S21/Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a Discussion

A quick expansion on Amy's comments about the atrocities that occurred in Laos during the 1970s. These are not isolated incidents. These are not distant past. These are more common than we would like to think or than we are taught to believe - the Armenian Genocide during World War I, USSR in the 30s, the Holocaust during World War II, Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 60s, Somalia, Serbia, Rwanda, Congo, Sudan. The list goes on along the dual axes of magnitude and history. The horror and sadness, however, clearly not linear, are in fact immeasurable. But if there's no yardstick, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former middle school converted into the S21 prison in which 20,000 men, women, and children died, does its best to capture these elements.

I won't go into gory details about S21, but the Khmer Rouge was fastidious in its documentation and record-keeping. So one of the most powerful displays is the collection of pictures of a fraction of those murdered by their own people. It is important, often difficult, and always heartbreaking to look into the eyes of these men, women, and children. Faces show visceral emotions, at times combinations, at times isolated - confusion, sadness, an inability to understand. Some bear fear, some terror, some hatred. Some, mostly children, smile, a cruel irony in retrospect. Various backgrounds frame the faces in the fore - the cold metal contraption used to hold the head forward, the slight woman reaching up to hold the white sheet behind, the undernourished baby in the mother's arms, the indifferent companions looking on vacantly. There seems little discrimination - children, grandparents, mothers, fathers, men, women, able, unable.


Phnom Penh in April 1975, a city of a million, a ghost town within days. These were the faces of those forced out, of yet another in a seemingly global and historical tradition of irrational, insane, inexplicable acts. At Angkor Wat, I hesitantly waded into a delicate conversation with a tuk tuk driver about the genocide. "The hardest part for us to understand was why somebody would do this to his own people," he reflected. I bit my tongue before attempting to get into a discussion of explanations. Foreign interference? The economics of supporting people in a failing Socialist state? Maintaining false international appearances? Common extreme idealism? Simple greed? Insanity? It's impossibly dangerous and perhaps offensive to rationalize. Inevitably, these atrocities cannot be explained, and they above all stand as a chilling reminder that the extent of man's potential for inhumanity is unfathomable.

Ways to Stay Cool in SE Asia

Get out of town and find a hammock near a rice paddy field,

then hang out with your elephant friend

before hiking to a waterfall.

Hang out along the river, or rent a kayak to paddle slowly down it.

The pool's always an option, but if all else fails...

just buy an umbrella.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Except this one!  The temples of Angkor were the most amazing of the wats:

What wat is this?

After visiting so many wats, or temples, they all start to look alike...

Learning about Cambodia...

While reading the book Motorcycle Diaries sometime in college, I copied this quote, about Che Guevara (said by his father), into my travel journal:

"He wanted to travel the world, not as a tourist stopping to take pretty pictures along the way, but as a person who could help alleviate human suffering in any way possible."

Now, clearly I am not Che Guevara, nor do I try to be (Ian and I have nearly 1,600 pictures!!  Too many pretty pictures!), but this quote has inspired my travels, to say the least...

Something we haven't blogged about so far on this trip is the "ugly" side of tourism -- the poverty, inequality, and human rights issues we've encountered, which are numerous.  The issues only seemed to exacerbate as we continued on our travels -- we saw some pick pocketing in Malaysia, some (a lot) prostitution in Bangkok, Burmese refugees seeking asylum in northern Thailand, and land mine victims elsewhere.  And then there was Cambodia. 

I'll start with the recent history...

I feel ignorant for never having heard of "Pol Pot" or the "Khmer Rouge" before this trip, considering the horrific events that took place there less than 40 years ago.  As recent as the mid 1970s, Pol Pot, leader of the communist party of Cambodia, instituted radical social reform that called for all urban dwellers to be forced into collectivized farming labor camps in the countryside.  He literally evacuated the population of all of Phnom Penh, the capital city, into the countryside and then abolished all religious practices, including Buddhism, and rid the country of a national currency (no money - what?!).

The country then experienced a large famine and many died of starvation, disease, and from generally being overworked, malnourished, and without medical care.  Along with the educated population that this regime had already killed en masse (because the educated were more likely to oppose the regime), Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge began carrying out massive executions at killing fields located outside the city.  Many were first taken to the Tuol Sleng (today a genocide museum, which Ian visited) to be tortured into "revealing secrets" before they were "bludgeoned" to death at Cheoung Elk.  Apparently the Khmer Rouge didn't want to waste bullets.  The torture and killings continued for three years and came to an end when Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, but not before the Khmer Rouge had killed nearly 2 million people -- or more than 25 percent of its population.

This is all history today, but Cambodia's people and economy still struggle to recover, which has led to some unimaginable hardships.  In our short time there, Ian and I bore witness to some of the most extreme poverty and dire human situations I've seen, namely child prostitution.  In Phnom Penh's city guide, we read about several organizations that help to alleviate the situation and visited one called Daughters of Cambodia (daughtersofcambodia.org).

