Our New Office

Saturday, November 1st, 2008. If you’ve seen the first Tomb Raider movie*, you’ve seen Angkor Wat. Well, part of it. Tha Prohm, actually (a section of a huge complex). Sara and I traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the purpose of seeing Angkor Wat. Here are my impressions:

Scenes from Tomb Raider featuring Cambodian celeb Angelina Jolie.

*NOTE: I don’t find Angelina Jolie attractive. She’s not ugly or anything, but she doesn’t do it for me. This statement always causes consternation. Please submit your objections in the comments below.

Imagine the greatest accomplishment of a civilization – a huge complex of temples, painted, gilded in gold, surrounded by statues, decorated with ornate pottery, and blanketed with the finest luxuries available. That thought in itself is difficult to comprehend. Now, imagine that this tremendous edifice is completely forgotten.

700 years pass…and no one remembers. Jungle obscures one of the greatest temple complexes in the world.

- I find myself standing before a wall that has been completely subjugated by nothing more than a tree. The roots of this arboreal conqueror have spread across and around the stone wall. These roots have reduced what was once a solid symbol of strength and power to a crumbling pile of rocks.

- Our guide tells of a sacred chamber with a huge Buddha statue (moved from the temple complex by some 19th century ruler looking to embellish his legacy) that historians believe was once filled with golden talisments. Today, this chamber is nothing more than a hollow spire with spider webs and dank, gray stone.

- Sara and I walk along a wall that was painstakingly carved from top to bottom. I wonder in my mind how people from 1,000 years ago managed to create this structure, let alone how much work it took to render this carving. In it’s original form, the wall was likely painted and gilded with gold. Today, it’s weathered from careless fingers, the elements, and the occasional bullet hole.

- The Naga (a sort of spiritual multi-headed snake) is a central figure in Hinduism and Buddhism, and this temple complex has hundreds of Naga statues. Unfortunately, the heads of these statues have been cruelly broken off. What point could this destructive act have made? What did this effort accomplish? Why?

- Many in Cambodia regard the Angkor Wat complex as an important religious and cultural relic, worthy of the worship of an entire nation. I wholeheartedly agree. Still, it must be stated that the world will never know 95% of the story here. History has conspired to obscure the true story of Angkor Wat, and the people of the modern world will never fully comprehend the meaning, the purpose, the value, the sacrifice, or the human cost of this place.

During my visit to Angkor Wat, it was exciting to think about the possibilities of a forgotten world. Temples, carvings, and more have lost meanings and perhaps secret purposes. It’s an amazing place – after all, Tomb Raider was filmed here for a reason. Still, I can’t help but wonder:

Will the monuments of my civilation be forgotten as well?

Friday, October 31st, 2008 (continued). Bob and his brother-in-law Mr. Tan drove us from the airport to our hotel, gave us a few minutes to get situated, and then drove us through Siem Reap to visit a floating village. This village is composed of various boats and rafts, and inhabited by fishermen. The people of the village migrate with Lake Tonle Sap as it grows and shrinks with each season. Most of the photos we took speak for themselves.

Floating homes and farms, stores, and even a gas station were all a part of the floating village.

This looked to be a floating convenience store – note the bags of potato chips above the driver’s head.

It’s hard to imagine life like this, but these kids still find a way to smile and wave.

It was interesting speaking with our unofficial guide “Bob.” He told us about Cambodian history (and how awful the Khmer Rouge were), as well as his points of view on Cambodian politics, economics, and his personal prospects and ambitions. A young man (perhaps 25), Bob had a wife, kids, and a large extended family that relied upon him for support. For example, Bob loaned his car to his brother-in-law so he could be our driver and earn some money. Bob also owns a roofing company where he employs his in-laws, his siblings, parents, and some extended family. Bob was an amazing young man, and we were glad to have met him.

Bob seemed to be much more educated than he let on (perhaps he had a well-founded fear of persecution from his experience living under Pol Pot). While he claimed nothing more than a grade-school education, Bob was eloquent, an excellent English speaker, and he had a firm grasp on the world around him. His perspective on politics was enlightening – he told us about the Cambodian government’s extreme corruption, that the police and teachers (both corrupt) can not be trusted, and he shared his personal distaste for the Vietnamese.

Listen to Bob describe the floating village.

Bob had a problem with Vietnamese people because many were illegal residents of Cambodia. Bob talked about how after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1998 to remove the Khmer Roughe (which he begrudgingly admitted was a good thing), many Vietnamese soldiers married Cambodian women (stated with a clear level of disgust) and stayed behind “taking work” from the Cambodian people. Sara and I could only marvel at the echo of a debate in our own country as well the absurdity of some of Bob’s beliefs. Perhaps it’s easy for me, a wealthy Westerner, to say this, but here goes: Cambodians shouldn’t care about illegal Vietnamese immigrants. Everyone is dirt poor, so what’s the difference? I can’t imagine that Vietnamese immigrants are willing to work for less than local Cambodians, so how it’s possible that they’re taking jobs is beyond me. Perhaps I don’t understand (I don’t understand the argument against illegal aliens in my own country either), but it’s hard to see how market forces have conspired to keep Cambodians down in their own country.

