So today, I have to pick up a colleague at the gate at 6:15 p.m. and I have Arabic at 6:30 p.m. and I was trying to get a work out in so I rushed to the gym and there was one man on the treadmill running. So I get on the elliptical and start work out and I notice that the guy is coughing. So I get off and turn on the boom box. Then he starts blowing his nose into his hand.

Gross. You’re in an f*$%ing gym get a kleenex. So I try to ignore it, but its making me gag. Then he starts hocking up lugies and spitting them into his hand and then wiping them in his shorts pocket. DISGUSTING! I mean for Gosh sake, it’s one thing if you are running outside, but in gym on a treadmill that other people use.

I almost puked and rather than sit there and listen to that jackASS, blow his body fluid all over the place and I grabbed my stuff and stormed out. Unfortunately I forgot my phone, so I went back in to get it and he says, “What’s wrong,” And I say “You are disgusting!” And what I should have followed that up with is “It makes me want to puke and if I puke I’m puking all over you.”

Then he says “I’ll be done in 20 minutes.” And I’m thinking oh excuse me, you wanna be disgusting, do everything except scratch your balls and pick your ass so I’m supposed to come back when your gone, because God forbid you might be considerate of other people, you Neanderthal! Instead I said, “I don’t have 20 minutes.”

And stormed out of the gym again. I just can’t believe people are that clueless and inconsiderate.

Well this week, about 8 to 15 people got food poisoning from the DFAC and the B & B, it happened on Tuesday and so far the Cajun chicken seems to be everyone’s favorite culprit. Lucky for me I decided to forgo lunch that day for a nap.

It took down one entire PSD team from Aegis and one of their guys even had to be hospitalized, as the week progressed we kept hearing about more and more cases. And then yesterday a health inspector from the U.S. Army came around to our office. David, our regional director and my colleague Java were at the office. The inspector asked Java how the food was. Java’s repsonse, “It’s o.k., but we really could use more variety in the salad bar.” Classic

Well I woke up this morning and took my freshly laundered pants out of the closet, they had been through the ringer, scrooching down the stairs of the Mountain Temple; however when I went to put them on I discovered they were  not mine.  As a matter of fact I would have been hard pressed to even get my lower leg in these pants which looked like they would fit a very small child or a tiny, tiny woman. They may have been the pants of a very small Japanese tourist and I contemplated hoarding them, but I figured one less tourist wasn’t going to make a difference with the thousands of them roaming around Angkor Wat.  So I returned them to the reception and asked if I could have my own pants back.  They were returned that evening.

My first stop of the day was Banteay Srei a 10th century Hindu Temple complex 23 miles North of Angkor Wat.  The temple consists of low walls surrounding peaked structures of deep red sandstone. Banteay Srei means “Citadel of Women,” and it is said that the reliefs on this temple are so delicate that they could only have been carved by the hand of a woman. The well-preserved relief carvings on the central buildings depict scenes from ancient Hindu tales.

Landmines are still a huge problem in the Northwest part of Cambodia near its border with Vietnam.  I visited a landmine museam that is run my a former Khmer Rouge boy solider, he is now actively working to clear landmines from Cambodia and runs an orphanage at the landmine center.  Their are estimates that there are 4-6 M landmines still buried in Cambodian soil, what does this mean, more people with disabilities.  You should also know that the U.S. still manufactures landmines and has not signed the treaty to ban them.  Shame on us. Cambodia has one amputee for every 290 people one of the highest ratios in the world.  Approximately 40,000 people are amputees or have been maimed by mines and Cambodia does not have the resources for amputees to have good prosthetic limbs, in addition people with disabilities are not well treated yet because of the mine problem we keep creating them. If you want more information this BBC story gives a good overview http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3259891.stm.   I saw at least three groups of landmine victims playing traditional Khmer instrutments at tourist attractions to make money so they wouldn’t have to beg.  But in developed countries amputees are very well integrated into society, but because third world countries lack the technology their disabilities are just as severly inhibiting as the more severe disabilities.

My thrid stop was Banteay Kdei.  Built in the late 12th to early 13th centuriesCE during the reign of Jayavaraman VII, it

is a Buddist temple in the Bayon style, similar in plan to Ta Prohm, but less complex and smaller. Its structures are contained within two successive enclosure walls, and consist of two concentric galleries from which emerge towers, preceded to the east by a cloister.

