Off To See The World

So, today was another “ho-hum” day. Kuala Lumpur is a pretty big city but that’s just it… it’s a city. After being to places like Africa and Tibet… returning to a modern city just isn’t as exciting as treking into a new world of culture. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still in awe that I am actually still travelling after this amount of time… and I’m even in more awe that I’m not even that sick of John yet. If you think about it, for 2 people who didn’t know each other too well before the trip, and who have been stuck seeing each other’s faces day in and day out for the past 8 months (almost), it’s pretty amazing that we haven’t tried to push each other off a cliff somewhere already.

Anyway, so this morning, we headed off to Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens… it’s a HUGE park on the edge of Kuala Lumpur. We started off going to the big bird sanctuary… man, tropical birds are cool… we spent about an hour and a half walking around this open air sanctuary snapping shots of peacocks, tucans, parrots, etc. We even got our pictures with a couple birds of our choice…. increasing our count of close encounters with random animals. It was quite enjoyable with one exception…. I got eaten alive by mosquitos! I HATE FRICKIN’ MOSQUITOS!!! Not only because I’m scared of malaria or Dengue fever (which apparently is very painful)… but because they swell up like golf balls on my arms, legs, face, etc… Like John said, it looks like I broke my arm is a few places because it’s swollen up so weird! So, due to the massive swarms of mosquitos at the park, we decided to head to safer grounds.

So, next, we found ourselves at the National Museum…. we probably enjoyed the air conditioning the most but it was neat looking at the cultural diversity of Malaysia. We walked around looking at the exhibits from each era and culture, along with a shipwreck exhibit that they had… also very cool. I can’t wait to do some diving.

Since John had not seen the Kuala Lumpur tower yet, we headed there for a bit. Other than that, we came back to the hostel for a bit… travelling is tiring! I know most of you are thinking that we are lazy and that we should be enjoying everything here… but damn, we’re tired… it’s hot… and this hostel has good movies. I watched Blood Diamond finally…. damn, if you haven’t seen that movie yet, watch it. That’s a gooooood movie. haha, speaking of movies, John and I went to see Wild Hogs last night… haha… man, I can’t recommend that everyone should see that but it was good for a laugh.

Other than that, nothing to report. Tomorrow, we are flying to Kota Kinabalu… my mom used to live there or something… and there’s beautiful reefs so I’m pretty excited about that. Hopefully I will have easy access to internet.

Well, today John and I decided to go our own ways…so, I spent the morning at the Kuala Lumpur tower, which is the 4th tallest tower in the world. It gives you a beautiful view of Kuala Lumpur including a nice high view of the Twin Petronas towers.

Next I went to the Ta One building, 8th floor… and that is where I spent more than 3 hours of my day. This is where the office for Northwest Airlines is. I had to enquire about changing the date on a flight… which on an around the world ticket, means looking into the whole ticket… all 18 flights…even the ones we have already flown. I have no idea why it was such a pain in the ass but I was there for a loooong time…. not to mention I walked around the building around 4 times before I realized I was already there.

When I finally made my way back across the city, it was nearly 4pm. I decided to stop at the glasses store to fix my glasses (I’m surprised they had lasted this long without any problems). They fixed them up pretty quick and now I’m back at the hostel… sweating my a$$ off again. Man, I’m not built for tropical weather.

Tomorrow we will go see the Twin Petronas and whatever else we manage to make it to.

Well, I am alive and well in Kuala Lumpur now. We arrived in the evening so we haven’t really gotten out to see anything… we did drive by the Twin Petronas lit up pretty cool though.

Ummmm, other than that, not much to report… we spent the rest of our time in Cambodia just chillin’. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by!

Ok, I’m actually going to write about Angkor Wat this time even though I’m still sweating like a pig.

