Walt Disney meets Buddha!
After a few days of walking around Saigon we decided it was time to get out of the city and see some of the surrounding sites. Our fist stop was the Cao Dai Holy sea at Tay Ninh.
The Holy Sea is the main temple of the Cao Dai religion; but with all due respect the beliefs of these people are well... Seemingly a little bit barmy! On the face of it their idealist idea of promoting peace and understanding throughout the world, despite minor differences, through a common understanding of a supreme being makes some sense. But their beliefs in the highest being revealing itself in the spirits of people such as Sir Winston Churchill seems to me to be a little far fetched!
The Cao Dai religion wasn't officially founded until 1926 after a spiritualist called Ngo was contacted during a séance by a superior spirit calling itself Cao Dai or high place. The spirit explained to him the basics of the Cao Dai religion and told him to adopt the divine or holy eye as a representative of its existence.
The Holy Eye in the wall of the temple.
Cao Dai takes elements of other religions including Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and spirituality. Followers must avoid killing living beings, high living, covetousness, verbal deceit and temptations of the flesh and they look to hasten the evolution of the soul through reincarnation. The ultimate goal of the religion is to escape from reincarnation.
According to CaoDai.org the religion was founded after:
"The Supreme Being informed Ngo that all the world’s religions should return to the one from which they originally sprang. This message was to be delivered to the world. Ngo asked Cao Dai for permission to worship him under a tangible form. He then had a vision of the All-Seeing Eye and was subsequently ordered to use it as the symbol of Cao Dai. Ngo returned to Saigon in 1924 and taught the philosophy and esoteric practice he had learned from Cao Dai."
Cao Dai was officially founded in 1926 when there were further revelations from the Cao Dai. According to the Vietnam Rough Guide the Cao Dai informed its followers it had already revealed itself to mankind using such mediums as Lao-tzu (an ancient Chinese philosopher and important figure in Taoism) Christ, Mohammed, Moses, Saklyamuni (or Buddha) and Confucius in order to breed a system of belief tailored to suit local cultures.
Having a number of conflicting religions had lead to religious intolerance so for the third-alliance the Cao Dai did away with earthly messengers and conveyed a universal religion via spirit intermediaries, including Louis Pasteur, William Shakespeare, Joan of Arc, Sir Winston Churchill and Napoleon Bonaparte! The revelations of these 'saints' were received using a wooden board on castors on which the medium rested his hand! As I said Barmy!
The Cao Dai Holy Sea is in Tay Ninh about 40km away from Saigon, the part of Vietnam where the majority of Cao Dai followers reside. The Holy Sea is ornately decorated in an almost sickly combination of pastel pinks, greens and blues. Dragons that wouldn't look out of place in a kids cartoon climb the pillars inside and out, whilst the roof inside is painted with clouds and adorned with shiny silver stars - not unlike something you'd find in a six year old girls bedroom! The colours and decoration of the temple gave it a childlike fantasy air but with many of the religious trimmings found in a Buddhist temple. It is a very odd combination most aptly described as Disney meets Buddha, but somehow it managed to escape looking tacky!
The front of the Holy Sea
The cloums outside and inside the Holy Sea.
The roof of the Holoy Sea.
We arrived at the Holy Sea just before the mid day ceremony began and subsequently didn't have a lot of time to explore the inside. As we walked around hundreds of people wearing white robes were gathering outside and in the entranceway and it wasn't long before we were ushered up to a balcony form where we were to watch the ceremony. Many Cao Dai followers wear white but some chose to wear other colours to represent other religions white = Cao Dai, Blue = Taoist, Red = Catholicism, and yellow = Buddhist.
The ceremony began with music playing and a gong banging at the front of the temple. Hundreds of people wearing white walked slowly into the temple lead by higher ranking officials wearing red, blue or yellow. Inside the temple are nine steps each separated by two columns bearing dragons. These steps represent the nine steps to nirvana. A Cao Dai follower moves up a step upon reaching a new level of devotion to the religion, it takes 10 to 15 years to move up a level. As the worshipers entered the temple they stopped on their respective levels. The first two were full of people then the number on each step thinned out until there were just two on the seventh step. No one sat on the eight or ninth steps as all those who had achieved the highest ranks, including their pope, have passed away leaving the religion almost without any leaders! Yet another thing that seemed slightly odd!