After Banteay Kdei, we headed to Ta Prohm which was my favorite temple and swarming with Japanese tourists, like ants on a choice picnic item.  To avoid the crowds I went in the sideway through the trees, but kept looking for large insects particularly spiders. It seems that the Cambodians eat everything except Scorpians.  In talking with my driver Hung he said this is left over from the time of the Khmer Rouge when people were starving they learned to eat almost anything that moved and in the book I read “When Broken Glass Floats,” by Chranthity Kim who by the way lives in Eugene,

she spoke of eating everything to survive under the Khmer Rouge.  Hung says the peasants still eat evertything and according to another tourist I missed the insect and spider section of the market at Battambang.

Baby Water Buffalo

Although I didn’t see any giant creepy, crawlies, my off the beaten path route led me to a group of water buffalo.

Ta Prohm Entrance

What I loved about Ta Prohm was the fact that it had been overtaken by the jungle, it felt like a hidden place, well except for all the tourists, there were piles of bricks and trees growing out of the structures it was like a giant tree fort and beautiful.

Ta Prohm

Built in the Banyon style in the 12th and early 13th centuries by Jayavarman VII it was a Mahayana Buddist monastary and university.  And just to demostrate my skill at getting photographs without Japanese tourists in them please see below. Don’t get me wrong the Japanese are lovely people, but when they tour, they have to have their photo taken in front of everything so when you want a photo of just the site there is usually a line of Japanese waiting to get their photo taken in front of it. Which makes for a very long wait.  I guess this is part of me learning patience.

The tourists.

I spent the afternoon in the spa, then ventured out for Mexican food if you can believe that, checked out the night market and prepared to leave on Sunday.

Good-bye Cambodia.

Although the entire complex is referred to as Angkor Wat, the name actually belongs to the largest and best preserved temple. So Day 2 was reserved solely for Angkor Wat. In an effort to avoid the crowds I once again went backwards, but I was less successful this time.

Angkor Wat is a temple Hindu dedicated to the god Vishnu, whose construction was begun at the beginning of the XIIth century during the administration of King Suryavarman II. Its construction lasted 37 years. His name means in Khmer ” the city pagoda “. The main tower of the central temple represents the mountain ” Meru ” (or Kailash), the center of the universe for the Hindus (but also the Buddhists). The temple is supposed to be invulnerable and during the war which began in 1970, the inhabitants of Sieam Reap took refuge inside the temple.

[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Detailed carvings inside the temple"][/caption]

The breasts on most of the female carvings were worn smooth and I overheard a guide say that people rub them for luck. Don’t try this at home kids.

I spent about three hours at Angkor Wat, even though I’m on R & R I’m still responsible for the weekly report so I planned to spend the afternoon doing that. On my way out over the walkway that spans the lake all the stones were square except for this pair of feet that had been left behind.

After Angkor Wat I visited Handicapped International’s Center in Siem Reap and took a tour. They provide prosthetetics, wheelchairs and physical rehabilitation to people with disabilities. The facility even has a dormatory where people can stay while they receive treatment and childcare for women.

Finally I did one of the most interesting things I have ever done as a tourist. Everyday on my way to Angkor I passed signs saying that there had been an outbreak of Dengue fever and they desperately needed blood donors. So on the way back to the hotel, my driver Hung stopped and I donated blood. The hospital had a sick smell to it not like the hospitals in the U.S. that are very sterile, but for the most part it was clean and the staff was very professional and it felt good to do.

My driver who was recommended by two friends who had visited Cambodia, picked me up at the hotel at 8:30 a.m and we headed towards Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is actually the name of the largest temple and they call the entire area that but it is filled with temples.  After a brief discussion with my driver Hung, we decided to go backwards and avoid the crowds and I have to say it worked.   Hung would drive me to an area, give me a brief history and then let me go.

There are more than 1,000 temples and structures at Angkor Wat ranging from piles of bricks to monsterous palaces. In 2007 reseachers concluded tha Angkor had been the largest preindustrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres. It could have housed 1 million people.  It seems the first temples were constructed by Hindu Kings and then later structures by Buddist rulers and some of the Hindu structures were converted or made into Buddist structures at least superficially.

I started at Suor Prat Temple which now is just 12 towers all in a row. They may have been constructed as early as the 11th Century and as late as the 13th.  My guide said that they used to string ropes between the towers and acrobats would entertain the King and Queen.

After Suar Prat I wandered around in the back woods before heading towards the Leper King’s terrace.  Behind the terrace were a couple of giant Buddhas and sever children playing on the stone lions.

