Chennai Day two and off to Nagarcoil!

         In the morning, Emily, Laura and I went out to watch sunrise on Marina Beach. We took a rickshaw and Emily convinced the guy to let her drive. We were a bit late in leaving, but we still managed to catch some of the sunrise. We walked along the beach, dragging our toes in the water. Just so you know, the beach is not like California beaches. I don’t want to complain much because I did have a great time there, but just to give you an idea of the surroundings, there is trash everywhere and it doesn’t smell incredibly pleasant. Marina Beach is also the 2^nd longest beach in the world! It stretches on and on and on along the coast of Chennai. I was also amazed by how long it stretched from the street to the ocean. It felt like we were crossing the desert or something! There was a group of guys doing backflips by the wavebreak, so I did a few cartwheels with them and everyone laughed.

            Then we walked back to the street and this guy started talking to us. He seemed friendly and we asked if he was a fisherman and he said yes. I’m not sure if he actually understood us though. The day before, a few friends of mine met a fisherman who showed them the most amazing day! He took them out on his fishing boat and they saw three whale sharks! Then the guy invited Gabe back to his house for dinner and to spend the night! The man lived in the Sea colony, which is a slum on Marina Beach where most of the local fishermen live (the foreign service officials told us not to go there, which is exactly why they went J ).

            After hearing their amazing story, we wanted to have a great day with fishermen, too! So we thought this guy said he was a fisherman and he wanted to take us fishing. There was a huge language barrier though so I’m not sure what he thought was being communicated. We walked down the beach with him and then he just sat down behind a cart and told us to sit with him. We still wanted to assume the best of people, so we sat to chat with him. But then he started to grab at my friend and he told the other two of us to leave them alone for five minutes. Of course I said “No!” and grabbed my friend’s hand and started to leave. The guy kept trying to grab at her, but we were assertive and pushed him off and walked away. He followed us for a while though and ran up saying, “Hotel? Hotel? Lets get a room?” We replied “No!” But he didn’t get the picture. It wasn’t until I pulled out my cell phone to call Vikram that he left us alone.

            This really highlighted the differences between how women are viewed versus men. What was going through this guy’s mind that made him think it was okay to treat us that way? I really want to know what his thought process was. Who knows, maybe he said something that we didn’t understand and we naively went along with it. What I really hate though is that an occurrence like that would never happen to a man. Why does there have to be this whole additional challenge traveling as woman instead of a man. It’s not fair. The genders should be equal and I should feel just as safe as any man.

But in India, women are still viewed as lesser than men in India. Not in everyone’s mind, of course, but in general this seems to be true. I’m no expert so it’s probably not right for me to apply judgment, but I did not feel comfortable as a woman in Chennai and this was the first port where I could really feel the gender difference. I can see why Bonu would choose to wear a burka; I think it would provide a sense of invisibility and security in a world where the men can be despicable. I just hate that the solution is to cover up and become invisible. I should be able to be just as visible as a man and feel perfectly safe.

Our country has its own share of gender issues as well though. Men feel its okay to catcall at women and comment on their appearance even when they are complete strangers. It’s disgusting. Keep your thoughts in your head. Don’t yell out at me and make me feel uncomfortable and unsafe in the public space. That space is just as much mine as it is yours and I have the right to feel safe there. Why is it culturally acceptable to judge a woman’s beauty based on her physical appearance? A woman is worth so much more than that. She is love. She is life. She is nurture. She is the world. It is despicable to degrade her worth down to only her physical beauty.

Okay, enough ranting about gender issues… so after we ditched the creep, we went to eat some idly for breakfast. Idly is a kind of fermented rice cake that is dipped into chutney. It’s very tasty! Then we went to a snake park and a zoological park. There were snakes and turtles and crocodiles all over! The star tortoises were munching away on some lettuce- munch munch munch- they were so cute! One Indian Black Turtle did a head plant into his food and then opened his mouth wide and munch munch munch munch.

At the zoological park there were lots of birds including several Rosy Pelicans. These guys were huge! I could practically ride one! Then we made friends with several local college students where were enjoying their day off at the zoo as well. One invited us back to have dinner with his family, but we all had trips that were leaving in a couple hours so we had to turn down the invitation. Emily and Laura were heading to a village stay in Erode and I was heading to one in Nagarcoil.

But before heading back to the ship, we went for one last AMAZING meal in Chennai. We asked the rickshaw driver to take us to the best restaurant in Chennai (that was still cheap). He took us to this place called Banana Leaf and it was soooooooo gooooodddd!!!! I can’t even describe the amazing dance my palate did with all those wonderful spices and curries and lentils and veggies and naan and OH MY GOD! I want more Indian food…. My mouth is watering (I’m heading to lunch on the ship right now, but its not going to compare at all with this glorious meal that I’m reminiscing about)

Then we headed back to the ship. The rickshaw driver turned into an asshole at the end. He’d been so friendly all day and we even paid for him to come to the zoo with us and offered to buy him lunch and gave him an extra hundred rupies and then he continued to demand more. He was not friendly at all when it came down to the money at the end. The friendliness was all a façade to get more money out of us. I hate when people are like that. Why can’t we just genuinely be kind to one another?

Most of the stories about the rickshaw drivers were similar to mine (if not worse). But there were a few really good ones. For instance, my friend Katie was wandering around on her own, all the drivers were trying to convince her to ride with them and she just said she was going to walk. But then this one driver drove alongside her and said he just wanted to practice his English. She didn’t believe him at first and she assumed that he was just trying to get a customer. But she said if he really wanted to he could ride alongside her and talk but she was going to keep walking. Sure enough, he rode alongside her and really did just want to talk to her. After a while, she told him that she would get in and they could drive around together, but she didn’t have money so she couldn’t pay him. He said that was fine. He ended up driving her all around town for 3 or 4 hours! He took her to the famous church, to the temple he worshiped at and to his home and he never asked for any money. What a great story! It got even better because she ended up meeting a girl in the slums who taught her how to play a game and they ended up having a crazy dance party! Katie is f-ing awesome! She has the best stories!

So I went back to the ship and departed for Nagarcoil. We had a nice, small group of five students, five adult passengers and one “sea monkey” (the dependent children on board). The students were Dani (from UCI), Brian (from Penn State), Shannon (From CU Boulder) and Adam (From U MN). The adults included Marvel, the ship psychologist (and the trip leader), Shelly (lifelong learner), Gale (Marvel’s friend), Warner (Librarian) and his wife, Nancy. Marvel’s daughter, Sapon (who’s AWESOME!) was with us as well.

At around 5:30pm we boarded a train bound for Nagarcoil (it was a 13 hour train ride!). The train ride wasn’t too bad, it was shaky so I didn’t sleep much, but that’s okay.  Brian and I shared a cabin and we had lots of great conversation. He told me all about the experiences that have shaped his life, about his amazing girlfriend and about his university and his home in DC. I shared my stories as well and we had some great discussions about the challenges of sustaining human life around the world and how misled people can be in their attempts to “save the planet”. Environmentalism isn’t about saving the planet; it’s about saving the people. And how can we talk about saving the future of humanity when billions of people around the world can’t even sustain their lives in the present? Environmentalism shouldn’t lose sight of the goal to extend human rights and basic needs to people around the world. I think this is a major problem with the present style of the environmental movement.

            This were the things we discussed as our rickety train sped through the countryside, past farms and rice paddies, while the sun set behind shadowed mountains, illuminating the sky in a brilliant glow of orange and pink.

Chennai day 1

So I wrote a blog for my time in Vietnam (I went to the Mekong Delta for an overnight stay in Cantho)  but I can’t find it on my hard drive. I must have saved it to one of the ship computers. I’ll keep my eye out for it, but I really don’t want to rewrite it. I’m going to move on to India.

