Angkor Archaeological Park

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New link by Google takes you to the temples at Siem Reap. Very stunning views
http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/angkor/
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Everywhere you look in the Angkor Archaeological Park the strong influence of India is seen detailed in the temple architecture and in the carvings depicting the Ramayana, Buddha, and other Dravidian imagery. The structure of some temples resembles the structure of Mount Meru. Temples were built at an elevated level because they believe Gods must be at a much higher plane than humans. But now we humans are allowed to climb these towers and enjoy the expansive views.

Here are a few photos of the park. More explanations of what and where in the temple complex the photos were taken is detailed in the page titled Angkor temples or at through this link Angkor temple guide.

Demons at Angkor Thom South Gate

Gods at Angkor Thom South Gate

South Gate to Angkor Thom

Airavata brining rain to man

Bayon

Khmer army

Garuda

Baphuon

Phimeanakas

Elephant Terrace

Tree covering temple at Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom

Entering Angkor Wat

Bas relief of the Ramayana

The Party Line and other political statements

So like many tourists visiting a foreign country and unfamiliar with the local language we hired local guides while touring Asia. None of the guides were known to us prior to our arrival and not much information regarding who we were was given to the guides. They were all excellent English speakers and were very helpful in getting to the train station or airport on time.  

Briefly, the usual routine when first meeting our local guides is for the guide to ask where are you from, where have you traveled to or where are you traveling to next. Often their response, once you tell them where you have been or where you are going to, is "that is wonderful and you will like..." but not "the situation between our two countries is a little tense at this moment." However, traveling in Asia at this point in time is interesting in a geopolitical sense. 

But let us also not forget about the American political speak of late. Of course the US government is completely innocent of contributing to any of the geopolitical situations mentioned here, right.

Speak softly but deny

Our adventure in Japan included visiting historical or cultural sites and all of the Japanese guides with one exception were well educated females.  In typical Japanese fashion their initial comment about our continued travels to China were "The Japanese don't travel to China now that there is a disagreements over the disputed territories." Benign and to the point without being rude. Very typical of how a Japanese person would say something that could ignite controversy. Not that the political leaders of Japan haven't used similar benign words to describe Japanese war time activities like "comfort women" being a military necessity. 

But the Japanese rhetoric was a sharp contrast to what our Shanghai guide had to say.

Just be blunt

Our trip to Shanghai was a follow-up trip to our 2002 trip. Back in 2002 our desire was to see what life was like along the Yangtze River before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam project and to see some of the major cities in China like Beijing and Shanghai. We enjoyed our first visit but we were quite dismayed with the changes to China eleven years later. Shanghai had gone from a city starting to modernize to a full blown metropolis filled with modern high office buildings to row upon row of multi-story apartment buildings. Of course being in Shanghai during Chinese New Year may not have been the best to visit Shanghai.

Our Shanghai guide is a native Shanghainese and vocally expressed her opinions regarding the Japanese in China. Some of her anti-Japanese comments were based on a personal experience but nonetheless made me feel rather uncomfortable. She felt the Japanese had no right to the disputed island and went to say how Shanghai was being impacted by Japan and Japanese businesses located in China. And the best example was the World Financial Center in Pudong.

Here is a photo of the Pudong area of Shanghai. 

The building that looks like a bottle opener is the Shanghai World Financial Center (next to Jin Mao Tower) and is the world’s second highest building. Officially unveiled in August 2008, around the time of the Beijing Olympics, the 101-story structure is 492 meters high and cost $1.1 billion.

Designed by New York architect Kohn Peterson Fox and conceived and owned by Japanese developer Minoru Mori, the Shanghai World Financial Center has a bold, sharp-edged design has been called a Chinese samurai sword. While the building was under construction a huge circle near the top was replaced with a rectangle to avoid any comparisons with the rising sun.

Sure seems like a lot of people getting their panties in a bunch but then.....

.... what about the new People's Daily newspaper building? Does it look like something else. Well maybe....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/china-peoples-daily-penis-newspaper-building_n_3197840.html



The sex jokes are not exactly deep, but government censors do not want any anatomy wisecracks. Period. China's state media already has a tight grip on what the country's people watch, see and read.

Results for "People's Daily building" on micro blogging website Sina Weibo have already been blocked. Instead, browsers get the following message, "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies, search results cannot be displayed."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/chinese-newspaper-headquarters-stuns-article-1.1339284#ixzz2Spn7t3VW

Our beloved Father and the French Connection

Yes, images of Ho Chi Minh are everywhere and Saigon is now referred to as Ho Chi Minh City but many still use the old French colonial name Saigon especially when referring to District 1, the city's main financial and commercial center. 