Watching the ceremony.
The balcony overlooking the hall offered a great view of the proceedings but was very hot. The whole thing was conducted in Vietnamese and was mainly singing, gong banging and head bobbing. After about 20 minutes I'd begun to overheat and retreated to the fresher air outside the temple.
(I was going to a dd a video here but due to a series of mishaps I'm destined not to be able to upload it!)
Cao Dai is certainly the most odd religion I've encountered during my travels but because of that possibly one of the most interesting. I'd like to say I comprehend some of their ideals of worshiping a divine being encompassing aspects of all religions but I can't quite get past some of their plainly barmy ramblings about the Cao Dai coming to them through famous dead people! But them maybe I'm closed minded and Napoleon Bonaparte really bring a message about a universal religion from beyond the grave? I guess I'll never know.
For more information on Cao Dai click here for the American Cao Dai website or here for Wikipedia.
Two days seeing the sights of Saigon
Tomorrow I leave Vietnam so I though it was about time I got round to writing about my last three weeks here. I'm going to start at the beginning; our arrival in Saigon - a city that certainly didn't live up to expectations and was possibly more busy, dirty and smoggy than the other big Asian cities we've visited, but without the numerous interesting tourist attractions to make it worth while putting up with constantly dodging badly driven motorbikes and breathing in an unrelenting thick smog!
After a terrible, squashed, uncomfortable mini-bus journey from Phnom Penh and a two hour wait at the border we arrived in Ho Chi Minh city or Saigon, Vietnam already tired and irritated.
Luckily we found nice accommodation in the middle of the backpackers area without too many problems. The accommodation, as we had been told, was more expensive then Cambodia but with a lot more amenities. For the first time since leaving Korea we had a hot shower, air conditioning and a fridge!
By the time we'd settled in it was early evening and chucking down. We wondered a little way down the bustling main street having to walk mainly in the road because the pavement was covered in street sellers and parked motorbikes, and found a nice looking bar for dinner. This bar turned out to be the westerners hang out and, as we later discovered, was a lot more expensive than other places in the area. But the food was good and it only a few doors down from the hotel.
Our second day in Saigon we spent the morning lazing in the room. Emily and I caught up on our diaries whilst Kat spent the whole time inseparable form the new Harry Potter book which, after searching in vain in Cambodia, she finally managed to procure before we'd even found accommodation in Saigon the previous evening.
That afternoon we wondered around the Ben Thanh market where there is supposed to be a fairly gruesome 'wet' market although we never managed to find it. However the dried prawns and fish we did pass gave of a fairly pungent and not partially pleasant aroma. We stuck mainly to the souvenir area and it was not long before I'd bought a pretty traditional Vietnamese lacquer-ware and eggshell picture for just $10, we saw the same picture in a factory a few days later for $25!
That evening we went to a cafe up the road from our hotel called Bobby Brewers. This was a very western looking establishment with prices to match. However upstairs they had a cinema showing some of the latest films for free providing you purchased a drink. This was to become a regular evening hang out whilst in Saigon.
On our second full day in Saigon we awoke to rain drumming against the windows and after sitting around for ages not wanting to go out into the miserable weather we eventually decided it was a good day for visiting museums.
The rain eased and we walked the short distance to the Fine Arts Museum which was housed in what once would have been a beautiful French colonial building. However now it would have benefit greatly from a bit of floor polishing and a lick of paint.
Inside some of the art was interesting, the Vietnamese traditionally use egg shell and a number of different textures in their artwork. However most of the upstairs was given over to an exhibition by an artist called Kim Batch. All her work was watercolour on silk, she had the odd interesting painting but most of it was incredibly tedious, with such inspired names as 'Flowers on a chair'!
