Hello Saigon...
Contrary to what I'd been told Phnom Penh was NOT the scary, dodgy place filled with guns, violence and drugs that I'd heard of. I mean, of course, there were all those things there, but no much more than anywhere else.....We spent about 3-4 days there, wandering around the city a bit and seeing some sights. The town itself is beautiful, we stayed near the French Quarter. The architecture was incredible. That section of the city is right along the Mekong River, with a nice little promenade floored with intricate brickwork. We stayed not too far from there so it was only a 10 minute walk to where a lot of the bars/restaurants are.....
Our last day in the city we hired motorbike drivers to take us out to S-21 and the Killing Fields. Both were more intense than I'd imagined they would be.....I was not very familiar with any history concerning Cambodia or Vietnam before, after and during the wars in the 60s & 70s.....I've been doing research about it since we started traveling through these areas just to be a bit more aware of what I'm seeing.....S-21 (also known as Tuol Sleng prison) was a former high school which was converted into a prison during the Khmer Rouge's occupation of Phnom Penh in '75-'79. Over 17,000 people were interrogated, tortured and executed there (including many women and children) but only a handful survived. After sometimes years of torture the prisoners were then taken the 14 or so kilometers from the prison and executed at the Killing Fields. They have uncovered 83 of the estimated 120 mass graves.....Nearly 2 millions Khmer people were killed during Pol Pot's regime and those who survived suffered inexplicably.....
We decided to take a trip through the Mekong Delta on our way into Vietnam. We booked a trip through an agency in Phnom Penh and left early morning the day after our draining visits to S-21 and the Killing Fields. I spent most of the morning in a haze on the boat, my mind drifting over the sights and contemplating life, in all it's beauty and tragedy. Our first stop was to go through customs.....We got off the boat on the Cambodian side and went through departure procedures.....We transferred to another boat which brought us to the Vietnamese border. Once there we gave our passports to the tour guide, she went to get our passports stamped and left us at this food stall for lunch. Against several warning from me Gannon went ahead and ordered the rice with pork.....Cut to him puking over the side of the boat and hour later and spending the rest of the day and night in cold sweats, feeling more ill than ever before in his life. Damn. As soon as we got to the guesthouse that evening he was in and out of the bathroom and I was bringing him Sprite and water whiche he couldn't even keep down. It was really awful. I was totally helpless, nothing I can do it that situation. You just have to let your body sort it out. And I did restrain myself from saying, "I told you so" until he was better. It was also a shame that he was ill and couldn't enjoy the guesthouse because it was so beautiful....It was located on the side of a mountain and there were huge rocks and boulders jutting out all over the property...There was a nice steep hike up to the top which was the perfect spot for the sunset.....The next morning the sunrise was equally inspiring, from where we were located you could see over all the rice fields and the early morning mist was drifting across the fields......He was better by morning so we had woken up at 6am and left the hotel by 7.....
We took a boat through more areas of the delta and went to a minority village where they were all Muslim.....The children were adorable, as always, and incessant in their attempts to get money off you....Most of them asked for pens, chewing gum and shampoo - in that order......It's difficult - I've noticed that while some of these children are genuine a lot of them are very good at what they do...They are con artists and this is their "job"....They put on the smiling face and say they need food, etc.....But if you don't give them money they turn dark and angry (one little boy actually hit Gannon)....And if you do give them money they either keep asking for more, more, more or you're besieged by a dozen more children......