Statue of Ho Chi Minh reading to a child in front of the Communist Party of Vietnam headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

I am pretty certain our guide was just trying to be humorous when he said that one of the reasons why Yum Foods is doing so well with their KFC franchises in Vietnam, the image of Colonel Sanders looks a lot like Ho Chi Minh.

So what about the Vietnam War and how do they feel about Americans visiting?

Most of us probably remember this iconic image from the end of the Vietnam War:

Evacuation of CIA station personnel by Air America on April 29, 1975.

The building is still there but now surrounded by modern multi-story buildings.

One of the most famous must see sights is the War Remnants museum and its presentation of the Vietnam War. Yes, it is a very one-sided presentation but when war and the atrocities associated with it are present by the country that suffered through the war one should expect it to be rather one-sided.  But the feeling and the general mood in Vietnam is one of progress. Our local Vietnam guide said "we forgive but do not forget".  And so they have move forward both economically and politically. All westerners are welcomed to visit Vietnam as it is one of the best revenue streams the country has outside of rice exports. This does not mean that all is forgiven and the Communist Party in Vietnam interacts with all Vietnamese citizens equally.  

The remainder of our stay in Vietnam (Mekong River cruise) our river guide tried to explain about the economic progress of Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. Agriculture is the largest sector of the Vietnamese economy but the farmers do not own the land they farm. Đổi Mới (Renovation) is the name given to the economic reforms initiated in Vietnam with the goal of creating a "socialist-oriented market economy". Not really certain what this means but during our 2002 visit to China something similar was said to us but the phrase used then "China is now more pink than red." This line of thinking has allowed Vietnam much economic success and good trade relationships with most of the Western world. But there are still some restrictions as to who gets to hold a government job and many times it depends on what religion is practiced. As long as the religion is not Catholic then a government position is possible. Interesting as Catholicism is the second most practiced religion in Vietnam but then this distrust goes back a few centuries. Guess it is another way to separate the Church from the State.

So far I have mentioned that our trip included visiting two communist governments (China and Vietnam) and a constitutional monarchy government (Japan). So what about the other two countries that also have constitutional monarchies - Cambodia and Thailand?

Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

Our arrival in Cambodia was shortly after the funeral services for Norodom Sihanouk or as referred to by the many locals as "The King-Father of Cambodia". Sihanouk has held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices. These included two terms as king, two as sovereign prince, one as president, two as prime minister, as well as numerous positions as leader of various governments-in-exile. He served as puppet head of state for the Khmer Rouge government in 1975–1976. 

Pictures of the late monarch were everywhere and many citizens were still openly depressed that he had passed away. Here is a leader that seemed to be able to leave town just as the organic matter was about to hit the rotating blades but was being mourned as the greatest leader of all time. Really?!? 

As I mentioned in my post "Khmer of Cambodia" the Cambodian people have suffered greatly throughout their long history of invasions by the neighboring counties but they all still seem to remember the "good days" when they were part of the French protectorate and not the horror of the Killing Fields. Sihanouk was a man of many talents and he frequently shared his passions with the other citizens of Cambodia, like performing songs in Khmer, French, and English as well as motion pictures. This did make him more like the common citizen thus well loved.

Golden Buddha in Bangkok with Queen's emblem as part of the offerings.

Now while on the subject of a ruler being well loved by a country's citizen let's move on to Bhumibol Adulyadej also known as Rama IX the current reigning King of Thailand. Having reigned since 9 June 1946, he is the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. Yes, very impressive but....

...the King is legally considered "inviolable", and lèse majesté offence against the dignity of the monarch may be punished by imprisonment.

So what is Lèse majesté, i.e. the crime of violating majesty. This law has been prohibited by the Law of Thailand since 1908. In 1932, when Thailand's monarchy ceased to be absolute and a constitution was adopted, it too included language prohibiting lese-majesty. The 2007 Constitution of Thailand, and all seventeen versions since 1932, contain the clause, "The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action." Thai Criminal Code elaborates in Article 112: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years."

This may not seem like a bad idea, however, what is missing is a definition of what actions constitute "defamation" or "insult". From 1990 to 2005, the Thai court system only saw four or five lèse majesté cases a year. From January 2006 to May 2011, however, more than 400 cases came to trial, an estimated 1,500 percent increase.

The 1956 movie "The King and I" is still banned in Thailand as are all of the versions produced since. Other banned writings include Blogs (I am not planning another trip to Thailand) or web links to books or articles deemed critical of the monarch.