            Upon arrival in Chennai, there was a yoga demonstration. I have never seen someone contort their body in such crazy positions! Legs in every which way, I can’t even describe it! I am amazed that our bodies can be trained to move that way! They described yoga as more of a mental training than training in flexibility. The goal is to get the mind to settle and achieve a deep sense of peace within your soul. Only after that will the flexibility of the body come. I have trouble doing this on my own, but I’d like to get more involved in yoga when I get home. The key is to find a proper instructor, one who understands the body mind connection and knows yoga is not just about stretching.

            Then I went for a walk with my friend Brittany and two other girls. I wish the other girls hadn’t been there; they brought down the vibe, but oh well. We just wandered around the port area and observed. The ground around the port was covered in soot, I’m guessing from the coal burned on the trains. The smell was also really intense! Thick, putrid air arising from a dirty, overpopulated city.

            But behind the dirt, there was a lot of beauty and fascinating cultural differences. Crossing the street was an adventure in itself! So many cars and rickshaws speeding by without a care for the horde of people waiting to cross. We waited for a group of locals to cross and walked with them. In Vietnam, the trick was to just go for it and not hesitate; the vehicles would work around you. This was not the case in Chennai. The cars think they have the ultimate right of way and they would not work to avoid you. I witnessed several accidents between vehicles and bikes or pedestrians (I didn’t see a single one in Saigon even though there was a lot of traffic there as well). The traffic in Chennai is scary! I didn’t realize it too much at the time because I just followed the locals and went with it, but looking back it was really a dangerous place in that sense.

            On our walk we found a beautiful little shrine on a backalley. It was covered in colorful flowers and passerbys would stop for a moment and make their prayers before continuing on their way. One interesting thing though, I only noticed men on the streets. There was an occasional woman, but very few. Indian culture is very male-centric. Women are not giving the worth that they deserve. The practice of dowry, while technically illegal, is still ingrained in the mentality of many Hindus. The bride’s family is expected to pay for the elaborate Hindu wedding and the bride is viewed as a commodity traded from her father to her husband. Female children are looked down upon and female infanticide still occurs. In fact, India has what is refered to as a negative sex ratio, meaning that there are more men than women and the difference has been increasing in recent years. This reflects a big problem in the view of women. Based on genetics, there are naturally supposed to be more women than men because the X-chromosome is stronger than the Y-chromosome. So the fact that there are actually fewer women reflects that something is being done to keep their numbers down. Some people try to convince me that this is changing (particularly members of the higher classes) but according to Professor Medora and my independent readings (and considering the way I felt as a woman in this country) gender inequality is still a reality.

            Class inequality is also a big problem. The caste system is technically illegal as well, but it still plays a major role in Hindu society. Brahmans (the highest caste) still hold greater wealth and prestige while it is nearly impossible for members of the Untouchable caste to work their way out of poverty. My friend Vikram tried to convince me otherwise, saying that they just aren’t willing to work, but I think the situation is far more complicated than that. Regardless of the fact that they legally have the ability to work their way out of poverty, they still face immense cultural and social barriers. Sure, it is possible to overcome them,  but it is nowhere close to easy and its unfair to judge them as unwilling to work. They probably work harder than you or I do everyday just trying to stay alive.

            So back to my wandering… there were cows roaming the streets. They are sacred in India so they cannot be killed or attacked (in fact, motorists seemed to put more effort forth in avoiding the cows than the people). Chickens and dogs also roamed freely. The dogs were everywhere! I was warned about the stray dogs, but I didn’t realize just how many there would be! You literally cannot walk down a street without encountering at least 5 stray dogs.

            We walked by a group of school boys who were so excited to have their pictures taken! They don’t have cameras so seeing their own photo is one of the most exciting things to them! The lack of technology in poorer communities is one benefit my Global Studies group is finding to the electronic waste trade… I think I’ll do an entire blog on my project at a later date (I have a lot of information to share on it).

            Then we stumbled upon a Hindu temple and went in to explore. The temples are incredibly intricate and there’s a lot going on (understandably because they have so many deities!). So many colors and so many figures, it’s a bit overwhelming. I didn’t make it to the Taj, but comparing its image with the image of a Hindu temple provides an interesting contrast. The Taj Mahal is a Muslim mausoleum and its image clearly emphasizes the importance they place on purity. For them, God is purity, clarity, peace, and that shows in their temples. Whereas in Hinduism, God is everything, including all the chaos, and that also shows in their temples. I’m not an expert on this though, that’s just what I’ve been told and it’s the feeling I get from the temples.

            The most prevalent Hindu god is Ganesha, the god with the elephant’s head. He is the god believers turn to when they have obstacles to overcome, because he is the master of overcoming. He is the son of Lord Shiva and his wife, Pavarti. After they married, Shiva became restless and left to go party with his friends, the demons of the underworld. He did not know that Pavarti was pregnant. He returned seven years later and wanted to see his wife, however, he returned to find a young boy guarding the house. The boy was very protective of his mother and would not let Shiva enter the house because Pavarti was bathing. Shiva was furious by this and he cut off the boy’s head (remember, he didn’t know he had a son).  When Pavarti came out, she was furious. She explain to Shiva that he had just cut off the head of his own son. Luckily, the son was also a god, so he wasn’t killed. Pavarti demanded that Shiva go out and return with the first head he found. He left and returned with the first head he found, which happened to be the head of an elephant. She never clarified the first human head and he refused to go out again to find another head. So, the elephant’s head was placed atop the boy’s body and Ganesha became the god with the head of an elephant.

            There were four adorable young boys outside the temple when we left. They were all smiles and didn’t have a care in the world despite the fact that they looked undernourished and as if they never received new clothes or a shower. I shared some coconut candies that I had with them as well as some bubbles. They clapped their hands enthusiastically, giggling uncontrollably as the light, rainbow bubbles floated up into the sky. I wonder how their daily lives are. Do they go to school? Do they eat regularly? I wish I could adopt them and nurture them and care for them. But I shouldn’t assume that they are not loved and cared for. I have no idea what their lives are like and its always better to assume the best and not let my judgments rule. But with so much poverty in India, it’s hard to assume that children like this don’t face a life of hardship. But regardless of whatever struggles they have, they still enjoyed laughter and knew joy.

            After the temple, I broke off from the group and went to meet up with my friend Vikram and the Ghandi Temple at Marina Beach. I took an autorickshaw there and sat to wait for my friend at the base of the statue. Shortly after I sat down, a woman in a black berka came to sit down beside me. Her name was Bonu and I asked her, “Nenga enoda thozhi erukengala?” (Want to be my friend?) She was so excited and she tenderly brushed my cheek and caressed my hand. We talk for a while and I learned that she was 25 and, to my surprise, not in any hurry to get married. As she described it, there was plenty of time in her life to get married, now is the time to work on educating and improving who we are as women, as individuals. I feel that the typical impression of Muslim women, especially those devoted enough to wear berkas even when the law doesn’t require it, are just interested in working to marriage and a family. That was definitely not the case with my new friend, Bonu. She is an empowered young woman who is working hard on her education.

            She found it very odd that I was waiting alone and she promised to keep me company until my friend arrived. She called a few of her friends and told her about this American traveler she met and all her friends wanted to talk to me. She’d put me on the phone with them and everyone asked, “What are you doing here? How do you know Bonu? This is so strange.” It was a funny interaction.

            Bonu tried to teach me something in Tamil, but I never could figure out what it was. She lifted up her face covering so I could read her lips, but that didn’t help much. Then Vikram arrived and I hugged my new friend goodbye.

            Vikram and I drove around Chennai for the day (a few other guys were supposed to meet up with us, too, but apparently there was some miscommunication about where to meet up. But they ended up having the craziest day with some random fisherman they met in the Sea Colony who took them out on his boat!). We went out for dosas and some delicious chutney! I love Indian food!

            We went back to his parent’s house for dinner where we met up with four other adult passengers and four students. They prepared some amazing food for us! Barbequed paneer (cheese), chipati (like a wheat tortilla), mint dip, a tasty corn dip and more! Plus, it was all vegetarian.