Next stop after the big Buddhas was the Terrace of the Leper King.  It was built in the Bayon style under Jayavarman VII, though its modern name derives from a 15th century sculpture discovered at the site. The statue depicts the Hindu god Yama, the god of Death. He was called the Leper King because discoloration and moss growing on the original statue was reminiscent of a person with leprosy, and also because it fit in with a Cambodian legend of an Angkorian king who had leprosy. The name that the Cambodians know him by, however, is Dharmaraja, as this is what was etched at the bottom of the original statue.

Right next to the Terrace of the Leper King is the Terrace of Elephants stretching 350m is is part of the walled city of Angkor Tom. The terrace was used by Angkor’s King Javavarma VII s a platform from which to view his victorious returning army. It was also used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience hall. Inside the terrace was Prima Ka the center of the royal palace.

Please note the lack of Japanese tourists in my photos, that took a great deal of effort.  After visiting the above, I went to Banyon Temple or as it’s more commonly referred to the Big Face Temple which is at the center of Ankor Tom.  There were several levels to this temple and I’m not sure if the steps are so step and narrow because of erosion, it’s either that or ancient Cambodians were super long-legged and had tiny, tiny feet.

The Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple. Built in the late 12th century or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist KingJavavarma VII following Jayavarman’s death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada (oldest surving Buddhist school founded in India relatively conservative) Buddhist kings in accordance with their religous preferences.  After Bayon my next stop was the Mountain Temple and I thought the different levels of Bayon were difficult.

Next stop was Ta Keo or the Mountain Temple  built as the state temple of Javarma V, it is incomplete because it was hit by lightening which was viewed as a bad omen, or so my guide told me. It was dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva.  Standing east of the Victory Gate of Angkor Tom Ta Keo is a symbolic depiction of Mount Meru, home of the Hindu Gods.

It has five levels and of course I had to go to the very top on very steep steps, I kept thinking to myself it’s going to be bummer to have survived Iraq only to tumble down and kill myself on these stairs.  Going up was less scary and I scrooched back down five levels mainly on my butt.

After surviving the Mountain Temple my last stop in Angkor Tom was Chao Sey Tevoda a Hindu Temple built in the mid-12th century it is currently being renovated by the Chinese.

After a morning of temple exploring and my near death experience at the Mountain Temple (not really) I headed back to hang out at the pool at the hotel.  I swam, had a drink took a nap and then headed to the central market to haggle with the locals and find some dinner.  After getting the majority of my shopping done, I had dinner at the Khmer Kitchen right next to the market, to date it’s the best local food I’ve had.  The hotel I’m staying at the Shanti Mani, is very nice, but I’m not crazy about their food and the poolside service is a bit slow.  I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s too expensive for the service and I think you can do better in town; however I would highly recommend staying someplace with a pool, becuase after a hot sandy morning at the temples it’s great to come back and have a swim.

Took the local boat from Battambang to Siem Reap. There were only eight foreigners on the boat including me. Deb and Louise from England, two policemen, Peter and Oliver from Germany, a Kiwi and a lovely couple from Belgium who both work in the film industry Wim and Stephanie.

We were in one end of the boat the back end by the “toilet” a big bucket and the locals were in the front end. And there were a lot of locals on our boat, the other boat was mainly, actually was all tourists, so even thought they left later than us they passed up about four hours into the trip.

But I was happy being with the locals. We stopped at I think all the villages, picking people up, dropping them off, dropping off mail, some melons, a lot of people were bringing back supplies including coconuts and bananas, no livestock though, darn it.

About 10:00 a.m. we made a pit stop for lunch, none of

us really ate anything, particularly after we used the toilet. The toilet was an outhouse with an opening into the river, the same river they wash their dishes in and I think that’s the thought that kept us on potato chips and crackers.

When we finally arrived in Siem Reap, seven hours later, the only passengers who were still on from the morning were the foreigners. We had picked up some new passengers along the way, but we were the only ones who went from Battambang to Siem Reap.