So, after watching the sun tuck behind the clouds our first night here, our tuk tuk driver, dropped us off back at the hostel. It’s funny here though, if you don’t object, the driver assumes that you will be using them as your primary transportation for the duration of your stay. So, since John and I have no objections, our driver was our personal chauffeur and we didn’t even pay him a cent until the last time we saw him (earlier today). Actually the tuktuks are really convenient here and kind of fun too.

The next day, we slept in until 8 and had a busy day. First, we went to Angkor Wat, itself…. Magnificent to say the least. The carvings are so detailed and the architecture is so unique. Next, we went to Angkor Thom and the Bayon Area… then to Ta Keo and Ta Prom. After a while, all of these Temples started to blur into one. They are all amazing though.

This morning, we left the hostel around 5am for another beautiful sunrise. Again, we found ourselves at Angkor Wat but this time the sun was coming up from behind it, making Angkor Wat a beautiful sillouette on an orange and yellow sky (as shown in picture).

Seeing as how we got up uber early today, we were pretty beat so we kind of rushed through Banteay Samre, Prei Prasat, East Mebon, Ta Som, and Preah Khan… at least I think we did. I kind of forgot to keep track of where we were going so thosenames are just guesses from the approximate area that we were at.

Now, once again, we are seeking shelter from the sun so we are hiding in our hostel (we the exception of coming out to write this blog entry). We will be checking out tomorrow and heading back to Phnom Penh where we will catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! See you there!

Wow, what a spectacular sight…. we went to a handful of temples today… I am too hot to write about them right now but I will post again soon.

It’s SOOOOOO HOT HERE.

Man, I am literally dripping sweat wherever I go…

Yesterday, we didn’t do too much, we went to the riverfront, then to the Royal Palace (which was big but wasn’t too too much to see there), and then… I think we then went back to the hostel. It was hot in Phnom Penh.

This morning, we headed off to Siem Reap via a small town that I can’t remember the name of right now… Komp something? Anyway, it is dry season so there is no boat that can take us from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap directly so we had to catch a bus to this Komp place. Driving through the country side was nice though… got to see a little bit of the back-country stuff. I would describe Cambodia as a mix between Africa and India… can’t really explain why but that’s how my brain puts it together. The terrain is a mix between dry and sandy with flooded fields in some parts… and the children love to wave at us foreigners.

In Komp-somthing, we caught a little boat…. just barely sea-worthy, that took us to Siem Reap. The ride was pretty long… like 4 hours? I dunno… I can’t remember exactly how long but my butt did fall asleep. The ride was cool though… well worth it to see the fisherman, water buffalo, and farms.

As of an hour ago, we watched the sun set behind some rain clouds from the top of a temple at Angkor Wat. The structures there are beautiful but I was surprised at how many people there were there… it was actually quite crowded. However, we bought a 3 day pass so we hope to get some better views in the next couple days.

Silence…. that’s all we could manage after going to Choeung Ek Memorial (The Killing Fields) and Tould Sleng Genocide Museum today. It was a lot like the visit to Sachenhausen in Germany back in September… It just knocked all the wind out of me.

From April 17th, 1975 (Yeah, coincidentally, that’s 32 years ago TODAY) to January 7th 1979, the Ultra Communist Khmer Rouge Regime, led by the Pol Pot, controlled the whole of Cambodia. During this short period of time, about 2 million Cambodians were either murdered, or died from disease, malnutrition, neglect, or mistreatment. So that’s 2 million people in less than 4 years…. that’s just astounding considering that the population at that time was less than 10 million.

So, John and I dedicated today to paying our respects to the victims and their families. The walk through the killing fields was… I don’t know how to describe it… it was like you could almost feel the souls of those who were burried there… it just weighed so heavily on me. To think, this was only 30 years ago… If you were to ask a younger North American about the 70’s, you’d probably hear about bad haircuts, polyester pants, and disco music…. ask the same thing to a young Cambodian and you could possibly hear their horror story of watching their family get executed at a killing field…. just something to think about.