            After dinner, most of the group left. Katie and Jeff had just showed up and the three of us stayed to hang out longer. We had some great discussions over the dinner table with Vikram’s parents. His parents are so friendly and interesting to talk with! Jeff serenaded us on the piano for a while and we eventually headed back to the ship at around 1am.

            Getting back was an adventure in itself! The gates were closed but Vikram sweet talked his way in. But then we couldn’t figure out what road to take to get to the ship and we made several sketchy turns to find our way. But eventually we made it!

baldie

Mingning, Max and me (Mingning now calls me 'crazy lady')

Going bald

Here goes the hair!

Day before shaving

I cut my hair into a mohawk the day before shaving it. Here's me with Zamika (I think, I'm terrible with names) and Ingrid (interport student from Mauritius).

Angkor

So in the morning we awoke early in the morning to go view sunrise over Angkor Wat. I wanted to get away from the group, so when I heard music in the distance, I charged ahead and made my way there. It was a call to prayer and I found several monks beginning their day. I waved and said “Auronsuicidai!” (Good morning) and they greeted me back. As the sun was rising, I went back to the tourist photo-position and observed along with the rest of the group. It was stunningly beautiful! The sky changed from black to dark blue to pinks and oranges, all reflecting off the pool with brilliant color! The pool in front of the main temple served as the most amazing mirror for this fantastic site! I want to share more with the history of these temples, but to be honest, I’m too backlogged in my blog to collect all the historical info, but I suggest you look into some of it on our own.

            What I will say is that the Khmer empire reached its peak between the 8^th-12^th century AD and this is when Angkor was the capital. At the peak, around 1 million people lived in Angkor. The lived in wood and thatch huts surrounding the main temple complexes, which were built of stone to last. The carvings on the stone are remarkable! I got a rubbing to give a sense of how exquisite they truly are. Angkor Wat means Capital Temple and it is the largest temple complex in the area. It was built in the 12^th century as a Hindu temple honoring the god Vishnu, one of the three main gods of Hinduism. There are 33,000 gods and goddesses in total.

            I wandered around the complex more after the sun rose. I walked behind the main temple and found another set of beautiful pools. There were locals driving by on their motorbikes and I wanted to walk across to join them, but our guide had suggested against it and I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to make much of a connection with anyone. I did find a crazy huge spider though and I took some great photos of it catching a fly. Then, with 20 minutes until I needed to be on the bus, I headed back. Turns out, I had wandered much farther than I thought and I was 10 minutes late. Oops… I didn’t think it was a big deal, but apparently some girls on the bus thought it was (one was the same girl who told me to shut up the day before, by the way). They complained to the trip leader and told her to write me up. But Jenny was the leader and she understands my desire to meet people and really take in the surroundings, so she was not about to get me in trouble. She did talk to me at lunch though and I apologized for being late, only because I know it means she has to deal with people’s complaints and I know that’s hard for her. I really did make an effort to be on time, but that was really hard for me. After breakfast we spent another hour walking around Angkor Wat, found a pack of wild monkeys and gave them water. They were really cute! I have lots of pictures to share when I get home (I think I posted one or two actually). Then we went to Angkor Thom, which was spectacular and far less populated that Angkor Wat.

            When I went in for lunch (meals were included in the tour) there was a young woman playing a stringed instrument in the corner, entertaining the tourists. She looked rather sad so I went up to talk to her. I said "Suicidai! Da nit chmo awai?" And she just looked back at me, wide-eyed, with complete awe and she took a moment to register something. She told me her name (I've forgotten it though, I feel terrible for that but I'm bad with names and its especially difficult when the names are so unfamiliar) and then she asked for mine in return. "Chmo ro baknion ge Liza" (Liza is the name that the man at the front door gave me because Alicia would be too difficult to remember. He taught me several Khmer phrases). I asked for the name of her instrument and she told me it was a sikhon. So I told her, "Kingom jochat Sikhon." (I like Sikhon)

She grasped my hand and stared into my eyes, into my soul it seemed. She caressed my arm and said, "I like you. I really like you." She didn't know much English, but she managed to get across (with a mixture of language and signs) that she had worked there 2 years, playing music for tourists and not once had someone come up and spoken to her in Khmer.

This made me so sad and uncomfortable with being a tourist. It seems that so many people tromp into this hotel to go look at Angkor without any interest in the people. I don't want to be associated with a group like that. I'm truly worried about coming of as an ignorant, self-centered tourist who's just there to see the sights. Students in my own group were laughing at me for trying to learn some Khmer. "What's the point," they would say. "You're only here three days."

But it’s not for me. It's to show that I have more respect for the people of Cambodia and their culture and language and that I'm not just interested in coming in, seeing the sights and leaving. Since being back on the ship and sharing my stories, plenty of people have said they're grateful for what I do and say, but I have yet to find someone else who took the time to talk to the people themselves. I should try not to be so judgmental of others with privilege, but that's something I struggle with sometimes. 

            There are around 200 temples near Siam Reap and I only visited the three most popular with tourists (although I would have loved to see more). After lunch we visited Ta Prohm and Bayan Temple. Ta Prohm is where Tomb Raider was filmed, so that gives you a sense of its appearance. It is overgrown with amazing fichus trees, whose giant roots are breaking through the temple walls. In other temples, these trees were cut down, but here their removal would jeopardize the stability of the buildings (plus, I think it’s more beautiful with them anyway). Ta Prohm is a Buddhist temple about 1km large. Here I met two guys who were painting images of the temples and Cambodia. They were both 16 and were raising money for their orphanage. They said that they used to just beg for money but then they met a teacher (who was with them as well) who taught them that this wouldn’t help them at all. He brought them to his orphanage and encouraged them to learn English and to study history, culture and basic math. They also learned to paint and play music. Now on the weekends they sell their painting and those of he other kids in the orphanage to raise money for their program. Myself and several other students bought painting from them. I now have a beautiful sunset over the Mekong painting by my Khmer friend Friovet.

            Bayan Temple took 27 years to build and is also a Buddhist temple. Here there is a large inscription on the wall that shows how the stone was brought here and also give insight into the life and festivities of the local people at that time. It shows the Khmer, the Cham and the Chinese people engaging in their different lifestyles. The Cham people were Hindu (today they are Muslim) and the bas-relief describes a war between then and the then Buddhist Khmers.

            The best thing about the carving was the way the women were portrayed. The female form was not something sinful, something that needed to be hid. It is embraced and worshiped. Indeed, this is true in Khmer culture as well. In Cambodia, when a man and woman get married, the man moves in with the wife’s family and helps take care of her parents. In many other cultures it’s the opposite; it is the woman’s duty to take care of the man and his family. But not in Cambodia. In Cambodia the woman is the boss. My tour guide, Thy, agreed that that is how it should be. Thy was amazing! He taught me Khmer and shared his stories with me. We’re email friends now. I asked him about his view of tourists and he said it’s mixed. Sometimes they are great and treat him very well; sometimes they are snobbish and rude and have no interest in the local culture or people. I want to make sure I’m not one of those latter tourists.

            Well… after the temples we went to the airport and flew back to Saigon.  

