the evil and the everyday life in Cambodia

I can't say much about the genocide museum in Phnom Penh. Because I didn't go in. Because I didn't have the stomach to go in. Once I translated for a friend a page of a book describing how the Japanese raped and tortured a Chinese woman in Singapore, I started hyperventilating. Ever since, I can hear the screams of the victims without knowing their stories, and feel haunted by the shadow of their ghosts.

So I sat in a cafe across from the museum, while Brent spent two hours in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It is also called S-21, a high school converted to the torture and killing center of prisoners. He took some photos, and relayed a couple of stories of those who went through and died here. A woman from Phnom Penh was sent to the countryside to work, as millions of other city people. The peasants were called the "new people" by the Khmer Rouge and city people "old" (bad) people. The country women were jealous of this woman's fairer skin (because she wasn't working in the fields all day long) so they were always harsh to her, and would conspire to find fault in her. They would craw under her hut (on stilts) during her husband's once or twice a year visits and listened to their conversation. They would report back to the authorities. They eventually found fault with her, and she was sent to S-21. Her husband who was working for the Khmer Rouge at a low level was also sent there, but maybe they never saw each other in prison. She was tortured and killed.

Generally, we seem to have the notion that poor people and dark skinned people are the oppressed. But given the opportunity, they can certainly exercise the same kind of evil over the weaker. Kindness is not human nature.

Some prison guards were interviewed. Some showed remorse, and others didn't regret what they did at all.

On the surface, all this seemed to be a distant memory. People live for today. They are having as much fun as they can, even living dangerously. How they use transportation is a good example, especially how they use motorcycle as the main transportation vehicle - a family of 5 on 1 motorcycle, or two dead pigs on one.

More pictures from Laos and Cambodia:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CcsWbZsyZsUC&emid=sharshar&linkid=link4

Beauty - Laos and Cambodia visa run

As our previous visa was running out, we had to leave Thailand again to get a new tourist visa. I found that Vientiane, Laos is a good place to do that, also everyone I know who has been there loved it. Since we only have single entry visa, I decided it's a good time to get Angor Wat out of the way in Cambodia as well.

We loved Vientiane, Loas. It's very peaceful and people are very nice. Cheaper than Bangkok. We still had to haggle to get a more reasonable tuk-tuk fare. I never knew when to use the word "enchanting" but I would use it for Vientiane. But I heard from other trekkers that the countryside is even more simple and peaceful. It's the most laid back capital in the world, according to Lonely Planet, and I can't disagree more based on my traveling experience. There's not much going on, so it can get boring after a few days, but I was glad to soak up the peacefulness of the city and the riverfront and the smiles from vendors. They were trying hard to sell, but they don't make you feel harassed.

Then we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angor Wat. It's indeed amazing. Then we went to Phnom Penh for two days. But we didn't really like the country from what we had seen and experienced. It's very dirty, much worse than China, and in-your-face poverty, but hard to distinguish who is really poor and who are professional beggars. The children beggars really broke my heart but I only dare to give out food or drink. It's very expensive in Cambodia, because it's a dollarized economy. We babysat for a couple Saturday night who worked for NGO and lived in Phnom Penh for many years and they have a lot of wisdom on the culture and people and know who's really in need etc. The tuk-tuk drivers always wanted to rip us off as you would expect, and more aggressive than Bangkok. However I have high hopes for the country as well. All the beggars and tuk-tuk drivers speak English, at least the "business" English to make you feel guilty not giving them money or buy things from them. I think if their asset is channeled properly and the government corruption is eliminated, and people's dependency on foreign aid is lessoned, the country is going to be very strong.

What can I say about Angor Wat? It's some beautiful stones piled one on top of another. Looking at these three equally beautiful pictures, based on the theory that two of them result from a "big bang" millions of years ago, and the molecules had reactions with each other, and we now enjoy beautiful nature and human beings, I then can draw the conclusion that Angor Wat came about the same way. If one can argue that the creation story was just made up by foolish minds and cannot be used as evidence of how the world came about, then since there is absolutely no evidence other than folklores about Angor Wat being built, then the logically consistent conclusion is that Angor Wat was not built by anyone but resulted from natural causes.

Dialogs in Cambodia, usually with boys or girls who are 6-9 trying to sell me things:
Dialog 1.
Boy: Madame, please buy these bracelets from me. 1 dollar!
Lily: No, thank you. I can't take them.
Boy: You don't need to take them. You can wear them!
Lily: No, thank you. I don't need them.
Boy: Where are you from?
Lily: America.
Boy: America has 50 states, and the capital is Washington DC. The president is George W. Bush. etc. etc.
Lily: You study very well. Why aren't you in school today? Oh! It's Saturday! You don't have school.
Boy: Madame, in your country, you don't have school on Saturday. But in my country, we have school six days a week. But today is a holiday.
Lily: Do you know what day is today?
Boy: No.
Lily: You can learn something new today. Today is World's Women's Day.
Boy: OK. But please buy the bracelets from me.
..... Lily would like to buy them just to help him out, but cold-hearted Brent wouldn't let her....


Dialog 2 (on our way into a site)
Girl: Madame! Would you like some scarf? 1 for 2 dollars.
Lily: Mmm... No, thank you!
Girl: OK, ONE dollar.
Lily: No, thank you.
Girl: OK, but when you come back, you buy from ME, OK?!
Lily: OK.
.... (coming out)
Girl: Hi Madame, remember me?! Would you like to buy scarf?
Lily: (it's really not expensive and I can use it) OK, I'll buy one. (Looking through the scarves, and another girl comes up)
Girl2: Buy one from me too!
Lily: I can only buy one.
Girl2: OK. (looking resigned) Buy from her.
Brent (loudly): What do you need it for? You don't need any more stuff! (Pulled me away...)

I was very upset leaving there. No American nor most native English speakers can appreciate, kids at that age having to make a living, in a foreign language!