The Toul Sleng Genocide Museum was also a powerful place to visit. It used to be known as the S-21 prison, a place where men, women, and children were interrogated, tortured, and starved before eventually being killed. This prison, which once was a high school, now houses historical artifacts as reminders of the past. Metal beds with ankle chains still attached, ammunition boxes, prison cells where you could see tally marks carved into the walls…. as if that wasn’t bad enough, photos of bodies in the beds hang above the respective beds where the bodies were found… it made me sick to my stomach.

Some of the rooms housed hundreds of photos of prisoners. The portraits of face after face were almost just as bad as the photos of dead bodies… and why is that? Because you can see into the eyes of the people. You could see and feel the sadness… the hopelessness… the pain. In the eyes of the young children, there was a total loss of innocence… there wasn’t that glow in a child’s eyes that makes you smile…. It was just so sad.

Although I will never be able to fully know and understand how such things happen, I’m glad I came to see these sites and at least try to grasp the reality of it.

It may appear that all we did in Bangkok was have a waterifght and go see some tigers… well, yeah. I guess that is basically all we DID but I got so much more out of our time in Bangkok. I mean, not only was walking around during the water fight a whole lot of fun, it was also an opportunity for us to get a glimpse of an actual local tradition. Kids throwing water into open bus windows or soaking cops on motorbikes would never fly in Edmonton!

That wasn’t the only thing though… Bangkok, to me, was one of those places where I feel that I met people who I was meant to meet for some special reason and who I think are meant to play some part in my future… ya know? It may sound weird but I felt like I had one of the most philosophical and spiritual conversations with a few people… one of those “meaning of life” conversations that renew hope in the world. It was a reminder that this trip has been so much more than seeing the world with my own eyes, it has also been sharing in the lives of people from all walks of life. I can’t stress enough the value of just opening your mind, going somewhere and just taking it all in for what’s it’s worth!

Anyway, so yeah, we spent most of our Bangkok stay hanging out with Abdi, Tyler, and some other hostellers. Between water fights and spiritual talks, we managed to take a river boat ride and check out the old Thai part of town. The people were very nice, the street food was delicious, and the river was beautiful… we couldn’t have asked for more.

Actually, I wish we had more time in Thailand…. we didn’t really get a chance to go see any temples and ruins… or to relax on any of the beautiful beaches… but I definitely think I will return and get a chance to do that.

Anyway, John and I are now in Cambodia… the flight over was pretty uneventful. We had many late nights in Bangkok and a really early morning on the day we flew here so we actually ended up crashing pretty hard yesterday at the hostel and slept most of the day away. Today, we went to Choeung Ek Memorial and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum… but this will be a post on it’s own.

Oh my god, I think I found THE most fun holiday in the world. It’s Thai New Year, which is also called Songkran, I think. Pretty much the next like 3 or 5 days is a huge national waterfight thing… we happen to be here for it and boy did we take part today!

We met a couple of Americans, Tyler and Abdi, and we hit the town today. Good thing my camera is waterproof because there wasn’t a dry spot on me by the time we finished today. People pack into their trucks with big tubs of water and do drive-by hose downs too! I can’t even describe how fun it was… we bought waterguns and buckets and the like. They also put this talcum stuff all over your face and all over cars and stuff…

In a way, it feels like we aren’t seeing any cultural stuff because we are in a waterfight all day but I guess we are actually taking in the culture! I’m going to attach some pics since I can’t really put into words how fun it was today… and yes, that is all we did today… haha

Anyway, here are some pics of Songkran and a couple of the Tiger Temple too!

Man, today was another awesome day.

We started pretty early to make our way to the Tiger Temple about 2 hours out of Bangkok. It was a pretty long journey but soooo worth it. We got to pet Tigers! The were chained up and most of them were sleeping but still… it was damn cool.

We didn’t experience much of Songkran since we were on the road so much but we plan to go all out tomorrow with the water fights and all that… we’ll let you know how that goes.