• May 2011. Joe Gordon, an American citizen born in Thailand as Lerpong Wichaikhammat, had lived in the United States for thirty years before returning to his homeland where he was arrested on charges of insulting Thailand's monarchy — in part by posting a link on his blog to a banned book about the ailing king. Gordon is also reportedly suspected of translating, from English into Thai, portions of The King Never Smiles – an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej – and posting them online, along with articles he wrote that allegedly defame the royal family.On 8 December 2011 a court in Thailand sentenced Joe Gordon to two and a half years in prison (halved from five years due to pleading guilty) for defaming the country's royal family by translating excerpts of a locally banned biography of the king and posting them online. The 10 October AP report on Joe Gordon's plea adds that "Yingluck’s government has been just as aggressive in pursuing the cases as its predecessors.". On July 10, 2012, Gordon received a pardon from the King and was released from jail.

• March 2012. Akachai Hongkangwan was arrested for selling VCDs containing a segment of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Foreign Correspondent series. Australian foreign correspondent Eric Campbell and ABC’s entire Bangkok bureau had been banned from entering Thailand after they aired an investigation of Bhumibol's role in the military's violent 2010 crackdown on protesters. The report was broadcast only in Australia. 

• January 2013. Somyot Prueksakasemsuk was sentenced to 10 years in prison, convicted of publishing two articles under a pseudonym that made negative references to the crown in his now-defunct anti-establishment magazine, Voice of Taksin, which was launched in 2009 to compile political news and anti-establishment articles from writers and contributors.

It must be good to be the King ;-) I certainly hope that as Americans we have the sensibility not to enact such restrictive laws but I am afraid we have already lost that battle as our freedom is being monitored by our government through the use of electronic spying and UAVs.

Khmer of Cambodia

Sometimes a bad event is a good thing and here is mine. My last hastily published blog posts about our adventures in China were done with a limited amount of sleep, no we were not celebrating Lunar New Year but the rest of SE Asia appeared to be enjoying the festivities. For my travelblog I wanted to write about what we saw and did in either a region or a city but as we were leaving Saigon my netbook gave up the ghost and became a 3 pound brick that I got to carry around the remaining two weeks of my trip. The good part was that this kept me from writing about Saigon and the Vietnamese cities along the Mekong before experiencing the Khmer culture of Cambodia and Thailand thus providing me with contrasts and comparisons.

Depending on your views of either the Vietnam war or the aftermath of the war Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) is a city to be explored and one that has both a view to the past and one to the future. We did not include a visit to north Vietnam this time so can't comment on what daily life is like in that area nor do I know what Saigon was like during the period while the French and then the Americans were occupying South Vietnam. But more about Saigon in another post but until then just know that a Dragon dance practice at 6 am is not the best way to be woken up after not having much sleep the night before.

The topic of this blog post is Cambodia and its people. The country really impressed me as people with resilience as you look at the cities and countryside.  This country is a third world country and appears to be poorer than India at many levels. Cambodia has been ravaged by civil war, considered an unsafe tourist destination until ten or so years ago, subjected to cruelty by the neighboring countries, genocide by the Khmer Rouge (their own kin), but they have bounced back and everyone appears to have a positive view of a better future Cambodia.  One of the most popular touristic destination is the Angkor archaeological site. Tourism provides income to more than the locals but also includes farmers who come to earn a living during the dry season then return to their primary source of income during the wet season - agriculture. The closest city to the Angkor complex is Siem Reap (Fall of Siam) and here it is focused on the tourism trade. Another touristic site is Phnom Penh, a city where the recent past is on display both  events very different but related. By this I mean the death of King Norodom Sihanouk- the Father King and the genocide memorials.  New factory sites were popping up all over the Cambodian countryside. Most were still being constructed but it was not clear how many locals would be employed once the construction phase was completed nor the type of manufacturing would be done. It did appear many would be warehouses but other looked like they would become garment factories. As with most silver linings there is a dark cloud of history and future environmental payments behind it.

Typical village along the Mekong in Cambodia

Our cruise up the Mekong on the RV AMALOTUS started outside of Saigon where we boarded our riverboat.

The ship's crew consisted both Vietnamese and Cambodians with the passengers on our cruise being mostly Swiss Germans, a few French, a German couple, other Europeans, two couples from Australia and two American couples. With the exception of a few most were middle aged and fairly fit. The Swiss German group had their own tour guide as well as Swiss German speaking local guides. The English speaking group (the German couple went with the English speakers as they didn't understand Swiss German) had local guides for Vietnam and Cambodia but not a tour guide. I don't think that either of our local guides were affiliated with a political party or were government minders as there were several political comments made by both. However they did seem to tow the party line regarding current administrations.