Our next stop of the day was an antiques street Kat really wanted to see. Confidently Kat announced she loved antiques shops, to which Emily and I exchanged worried glances knowing the shops would probably be cluttered with junk. After getting lost we eventually found the street just yards from the Fine Arts Museum we'd just left; it was exactly what Emily and I had been expecting - a row of shops full of stuff that looked like junk. Kat seemed suprised at this, clearly when she announced she loved antiques shops she had no idea what they entailed.
Our final stop of the day was the history museum. This had promise but in reality was a bit crap. The small amount of information there was was badly written at best and incomprehendable at worse. We wondered around giving most of the exhibits just a cursory glance. The one interesting exhibit was an incredibly well preserved mummy found in a tomb whilst digging the foundations for an apartment block in Saigon. She had been found accompanied by information claiming she was once a member of the royal family and a Buddhist nun. The mummy was in a glass case and made very eerie viewing. Most of her hair had fallen out but what there was left was long and grey, her fingernails were also long and her yellow skin stretched tightly over her bones.
We left the museum in search of food but thanks to my terrible map reading (although it's better than both Kat and Emily's) we ended up going the wrong way along the street. As we walked the street got busier and busier, motorbikes swarmed from all directions making crossing the road almost impossible and we hadn't seen another person with white skin for ages! Eventually we managed to flag down a taxi to take us back to the backpacker area where we grabbed some food then settled down for the evening watching a film on the comfy sofa in Bobby Brewers, before heading home to bed.
Excuses for not blogging!
I'm going to keep this short as I'm sat in a hotel reception at 7am, after being on a bus for the last 12 hours, waiting for Kat and Emily (neither of whom have any sense of direction or can read a map) to come back from checking out some (hopefully nicer) accommodation!
We've been travelling a lot and this is the first time I've found a vaguely passable internet connection in weeks so this blog is somewhat suffering. Hopefully I'll get chance to update all of what I've been up to in Vietnam when I arrive in Australia and get five days to chill out (and blog) at Kats Antys.
We've just spent three days in Hue where we looked at some more temples, mausoleums and pagodas and went on a tour of the Vietnamese DMZ. It was good but if I see another temple I'm going to scream!
Before that we spent four days in Hoi An doing nothing but shopping. It's a very pretty quaint little town that is famous for its taylor made clothes. You can go in and either explain what you want and they'll make it or pick something in the shop and they'll make it to fit. I went a bit crazy and ended up buying: three pairs of trousers, one pair of shorts, four long skirts, one long dress (to wear to a wedding next year), two short dresses, two short skirts, two tops and a very nice winter coat! Oopps!!!! But it only coast 150GBP for it all and its all taylor made.
Anyway there isn't much else I can report in a short amount of time. We are all getting VERY excited about leaving Asia and going to Australia. It'll be son nice to be in a country where not only does everyone speak English but they don't charge you extra because you're white, think it's ok not to give you your change and constantly hassle you to ride on their motorbike, tuk tuk etc... Asia has been fantastic but I think we are all just about ready to leave for a while.
Anyway best be off. Kat and Emily will be back soon.
The imposing faces of Bayon
Bayon was my favourite of all the Khmer temples at Angkor. This temple was built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries and was intended to embrace all the religions of the kingdom, including the Islamic beliefs of the newly conquered Cham (some more information on the Cham people can be found here), but was consecrated as a Buddhist temple.
As you approach the temple all that can be seen is an ill defined mass of stone rising into the air. Then as you approach the walkway and get closer to the temple the massive imposing stone faces of Lokesvara stare down at you from some of Bayon's 54 columns .
Approaching Bayon
This temple never had any living quarters and was built purely to show off the craftsmanship of the Khmer temple builders. I loved this temple because of the power and might conveyed in the massive imposing faces that are so different from any architecture I've seen before.
One of the faces.
There was lots more we saw and did around the temples of Angkor and I could spend hours writing about it but I don't have the time. I've been in Vietnam for over a week and haven't had chance to blog anyhting about it yet. Hopefully I'll get chance to catch up soon. For now - over and out.
A masterpiece of Khmer architecture
Having hired a tuk tuk (and driver) for the day getting to Angkor Wat was easy.
