Since our last e-mail we have traveled through the Mekong Delta and into Cambodia and then back to Thailand. The majority of travel has been by boat, hence the title. The Mekong Delta was very interesting, their lifestyles revolve around the Mekong river (which begins from the Himalaya’s in Tibet carrying nutrients which are deposited in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam). The wide expanse of the river are lined with industry and the numerous canals are lined with homes and rice fields. We saw a couple different floating markets selling produce, wholesale and retail. There are also several floating houses, in fact we saw a dike break causing a rush of water to carry a house down the river. There was alot of commotion from the locals and they caught it before it got too far. All along the river kids would rush out when they saw tourists coming and would yell, wave hello and reach out their hands to give you five if you were close enough. We now know what it feels like to be celebrities.
We continued by boat up the Mekong into Cambodia. Our first stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, the capital. We were immediately surprised that many of the streets and the main boulevard were dirt roads. Conveniently it rained while we were there so it was a real joy exploring the city in mud. Our first full day we hired motor bike drivers to take us around some of the sights. Our first stop was the killing fields. We had read a few books before we got to Cambodia so we knew about the Khmer Rouge regime. A few of the things we learned…
from 1975-1979 the Khmer Rouge, under the mask of communism, took leadership of the country and killed 2 out of the 7 million people in the country by execution, starvation, or disease. They immediately killed all intellectuals, including doctors & teachers. Many people were also killed for such things as wearing glasses, not having calloused hands, or even a sun tan, signifying that you weren’t a laborer and therefore were corrupt and taking advantage of the working class. They cleared the cities and forced everyone into the countryside to work in the rice fields. The saddest part is that the soldiers were mostly uneducated kids barely in their teens. The Khmer Rouge maintained guerilla warfare even up to 1998, when its leader, Pol Pot, died. We couldn’t believe how long he managed to remain alive in the country after what he did. He died of natural causes. They estimate that there are still 4-6 million landmines still littering the country. Gradually the unsuspecting livestock are eliminating both the mines and themselves, but it will take a long time.

Anyway, back to the killing fields (this is one close to Phnom Penh, but there are many). This area was an orchard that the Khmer Rouge used as a mass execution site. In the 1990s they began excavating the mass graves. They have unearthed over 9,000 victims. This is about half of the people that they have documentation for being taken there, but they expect that there are more. Now it is a memorial to all the people who died under the Khmer Rouge. It was beyond eerie. There was a school right next to it and it was strange to see children playing so close to something so awful. Also, it struck us how recently this occured. The ground is still littered with bits of clothing from the victims. We were told there are also bits of bone and teeth laying about, but we didn’t see any, we weren’t looking. Many of the victims were brutally beaten to death, to save precious bullets. It is so evil.

We were suprised at how all the accounts we read and heard about regarding life under the Khmer Rouge seemed so similar. The general story is that they were moved to the countryside, dad was taken for “re-education” and never returned, and they worked excruciating hours in the fields and starved for the next 4 years. In fact that was the experience of our tour guide’s family. He was 2 when they killed his father. Another thing that really struck us was the Cambodian peoples’ capacity for forgiveness. Our guide told us that if the soldiers’ confessed then they were admitted into the Cambodian Military and granted amnesty. It blew our minds to think that the soldiers who killed so many of their fellow countrymen today wander the streets like ordinary citizens, probably in their 40s. The kicker was when we went to the S21 Prison Museum (formerly a high school). This is where people were held as political prisoners before they were executed at the killing fields. Only a handful survived. They showed a documentary where one of the survivors was showing his paintings of atrocities that he saw, heard, or heard about at the prison to a former Khmer Rouge soldier who was a guard at the prison. They were strolling with their arms around each other and the Khmer Rouge soldier was confirming the accuracy of the images. We found that unbelievable.

On a lighter note, we then went to Siem Reap (again by boat) to see the temples of Angkor. We arrived in a tiny village on the lake. The stench upon arrival was almost unbearable and the poverty of the village was extreme. Overall Cambodia is the poorest country we’ve seen. However, the temples of Angkor (built by the Khmers from 800-1200 AD) were impressive. They built the temples out of stone, but their living quarters were built out of wood (stone was reserved for gods). Only the temples remain and their carvings and architecture are beautiful (one of the Wonders of the World). After two days there we boarded a bus back to Thailand. It was a very bumpy four hour ride to the border over poorly maintained dirt roads (we were told they had vastly improved over the last few years). Although we only reserved five days for Cambodia we really enjoyed our time there.

Once back in Thailand we noted how much wealthier it seemed compared to our perceptions only a month earlier. We went straight to the southern beach areas. Our first stop was Koh Samui, one of the larger islands. There we met up with a friend of a friend whom we had never met. We now know that Samui is THE place to go if you are a single, middle aged man. We saw many foreign men in their 50’s living the beach life with their twenty-something Thai girlfriends, including our new found friend. <Chad> Food for thought.
Next stop Ko Lanta, a much less developed island. We paid a whopping 100 Baht ($2.50) per night for a bungalow 100 ft. from the beach. We spent a day scuba diving and the visibility was great. Then after almost a week on the beach we headed back to Bangkok and are now awaiting our flight to Cairo, Egypt tonight. This may come as a surprise to those who were aware of our itinerary. We had originally planned on going to Nepal/India, but we haven’t been receiving good news from there. Egypt may not sound safer, but after much research we feel confident about our safety.

Chad and Heidi

PS. We have received numerous emails giving Heidi credit for the emails. (<Heidi> Thanks!) Chad wants Heidi to say that he does contribute a substantial amount(<Chad> not to mention insightful). You can believe what you want. But regardless of who writes it, thanks again for sharing all this with us.