The Acadamy Travel Awards

Here are our picks for the Academy Travel Awards

Best Country -  Cambodia

Best Accommodations  -  Cambodia  (the $15 beach bungalow)

Best country offering something culturally significant - a tie between Angkor Wat,                                                                                                               Security Prison 21,and the Killing Fields

Best Pizza -  FCC Club Phnom Penh (shrimp and pesto)

Best Beer - Vietnam (beer Saigon)

Best Breakfast - Laos (JOMA Bakery ham and cheese croissant)

Best one day excursion for under $20- tubing down river in Vang Viang,Laos

Best souvenir- hand made stamp custom designed in Vietnam

Best transportation - bus in Cambodia

Best boat - Junk in Halong Bay

Best meal -  Seafood feast in Halong Bay

Best coffee -  Cambodia

Best beaches - Bamboo Island, Cambodia

Best basic cable package in hotel - Phnom Penh

Best local flavor -  Cambodia's Khmer food

Best wildlife - a tie to Cambodia and Vietnam (the most amount of rats spotted)

Best scam for earning a dollar - Cambodian's for renting kids to beg on the beach at night

Best drug - Imodium

Best fruit shake - Thailand

Best location for purchasing pirated movies -  Thailand for quality and Vietnam for price

Best cheese - laughing cow (no refrigeration required)

Best cultural handicrafts - Cambodia (weaving, carvings, jewelry making)

Most polite touters - Luang Prabang, Laos

Cutest children - Cambodia

Best insect spotted - scorpian in Laos

Best birds - Cambodia ( the Khmers don't find them as tasty)

Most fun way to travel - back of motor scooter ( not in front of )

Best house pet - Mr. Hello the friendly baby monkey

Best job for Chris's sensitive nose - fish paste maker

Best shower - TT First guest house Luang Prabang, Laos

Farewell to South east Asia

                                        

                                           

                                        

We were last seen climbing into a boat to take painful 8 hour ride to Battambang from Siem Reap. The ride was a bit hard on the on the old tale bone, but the views of the floating villages were incredible. Battambang was nothing to write home about, so I won't.  We did take a Khmer cooking class. The Cambodian food is excellent. After a day in Battambang we decided to head south. Time to head to the beach!!! Two days later we had made our way to a small island named Bamboo Island, off the southern coast of Cambodia. We found it to be the perfect place to chill for the next 5 days. Plenty of hammocks, beers, and fresh seafood. All of the makings for a perfect beach get away. Oh yeah, and a little bluegrass as well. 

Life changing Siem Reap

Well, our time is coming to an end. I apologize for the lack of posts. Wi-fi is a hit or miss thing in Cambodia.
Last you heard from us, we were heading to Siem Reap. The glorious home of Angkor Wat. What a grand display of history. Angkor Wat is the master piece of Khmer architecture, built by Suryavarnan II. This is just one of many spread over 40 miles around Siem Reap. Chris and I spent 6 days in this enchanting Cambodian town. We spent hours exploring the temples and photographing them. We spent a day with a photography guide. Chris saw more birds here then any other place we have been in Southeast Asia. I am sorry I can not download any photos at the moment. I was having a hard time finding wi-fi.
We met up with our friend Kim, the woman we met in Laos. She spent the next 2 weeks traveling with us thru Cambodia.
As I explained before, this country captured my heart. The history of the people and what they have been through is heart breaking. The amazing thing about these people is that no matter how much lack of money, food, clothing, or hope for the future, they are amazingly happy.
The only time I witnessed a child crying was because of our lack of speaking the same language.
This moment was a life changing moment for me.
Chris, Kim, and I were going to a mini mart one night to purchase snacks for a long boat ride the next day. As we were walking into the store, a young woman with a small baby asked us to buy her formula for her child. Seeing as how she was not begging for money or for herself, we of course purchased her a large can of formula. While I was in the mart I saw a young boy, around 8 years old, standing outside and pointing into the store. I thought he was pointing to candy. I told him I was not going to buy him candy, but I handed him some bananas out the door. When I got done with my purchase, we left. I walked out side to find the boy with his little sister, around 1 years ol ,on his back. He was balling. As I was walking and trying to understand him, I realized he had been asking me to purchase some "milk", which was formula, for his sister. Kim and I looked at each other and turned right around and went back in side and bought him some "milk" for his sister. After that moment, I new this was how I needed to help. Chris and I discussed it in great length and decided next year we need to return to Cambodia and volunteer with the Siem Reap Children's Hospital and a local orphanage. I will keep you informed of our ideas and how you can help if you so desire. I will post pictures at a later date to show you the faces of these amazing children.
Stay tuned for a few more posts to tell you about the south of Cambodia and the beautiful islands.

Cambodia

After 6 hours of horrible karoke, yes they have karoke on the bus, we arrived from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After walking around PP, Chris has already decided this is his favorite country. The locals are friendly and the vibe is laid back. We decided to spend a day in PP before heading toward Siem Reap. 

Our goal for the day was to visit all of the sites of the Khmer Rouge genocide. What an eye opening experience. For those of you not familier, let me share with you a little history.  

The Khmer Rouge was lead by a monster named Pol Pot, or Brother number 1. He led this regime between 1975 to 1979.  When Pol Pot was a young man he left for Paris to study. This is where he was believed to  have developed his radical Marxist thought, which later turned into the politics of extreme Maoist agrarianism. The Khmer Rouge started as a gorilla movement in 1963. After the overthrow of the government, Pol Pot  remained a shadowy figure until 1975. 

The movie "The Killing Fields" explains the history very well. The United States had bombed Cambodia leaving the civilians very worried. When the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, the citizens were relieved. Little did they know what hell they were about to face. Pol Pot declared this year zero. Cambodia was about face a radical and brutal cleansing. 

We started our tour at Tuol Sleng, aka Security prison 21. The Khmer Rouge took over a high school. This operation was top secret. This prison was set up for the interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkar element. This list included the educated, political, foreigners, anyone who spoke english, women with long hair, people who wore glasses, etc. They would kill the accused adult and any of their family, including babies. The torture that was horrific.

 Our guide, Diep Daravann, was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. She was orphaned at the age of 14, after they killed her entire family. She was then forced to work heavy labor for 16 hours a day. She was fed 4 spoons of rice at 8 am and 8 pm. The guards, which consisted of kids her age, beat her with bamboo poles. She showed us the scar where they broke her leg. She claimed they tried to kill at least 3 time.  The pictures on the walls that displayed the brutality were proof of a mad man. Daravann proceeded to tell us that a lot of the soldiers are now running government owned farms in Cambodia. You could hear the fear in her voice as she told us that Pol Pots top 2 men were not arrested until 2 months ago. You read correctly, December of 2007.  Another bit of disturbing history was the fact that when Vietnam

 liberated Cambodia in 1979, America helped to aid Pol Pot in his flee to Thailand. America gave the Khmer Rouge money to help in the fight against Vietnam. Pol Pot did not die until 1998 from natural causes.

                                      

We then proceeded to the Killing Fields. This is one of many mass murdering sites in Cambodia. The large wholes you see in the photo is where they buried the victims.

The skulls are housed in a monument which is memory of all of the Cambodians and foreigners that lost their lives to this madness. 

What I do not understand is how our government help support this. I am almost embaresed to tell people where I am from.  What if Hitler had been set free and given money to live where ever he wanted? I was ashamed. Although our guide was not allowed to speak about her government and the fact that that so many soldiers from the Khmer Rouge are still free, the fear in her voice spoke volumes. Why are we allowing this kind of genocide to happen today in Africa? We need to open our eyes and see what is going on in this world around us.