We left the driver in the car park and after shaking off hundreds of hawkers asking us to buy their postcards, water, bracelets, books we made our way across the road to the walkway leading to the temple. A massive structure stood in font of us, in its day it would have been incredibly grand however looking at it after centuries of battering form the elements with the architecture still looking as grand and imposing as ever it seemed all the more impressive.
The grandeur of this temple was evident as soon as we began making our way over the massive stone walkway across to moat to the rather unimaginatively titled the fourth enclosure. Eloquently carved, every nook and cranny had something different to reveal. Beyond the fourth enclosure stood the five majestic towers stretching above the massive three level temple that is Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat
Passing through the first gate we came to the third enclosure - this is as far into the temple as the citizens of Angkor were allowed to get. Running around this enclosure giant bass-reliefs line the walls depicting scenes form Indian mythology and of Hindu gods. The beautifully carved reliefs were once coated in golds and reds the remnants of which can still, in places, be seen centuries after their conception.
As we tired of the reliefs we made our way into the third enclosure, the first level of the pyramid and the Gallery of a Thousand Buddhas. A vast collection of Buddhas were once housed here but now all that remained were some very impressive carvings on the ceiling and a number of statues, some with heads, many without. I've heard that during the Khmer Rouge time they beheaded many of the Buddha statues because of their hatred of religion. These statues are left standing in the temples the jagged edges where they were decapitated slowly being smoothed over by the passage of time.
A headless Buddha statue.
Walking around looking in awe at the incredible masonry surrounding me I managed to completely missed anything of note on the second level of the pyramid, until I came to the steps taking me to the third level. I stood at the bottom craning my neck to the top thinking: "There is no way I am climbing up there." Sarim reliably informed me that was the only way to the top and if I wanted to see the third level I had to go up.
The ancient steps made of stone were set at a 70 degree angle and worn precariously away in places. In the middle many of the steps were barley wide enough to place your foot sideways, but being the way to the top we all dutifully set off stopping for pictures along the way.
Half way up the steps.
During the time of Suryavarman II (The Khmer king who ordered the building of Angkor Wat, more information on him can be found here.) only the high priest and king were allowed to visit the third level. Looking back down the dentifying drop from the top of the (so called) steps it seemed to me like he'd done everyone else a favour by not allowing them up.
From the third level I could get a much better look at Angkor Wat's five towers. We stopped at the shrine and lit some incense. Sarim having once been a Buddhist monk told us to get three incense sticks and explained what they represented although annoyingly I have now completely forgotten. Wondering around the top level I had a look in the guide book read up on the third level. I was alarmed to the read that (at the time of writing) the third level had been closed due to a number of serious injuries and fatalities caused by people falling down the steps! That made me confident about navigating my way back down! However I was informed by a guy at the top that after the installation of a hand rail on one side they were now deemed safe for tourists!
Sarim showing Kat how to light incense.
I made it back down unscathed but a little shaky, then watched Emily and Kat remove their flip flops for the clime only to burn their bare feet on the rock that had been heated by the mid day sunshine!
We had another temple to visit today so we made our way out of Angkor Wat and onto the next temple Bayon. More on that in another post.
Oooops!
That last post (which has now been removed) was never supposed to be live (as in published for all to see). It was a rough draft of a post I hadn't finished yet.
I apologise to all of those who may have been offended by my appalling spelling and grammar but at that stage it was met for my eyes and the spell checker only.
Thanks Dad for letting me know it was there.
A much edited version of the post will appear shortly.
Toul Sleng or Security 21 (S-21) genocide museum
Formally a school know as Ponhea Yat located in the middle of Phnom Penh the almost ghostly building that became know as Toul Sleng or Security 21 (S-21) still stands as a ever present reminder of the atrocities carried out by the Khmer Rouge.
S-21 was Angkar's (meaning the organisation of the Khmer Rouge) premier security institution used for the interrogation and extermination of anti-angkar elements. It is estimated as many as 10,499 prisoners plus 2,000 children passed through S-21, all of which died many at the Choeunh Ek killing field.
