Look What I found! Sunrise at Angkor Wat...

While giving my camera bag a thorough cleaning from a month of travels, I came across a hidden CF card in an inner compartment. My heart jumped. Could it be?? Could I have hidden a CF card from my travels that wasn't formatted (and later stolen)?? Yes. It is true. I hid a card with some of the photos from my morning in Angkor Wat.

After doing some research on what temples to see, I realized that everyone visits Angkor Wat, the main temple, at sunrise. The sun rises behind the temple, creating a silhouette, which is a lovely image, but to me, this becomes quite boring. I thought there would be other sites to take advantage of in the morning light. So we started the day at Ta Prohm, also known as "the Angelina Temple" by the local guides, as this is where Tomb Raider was filmed. At first light, the surrounding jungle was beginning to make itself known with various bird and animal calls. The morning light began streaming through the ancient trees, pouring onto the elaborately carved stones of the crumbling temple. Wandering through the intricate passageways and courtyards, we literally had the whole temple to ourselves... it was magical.

Here are a few precious photos from one of my favorite experiences of the trip. Cambodia truly is a special place.

 

All photos taken at Ta Prohm except the last one, which was at Bayon, the temple with 216 carved faces.

there's just something about markets...

I've always been drawn to markets. Markets are usually in the center of it all. They represent people coming together to buy, to sell, to gossip, to visit, to get advice, to share, to taste, to trade. This is something that has gone on for ages all around the world, and it creates a beautiful energy easily drawn in to. For me, the local market is the best way to get to know an area: you can quickly determine the local produce and foods, the prices usually determine how isolated you are, the locals' reactions determine the frequency of tourists. Ultimately, it’s a no frills way to experience a place and its people. We sought these out in all the cities we visited, getting a taste of the unique flavors of each place.

Here are some iphone snaps from Vietnam and Cambodian markets...

The Horrors of the Khmer Rouge

I am embarrassed to say that before coming to Cambodia, I didn’t know much about the Khmer Rouge. I watched ‘The Killing Fields’, but it wasn’t until I read this memoir that I gained a better understanding of this act of genocide by the organization led by Pot Pol in 1975. The Khmer Rouge subjected Cambodia to a radical social reform process that was aimed at creating a purely agrarian-based Communist society, forcing over 2 million people out of the cities to work in collective farms, depriving them of their basic rights as they controlled how Cambodians acted, what they wore, who they could talk to, and many other aspects of their lives. Money was abolished, books were burned, teachers, merchants, and almost the entire intellectual elite of the country were murdered.

In addition to the relocation and forced labor, the Khmer Rouge isolated the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, and confiscating all private property. These actions resulted in massive deaths through executions and torture, work exhaustion, illness, and starvation.

About 4 million people, over half of the country’s population, were lost to the unspeakable and brutal ways of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998, having never been put on trial.

‘First They Killed My Father’ by Loung Ung is a firsthand account of a five year old girl forced to flee from Phnom Penh in 1975 with her family, eventually being trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans. Her story is heart wrenching and horrific, and yet reminds us how strong the human spirit can be in the face of such horrors.

 

Cambodia travels...

Happy New Year! I haven’t posted for awhile… due in part to being on the other side of the world, but also because it's good to disconnect every now and then. I’ve been swimming in the South China Sea, hiking red and white sand dunes that reach the water’s edge, exploring tiny alleys in old Saigon, discovering the ancient beauty of Angkor Wat, weaving through the stalls in busy markets, and now, finally, enjoying the calm turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. It has so busy, exploring and working on my project, I’ve barely had a moment to look at photos from the past few weeks. But here is a teaser, taken at the magical Ta Prohm Temple at sunrise.

I will write more of this adventure soon! xoxo