Bob also went on to tell us his opinions of different tourists, sorted by nationality. Here’s what Bob said:

• Koreans are very arrogant and very cheap, and that they only wanted to visit Cambodia to save money. They built Korean restaurants that served Korean food, and they stayed amongst their own people when they visited. Bob asked, (and I concur if his statements are true), “Why visit if you want it to be just like home?“

• Chinese people are very loud. Bob says there’s lots of “ping pong” in Chinese speech, which was hilarious to me. To my ears, all Asian languages sound very similar. Bob is clearly a bit of a xenophobe. Bob also said that Chinese tourists are quite rude (true).

• Europeans are also arrogant and rude (funny).

• Australian tourists are very nice.

• Americans are “good.” Bob wouldn’t tell us what he really thought. My guess is that he was disgusted by our relative wealth (based on other conversations we had). It might be worth noting that the American dollar is the currency of choice in Cambodia. Thai baht can be used, but the exchange rate is poor. I would guess that any patriotic Cambodian (and Bob was most assuredly patriotic) would be offended by the fact Cambodia’s currency was from another nation.

Bob talked quite a bit about tourism – in addition to sharing blanket generalizations about different nationalities (funny to us, but not really a good thing), Bob also discussed how recent tensions with Thailand (including a border skirmish in the last few weeks) would be resolved. Bob said that the “Cambodian people are tired of war, but if Thailand wants war we will give it to them. We’re good at war – we’ve been doing it for a long time.” Bob was a firm believer that Cambodia would prevail in combat against Thailand, perhaps unaware that Thailand’s U.S. trained and equipped military (they fly F16’s and shoot M16’s) would easily over-run whatever force Cambodia could raise – if for no other reason than a lack of supply and equipment.

Bob was a hell of a guy, but his narrow-mindedness was a lesson to me. “Knowing” things without actually knowing them can be a dangerous thing.

Friday, October 31st, 2008. The country of Cambodia has a rocky history. 1000 years ago, the Khmer civilization was arguably the most powerful civilization in S.E. Asia. The Khmer (the group that many modern-day Cambodians call their ancestors), controlled most of the land in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. Yet something happened that caused the Khmer civilization to collapse. Cambodia has been on a slow and steady downward slide ever since. The encroachment of the rival Thai kingdom, colonialism, and in the last 30 years, one of the worst mass killings of the last century.

The atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot were horrific. I have a friend and former colleague in the US who knows of Pol Pot’s crimes first hand (having narrowly escaped from Cambodia), and if you’re not aware, you owe it to yourself to learn more.

In 1998, the Khmer Rouge were officially removed from power. Since that time, Cambodia has been trying to attract tourism to the magnificent Angkor Wat temple complex. Sara and I, intrigued (and tired of Bangkok), decided to add a trip to Siem Reap (the city near Angkor Wat) to our itinerary. It was a good choice.

Angkor Wat, and the tourism it generates, is the centerpiece of the Cambodian economy.

Bangkok is a lot like the rest of the world – highways, skyscrapers, all the modern conveniences, etc. Landing in Siem Reap, the profound lack of “modernity” was astonishing. Siem Reap airport doesn’t have “gates.” You park on the taxiway and walk down an aluminum stairway to disembark. The visa department in Siem Reap doesn’t have computers. A staff of a dozen clerks work to take the passports of each and every visitor, hand copy the information onto a visa application, and then stamp everything about a half-a-dozen times (comical to watch). Siem Reap’s customs department, likely just as unsophisticated, was *closed* when we landed. We walked right past an empty checkpoint.

Taxis don’t exist either – at least not traditional 4-door metered taxis. Instead, everyone hires a “tuk-tuk” – a simple two-person cart pulled by motorcycle – to get where they want. Since we paid for a package tour, we were met at the airport by our driver – Mr. Tan – and his English-speaking brother-in-law (whose name we can’t remember but we liked him very much) who we’ll call Bob. Cambodia was the exact opposite of Bangkok, Shanghai, Xian, and Beijing – a true rural, exotic location. With a little encouragment, “Bob” convinced us to visit a migratory village composed of nothing more than boats. Bob was going to be our guide. Again, it was a very good decision.

Well, not really. Just once actually.

Check out this video of the crazy Spung tress in Cambodia. This is the same area where the movie, Tomb Raider (with Angelina Jolie) was filmed.

It wouldn’t be a worthwhile trip if we hadn’t been exposed to new things and learned from it. Yes, eating chicken curry, shopping for dirt-cheap deals, and seeing the most beautiful temples in all the world is a big reason to travel to Asia, but it’s not the only reason.