The old school was modified little save for classrooms being clumsily divided into cells. We entered the prison at Building A and walked slowly from room to room. In each room on the ground floor was a metal bed, without mattress, and a picture on the wall. Each picture seemed more horrific than the last and showed a dead prisoner as they were found in the room when the Khmer Rouge deserted the prison upon the fall of the regime. Inside the room some of the shackles used to tie the prisoners to the bed remained and blood splatters were still visible on the ceiling.
One of the rooms used for torture.
The Khmer Rough meticulously documented each prisoner that passed through S-21. On arrival they were taken to a special chair that made them sit up straight and held their head up for their picture. These pictures were kept with the confessions extracted from the prisoners under torture, many of which are though to be false.
The ground floor of Building B contained rows and rows of pictures of the prisoners. Some of them looked defiant, others scared and some just seemed to be pleading for mercy. I'm sure whilst being photographed most of them were already aware of the fate that awaited them. The most shocking of all the walls was a collection of photographs of small children some no older than about three. The Khmer Rouge worked on the basis that: "to dig up the grass one must dig up the roots".Therefore if one member of a family was deemed to be anti-angkar often the entire family would be "exterminated".
Looking at the pictures and seeing the haunted look in the eyes of the victims was the hardest part of the museum. Emily didn't even make it through the first room before her imagination got the better of her and she spent the rest of the afternoon in the courtyard.
Some of the children who passed through the prison.
Some of the mean and women who passed through the prison.
Upstairs in Building B was an exhibition of stories told by relatives of those taken away by the Khmer Rouge, Having already read two different personal accounts of life under the Khmer Rouge I was prepared for this. However it was still much easier to take in the information without dwelling on it too much. Emily's problem was she would spend ages imagining if it had been her and her family. I found it easier to try and detach as much as possible, otherwise I'd have been sat in the courtyard with her.
Building C is the only building that remains as it stood during the Khmer Rouge time. The front of the building is covered in barbed wire woven into a net to prevent the prisoners jumping from the second and third floor and committing suicide. On this first floor are some badly built brick cells measuring no more than 0.8 meters by 2 meters where the men were held. On the second floor are similar sized wooden cells where the women were held.
One of the mens prison cells.
Two of the ladies prison cells.
On the third floor of each of the building were collective cells. Here row of prisoners were kept sleeping close together waiting for their turn to be integrated, tortured or killed. A metal bar measuring four or five meters long was placed through the shackles on their ankles to prevent them moving anywhere and talking to each other was forbidden.
The museum also contained an exhibition of some of the torture implements used by the Khmer Rouge guards. Among them was a bed filled with water. The victim's hands would be tied to each side of the bed and his legs to the bottom. The bed would be then filled with water almost submerging the victims head. Women would be tortured with their hands and feet shackled to a bed then scorpions and centipedes used to sting her or pliers used to clip off her nipples. In the courtyard of the school once stood a wooden frame with wires attached that student, from the buildings time as a school, used to do exercise. The Khmer Rouge utilised this as another torture device tying the victims hands with a rope and hanging them upside down until they lost consciousness. They were then lowered into a tub of smelly, filthy water used for fertilizing the crops causing them to regain consciousness and the interrogation could begin over again.
This kind of inhumane torture hardly bares thinking about. Although from reading the books I have on the Khmer Roue regime I know it could get even worse!
One of the final parts of the museum took us through a series of paintings by Vann Nath an artist who was one of only seven people who survived S-21 (A website with images of his paintings can be found by clicking this link). He painted images he had seen during his time as a prisoner. Then later we watched a documentary on the prison where the painter walked around the prison with a former guard talking about the torture and killing methods and asking weather his paintings were accurate. Throughout the interview the guard wore an inane grin, possibly because of the horror of the acts he once committed, possibly because of having blocked out the reality of what he had done, or maybe he was just an evil man - regardless he admitted that the acts of depravity and degradation in the picture were accurate portrayals of life in the prison.
Sarim (our tuk tuk driver friend) had walked around the whole museum with us explaining things as we went seemingly unphased by his countries horrific history. But having seen the documentary before he excused himself before the prison guard came on screen saying it was too much form him.