Desruction and insects

        In the morning, we headed to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former security office 21 in “Kampuchea Democratic”, created at the orders of Pol Pot. It was designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture of the detainees in order to gain a confession, after which they were killed. The methods of torture were incredibly gruesome and Pol Pot's rules were as follows:
1.you must answer accordingly to my questions- Don't turn them away
2.Don't try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that. You are strictly forbidden to contest me.
3.Don't be fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution
4.you must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect
5.Don't tell me either about you immortalities or the essence of revolution
6.while getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all
7.do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet, when I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting
8.don't make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor
9.If you don't follow all the above rules you shall get many lashes or electric wire
10.If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge

        Seeing the torture devices was incredibly difficult. And the rows up rows upon rows of faces or men and women who were slaughtered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Worst of all was the children. The innocent children. Almost 11,000 men and women were held at S21, not including the number of children. Their imprisonment was 2 to 4 months of torture. 6 to 7 months for political prisoners.
        One woman's face really struck me. She was smiling. It seemed as if she refused to let the Khmer Rouge break her. No matter how hard she tried, she would not let them break her spirit. Even when her death was almost certain, she smiled right at the camera. I wonder what her story is? Her face gives the sense of extreme confidence and strength. It is so depressing to think of her demise...
        Next we went to the Killing Fields, where the detainees were taken for execution. Here there is a room with several shelves, each filled with around a hundred skulls of the victims, ranging from 15-60 years old. It was very controversial to display the bones because of the religious beliefs of the victims. Most were Buddhist and they believe that the body must be cremated in order to free the soul. But in the end, it was decided that it was important enough to visually communicate the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime and the skulls were left on display. The room was also filled with paper cranes, wishing for peace to the victim's souls and their families.
        I was overwhelmed with emotion. “The method of massacre which the clique of Pol Pot criminals was carried upon the innocent people of Kampuchea cannot be described fully and clearly in words because the invention of this killing method was strangely cruel so it is difficult for us to determine who they are. They have the human form but their heart are demon's heart. They have ot the Khmer face but their activities are purely reactionary. They wanted to transform the Kampuchean people into a group of persons without reason or a group who knew nothing and understood nothing, who always bent their heads and carried out Ankar's order blindly... They were trying hard to get ride of Khmer character and transform the waters and soil of Kampuchea into a sea of blood and tears which was deprived of cultural infrastructure, civilization and national character, to become a desert of great destruction that overturned the Kampuchean society and drove it back to the Stone Age.”
        Four skinny children stopped my near a fence asking for money or food, but I had only about 50 cents. Also, all the locals told us not to give to the beggars because it discourages them from attending school if they learn they can make a living just by begging. But it was heartwrentching to walk away from them, they looked so hungry.
        On the drive leaving, I just watched the scenes pass by my window. A farmer pulled out his dead crops, I wonder if he will still be able to feed his family. Children rumaging through a pile of rubble looking for any usable materials. People gathered around the local television, escaping the harsh reality of life through some pleasant film. The distribution of wealth is stark, elaborate complexes with rails of gold are fenced in from the world around where children live in shanty houses of scrap tin and bamboo posts. I should not assume they live a life of sorrow, for I know nothing about their feeling. But how hard their life must be compared to mine... I am truly blessed but do I deserve to be so....?
        We continued on with the itinerary to the Royal Palace. The palace was first built in 1444 when a war with Thailand in the north threatened the capital at Angkor. The current buildings were mostly built after 1900. The King of Cambodia still lives here but he was in China at the time of our visit, retrieving medicines for a member of his harem (yes, he has a harem of wives).
        The building are stunning! They are yellow and while with magnificent Khmer-style architecture. The roofs feature the traditional tiered towers, reaching up to the heavens. The top tower of the Throne Hall features the four-faces of God Brama which represent the four principal directions. The hall is used for coronation festivites and meeting with foreign ambassadors. A nine-stepped white paradsol on the throne represents the nine-steps to paradise. The stairways outside are decorated with sculptures of the Snake God and complete rendition of the Ramayana is portrayed near the Silver Pagoda.
        The floor of the Silver Pagoda is made of 5,329 tiles, each made of 1kg of silver. It houses a Buddha statue mixed with 2,086 diamonds, 19kg of gold and 1 10 karat diamond on each hand. It was unbelievably elaborate. It was a difficult shift going from all the destruction of the morning to the ornateness of the palace.
        On the bus ride to lunch, I had a somewhat upsetting interaction with another SAS student. MY friend Eric and I were discussing different economic and political systems (we are on complete opposite sides of the fence, him being a free-market economist and myself more of a socialist) and were engaging in an interesting and perfectly civil conversation. Neither of us were getting angry and we both found the discussion fascinating. But then the girl sitting next to him blatantly told me to shut up. When I asked why, she said she's on vacation in Cambodia and she doesn't want to talk about these things. She found our conversation “annoying”.
        I was a bit taken aback by this. We are supposed to be on an academic adventure, NOT a vacation. Of course, I didn't listen to her command and Eric and I continued our conversation. If she didn't want to participate, that's fine, but she has no right to tell me to shut up, especially since she claims to be in support of complete “freedom”. Whatever though, I can't let these people get to me. Its just frustrating because we should be able to engage in civil debates about politics and religion, but so many people just shut down or get so angry that they can't even have a discussion. I find it ridiculous and I think it is the main cause to many of the problems in our society. If only we could listen to one another...
        After lunch, we had some time to wander around a local marketplace. I got a tender coconut and enjoyed its milk (which was slightly fermented. I don't know if it was meant to be that way but it was still delicious and I didn't get sick so its all good). My mission, however, was to find insects to eat. I turned one corner, and there was a woman with barrels full! She had crickets and beetles and spiders and frogs and locusts. I paid her one dollar and asked for some of each. My friend, Arron couldn't believe I was actually going to eat them. But I did! The spider was tasty, so were the crickets. The rest I could do without. Most of the people I ran into in the market weren't willing to be adventurous, but Keith stood up to the challenge! He didn't even have to think twice when I said, “Want to try something crazy?” He was down from the get go! No I know, I can always count on him to try crazy stuff with me.
        Back on the bus, I managed to convince several more people to try some insects. Everyone was doubtful, but I'm pretty good at making things seem exciting and amazing, so I managed to convince them. Most people immediately chased the bugs down with a big gulp of water though. I even got Jenny's kids, Lizzy and Andrew to try some. Guaranteed they are going to go back to their friends at home and say, “Guess what I did! I ate a BUG! GROSS!”
        Then we boarded a flight and headed to Siam Reap.

My friend let me use his internet so I can post some photos :D

The photo on the left is of my Tomodachis learning some Vietnamese from a woman from Cantho.

The photo on the right is a woman preparing rice paper in a village on the Mekong Delta

Commerce at the Cantho Floating Market

Boat ride on Unicorn Island, VietNam

Angkor Thom, Cambodia. Look at the magnificant faces!

Meditation at Angkor Wat, Cambodia (I joined them after taking this photo)

Ta Prohm temple, Cambodia. This is where Tomb Raider was filmed. The trees are a type of ficus and they cannot be removed because the temple would collapse. Plus, I think the trees add a tremendous amount of beauty




Buddhist monks at the National Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Monkey at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Eating a large spider and drinking fermented coconut milk at a market in Phnom Penh. The spider was delicious! The locusts and black beetles... not so much...

Writing wishes for peace at the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia






Lotus flower and the Royal Palace at Phnom Penh

The Killing Fields, Phnom Penh. One of the many places where the Khmer Rouge performed their brutal executions. A depression and somber sight, but worth visiting because it is part of the Cambodian reality.

Skulls of the victims mudered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. There were hundreds of these at this mass grave, and this is only one of 389 mass graves uncovered in Cambodia. Some had thousands of bodies buried in them...

Child victims mudered at Tsol Sleng, also known as S-21 prison camp

Floating village along the Mekong River, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Each house, though incredibly simple, still had its own television set. Oh the effects of globalization...


My "mud per" (Friends in Khmer) from Palm Tree Orphanage after their performance aboard the MV Explorer

Three of the students during their performance. Look at the way they are able to move their hands! Unbelievable!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Upon arrival in VietNam, students from the Palm Tree Orphanage (part of Cambodia’s Hope, an NGO started by the ship’s psychologist) boarded the ship to do a traditional Khmer performance for us. Khmers are the people native to Cambodia; Khmer is also the name of their language. The students ranged in age from 18-21 and they performed three dances for us. The first featured three women with gold tiered hats and gold sashes. They were incredibly beautiful and wore plumeria flowers in their hair and tossed flower petals at the audience. The center woman wore white garments while the other two wore red. The dance displayed some of the most elaborate and complex handwork I have ever witnessed. The girls were able to move their fingers in directions I never thought possible! They could also hyperextend their elbows (like my brother, only their arms weren’t broken, they were just super flexible!). The dresses and dance were beautiful! I’m assuming that they were traditionally topless (because they wore nude colored leotards), but modern social norms makes that unacceptable.