The first part of the cruise was in the Vietnam portion of the Mekong with daily excursion to a local village, fish farm, factory, or market to see daily life and this was repeated in Cambodia. Those who have been on cruises before know about shore excursions and how packs of tourists scurry from one site to another like coveys of quails. This was the oft repeated scene when our groups marched through tiny villages, markets, farm and farmer's houses, small factories, and fish farms. In both Vietnam and Cambodia the children came running out to wave and say hello to us as we passed by in the villages and along the river.

While in Vietnam these excursions seemed more like "Look how well we are doing! We are able to farm and sell our goods and make a living. Our government helps its citizens." But once we entered Cambodia these visits were not to villages or farms that were overly prosperous.  I was torn between feelings of  'I have or possess too much and these people have nothing" to "What can be done about this poverty!" I felt very conflicted about the excursions. The zoo-like aspect of it was unsettling, but I also felt that skipping it would have meant taking a stance that basically said, “We love visiting your beautiful country, but we’d rather not see the human impact of your formerly oppressive government’s policies.”

Cambodia needs the tourism but as I mentioned earlier there much missing in Cambodia which dates back to the genocide by the Khmer Rouge and the following civil war. There are very few people over the age of 60 in Cambodia with a majority of the population between the ages of 15-54 (58%, median age 23). The GDP spent on education is around 2% and schools are not very well equipped. Often it was not possible to tell if any children attended school as it appeared that they were out trying to sell something to a tourist. So one of the easiest ways to make money is tourism and its associated ancillary businesses. But who will manage these enterprises? In Phnom Penh the Choeung Ek (Killing Fields) memorial is managed by JC Royal Company - a Japanese owned business.

... JC Royal Co., is expected to "increase revenue for the state and develop and renovate the beauty of Choeung Ek killing fields." JC Royal is to pay the municipality of Phnom Penh $15,000 a year. In return, it will be allowed to jack up entrance fees, charging foreign visitors up to $3 instead of the current 50 cents.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1047552,00.html#ixzz2Nf4sa2sm

Our group visited Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng on the same day, both very impressive and depressing at the same time. The difference between the way the two sites are managed is significant. Granted Choeung Ek is outside of Phnom Penh but it seems more quiet and respectful of the atrocities committed there than the poorly presented Tuol Sleng. 

The Angkor Archaeological Park ticket sales is another location where a private business is in control. The temples and their restoration are not managed by this group but only a small fraction of the monies generated from the ticket sales  is returned to the site. You can't see the temples without a ticket as the ticket concession has ticket examiners in front of each major site and can ask at random to see your ticket. So the locals make money by selling trinkets or at the restaurants in front of Angkor Wat. This area has been cleared of landmines but they suggest you not go into the jungle. More about the landmines later.

One of our last excursions along the Mekong included an ox cart ride back to the ship. Again as we were trundling down the dirt road I felt like I was on display with all of the children chasing after us. The children at first tired to "give" a small item like drawing or folded flower to us for a small amount of money or candy but they were mostly curious and friendly trying out their limited English.

My driver it turns out spoke English and had gone to school for a while but now was a farmer and wanted to proudly point out all of the local points of interest. One of a building that looked like it had seen better days was the local maternity ward and the dirt road we were bumping down had just been finished - washed out from the previous monsoon season. A number of villagers had electricity - at least one fluorescent lightbulb and TV (flat panel) were seen in the houses with electricity.  There isn't a centralized trash pick up so plastic bags were either blowing around or found along side of the road with non recyclable trash.

There is very little waste of natural resources - like using rice straw as fuel (the burning of rice straw is one of the major contributors to the air pollution problem in SE Asia second only to automobiles and the hordes of scooters). Floating along we had noticed that in the Cambodian portion of the Mekong was the use of aerosol cans as floats for the fishing nets. As we passed through Kampong Tralach I saw where a local was taking the plastic caps off the spray cans (Raid) and attaching them to fishing nets. I can only imagine that someone thought this was a form of recycling but didn't either think or was aware of the residual pesticide in each can or the future pollution problem once these cans rusted through. This form of being resourceful is what I meant by the darkside. More tourists means more trash that can be repurposed to generate more income......

More later about the "party line" but check the other tabs for pictures. Not all have been posted here on this blog yet.