I suppose it’s important to learn about different issues and understand new cultures too.

So here goes…

1. Climate change is really happening. Well, duh, you say. Of course I knew it was happening, but we’ve heard stories from several different places to illustrate that fact.

In Cambodia our tour guide explained that rice farmers are suffering. The rainy season is starting later than normal and so much so that some of the rice crop didn’t make it. Now, the rainy season isn’t letting up and the rice that is ready for harvest isn’t surviving all that rain. Needless to say, these already poor farmers are poorer this year.

2. When it rained in China we were afraid the acid rain would burn off our skin. Enough said.

3. Gibbons are people too. Wait…no, they’re not. And this is exactly why people should not take them as pets.  In Phuket we visited the Gibbons Rehabilitation Center and learned about how people poach baby gibbons from the jungle.

The center is run by a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing abandoned and illegally-owned gibbons in cities across Thailand. Many of these gibbons have been neglected or outright abused by their “owners” who bought the animal from poachers because as infants, gibbons make great pets. However, once they reach sexual maturity they become aggressive and often act out (as wild animals, often do).

It’s not legal to own a gibbon (they are apes, by the way), however, the government doesn’t do much to enforce the law.

Most all of the gibbons housed here have been mistreated–some beaten, some locked in tiny cages for most of their lives, and some much much worse. Most of these gibbons won’t be released back into the jungle because they won’t know how to survive.

Moral of this story: If you see someone with a pet gibbon, don’t pay to have your picture taken with him or her.

You should visit Cambodia.

We were both a little hesitant about visiting Cambodia because of things we had read and things we had been told about safety and malaria from our nurse at Denver Health. But now that we’ve been we are so glad we went and would encourage any traveler to do the same.

Yes, it’s true the government is corrupt and the police are pretty much non-existent, but the people are incredibly nice and the country has everything to offer that Thailand has to offer except at a much less expensive price tag.

Cambodia’s history is complex and sad, but I think that made the trip that much more interesting. If I had to do it over again we would’ve spent less time at Thailand’s beaches and more time at Cambodia’s. I think we could have made a larger contribution to the Cambodian economy than Thailand’s and we would’ve spent a few fewer dollars too.

Amazing sunsets in Cambodia. This is from the airplane, but even in Siem Reap it was impressive.

You’ll find the temple of all temples (Angkor Wat) here.

Before leaving for Asia we were warned by our well-traveled friends to expect children to come up to us trying to sell us things. We hadn’t really seen any kids working until we reached Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Now, you’re thinking cute little 8-year-olds that smile coyly waiting for you to take what they’re holding in their hands. Well, that’s not the case.

Yes, they are cute and holding items in their hands, but they’re not coy. They are probably the most aggressive salespeople I’ve seen. Even Jason’s friends at the car dealerships offer less stress and pressure than this place.

When we arrived in Siem Reap we were picked up by our tour guide and taken to a floating village where we went on a boat to see a whole community of people living in boats. Although it seemed a bit like we were just touring a very poor neighborhood, our guide told us we were just witnessing a different way of life. And maybe so, but I couldn’t help be feel like it was voyeurism at its worst.

Having said that though, it was one of the most eye-opening experiences we’ve had so far. It was incredible to see they way these people lived. There was a school on a boat, a basketball court on a boat, floating gas stations, grocery stores, gift shops, and dozens (probably hundreds) of homes.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because after the boat ride was over we exited the boat only to be approached by a young girl about 10-years-old. She was holding this:

I laughed so hard. Partly because the picture of Jason is so hysterical and partly because it was the LAST thing I expected in this place. I mean Six Flags, yea, but Siem Reap, no.

The picture was taken as we were getting on the boat an hour before. I did remember seeing a young boy take our picture, but I didn’t put two and two together until afterward.

I got one too.

On the second day of our Siem Reap visit, we toured Angkor Wat. In several areas throughout the grounds of the temple (we’re talking miles and miles and dozens of structures, not just one main temple) there were stands set up housing a variety of touristy items—mostly water, Cokes, postcards, and replicas of the temples. While one person mans the stand, kids run to the tourists holding items and yelling at you to buy them.

I think we said “no” about 18 different times, but then finally at the end I told one girl I wanted a set of postcards. Since it was clear that I was going to buy, suddenly the price went up. It was sorta hard to negotiate over one dollar with a child in the middle of a Tuesday, so I paid her price. Oh well.

But before I could fork over the cash, there were five new girls surrounding me pushing postcards in my face too. Now, instead of one hard-core sales girl, I had five and only $2 to spend. There was lots of shouting and lots of pleading. At one point I looked over at Jason for help, but quickly saw that he was busy working a deal on a bottle of water so he wasn’t much help.

Videos are on their way, check back in a few days.