In the next dance, four guys came out holding poles with flowers dangling on the end. Then four women joined and the guys proceeded to “fish” for women. But the women would usually just turn them away. The next dance was also four guys and four girls, but this time the guys were dressed in clown attire with silly black make-up on their faces. This dance also focused on the guys trying to get girls, but the girls would usually just turn them away. According to my guide in Cambodia, women are the boss in their culture. They control the money and make decisions for the household. When a couple gets married, the man’s family pays for the wedding and the man moves in with his wife’s family to care for her and her parents. This contrast with China and many other cultures where the woman’s family must pay a dowry to the man’s family and the bride moves in with her husband’s family to care for his parents. Personally, I think the Cambodian system makes more sense. The woman is the life giver and what every man craves so I think it’s ridiculous that she should be required to pay for a wedding or to leave her family.

After the performance, I went up to talk to the students. I asked how to ask “Want to be my friend?” in Khmer, which is “Kor-nhum churng-klai chih nit ner?” So I asked if they wanted to be my friends and they said they’d love to! They were excited to hear that I was going to Cambodia and visiting their orphanage in Phnom Penh. I talked with Ben, a former SAS student who now volunteers at Palm Tree, and we hoped to meet up that night so that the students and I could hang out some more. Unfortunately, that didn’t end up working out because the students got back too late and were really tired after a long day of traveling all the way to Saigon and back. I guess I’ll just have to go back to Cambodia! Actually, I really do need to go back! The people were so amazing and I feel like I hardly got to experience their culture and everything they wanted to show me because I was on an organized SAS trip…

Two of the students, Kea and Yort, gave me a list of their siblings’ names so that I could find them when I visited Palm Tree (the dancers weren’t going to be back in time for our visit unfortunately). I tried to find them, but failed L There are around 90 children in the orphanage, so finding their siblings was difficult.

We flew into Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city in Cambodia. “Phnom Penh City takes its name from the present Wat Phnom or Hill Temple. Legend has it that in 1372, an old nun named Penh went to fetch the water in the Mekong River and found a dead Koki tree floating down the stream. Inside the hole of that dead Koki tree contained four bronze and one stone Buddha statues in it.

Daun (Grandma) Penh brought the statues ashore and ordered people to pile up earth at northeast of her house and used those Koki trunks to build a temple on that hill to house the five Buddha statues The people then named the temple after her.”

            Phnom Penh became the capital of Cambodia in 1432 after the king Ponhea Yat moved the capital away from Angkor Thom. Starting in 1505, however, it was abandoned and the capital moved several times. In 1866, King Norodom I made it the permanent seat of government and the Royal Palace was built there. But in 1870, the French colonized the area and began to build French-style buildings in the city. In the early 1950’s, Cambodia became independent of French control and Phnom Penh boomed. There was a huge influx of educated architects, engineers, doctors etc and the country was well on its way to being a successful, independent nation.

            Then in 1974, Pol Pot came to power and on April 17, 1975, his armies claimed Phnom Penh. Pol Pot (birth name Saloth Sar) was the leader of the Cambodian Communist Party known as the Khmer Rouge. Immediately after the fall of Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge worked to move the country back to “Year Zero” and forced the evacuation of all major cities under his control. He removed all monetary systems, ordered the destruction of religious figures, forced city dwellers to the countryside to form an agrarian society and ordered the execution of educated and opposing individuals. The combined effects of slave labor, malnutrition (due to a failed agrarian system), poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people, approximately 21% of the Cambodian population.

“The Khmer Rouge leadership boasted over the state-controlled radio that only one or two million people were needed to build the new agrarian communist utopia. As for the others, as their proverb put it, "To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.”

Hundreds of thousands of the new people, and later the depositees, were taken out in shackles to dig their own mass graves. Then the Khmer Rouge soldiers beat them to death with iron bars and hoes or buried them alive. A Khmer Rouge extermination prison directive ordered, "Bullets are not to be wasted."

The Khmer Rouge also targeted religious and ethnic groups. They banned all religion and dispersed minority groups, forbidding them to speak their languages or to practice their customs. They especially targeted Buddhist monks, Muslims, Western-educated intellectuals, educated people in general, people who had contact with Western countries or with Vietnam, disabled people, and the ethnic Chinese, Laotians and Vietnamese. Some were put in the S-21 camp [now the Tsol Sleng Genocide Museum] for interrogation involving torture in cases where a confession was useful to the government. Many others were summarily executed. Confessions forced at S-21 were extracted from prisoners through such methods as raising prisoners by their arms tied behind and dislocating shoulders, removing toenails with pliers, suffocating a prisoner repeatedly, and skinning a person while alive.^”

The destruction initiated by Pol Pot and carried out by the Khmer Rouge is too disturbing for words. Pol Pot was eventually kicked out by the Vietnamese, the opposing socialist power in Southeast Asia. However, the US and other UN nations opposed the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. There is a long history of conflict between the Khmer and Vietnamese, and despite how bad control in the hands of the Khmer Rouge was, it was believed that control in the hands of the Vietnamese would be much worse. Fighting with the Vietnamese continued until they withdrew from the country in 1989. At the point, Pol Pot returned and the Cambodian Civil War continued. Fighting didn’t cease until 1998 when Pol Pot died and the remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologized for the 1970s genocide. Ever since the 1990s, Cambodia has gradually recovered from the atrocities. Today, the country is lead by a democratic democracy under a constitutional monarchy (i.e., they have an elected government but are also still ruled by a king). The population is about 14 million (2 million in Phnom Penh) and half of the people are under 22. Religious practice and agriculture are incredibly important to the Khmer people. 95% of the population is Theravada Buddhist and 88% are farmers, growing mostly rice.

Our first stop in Phnom Penh was the National Museum. It was a beautiful red building built in a style that is unique to Cambodia, with tiered towers and sharp angles. The museum houses over 14,000 items from prehistoric times as well as artifacts and statues from the ancient temples of the Khmer empire, including those at Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Da Prohm and many others. The museum was built between 1917-1924 in order to conserve and protect the artifacts collected throughout the country. Looting of these artifacts from the temples was a big problem, so the museum was to act as a safehold. However, looting and illegal sale of Khmer treasures (even from the museum iteself) remains a concern.

“The turmoil of recent decades—especially the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of 1975-79—devastated all aspects of Cambodian life including the cultural realm. During the years of Khmer Rouge control, the Museum, along with the rest of Phnom Penh, was evacuated and abandoned. The Museum, closed between 1975 and 1979, suffered from neglect and after the liberation of Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979, was found in disrepair, its roof rotten and home to a vast colony of bats, the garden overgrown, and the collection in disarray, many objects damaged or stolen. The Museum was quickly tidied up and reopened to the public on April 13, 1979. However, many of the Museum's employees had lost their lives during the Khmer Rouge regime. The resulting loss of expertise, combined with the deterioration of the Museum building and its collection, have made rehabilitation of the Museum a daunting task.”

We observed many Hindu and Buddhist sculptures including ones of Siva (the Destroyer), Vishnu (the protector) and Bramha (the Creator) as well as a beautiful painting of the Khmer rendition of the epic tale Ramayana (known is Khmer as the Reamker). The statues of female dieties are voluptuous and beautiful; the female form is clearly embraced and admired rather than viewed as sinful (as it is in many western religions). The inner garden is remarkably beautiful and peaceful! There were several Buddhist monks enjoying the garden as well. Funny thing, I saw one texting on his cell phone! I guess even the “traditional” monks are modernizing.