Daughters of Camboida strives to rescue victims of human trafficking, some of which have been forced into brothels and enslaved against their will.  More from their website:

"The commercial sexual exploitation of children and young people in Cambodia has escalated over the last decade, into what is now an 'industry' utilized by foreign visitors and by a large domestic market. A combination of causal factors are involved, chiefly the cultural obligation of children in Cambodia to financially support their parents. Government figures for 2003 found that 90% of girls are knowingly sold by their families, a factor which serves to maintain enslavement in the sex industry once there, compounded by lack of alternative job opportunities and social stigma. Families’ main reasons for selling their children include poverty, debt & financial difficulties – but in reality social problems undergird this situation: parental alcohol or gambling habits, parental debts, parental materialism. Girls are also at risk of being sold if they are raped or lose their virginity. The girl is viewed as having lost her value and the hope of finding a husband to provide for the family. Parents then feel her only remaining value is to provide them with income through sex work. In a few cases trickery is involved: a boyfriend or close friend sells her to the brothel, or a trafficker tricks the family with offer of a respectable job."    

In short, this organization removes girls and women from the sex industry and job placement at the organization's cafe, spa, or craft-making center.  Workers receive fair trade wages and are given education and training to find jobs so that they will not always depend on non-profit assistance.  The organization continues to expand after only 3 years of running and 100 percent of the girls taken out of the sex industry never return.  It's an interesting project that is worth reading about.  Of course there are others too, but in our short time there we only visited one. 

Anyway, travel is certainly a learning experience that can motivate one to help "alleviate the human suffering" in any way they can.  Far away back in New York now, I already feel removed and I wish I could do more to help than just donating...but don't worry mom, I'm not moving to Cambodia to volunteer.  I'm just glad to have learned more and be able to spread the word to others.

Sarah Jessica Parker Does Lao, a haiku inspired by Amy Howell

Outside the rain falls

The rainy season they say

A monsoon I think

Watching Lao TV

All soaps and gossipy shows

And I don't speak Lao

But here's HBO

Showing the world's best re-runs

Sex and the City

Oh look it's the one

Where Carrie loses her shoes

At her friend's party

Four hundred dollars

For shoes her friend won't re-pay

And the Lao rain falls

Haiku Clarifications and a New Haiku!

Well apparently people took the haikus a little too literally (ie loved them too much). Although they are, in fact, rough haikus, they are tongue-in-cheek creations only inspired by comments Amy made. Thus, I (Ian) have been liberally ghost-writing, taking words out of her mouth and putting them to verse.

OK, clarification enough. Without further ado, "Geckos Are Our Friends", a haiku inspired by Amy Howell:

I don't mind geckos
But I'd rather not have them
In our room with us

So please get that cute
Gecko away from our bed
And I mean right now

Master Thai Chefs, Korp Kun Kaaah

It started with authentic, spicy Indian food in Malaysia. We tried our all our favorites (saag paneer, aloo ghobi, navratan korma, chana aloo, etc.), but were also introduced to kashmiri naan and some kind of delicious dosa stuffed with paneer and veggies.

Onto Thailand, our first green curry was consumed only minutes after entering the country (along with a Chang beer to cool our palates, of course). The next two weeks were an alternation between cheap pad thais, different colored curries, and anything we could find at the markets, stomachs willing. The food in the south proved different than the food in the north: equally as tasty but with different spices and flavors. Hoping to take some of the different flavors and foods home with us when we leave, we signed up for a cooking class in Chiang Mai before we left the States. Our chef, Aor, picked us up from our Lanna-style hotel to take us to the local market where we finally put names to all the interesting and new fruits, vegetables, and spices we'd tasted since we'd been here. We picked up a few items needed for the nights menu, including coconut milk freshly squeezed (we watched it happen!)

Onto the cooking school, set on a rice paddy field, we would be the only two students of the night! We sampled some sweet lemongrass tea (which strangely tastes exactly like fruity pebbles) while we waited for our ingredients and cooking stations to be prepared for us. First dish: pad thai. It's so quick and deliciously simple! We tossed tofu, rice noodles, veggies, and spices into the wok and voila -- a delicious dish with the sweet, tangy, sour, and spicy balanced to our liking!

We teased our taste buds (or burned them off with spicy peppers) before we prepared the remaining 3 dishes of the night: green curry with vegetables, tom yum soup, and mango with sticky rice. The school prepared all vegetarian courses for us and even made a fresh green curry paste sans "small fishes" especially for us! We both agree it was our best meal in Thailand, and we cooked it!