It seems that abominable acts committed by the Khmer Rouge will not any affect the generation to which it happened but many generations to come who grow up with the knowledge their ants, uncles, and grandparents were among the two million Cambodians who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. As long as S-21 and the killing fields stays open to the public it will be an ever present reminder of just how barbaric a regime can be.
Choeung Ek killing field
Set amongst peaceful rice fields and farmland is one of Cambodia's most grisly sites the Choeung Ek killing field where as many as 17,000 Cambodians lost their lives under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Located just 12km outside Phnom Penh Choeung Ek is where prisoners from the infamous Toul Sleng or S-21 prison were taken to be "extinguished".
We'd contacted Sarim (the guy we met in Sihnaoukville) and arranged for him to drive us on his Tuk-tuk, being Cambodian he got free entry to the site (we paid $2 each) and walked around with us explaining things as we went.
Just standing outside the gate of the Choeung Ek killing field had already invoked a feeling of horror. I knew what I was about to see wasn't going to be pleasant and if I thought too hard I could almost hear the terrified screams of a bygone day.
Inside Choeung Ek the first thing we came to was a modern Chedi of glass panels set in white with a classical Khmer golden roof. Inside was the final resting place of thousands of skulls piled high on shelves inside a square glass case and arranged by age and gender. Some of them bearing the marks of a grisly death. Underneath the skulls was a pile of clothing removed from the thousands of exhumed bodies.
The chedi.
We entered in silence, whilst Sarim waited outside, and walked slowly around the Chedi looking at thousands of skulls placed close enough for us to have reached out and touched them. Looking at the remnants of death on such a large scale it was impossible to fathom how any regime could kill so many people. It was so shocking it didn't seem real.
The clothes on the bottom of the Chedi.
One shelf in the Chedi.
Looking into the Chedi.
I left the Chedi lighting some incense on the way and stopping for a moment to think of all those who lost their lives under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.
At Choeung Ek 8985 bodies have so far been recovered from 86 mass graves dotted across the site. A further 43 mass graves remain untouched and some estimates claim as many as 17,00 people may have been killed there.
We strolled slowly towards the mass burial sites passing long ago demolished buildings where the Choeung Ek guards would have gone about their gruesome business. We first came to a sign marking the truck stop where the trucks carrying prisoners for execution would have stood. Trucks carrying 20-30 terrified prisoners would arrive every three weeks. The prisoners would be taken straight for execution or be detained in the dingy on site detention centre to await their death.
A few more steps took us to the place where the "dark and gloomy" detention centre once stood. Prisoners were usually executed immediately but when the number to be executed reached 300 a day the Khmer Rouge couldn't kill them fast enough so they detained them for slaughter the following day.
Next to the long ago dismantled detention centre once stood the executioners office and the beside that a chemical substances storage room. This room was used to store substances such as DDT. DDT was used to sprinkle over dead bodies to remove the stench of rotting flesh from the bodies that if smelt could of aroused the suspicion of people working nearby and also to kill off victims buried alive.
Sarim then lead us to some of the mass grave sites. The whole landscape was dotted with large pits all of which Sarim explained were mass graves. Some of the larger mass graves were fenced off and a wooden plaque said how many bodies had been recovered there. Walking around this area it was almost impossible to stop an involuntary shiver going down your spine as you looked at the ground and saw fragments of bone and clothing left behind after the grave excavations.
One of the mass graves.
Clothing from the ground left under a tree.
A large tree in the middle of the grave site was apparently used to hold a loud speaker blasting music and propaganda to cover the screams of people as they were killed and their lifeless bodies thrown into a pit.
To begin with victims were killed by a bullet to the head but as ammunition ran out victims were bludgeoned or stabbed to death. Sarim showed us some palm leaves with lacerated edges and said the Khmer Rouge would kill some of the victims using the leaves. The edges were sharp but not sharp enough to kill without it being very slow and inflicting enormous pain on the victim. The area was surrounded by large palm trees that 30 years ago, when this horror was taking place, would have been small. Those same tress that I was walking past now where the ones whose leaves were taken and used in acts of horrific brutality.
In near silence we walked around the grave site taking in what we were seeing, barley able to imagine the abhorrent acts that were committed on the ground where we stood.