I wanted to enjoy the museum longer, but I had to get back on the bus. I was late because I was busy taking in the garden and I hate being rushed. C’est la vie…

Next we went for a river boat ride on the Mekong River, the largest river in Cambodia. Crops were grown right along the riverbank, including corn and tomatoes. On the boat ride, I observed local fishermen collecting their catch and heading home to cook dinner for their families. There were hundreds of riverboat homes along the banks. Each was small and modest, with several people living inside. Strangely, each one contained a TV! It would be easy to judge these homes as unlivable, and many people on the boat were saddened by the conditions. But I thought the conditions seemed pleasant. The air is warm and the people are surrounded by a beautiful natural environment. No heating is necessary and a simple fan is enough to keep one comfortable. I could hear the sounds of children laughing and see them jumping from house to house playing some sort of game. Sure, the living quarters are close, but I think that’s a good thing. It creates a closer community and promotes a social environment, but I guess I just don’t desire the same personal space as many others. Also, the dwellers can just take their boats out during the day to catch fish, grown crops on the fertile riverbanks to complement the fish and visit with their friends and family without ever needing to travel far from home. Regardless of how the other students felt about the conditions, there’s no arguing that this is a more sustainable lifestyle than any of the ones we chose to live.

So we watched the sun set while we basked in the warm sun. When we disembarked, there was a group of locals doing aerobics on the shore and a few of us joined in before being rushed onto the bus yet again.

Next stop: Palm Tree Orphanage. We walked down a small back alley to get there and passed a make-shift movie theater. About 15 locals gathered around a small TV to watch a film from the comfort of their metal folding chairs. I noticed several of these in Phnom Penh, Siam Reap and around the Mekong Delta in VietNam as well.

The children were all so excited to greet us! This young boy named Edward grabbed my hand and took me around the main area. He was so sweet! I wrapped a purple scarf around his neck and gave him hug. The scarf was made by the knitting with a purpose group (I made a scarf for them earlier that went to an orphanage in China) and Jenny attached a blessing to each, hoping that the receiver will find peace in his/her life.

Edward and I played soccer together with a flat ball (the only one in the orphanage. I’d love to find a way to send them a new ball, but I think they need school supplies more). This young woman, Sueymom, joined in. She’s 14-years old and we developed quite a bond in a very short time. Her and a young man named Maradv showed me around their classes and bedrooms. The girls and boys sleep in separate buildings. Each building has two large rooms where the children sleep together on the wooden floor. They each have their own cubby to keep their school uniform and supplies, but other than that they have little personal space. The classrooms are simple yet suitable, with a desk for each child and two large chalkboards on which to write lessons.

The students mostly learn English as well as basic arithmetic and some geography. They can also learn how to cook, clean, sew, dance and play music. The orphanage has a couple communal instruments, including a drum and a guitar, which the students can use. A large, open room below the boy’s dormitory serves as the performance space. The children are well fed by the two resident cooks who prepare three meals a day and also teach cooking skills.

Despite everything the children have gone through and how little they have, they were remarkably happy. They were all very grateful for Mr. Toad, the man who runs the orphanage, and for the opportunity the school provides for taking them off the street and helping them work towards obtaining jobs (mostly in hospitality- I’m not sure how I feel about this, but at least they are finding work instead of begging on the streets). The school tries to keep siblings together so that some of their family is still retained.

After showing me around, Sueymom, Maradv and I went to join the others for a game. Everyone stood around in a circle and people would jump in the middle one or two at a time. At first, it was the orphans that hoped in, but then the SASers started to join, often accompanied by an orphan. The motions were similar to “head shoulders knees and toes” followed by a unique dance of whatever the individual liked at the end. The rest of the group would clap their hands and chant for those in the middle. Sueymom was shy and nervous, but I convinced her to enter the circle with me. We were both laughing so hard! We shared in a deep embrace and kissed once another on the cheek in between the smiles and laughter. She then ran up to her room and brought back a photo for me. It was of herself, looking very beautiful. This meant so much to me! I can’t imagine she has much access to photos, so the fact that she shared one with me was very touching. I use it as my bookmark now. I also bought a backpack from her. She and some of the other orphans sew together old rice sacks into bags and backpacks to raise money for the school.

Then, sadly, it was time to go. We exchanged emails and hugged one another several more times (it turned into a group hug as others joined in, too) before I realized that everyone else was gone and it was time to head to the bus before they left without me. Hopefully we will keep in touch through email and I would love to return to Cambodia again to visit her and my other friends from the performance that morning.

Then we had a delicious dinner and went back to the hotel to rest.

Hong Kong

In the morning, I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was a fabulous museum! On the way, this Hindi man noticed me and instantly stopped his conversation with his friend to come talk to me. He told me that he could see me (as he pointed to his third eye and to mine), that he knew me. I didn’t know how to take this, part of me was taken aback and part of me said I could trust him. He said that I was going to have great luck in the upcoming months, but that I’m too in my head and I need to learn to listen to my heart more often. He wanted to see my right hand to tell me more, but I was in my head and I declined. Looking back, I’m curiously to know what he might have said if I had presented my hand. I don’t think he wanted money, he wasn’t a beggar. He just wanted to show me something, but I was nervous.

Anyway, I kept walking. The museum was founded in 1962 and over the past 45 years it has accumulated many wonderful exhibits. They gave a wide range of perspectives on Chinese history and art. The Xubaizhai Collection featured masterpieces of Chinese painting and calligraphy of the Jun, Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties.The largest was a scroll titled “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” that measures 24.8cm by 528.7 cm (huge and yet it’s only ¾ of its original length!). It shows  spring scene of two porters herding donkeys loaded with charcoal along a tranquil stream by a village. Boats of all shapes and sizes unload goods down the Bian River, while wine taverns and tea houses go about their own business on the banks. The focal point of the painting is an arch bridge packed with the hustle and bustle of the crowds gathering for the festival.

The Qingming Festival is a time for visiting ancestors’ graves to show their remembrance. During the Song Dynasty, it was also an idyllic celebration of spring representing the prosperity of the Northern Song. Little is known about the painter, Zhang Zeduan, because he is omitted from the Catalogue of Paintings of the Xuanhe Emperor. Su Dongpu (who I mentioned in a previous blog) is also omitted from the Catalogue of Calligraphy of the Xuanhe Emperor. This is likely because Cai Jing, another painter of the time who is prominent in both catalogues, detested Su Dongpu and Zhang Zeduan (one scholar speculates that this is due to their righteousness). Regardless of his omission, he was a very skilled painter and this is a magnificent scroll.

My favorite in the exhibit was a painting by Luo Pin titled Ghost Amusements. It’s from 1797 and is an unworldly painting of ghostly figures, some similar to everyday people, some ghoulish, green and angular. They wander amidst swirling clouds set against a dark, creepy background. A skeleton on the far left of the scroll hold an arrow; he points it in the direction of an hourglass. This symbolizes that time passes for everything and human beings should cherish the little time we have on this earth.

There was also a fabulous exhibit on ceramics, the most enduring of all art types in China. The exhibit goes from the raw potteries of early China to the exquisite porcelains of later dynasties. The ceramics were used for everyday use, but they also provide insight into the burial culture, extravagance of the Imperial courts, and the importance of literature and art. The ceramics of the Ming Dynasty especially caught my eye. They exhibit inscriptions in Arabic, Tibetan and Chinese showing the wide range of the Dynasty and the cultures it embraced. These ceramics also had multi-layered and multi-colored glazes that created lovely contrasts. A common motif was that of the 5 auspicious plants and the five poisons. The plants are the sweetfly, mugwort, pomegranate, garlic and gossiner. All were believed to ward of poisons, have detoxicating properties and were used as medicines. The five poisons were scorpion, centipede, snake, toad and lizard.

Pomegranates were used as a symbol of fertility, especially when it is opening and exposing its many seeds. Magpies also represent good fortune because the Chinese word for magpie rhymes with the word for “happy occasions.” Citrus is used to represent high government titles, so a combination of pomegranates and citrus represents wishes for many sons in high government positions, the main aim of Chinese families. Bats are also used as an image of good-luck and well-being because the Chinese word for “bat” rhymes with the word for “luck”. The word for “cloud” rhymes with the word for “fortune”. When clouds appear in 5 colors they represent the 5 components of luck: longevity, wealth, health, virtue and a natural death.