I was scheduled to take the bus to Battambang at 8:45 a.m. As I sat waiting for my ride to the station one of the hotel employees, a young girl who had been serving me food at the restaurant kept coming up, holding my hand and telling me she would miss me.  Her name is Srey Peck and she and the other employees live at the hotel away from their families so they can work and earn money.  It turns out that school has to be paid for in Cambodia, it’s not compulsory. Not sure how old she was but she was a doll.  The entire staff at Angkar International Hotel were great, but there is no lift so if you stay there get place on the first or second floor.   The bus was supposed to be there at 8:00 it arrived more around 8:30 and then made a few other stops.  We got to the bus stop and I had to exchange my ticket that I got at the hotel for a real ticket and then they packed my luggage I took my seat and we were off.  Most of the foreigners, all five of them were in the front, but I ended up way in the back.   I was sitting in front of a monk and to my side were two girls who looked to be no more than 14 or 15. One of

the girls spoke a little English, but we actually ended up introducing ourselves and I told her my nationality in Chinese. Her name was Ho Sue Whay, her traveling companion was Ho Sue Wa.  So I made stilted conversation with the Ho Sues and they giggled alot and when we stopped for lunch, I wasn’t that hungry, but Ho Sue Whay bought these grilled corn husks and inside was a banana wrapped in sticky rice grilled.  She offered me one and wouldn’t let me pay for it, which I thought was very kind.

People got on and off the bus at different villages and they ended up getting off at the second rest stop.  We exchanged e-mails. They were very cute girls.

It was a five hour or so bus ride to Battambang.  We got there and a man offered to take me to my hotel for a dollar. I thought I was getting a Tuk Tuk, it was a scooter.  He took me to this reallly fancy looking hotel, I had asked for a hotel near the boat dock, but I decided I didn’t want to stay there.  I saw a new hotel advertising rooms for $12 a night so I had my scooter driver make a U-turn and ended up staying at this brand new hotel

Seng Hout Hotel

1. 1008 B Road II, 50 m

At the North of Phsarnat

012 530 327

e-mail – chhounseng@yahoo.com

So if you decided to stay at the hotel, a couple of things you should know, there is no internet in the rooms, nor is it on the fourth floor or the fifth floor it’s on the mezzanine, the two giggly girls at the front desk had no idea.  Also, currently there is no restaurant in the hotel, however, you can purchase drinks and some snacks there.  It is one block from the main market, which is o.k. not great for tourist shopping and then if you keep going about two more long blocks, after you pass through the market and take a left you will arrive at the Smoking Pot which is a decent restaurant.   In Thailand I didn’t have a bad meal, in Cambodia it’s been hit and miss.

The market is fun to look at, and they have some really cute kids clothes if you are in the market for that, but other than that they didn’t have much.

Went to bed early because I had to  be in the lobby at 6:30 a.m. to catch the boat.

One thing I missed doing in Battambang that looked like fun was taking the Bamboo train.  They put a bamboo platform on train wheels and take you for a ride, four of the people I met on the boat did it and had a great time.  So if you go to Battambang, that is not to be missed.

I got up early this morning to go to the Killing Fields, everyone said that I should take a Taxi out there, it’s about 30 minutes from Phnom Penh, but I took a Tuk Tuk and really enjoyed being able to take photos and the open air. We are on the cusp of the really hot season though and it was fairly cool this morning. We got out there about 8:45 a.m. you pay a two dollar admission fee and then the guides are free, but they ask you to make a donation, whatever you think is appropriate, I ‘m not sure it goes to the monument, but who knows.   My guide had lost both parents, one sister and an uncle to the Khmer Rouge.  First he took me up to the monument a stupa, 17 stories he said, filled with skulls, I made a donation and burned incense and offered flowers for the people who had died so senselessy.   We then toured basically a field with trees scattered here and there and all these shallow holes in it.  They opened 86 mass graves at ChongEk the killing field near Phnom Pehn, they found 8,985 bodies, 9 nine foreigners also died there including an Austrailian jouralist, there are 43 graves containing who knows how many bodies that have not yet been opened.  My guide also told me that tomorrow, March 31, the trial of Kaing Guek Eav’s , known as Comrade Duch, would resume.  He was in charge of S-21 the prison that serviced the killing fields of Chong Ek and it is estimated more than 14, 000 executions took place under his watch.  Why did they die?  They were killed if the Khmer Rouge didn’t like them, it they didn’t work hard enough if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups or if they showed sympathy when their familymembers were taken away to be killed.  There is no reason.  Everyone had to pledge total allegiance to Angka the Khmer Rouge government.  A government which abolished institutions including stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion and the family.  Everyone was forced to work 12-14 hours a day every day, children were separated from their parents to work in mobile groups or as soldiers.  People were fed one watery bowl of soup a day, people who couldn’t work, babies and the elderly were killed indiscriminately, because they could not contribute to Angka.