We left Choeung Ek in silence preparing ourselves four our next stop of the day Toul Sleng or S-21 the prison where many of the victims of the Choeung Ek killing field would have lived out their last few days. It was going to be a very somber day.
Ghosts
The day after Ream national Park we travelled to Kampot and booked a trip to the abandoned hill station in Bokor National Park.
Bokor National park was originally developed by the french when they colonised Cambodia. It was an elegant hill station with a cool climate and luxurious amenities where visitors flocked during the 1920s. It has since been abandoned twice. The first time during the 1940s when the Japanese invaded Cambodia then again in the 1970s when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. In 1979 Bokor was the scene of a prolonged battle between Vietnamese and Khmer Rough troops who hooled up in the Catholic Church and Hotel respectively - today the scars of the battle are still visible. The hill station hasn't been inhabited since Khmer Rouge left and now lies as an eerie relic of a former time.
Getting to the hill station was an adventure itself. The trip left early in the morning but as we arrived at the pick up point it was pouring with rain and the transport was an open back 4x4 truck. Kat, Emily and I did a good job of looking like vulnerable young girls and were all given seats inside the vehicle.
It took about 15 minutes to get to the entrance to Bakor National park then almost two hours along a very bumpy, non existent road to the Black Palace - the former residence of King Sihnaouk and our first stop.
Along the way we encountered a very large poisonous spider making it's web across the road. It was the largest spider I've ever seen and made me shudder from inside the vehicle I was very glad I wasn't sat on the open back!
The Black palace area was made up of three buildings. The kings residence building was surprisingly unspectacular and much smaller than I'd expected. Inside it was little more than a shell but the terrace offered amazing views down the mountain and out to sea.
The view from the Black Palace dining room.
To the left about 200 meters away was the kitchen and dining building; this was a much larger building with a room that could have once been a grand banquet hall. The to the left of this building was the least impressive building of the palace complex, the concubines residence. To get to this building you had to navigate through thick undergrowth, Inside there were two bedrooms, a bathroom and small entrance way. This was probably the worst maintained of all the buildings with a massive hole in the floor of one of the rooms.
Our next stop was the abandoned hill station at the top of Bokor National Park. The truck came to a stop in front of the modern looking rangers station, I got out and turned around. I was looking across a reservoir at an area dotted with abandoned and almost ruined buildings. Clouds were blowing gently across the scene in front of me. The mist floated in and out of the windows of buildings that were blackened with age and covered in a bright orange lichen as the mist swirled around the area the buildings disappeared and reappeared making it a very eerie scene to behold.
The clouds swirling around the catholic church.
The guide took us for a walk around the park first stopping at the hotel and casino where we could take some pictures but not go inside. Then we climbed the hill to the massive structure of the main Hotel Casino. The building was blackened with age and slime and dotted with bright green moss and orange lichen. Inside much of the floor was covered in a layer of water which dripped from the ceiling. As you entered there was a sign saying no sleeping but looking around me and having heard the rumors about how haunted the building was I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to sleep there.
The hotel Casino had once been a grand building and walking around the main room you could almost imagine it rebuilding itself in front you eyes as the boat does in the film titanic. But at the same time as imagining it with the grandeur it once had it was also easy to imagine it in its second incarnation as a Khmer Rouge prison. Thinking about it like this the whole building seemed like it had emerged from a horror film - in some ways it had! The building is said to be haunted because so many people died there without Buddhist ceremonies being held for them to allow their souls to pass into the next world. Behind the building is a cliff with a drop to the jungle floor of over 1000 feet, it is said the Khmer Rouge would execute prisoners by tying them together and pushing the first man over the cliff and letting those tied to him follow.
The hotel casino.
The building was still very much standing and it was possible to climb the staircases to all three floors and walk around the once plush bedrooms although there was no furniture left and the occasional window covered with sheet metal could be found - possible evidence of the buildings use of a prison.
Inside the hotel casino.