Longevity comes first among the five lucks, so living a long life is very respected in Chinese culture. For this reason, it is not considered shameful to ask a person of their age and the older you are the more you are respected and the luckier you are considered. Confucious said, “A person with a kind heart lives a long life.” Pine trees are a symbol of longevity because they are able to withstand severe cold and live a long time. Also, since pine leaves grow in pairs, they symbolize a long and happy marriage. The crane, with its long slim neck and long legs, is said to enjoy long lives and have the same noble character as the Taoist immortals. Peaches are regarded as the food of long life because legend has it that peach trees grown by the Mother Goddess took 3000 years to blossom and another 3000 years to bear fruit. The carp, goldfish and the number 8 are also symbols of wealth. The museum had a press to imprint these auspicious figures onto paper, so I pressed them into my journal both for the image and the good luck J

There was also an exhibit on colonial times in Canton (Guangzhou). While this area was never officially colonized, many Westerners traveled here for commerce, military, diplomatic, and tourism purposes. This exhibit was a little ridiculous; it was set up as a guide for those visiting at that time and its rather culturally insensitive. But, that’s how people were in those days (and often are today as well, but luckily it’s no longer socially acceptable, I hope) For instance, they had an translation diagram of English to “Chinese Pidgon English” where things such as “What is this made of?” and “I want this” are “translated” into “What thing makee?” and “Me wantchee thisee.” It was only meant as an insight into how Westerners thought and behaved in those days, not as a serious guide. The instructions read, “Canton, or Guangzhou as it’s known today, was once known as “London of the East.” While your reasons to visit this city may be as merchant, or tourist, diplomatic or even military, there are some impressive things that any traveler absolutely should not miss. If you fance a fun and safe journey back in time visiting Canton of old, this exhibition will be your travel guide, with practical destination information.

This guide is designated exclusively for use from 1685-1839, i.e. from the opening of Canton as a trade port until the outbreak of the First Opium War. After the 1842 signing of the Treaty of Nanking, restrictions imposed on foreign visitors changed significantly, making it inappropriate to use this travel guide beyond the above-said period.”

There was another exhibit on jewelry, gold and headdresses of ancient China, but I had to rush through this one because I wanted to go to the History Museum as well. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the history museum, I discovered that it was closed on Tuesdays. Just my luck. So instead I started walking back to the ship and ate a lot of delicious street food on the way (fried octopus, fried eggplant, this tasty waffle-type thing and a bunch of other stuff). After stuffing my face, I headed back to the ship to start preparing for Vietnam!

Guangzhou and Revolution!

After a solid 11 hours of sleep, I woke up feeling healthy! Hurray! I had “wet toast” for breakfast at the hostel. I didn’t know what to expect, but I got something similar to French toast. The other day Colette ordered a “muffin” and it turned out to be a waffle. I wonder where they get these translations from…

After eating,  I took the subway to the end of the line and then took a taxi to the airport. I had some difficulties communicating with the driver. I said airport and pointed to my flight ticket, hoping he would understand. He kept saying “fejichang?” but I didn’t understand what this meant so I just stared back blankly. Then he started yelling it “Fejichang?! Fejichang!?!?!!! FEJICHANG?!?!” Of course, him repeating the same word again and again, just louder did nothing to help me understand what he was saying, but I guess he didn’t get that. Eventually, scared and intimidated, I just said “yes” (hoping that maybe he was saying airport) and then he shrugged and started driving. I should have looked up the word for airport before getting in the cab or pulled my phrase book out faster. Not doing so ahead of time was rather stupid of me, but once I was in the cab and he started getting so loud, I was just intimidated and didn’t think of getting my phrase book. Plus, this was my first time traveling on my own like this, and I’ll admit that I was not as prepared at times as I should have been. But that’s okay; it’s all a learning experience. One thing is for sure, I doubt that I will ever forget that “fejichang” is indeed Mandarin for “airport”.

Now I know how it feels to be on the other end of the language barrier. All too often I notice people repeating the same word, just louder, in their attempts to get others to understand, of course to no avail (I’ve probably done this myself on occasion as well). Now I understand how frightening that experience can be when you are the one who does not comprehend the language.

The driver successfully got me to the airport and, unlike many other Shanghainese cabdrivers, he did not rip me off and actually charged me the less than the woman at the hostel told me the cab would cost (it was 19 Yuan, less than $3 for a 15 min cab ride! So cheap compared to in the US). I passed through security remarkably fast and went to the waiting area.

The airport and boarding process was similar to that in the US in many ways, although I didn’t find that security was as intense. I was able to keep my liquid soap, deodorant, water (in my Camelback) etc. I think these were not actually allowed, but no one said anything. Others that I talked to said they had all these things confiscated, but somehow mine managed to get through.

Boarding the plane was interesting… Everyone mobbed the ticket counter and the woman frantically collected all the tickets, without paying much attention to the people handing them to her. Then everyone crammed onto a bus (and I mean crammed! There was hardly any room to move around. But I just kept laughing about it). The bus took us to the loading dock and then everyone mobbed off and then mobbed the loading ramp. It was insanity!

I was the only non-Asian on the flight, but they still made all the announcements in both Mandarin and English. The flight landed in Guangzhou around 1:30. Guangzhou was previously known as Canton. The language is Cantonese and this is the region where Cantonese cuisine originated (food is a big topic of conversation around here)

The hostel was rather easy to get to and this time the directions on HostelWorld were spot on. One of my roommates was there when I arrived. She’s from Tennessee but is studying abroad in small city about halfway between Shanghai and Beijing. She was on her break from school and making her way to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, she had to spend her time filling out paperwork for her home university, so she wasn’t able to explore with me.

I went to make my way to the Peasant’s Movement Institute and Martyr’s Park. I was reading about the Koumintang Legacy in China, which consisted of influential leaders such as Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Zou Rong. Sun-Yat Sen was one of the first revolutionaries to break away from the imperial system and is often considered the father of modern China. He was less formerly educated than others of his time, but had spent a good deal of time traveling in the west and knew far more about the US and Europe than the others. He wanted to revolutionize China, to bring it into the modern age. He worked to mobilize the peasantry and also took a great interest in developing China’s railway system. He also spent some time at the school that later became the Peasant’s Movement Institute. He led several revolts in Guangzhou, founded the National People’s Party (Kuomintang) and established the San min zhuyi (“Three People-ism”) philosophy that became important in Chinese politics. The first San min zhuyi is min zu “the people as a family/tribe”, which referred to the uniting of the Han people against the Manchus (although later it was recast as anti-imperialist). The second is min quan “people’s rights”, which is “often translated as democracy and refers to the right of the ordinary people to have ultimate control over their government…[he developed] the “five-power constitution,” in which American speraration of powers were added to the Chinese institutions of a censorate or inspectorate and a system of examinations to screen candidates for government positions.” The final San min zhuyi is min sheng, “people’s livelihood,” which “embodied the Henry George scheme and other projects for regulated capitalism and economic growth and expressed a compassion for the sufferings of the Chinese people that was not common in elite reform or revolutionary circles,” (From Mountain of Fame by John Wills).

Sun Yat-sen had many great ideas for his country, but he had no interest in power. He wanted power and money to be distributed amongst the people, not in complete equality but certainly more equal that the imperial system that existed up until his time. He was not a member of the communist party, which was only a minor party at this time (early 1900s).

Mao Zedong also attended the school at the Peasant’s Movement Institute and his personal quarters are still intact there.

My main purpose in going to Guangzhou was to see several of the museums focused around the revolutionary period. Unfortunately, the museum was closed by the time I got there. I assumed I could just go the next day, so instead I went to wander in Martyr’s Park. The park has many statues devoted to the revolution; I just wish I had visited the museums first so that I had more of an understanding of what I was observing. There’s always so much to learn… how can I possibly find the time for all of it?