I will admit -- while we rave about the food, we do miss a good cheese, bread, and a pasta here and there. Since there are enough tourists in Southeast Asia, many restaurants try to capitalize on our western cravings by offering American and European dishes. Among some of the more interesting cuisine from home we've ordered:

- a "veggie burger" that was an egg mixed with vegetables, fried, and served on a bun
- "vegetarian spaghetti" which was actually spaghetti noodles served with a red curry sauce (not good, not good at all)
- rice wine labeled as beer
- "guacamole" which was green but had nothing to do with an avocado

Oh well, that's what you get for not eating like a local. For now, we're just going to enjoy it while we're here...and sneak in that slice of home only if it doesn't seem too good to be true.

Breakfast in Bangkok

What can 90 bhat ($3.00), some broken English/Thai misunderstandings, and 30 minutes on a street corner bring? Well, two fruit shakes, a yogurt/muesli/fruit plate, and an omelette. But also some interesting sights in Bangkok, and some pics that to Americans are like something from the other side of the world:

The Little Lao City That Nobody Could Spell in English

So sometime last week (earlier this week? what day is it?) we boarded a rickety longboat, took a couple last pics, and, in a rather anticlimactic way, sped across the Mekong River to the city of Huay Xai, Laos.

Well, that's how the guidebook spelled it. I don't think anybody really knew how to spell this town's name in English. I guess it was never meant to be spelled in English and, whenever things started being spelled in English around here, the town council, which surely must exist, never thought to set a correct spelling.

Fine. But I'm from La Grande, Oregon. And I've spent a considerable amount of time (read: far too much time) wondering how people mistakenly spell it LaGrande (no space?), Le Grande (come on, don't drop the feminine!), La Grand (really, Rand McNally USA 1998 atlas?), or any other iteration that is incorrect. But La Grande is just French for "the big" (or "the large" to put it more eloquently). 72% of U.S. foreign language speakers converse in French or Spanish so anybody can figure that out.

Now Amy is from Chillicothe, Ohio, so she may be a little more accustomed to misspellings, despite the fact that it was the first and third capital of Ohio, sandwiching Zanesville, and followed by Columbus of course. But sure, it means "principal town" in the Shawnee Indian tribe language. Certainly less people speak Shawnee than French, so a misspelling here and there must be understood.

OK, a little US-centric context. The point is, nobody could spell this poor little Lao town's name!

First of all, you had the h/x fans, which included the immigration department ("houay xay"), a guesthouse ("houay xai"), an import-export business ("houei xay"), and the Department of PWT, whatever that means ("houi xai"). They apparently got together and decided that things started with hou_ _ and ended with xa_. OK, everybody's happy.

But wait, then there's the h/s crowd, counting as their own the commercial port ("houei sai"), the "cruise" office ("houei say"), and the riverside restaurant ("houy say"). They're a proud bunch who rebelled and said no to the whole "x" business and decided that things would start with hou_ _ and end in sa_. Nobody likes "x" anyway.


In a little town such as this, you would expect a war. But even within the crowds there's significant dissent and I suspect the sign-makers are to blame. As long as they keep changing things up, people will just have to buy more signs!

But who's going to say which spelling is correct?!? From 24 hours in this town, I could only find one authority figure who could possibly figure this out, the one woman who didn't mince words when it came to naming her shop.

Step forward, Ms. Bakery, if that is your real name, and straighten things out for your beloved bordertown...

The Sun and the Sky, a haiku by Amy Howell

"The sky is the same
Whether the sun is rising
Or setting at night

So does it matter
Whether we climb the temple
At dusk or at dawn?"

Rice Paddies, a haiku by Amy Howell

Throughout the trip Amy has made a number of observations that initially seemed to be merely thoughtful comments but, after further reflection, proved to actually be brilliant haikus. The first:

"Rice paddies are still
So that the sky is always
Being reflected"

Amy's Perfect Storm

Here are a few simple but important rules to follow when one travels with Amy:

1. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, make sure you really know how to drive on the left side of the road.
2. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, and you don't really know how to drive on the left side of the road, just make sure it doesn't rain.3. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, and you don't really know how to drive on the left side of the road, and it rains, just make sure you don't get lost.4. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, and you don't really know how to drive on the left side of the road, and it rains, and you get lost, make sure you speak Thai to ask directions.5. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, and you don't really know how to drive on the left side of the road, and it rains, and you get lost, and you can't speak Thai to ask directions, just make sure you don't keep the map in your front pocket where it will get so wet as to be unreadable.6. If you plan to rent a motorbike to tour the Thai countryside, and you don't really know how to drive on the left side of the road, and it rains, and you get lost, and you can't speak Thai to ask directions, and you kept the map in the front pocket where it got so wet it was unreadable, just don't hit any deep potholes full of mud.OK, you get the idea, I hit the potholes. Almost every single pothole that presented itself. And I broke all of the rules. But if you can't comply with the rules, at least ride through some beautiful countryside and go to some amazing temples with stunning Buddha images (and cute kitties) in deserted caves in towering limestone bluffs where you're the only people for miles around.That makes for one happy Amy, motorbike and all.
Oh, and if you're going to do all of the above, don't time travel, but that's not one of Amy's rules, it was in the rental agency contract.