we learnt a great deal about the 78 tribes that make up the population, naturally, quite a few being matriarchal.

 As I observed their dress and traditions, I could not but be struck by the similarities between women in this region to those in Latin America. This reinforced in my mind, the long-held theory that the so-called new world was populated by people from south-east Asia, long before Europeans even thought about world travel.

I think it is the high level of respect with which women in Vietnam are awarded, that accounts for their extremely low crime level!

Ho Chi Minh

Naturally, there is an elaborate museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh, and deservedly so. He is greatly revered in the country as demonstrated by the hundreds of students you see studying his life and works there, all of which are on full display in the museum dedicated to him.

 He was indeed a great hero. 

The third museum I visited was the History Museum and that too proudly displays the history and achievements of the people.

 Another brief, informative and entertaining aspect of the story of Vietnam, is depicted through world-class dance, music, and art at the show, the Quintessence of Tonkin.

Uniformed students pour into the Ho Chi Minh museum

This show is staged close to Duong Lam village which has a history of over 1200 years. This was really world-class choreography and state of the art technology and is performed entirely by the local people from the village.

My first visit to Vietnam may have been brief and while I have highlighted some culturally offensive aspects of life there, that beautiful country is now high on my bucket list for more intensive exploration.
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