There were two major uprisings in Guangzhou that focused on overturning the Qing Empire (which had Manchus in power). The first was in 1895 and was a failure, after which Sun Yat-Sen went into exile. The second began “on 13 November 1910, [when] Sun Yat-sen, along with several leading figures of the Tongmenhui—such as Zhao Shen, Huang Hsing, Hu Hanmin, and Deng Zeru—gathered for a conference in the Malayas. Having experienced countless failures in previous uprisings, they plotted a decisive battle in Guangzhou against the Qing Government.

On 27 April, Zhao Shen and Huang Hsing commenced the uprising in Guangzhou. The revolutionaries fought fiercely with the Qing Army in the streets, but the rebels were eventually outnumbered and lost. The remains of 72 rebels were later collected by members of Tongmenhui and interred together at Huanghuagang,” (Wikipedia)”

These uprising were a part of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912, which overthrew the Qing Empire and led to the founding of the Republic of China. The Chinese Nationalist Revolution occurred from 1926-1927, which ended the rule of local warlords and unified China under Kuomintang (KMT) control. The KMT’s power house was in Guangdong province with Guangzhou as the center city. The National Revolution Army, made up of students trained at the Whampoa Academy led the revolts. This academy is also in Guangzhou and on my list of places to visit the next day. These uprisings created many martyrs who are now memorialized in Martyr’s park. I suggest researching the Kuomintang period in China and how it led to the rise of the Chinese Communist Party; it’s a fascinating history.

So I wandered around the park, observing the statues (but I couldn’t read the inscriptions. They were all in Chinese). Then I met a young man who was sitting and eating bananas. He offered me one and I set to chat with him for a minute. With a huge grin of innocence on my face I asked, “Ni xiang gei wo zou peng you ma?” (“Want to be my friend?”) and he nodded in agreement. He hardly spoke any English and I only know a few sentences in Mandarin (not Cantonese, although most young people are educated in both languages). He asked where I was from (in English), but he had never heard of California, or he didn’t understand. I asked where he was from (in Mandarin) but I did not know where his province was. I asked if he liked to climb mountains, he nodded and said something that I could not understand at all. So the conversation mostly consisted of one of us asking a question in the other’s language, but then not being able to understand the response. We just laughed and laughed about our inability to communicate. Then he motioned that he wanted to show me something. He couldn’t say the words but he got the point across. He seemed really excited to show whatever it was that he was reaching into his bag for. Then… he whipped out his nunchucks! He showed me his mad skills and the whole interaction was thrilling to me. Then he got a phone call, however, and motioned that he needed to take it, so I signed that I was going to keep walking then I waved good-bye to my new friend.

After leaving the park, I wandered around looking for a good place to eat. I wanted to find a place that was packed with locals and just ask for whatever the employees recommended. I found this place that had a line out the door, all Chinese, and no available seats. Perfect! I asked the cashier, “Ni xihuan nage ma?” ( I don’t think he understood me at first, the tones are so difficult for me to get right! Eventually he understood that I was asking what he liked to eat). He pointed to one of the dishes (written entirely in Chinese) and I agreed.

I didn’t know what else to do while waiting for my food, so I took notes on what the people were doing (this was also to prepare myself for what I was going to be eating, because I had no idea what I’d ordered). Three people worked preparing the food. One woman on the right took ingredients out of several of 20 or so bowls and cooked them it what seemed to be eggs and broth. I think she was preparing soups. To the left of her were four stoves with half-cylindrical covers where one woman takes ladles full of some kind of batter and makes a very thin sheet of noodle about 15in x 20in large. When each noodle sheets is ready, the woman places it on a cloth sheet and passes it off to another woman who prepares some meat and veggies. Once these are cooked, she wraps them in the noodle sheets, cuts it into quarters and folds it again. The dish I ordered ended up being a concocsion of beef, green onions, mushrooms and some other veggies that I couldn’t distinguish. It was coated in a sweet sesame-soya sauce and it was DELICIOUS! Turns out, this restaurant has been named “the best snack local of Guangdong” several years in a row (at least according to the plaques on their walls). I guess I picked a good place!

I returned to the hostel and went to bed early. I hadn’t made peng you’s to hang out with in the evening, so I figured it was better to read a little and go sleep than wander around alone.

I left my hostel and 6:20 AM, prepared for a day of revolutionary history! I was rather nervous leaving though because there was a group of guys outside, apparently still drinking from the night before. They were clearly not locals but Westerners of some sort. I think they noticed me even before I exited the hostel because I could hear them talking about me in their slurred drunken speech. This made me nervous at first, but then I realized there was a policeman of some sort inside the hostel and I assumed he would react if these guys tried to pull anything. So I left the building and just walked away as fast as possible. The guys tried to stop me, but I was not about to turn around.

I hate that things like this happen in our society. I should feel comfortable and safe traveling alone, even as a woman. Why do men feel it is acceptable to call out to a woman as she’s walking; they have no right to make me feel so uncomfortable. Luckily, the guys didn’t try to follow me and I made it to the subway safely.

I went back to Martyr’s Park to do some morning exercises with the locals. I found a group doing Tai Chi in front of the Museum of Revolutionary History and joined in. At first, I looked ridiculous. I had no idea what I was doing; I just followed the people in front of me. Everyone else clearly did this often and they all knew one another. No one spoke English, but they still smiled at me and I smiled back. Everyone was laughing because I clearly did a lot of things wrong and looked very out of place, but that’s the fun of it! When it was over, one of the members gave me two good luck coins for the New Year. I felt bad that I had nothing to give back in return. Then I made my way to the museum. On the way, one of the employees found me and I found out the most disappointing news… all the museums in Guangzhou are closed on Mondays! L

So much for my day immersed in the revolution… I should have flown down here earlier so that I could have visited them all on Sunday (which was the first day they opened after the New Year)… if only I’d known…

So I just headed to the train station to go to Hong Kong and meet up with the ship. At first, I went to the wrong station and they sent me to the right one all the way on the other side of the city. Luckily, there was a train leaving about 45mins after I arrived so I got a ticket and headed south. Even though I didn’t get to see the museums, I still had my book of Chinese biographies so I just read more about the KMT and Mao Zedong. Not quite the same but at least it was something.

The train ride from Guangzhou to Shanghai was about 2 hours and then I had to find the ship. For some unknown reason none of the cab drivers would take me to the pier. I figured maybe it was because it was too close so I started walking. I asked a girl in a Starbucks where it was and she told me it was about a 20 minute walk. So I just walked towards the water and then along the promenade, hoping I’d find someone. And finally I did! I ran into this guy, David, and he was the first person I’d recognized in over two days! I never thought I’d be excited to see the ship, but it felt great to have finally made it there! After a quick shower I headed over to Stanley on Hong Kong Island. This is a small town that’s hidden away from the huge skyscrapers of Hong Kong. I took a public bus to get there and the ride was the best part of the journey. It took me up and over the island so I could enjoy the scenery from a distance. Stanley itself didn’t have much to offer other than shops, so I headed back down shortly after arriving. I was shocked by how much greenery there was along the way though! I had an image of Hong Kong as only a huge metropolis of glass, concrete and lights but it’s actually surrounded by beautiful mountains and numerous trails.

It was clear that Hong Kong is a more international city. I wasn’t receiving the same stares that I got in the rest of China and I felt invisible again. English is much more common, which makes sense since it was owned by England until 1997.

That night, I decided to go out on the town since apparently it’s a common thing to do in Hong Kong. My purpose wasn’t to drink, but I thought it might be a good idea to have some social bonding with the other SASers, and so far this was the only port where I’ve felt okay with that. I didn’t go into any of the bars because I didn’t want to be harassed about not buying anything (my friend ToBen got kicked out of one place for not buying a drink) so I just danced in the street. We got a mad dance party going in front of this one place with SASers, other travelers and locals! But after awhile, everyone else just started getting on each other and I took that as my sign to leave. People were getting sloppy and the locals were laughing at them (not in a good way) and the whole scene was making me uncomfortable, so I went to bed.