What I Did on My Vacation: Part I

Don't take the straight path or the winding path. Take the path your ancestors have taken.

-Cambodian proverb

The first part of our trip was spent in and around the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia places we visit. Of all the places visited on our trip, Cambodia was my favorite. There was an abundance of history and despite the fact that Cambodia is a developing country, with a recent history that is both heart wrenching and devastating, the people were kind, welcoming and friendly.

As promised, here are some photos, in order:

1. This is the famous Angkor Wat temple which is part of the largest religious structure in the world. Words can't really describe how intricate and large this place is. On top of that, to know that it is almost 1,000 years old makes it that much more impressive.

2. Prasats Suor Prat - one of a series of religious and administrative buildings at Angkor Thom. From what I could gather, this served quasi-religious/judicial/entertainment building. There are several buildings, which all look like this, next to one another. During celebrations acrobats would perform on ropes tethered between them. If a dispute arose, each disputing member would be put into a building and would stay there until one of them died from starvation, disease or some other reason, thus demonstrating the gods' approval of the survivor.

3. Family making sugar from sugar palms. We stopped by to watch the process. The woman here offered me her child. When I smiled and laughed as if she were kidding, then she did too, but before that I'm not entirely convinced she was joking.

4. Face of a statue looking over the river at the entrance of Angkor Thom. This particular statue was restored and in much better condition. Most of them were a bit worn, understandable after 700+ years.

5. One of the more interesting structures at Preah Khan in Angkor Thom. Preah Khan was home to over 100,000 officials and servants and the structure is massive. It was interesting to wander through a labyrinth of ruins so large that a person could get lost. I liked the columns on this building in particular.

6. The famous silk cotton tree from the movie Tomb Raider at Ta Prohm. This particular series of temples was reclaimed from the encroaching jungle after it had suffered some damage. The results gave the place an even more haunting and mystical feel, so the trees were allowed to remain and are amazing to see.

7. A small girl in a boat in the floating city of Chong Kines on Tonle Sap, the largest lake in southeast Asia. Because of the rainfall during the monsoon season and the fact that the river draining the lake into the ocean reverses, the level of the lake rises by about 10 feet, covering all land. The high cost of land made many build a village on the lake which includes floating schools, churches, restaurants, stores and other things you'd find in a land based city.
8. A man sleeping at Pre Rup, another temple here. This man, who was dozing at the time, makes money by selling things to tourists and playing the erhu (the instrument you see there) for donations. Around his waist is the checked krama or traditional Cambodian scarf that can be used as a sun shield, belt or any other piece of clothing: very versatile!

9 and 15. These are pictures of a groom, his attendants and a bride and her attendants. Men commonly marry in Cambodia anywhere from age 19 to 25, and women from 16 to 22. Here is more info about Cambodian culture.

10. Here is a girl sitting in a hammock on a boat at Tonle Sap (lots of prepositions!) She is holding her new kitten, Mao Mao. She was very relaxed and friendly.

11. A traditional Khmer dance. It was at a hotel and a little kitschy (It felt like something you might see on a cruise ship,) but informative nonetheless. The dancers moved very slowly and deliberately and they were very graceful.

12. One of the bucket boys. At the lake village these little boys would hop in a bucket with a little paddle and maneuver out to beg for money. It is hard to deal with situations like this because on one hand you feel bad and want to help these people, but on the other hand it is a pretty sure bet that the kid wasn't going to get to keep any money you gave him. The overwhelming number of people asking for money also made it difficult. We resorted to buying little things from the people who were selling items and tried to help people out that way. It is a tough thing to deal with either way.



13. Part of the frieze from the Terrace of the Leper King at Angkor Thom. The name of the place comes from a statue of the Hindu god of death, Yama, of whom there is a statue with moss growing on it, making it look like the figure had leprosy.

14. The massive stone faces at the top of the Bayon, a large temple at Angkor Thom. They are very large and beautifully carved. Angkor Wat, this place and Ta Prohm were, in order, my favorite places in Cambodia.

16. Cambodian people harvesting rice, a major crop in the country.

17. Back to Ta Prohm where a strangler fig tree has wound its way around a temple.

18. Mama monkey with baby. Cute eh? One of the funnier things I saw in my journey was when I watched a Korean tourist try to take a picture only to have one of these monkeys sneak up behind him, grab his new, ice-cold, unopened, water bottle and scamper to the top of a temple and proceed to open it up to quench his thirst. The guy pointed at the monkey, yelled something in Korean at it and stormed away. Gotta watch the monkeys pal!

19. This is me getting a massage from an alligator. He said I had a lot of tension in my shoulders.

20. These were a couple of girls hanging out, asking for money, at Preah Khan. One of them had a few markers and decided to give her friend (sister?) some makeup. They were giggling uncontrollably when I took their photo. Yeah, I gave them a dollar...

