Photo Friday: Koh Rong, Cambodia

Month #3: Reflections of Life on the Road, Cambodia & Philippines

It's hard to believe that we are already halfway through our trip. It has gone way too fast and we are constantly wishing time would slow down.

Month #3 was very humbling for us. We pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone even further and had the opportunity to give a little back in all the countries we visited. We were very moved by the number of people we met from all over the world who were also taking time out of their travels and lives to give back to these communities.

SOS message from Earthquake-ravaged Bohol, Philippines

Cambodia melted our hearts and then tugged at it. Of all the countries we've visited, this has been the one we've gotten the most intimate with. The warmth and hospitality we received from the people was very inspiring, especially given their recent turbulent history and the abject poverty.  While in Cambodia we had the opportunity to teach English and help bring clean drinking water to remote villages.

Grazing cattle in Cambodia

We spent most of our time in the Philippines volunteering with All Hands sledging concrete and deconstructing wrecked homes and schools impacted by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit last year. We met the most amazing people here.  The other volunteers, most of whom are in their late twenties and early thirties, are spending an average of three weeks doing hard manual labor by day and having great times at night.

All Hands volunteers' morning commute - photo taken from the top of our jeepney

We are so thankful to have to ability to travel like this. We did work hard for two years to make it happen, but we also know how fortunate we are. We are constantly surrounded by poverty and know we are lucky to be traveling, to have have a great support system from our families and to simply be coming from a developed nation like the US. The lyrics to the song "Just Another Day in Paradise" hit home when it played during our trip as we were surrounded by those less fortunate than ourselves.

A child working the streets of Agra, India

We've adjusted to life on the road.  We can repack our bags in mere minutes and often don't worry about booking hotels (and occasionally even flights) until 24 hours before check in.  Jan is getting tired of squat toilets and had one occasion where she splurged on Pizza Hut to satisfy her Western food craving.  Yemi doesn't miss much except for our Tempur-Pedic mattress.  And of course, we both miss our friends, families and four-legged boys.

Photo Friday: Kampong Cham, Cambodia

Bliss Interrupted

Our favorite spot

No electricity, no other soul in sight, no worries in the world - just the sound of waves softly crashing into the shores of the beautiful and deserted Sonaya beach on Cambodia's Koh Rong island. We had found our Shangri-la.

Arriving at this paradise of an Island on a long tail boat

Well, that was until the pristine sound of paradise was rudely interrupted by the sputtering of a hovering helicopter and loud ATVs zooming by. We both bolted up from our beach chairs in confusion. Just the previous day, Jan had been peeved by the mere sight of other humans who weren't staying on the beach but had the nerve to show up in their kayaks. And now this?!

That's the problem with finding paradise; others might find it too.

"They are part of the film crew for the TV show Survivor," the owner of Pura Vita resort told us. Now we were excited. Yemi used to be a fan of that show and Jan was excited about the prospect of photo ops with these quasi celebrities. We could already picture the title of the blog: WE WERE ON SURVIVOR!

They shot an ATV "race" scene repeatedly over the next eight hours, reenacting the competition dozens of times until it could be filmed from all angles. "It's complete B.S.....all fake," our resort owner complained about the show's authenticity. She explained that this wasn't the first time the Survivor franchise had shown up for a few days to shoot scenes on her beach.  Just a few months prior they also filmed a few scripted scenes here.

At the end of the day we saw the cast walking down the beach. We scanned their faces as they approached us looking for Jeff Probst or maybe even Russell Hantz, but to no avail. As they walked by us we asked which show they were filming, pretending not to know.

"Survivor Bulgaria," the guy closest to us answered proudly.

Survivor Bulgaria?!?

We aren't sure which is more surprising: the fact that Survivor is clearly staged, or the fact that Bulgaria has their own version of the show!

Survivor Bulgaria cast members

"Babies' Heads Were Smashed"

Warning:  This post covering Cambodia's history is graphic.

8,985 skulls excavated from 129 mass graves at Choeung Ek. The rest were left in peace.
Over 3 million people were killed during the genocide - about a quarter of Cambodia's population.

The truck came to an abrupt stop. He was dragged from the vehicle, still blindfolded with his frail arms bound behind his bony back. He was naked, much like the other men in the truck with him.

As they were led to the holding area, loud speakers blared music in an attempt to disguise the screams of people being killed and tossed into mass graves a mere 100 meters away. The air smelt of death - something that was imminent to each of them since they had been forced to sign false confessions to being traitors after being starved and tortured daily for weeks or even months. They had essentially signed a death warrant.

Tree that the loud speakers were hung from

"Better to kill an innocent by mistake rather than spare an enemy by mistake." 

- Pol Pot slogan

If you or I had lived in Cambodia between 1975-1979, we would have met the same brutal fate. Pol Pot's regime targeted Cambodians who were educated, wore glasses, spoke a second language, or a series of other "offenses." He aimed to revert the country to its purest form that was free of western influence by using an extreme version of communism as his template. Sadly, he was able to make his way into power in part because of the US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war.

As we walked around the killing fields our hearts were heavy. We saw teeth, bones and pieces of tattered clothing protruding from the unexcavated mass graves. It was hard to imagine the brutality that took place and nothing could prepare us for what we learned next.