The estimates of the number of people killed during Pol Pot’s genocide range from 100,000 to 3 Million, but the Yale Program puts the number at aroudn 1.7 Million, a number which is supported by other studies.  Chong Ek is only one of thousands of sites like it in Cambodia,  bullets were too precious to use for executions, so axes, knives and bamboo sticks were far more common.  To kill babies they just beat them against the trees.  My guide pointed out one tree where he said they hung a loudspeaker to drown out the cries of the dying.   As I was reading travel reviews on the Lonely Planet Web site, one woman wrote about visiting Phnom Pehn and said you can visit the killing fields if your into the morbid.  I was offended by her statement.  It’s not about being into the morbid, it’s about paying our respects, acknowledging what happened in this country and for me as American acknowledging my country’s part in it.  America has been notorious for not responding to mass atrocities and all in the name of national interest.  There are some things that no one should stand by and watch and this was one of them, and we failed the Cambodian people, not as Americans, but as human beings.

After the visiting the killing fields, my guide took me to Toul Sleng prison,which is now a genocide museam.  I arrived in  front of the museum with my Tuk Tuk driver Sony (pronounced Soon yee) and was beseiged my beggars, one missing a hand and a foot and another whose face was so distorted, I recognized him immediately as a burn victim, but didn’t flinch and wasn’t even shocked when confronted by this man and his melted face, which I realized probably would have shocked a lot of other people.  It had been a primary school and a high school before the Khmer Rouge banned all education, and it was turned into a prison and a torture chamber.  The classrooms were converted to .08 x 2 m cells and the prisoners who got those were lucky. Other prisoners were made to lie side by side on the floor of the classrooms, shackled together by a long bar.  I saw hundreds of pictures of not only people who had been prisoners there, but also guards and a documentary called S21, it seems the Khmer Rouge often turned against their own.  So being a comrade did not necessarily guarantee your safety or survival.  Some of their stories were told too.  But the most horrifying aspect were the weapons of torture, boxes for water torture, hooks, chains, whips anything you can think of.  And the photographs, some people looked oblivious like they didn’t know what was in store for them, others looked like their arms had been amputated becuase their hands were tied severely behind their backs.  But some of them, had this look in their eyes, like an animal caught in a trap, as if they knew everything that lay in store for them.  One photo like that was a boy who couldn’t have been older than 13, he looked as it he would die of terror.

I had hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the day, the same driver who had taken me to find the Tabitha store and have a massage the afternoon before, his English was fairly good and he charges $25 – 30 for the day and he waits for you at all your stops.  His name is Soon yee and his e-mail is songy_150@yahoo.com.  If you tell him you heard about you from the tall blond American with the bad leg he will remember who I am.  He was very concerned for me and took very good care of me.  When he dropped me off at S21 at 10:00 a.m. he told me he would be back at noon.  I stopped to buy some water and then headed to the waiting area, when someone approached me and said, “Are you a friend of Sony’s?”  I said I didnt know a Sony, but it turns out I did, he was my driver and he had some Tuk Tuk trouble so he sent a replacement.  Piset ( prounced Pee set)  he was also very good and we spent the afternoon running errands.  He took me to Tabitha the silk store that was closed when Sony and I finally found it the day before, then he took me too the U.S. Embassy so I could get my power of attorney for my bank account notarized.  That took two hours.  Ffirst I had to stand in line and tell them what I wanted.  Then I had to go to the cashier and pay for what I wanted and then I had to stand in line again to get a number and then finally my number was called and they clarified what I needed done, then I waited more and finally they notarized my documents.  There were a lot of Cambodian Americans there and then there were a lot of old men there, marrying young Cambodian women.  This one guy had to have been over 50 and the woman he was marrying could not have been 17.  I felt so bad for her. I doubt it was a true love match, but she did have a big diamond on.  Who knows what’s going on, but not sure that I would be able to sleep with a decaying piece of flesh just to secure a life in America, but then again I’m not in their shoes.

After two hours at the American Embassy Piseth took me to the pharmacy, to pick up some shower gel and liquid soap for the office, then he took me to the post office to buy stamps and then he dropped me off at a restaurant where I sat on the rooftop ate delicious appetizers had a couple of drinks and then found transportation back to the hotel.

So if you want a good Tuk Tuk driver for the day I highly recommend either:

Sony – sony_150@yahoo.com,or

Piseth – tuktuk@hotmail.com, (855) 92 272 861