Our next stop was the church. This was nearly all covered in the orange lichen and clouds seemed to gather whirling around the church tower then drifting slowly across the building. Inside the alter still remained although no religious artifacts were in evidence. I've never seen a church designed this way as the main room was split in the middle then behind the wall where the alter rested it was divided into another two rooms neither of which had walls that reached the celling. We surmised the rooms may have been added after the church was built but our guide had disappeared so no-one could explain it to us. The church was supposed to bear the scars of battle although I couldn't find any unlike the hotel where you could clearly see bullet holes in the wall.
The catholic church.
It was soon time to leave the hill station behind although I would have liked a lot longer and more freedom to explore the buildings. The day ended with a very relaxing sunset cruise along the river to Kampot.
More photos can be found here.
Swimming with snakes!
I've been in Phnom Penh for about five days now but I'm going to take you back over a week to Sihnaoukville and our day trip to Ream National Park.
Ream National Park includes the only protected marine area in Cambodia, is home to more than 155 species of bird and has, mangrove swamps and lowland evergreen forest.
We chose a trip that promised a boat trip down the mangrove lined river to a fishing village then a short hike through the jungle to some unspoilt beaches for a swim then lunch on the boat as it sailed back up the river again.
The trip was disorganised form the start, we arrived at the meeting place and the guys didn't appear to have a clue about the breakfast that was supposed to be included in the trip. There was a girl from Holland also on the trip wondering where her breakfast was, when we asked they made a phone call then drove us to a restaurant up the road for a breakfast of baguettes and jam.
It took about 20 minutes to drive to the ranger station from where the boat would take us down the river. The station was surrounded by what appeared to be a small village on stilts. The ground under the stilts clearly flooded regally and was a disgusting green swamp like colour and littered with rubbish. All the houses and the pigs (who also live in a hut on stilts) appeared to empty their waste onto the ground below them.
We set off in a rickety old boat with one of the boat men bailing water from inside it; he said it was full of water because of the rain, but later admitted there may be a small hole in the boat. Nearing the fishing village many people could be seen in small boats fishing or walking along in the river looking for clams.
We arrived at the fishing village and parked the boat a couple hundred meters out to sea. They said it was too shallow for the boat to go any further and the guide whipped off his trousers exposing his hideous blue y-fronts and jumped into the knee deep water. Luckily we were all wearing shorts and flip flops, so off came the shoes and we began wading to shore. The ground under our feet wasn't sand it was a disgusting feeling squishy mud that made you sink in places. We couldn't see into the water and kept standing on sharp clam shells and bits of wood. I was very glad when I finally reached the sore and could feel sand beneath my feet.
The fishing village was small and as we walked up through kids sat on the veranda of houses shouted: 'Hello" and: "What's your name?", whilst other kids were more shy and hid behind the windows of their houses watching us but thinking we hadn't seen them.
The houses were all fairly simple, built on stilts but had (so the guide told us) both electricity and running water. Passing through the village we turned into the forest and the guide showed us the village school. It was a very simple wooden building with rows of benches and desks with a blackboard at the front.
Once we'd passed the school we began walking through the jungle. In the jungle we just about caught sight of a squirrel then the guide showed us some termites and explained how the guard their workers. As we neared the end of the walk the path turned into a stream and we had to take our shoes off and wade through almost knee deep water in the middle of the jungle.
The track opened onto a deserted beach in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't a house or another person in sight, we stopped for a while but no-one wanted to swim because we didn't want to be wet walking back through the jungle.
By the time we got back to the shore where we needed to wade to the boat we were all very hot, tired and covered in insect bites. The tide had also come in quite a lot making the water deeper. The guide called the boat and told them to come closer. As we stood on the shore waiting for the boat we spotted some snakes swimming in the water we were about to wade through. I know they'd probably been there earlier but now having seen them I didn't want to walk back through the water. The boat came within about 200 meters of shore and we had to step into the snake infested water to reach it. It was a case of mind over matter, I kept telling myself the ground doesn't feel disgusting, I haven't just stood on something really sharp and there AREN'T any snakes int this water. I reached the boat safely ahead of Emily and Katrina, who'd both managed to cut their feet in the water.
Then we were given a lunch of fish and salad and driven back up the river to head back to Sihnaoukville.
Some photos can be found here.