When the site was excavated in 1980, researchers found a tree covered with hair, brain matter and blood stains. It was Khmer Rouge policy to arrest entire families - including babies and children - to avoid the children from taking revenge later in life. "There is no gain to keep them, and they might take revenge on you," a former guard named Duch shamefully explained years later.

"Clearing grasses, it shall dig its entire root off."
- Pol Pot slogan used to explain why children were killed

To quickly kill the babies, the guards had held the babies at their ankles and swung their heads into the tree until they stopped crying and became limp. More than 100 women, the majority of whom were naked, were found in the mass grave next to this tree. Their babies' skulls laid beside them.

The pain Cambodians suffered during these years still affects them today. Much of the surviving population is uneducated and understandably afraid to speak of the past or against its current corrupt government. Everyone we spoke to had been affected by the genocide. After seeing the terrors that were unleashed on these innocent people we too will never be the same.

Each prisoner in Tuol Sleng was photographed upon arrival

Photo Friday: Koh Rong, Cambodia

Welcome to Helloville!

"Welcome to Helloville," Ben said into his GoPro cam as he introduced our bike ride through the rural village of Srey Siam, located in the Mekong lowlands of Cambodia. Ben and his girlfriend, Allie, are a couple also spending a few days at our home-stay in this village. Ben is referring to the hospitality we are getting from Cambodians as we ride through. The adults greet us with gentle "hellos" and warm smiles but the children are cheerleaders singing sweet ringings of "hellos." As Jan put it, their tenth hello was just as enthusiastic as the first. Take a quick glance at Cambodians and they seem like the happiest and most welcoming people you've ever met, but hidden behind those smiles is a burning resilience from a sad history and a feeling of hopelessness about the future of these Khmer youth.

"Most of these kids will drop out by the 8th grade and most schools only go up to primary school," a retired school teacher remarked as we sat in his front yard. He's a neighbor of our Cambodian hosts. We had stopped for a short visit and he was lamenting about the terrible state of the Cambodian educational system.

Imagine trying to learn geography without looking at a map.

Imagine trying to teach 55 eight-year-olds in a classroom.

Imagine you earn only about $2 each day as a teacher for this impossible task.

Volunteering at Smiling Hearts School

"The youth today have no knowledge of our history," the retired teacher continued as he served us cooked yams. He was referencing one of the world's worst and lesser known 20th century genocides that occurred in the mid-70's when Cambodia came under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot, the leader of this brutal regime, envisioned a pure communist-style agrarian utopia and ordered the killing of three million people in just three years. 

The people murdered represented more than a third of the population, most of whom were the educated and progressive members of the society at the time. Teachers, doctors, civil servants, students, nurses...basically anyone with a sign of intelligence, or the "new" people as they were called by the Khmer Rouge. One of Pol Pot's slogans read, "If you wish to get a Baccalaureate, you have to get it in dams or canals." Painfully symbolic of their anti-school stance is the fact that one of their main execution centers, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, was formerly a high school.

The downfalls of the current educational system have led to the springing up of many private supplemental schools like Smiling Hearts School in Seim Reap. The founder, Ms. Aly, told us that part of the problem is that many of their parents don't value education. This is especially true in the rural villages where they are more helpful working in the fields. Yemi pointed out that considering the people spared from these brutal murders of the Khmer Rouge were mostly uneducated village folks who somewhat bought into Pol Pot's vision, it might explain why many parents today don't value education.

Volunteering at Smiling Hearts School. Bonleap (third from the left) is incredibly smart

We also talked to a 24-year career teacher who told us about the corrupt government and how this trickles down to the schools. Teachers are paid the same salary nationwide. In the cities where cost of living is higher, teachers make up for the low pay by collecting bribes for higher grades.

In every country we've traveled to people have complained about their government, the system and their future generation but it is different in Cambodia. These people don't sound like whiners. They don't sound angry.  They simply seem helpless and hopeless.

"Has it gotten better over the years?" we asked, hoping to contextualize the issue.

"Slowly. Very slowly," the teacher replied.

This boy helps his grandmother care for his siblings while his parents are working in Thailand. His warm maternal-like affection for the little ones caught our attention.

All "Templed Out"

Angkor Thom

"Templed out" is a phrase commonly uttered with exasperation in Southeast Asia. Our use of the phrase started a mere two weeks into our trip after we visited Bali, Indonesia, a country that has more temples per capita than any other place in the world. Our eyes now glaze over with boredom when fellow travelers talk about the temples they visit on their day trips.

Angkor Wat

However, we knew we couldn't visit Siem Reap, Cambodia without spending a day touring the temples around Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat itself was large and underwhelming. We were both disappointed in this temple as it was only impressive from afar. Inside it lacked the character that is found in other less famous temples in the area.

Ta Prohm

Our favorite temple was Ta Prohm, which most people know from the movie Tomb Raiders. There are twisted trees growing out of the walls of the temple. While walking within the ancient tumbling walls, we felt like we were in another world that hadn't been disturbed for thousands of years.

Proah Khan

We also visited Proah Khan, which used to be a city housing thousands of people in ancient days. The sprawling buildings and crumbling unrestored blocks made for great photos. Overall we preferred exploring unrestored parts of all the temples because they seemed more authentic than many of the restored parts that weren't "aged" to blend in.

Proah Khan

At the end if the day we made a vow to each other - no more temples unless we both agree it's one that cannot be missed.

Yemi, templed out and reading outside of Angkor Thom