21. A man selling sugar palm fruit and processing sugar. He cut open one of the palms and let us eat the fruit. It was juicy, sweet and pretty gelatinous, like thicker Jello. Behind him you can see the fruit boiling. After being boiled, it is placed in bamboo molds (that is what the women were doing in picture 3) then wrapped in a bamboo shell and sold to locals. Much of Cambodian food is sweet and reflects the importance of sugar in the culture.

22. This is the Baphuon. An exceptionally tall temple at Angkor Thom. I climbed up the temple stairs while Michelle, who isn't fond of heights stayed at the bottom. The steps were very thin and steep and I could only fit half of my foot on any step, so it was slow going to get to the top. When I finally arrived, Michelle was waiting for me! Apparently there were some new wooden steps built to help folks get to the top easier. Needless to say, going down was much easier.

Long Lost Relatives and the Hamburglar

So today is the Chinese Christmas. Happy Year of the Rat! We are spending the time here in Guangzhou. Today there are dancing lions and dragons, fireworks, and smiling faces everywhere!

We arrived a couple of days ago. I struck up a conversation with the taxi driver on the way into town from the airport. He asked us the standard questions: Where are we from? What do we do? Do we like China? Then he grabbed my knee and told me that my clothes were too thin (I was wearing thermal underwear!) and that I was going to freeze outside. All of this is very normal here. Then he told us about the Chinese New Year, customs, and events that happen. He asked my age and then proudly told me he was twenty years older than me. He then asked if we would come to his house for dinner. I thanked him profusely, but told him that we were very tired (We had just spent the night sleeping on chairs in the Kuala Lumpur airport.) and would just sleep tonight. We exchanged phone numbers. I told him my Chinese name (Li Zixiong) and he told me his (Li Jianlian.) He was very excited to when he found out we had the same surname. He said, "We are family!" It was a great welcome back after being away from China for a few weeks.

Yesterday was like Christmas Eve here. People get together and have a large meal either at their homes or in a restaurant. So there were people bustling around everywhere, carrying food, buying last minute gifts, decorations, and other holiday things.

We decided to do some sightseeing while the crowds were all preoccupied. After visiting the memorial to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen we were heading over to a large Buddhist temple when I glanced behind me to see a guy right behind me. I moved to the right and he did too, so I moved to the left...he did too. Finally I slowed down and let him pass, then I forgot about him. Michelle and I began walking again, next to each other, when suddenly she jumped away from me, whirled around, and yelled "HEY!"

She pointed at the same guy as before and said, "He's trying to get in your pocket!"

Sure enough, he had what looked like a pair of long, pointy metal tongs hidden in his hand. He took off away from us and I followed after him. John, another Peace Corps Volunteer we are travelling with, heard what happened and we followed the guy until he flashed the device or a knife (not sure), as if he was going to try to stab us. I sprinted across the street, found a police officer and we took off running after the guy who had darted around the corner. We lost him, but the officer was very worried about me. He kept asking me if I was okay and if he had managed to get anything. I told him I was fine and thanked him.

We went back to the girls and Shell told me that she noticed something silver trying to snake into my left jacket pocket, which is what alarmed her. The man must've noticed that I had a bulge there and tried to steal what was in there. The funny thing about it is that the bulge in my pocket was a double cheeseburger. We had gone to McDonald's earlier in the day and the counter girl had made a mistake and charged me for two burgers. I had taken the extra one and put it in my pocket for later. The man wouldn't have gotten more than a cold burger. I had a little cash, a camera, and a cell phone in my jeans, but the pockets were hidden by my long coat.

Maybe the taxi driver and the hamburglar worked in some sort of strange karmic way to welcome me home and remind me that there are dangers here that are always at work, even during the happiest of times in China. Maybe not. Either way, it was strange to have two interactions that were such polar opposites within 24 hours of each other and immediately upon my return. It isn't something that I am going to forget anytime soon.

Bali!

Greeting from Bali! I am in Indonesia right now. We've been here for about a week soaking up the sun and relaxing. It has been nice, but now we must take the trip back to China, which is being absolutely hammered by bad weather at the worst possible time. Imagine being away from home for an entire year and at the last moment, when you can go home, everything falls apart. There have been over 2 million people waiting at the Guangzhou train station trying to get home to spend the holidays with their families and they've been waiting in freezing lines of people among stampedes and a lack of food. I hope they manage to make it. It is tough to be far from home for so long.

I have been glued to CNN for the last week. First, because I actually *have* it. Second, because of everything that is going on with the Superbowl (I'm a big football fan,) news of China's weather woes, and then super Tuesday coming up in an election year that is really very close. It is all so exciting to watch.

Pictures of our adventures will be forthcoming when I arrive home in Chengxian around the 11th or so, weather permitting.

For those of you in Idaho who are having your own weather problems: build a snowman, dig out, and be thankful you have heating. It could be worse!

Talk to you soon.