That afternoon we had chosen to do a "homestay"....We were totally in the dark about the details, we just knew that we wanted a local experience, away from what the typical package tourist tours consist of.....We were dropped off at this hotel where these two guys had motorbikes, waiting to whisk us away....They said we would go with their to their families home in a nearby village for lunch and then we would sleep at their home that evening.....We hop on the bikes and drive for maybe 20 km outside of town.....I notice the roads get narrower and narrower until we are on nothing but what looks like a dirt footpath through the jungle. We arrive at this "dock" and wait for the flimsy bamboo raft to ferry us to the other side of the waterway.....Once across we proceed to this house far back into the backwaters of the Mekong Delta for a truly delightful and amusing lunch with this beautiful family of 12...plus all the neighbors kids who came to check out the Westerners.....The meal they provided was amazing, I even broke my no-meat rule. First out of respect (there was nothing vegetarian except for plain rice or noodles) and also because I felt like I could trust it. The one guy who'd arranged the whole thing was named Fu, he was my age and also the only one who spoke English. He'd brought us to his uncle's house where about 10 of his family members lived, mostly cousins. His uncle was a smiling and friendly old man who brought out some homemade rice liquor (tasted like very strong sake) and we all proceeded to have ourselves quite a few drinks. The women and children were hanging around the table laughing at the faces we made every time we drank a shot and the kids were hanging off of Gannon. I spent a lot of the afternoon getting candid shots of the family interacting, especially the children - they loved the camera and were hamming it up. Through Fu were able to have a conversation with his uncle about the war, the aftermath and his thoughts of America, etc. I was in tears at one point....It's difficult to carry around the guilt of something you personally had nothing to do with, I was not even alive during the war, but since it's my country - I feel this sense of responsibility about it.....The need to express to them that I know our involvement was wrong and the way we deserted the south and left them completely fucked weighs on my mind often as I travel through this country. Not only what America did to Vietnam but to neighboring Cambodia and Laos....
It sickens me. But of the people we've met they all seem to have such a bright outlook on it all. They may hate what America did as a country. But the individuals they have no ill will towards.....These people have been through so many hardships and years of oppression, famine and distress....Yet the majority of them are truly happy people. They have a sort of light which shines through their smiles and their kindness.....I've been thinking a lot about the basics in life, what is really important in the world....And these people seem to have a very firm grasp on that which is helping to open my eyes to many things......There's so much more I could talk about there but it's all stuff I'm still sifting through......
We're here in Saigon for another 2-3 days then we're off to Da Lat, an artsy community in the mountains north of here.....I've been enjoying getting lost in my head, writing and photography.....I feel a lot of soul-shifting happening....Thoughts expanding and evolving.....More on that next time.....
Much love to all.....
Our last day in the city we hired motorbike drivers to take us out to S-21 and the Killing Fields. Both were more intense than I'd imagined they would be.....I was not very familiar with any history concerning Cambodia or Vietnam before, after and during the wars in the 60s & 70s.....I've been doing research about it since we started traveling through these areas just to be a bit more aware of what I'm seeing.....S-21 (also known as Tuol Sleng prison) was a former high school which was converted into a prison during the Khmer Rouge's occupation of Phnom Penh in '75-'79. Over 17,000 people were interrogated, tortured and executed there (including many women and children) but only a handful survived. After sometimes years of torture the prisoners were then taken the 14 or so kilometers from the prison and executed at the Killing Fields. They have uncovered 83 of the estimated 120 mass graves.....Nearly 2 millions Khmer people were killed during Pol Pot's regime and those who survived suffered inexplicably.....
We decided to take a trip through the Mekong Delta on our way into Vietnam. We booked a trip through an agency in Phnom Penh and left early morning the day after our draining visits to S-21 and the Killing Fields. I spent most of the morning in a haze on the boat, my mind drifting over the sights and contemplating life, in all it's beauty and tragedy. Our first stop was to go through customs.....We got off the boat on the Cambodian side and went through departure procedures.....We transferred to another boat which brought us to the Vietnamese border. Once there we gave our passports to the tour guide, she went to get our passports stamped and left us at this food stall for lunch. Against several warning from me Gannon went ahead and ordered the rice with pork.....Cut to him puking over the side of the boat and hour later and spending the rest of the day and night in cold sweats, feeling more ill than ever before in his life. Damn. As soon as we got to the guesthouse that evening he was in and out of the bathroom and I was bringing him Sprite and water whiche he couldn't even keep down. It was really awful. I was totally helpless, nothing I can do it that situation. You just have to let your body sort it out. And I did restrain myself from saying, "I told you so" until he was better. It was also a shame that he was ill and couldn't enjoy the guesthouse because it was so beautiful....It was located on the side of a mountain and there were huge rocks and boulders jutting out all over the property...There was a nice steep hike up to the top which was the perfect spot for the sunset.....The next morning the sunrise was equally inspiring, from where we were located you could see over all the rice fields and the early morning mist was drifting across the fields......He was better by morning so we had woken up at 6am and left the hotel by 7.....
We took a boat through more areas of the delta and went to a minority village where they were all Muslim.....The children were adorable, as always, and incessant in their attempts to get money off you....Most of them asked for pens, chewing gum and shampoo - in that order......It's difficult - I've noticed that while some of these children are genuine a lot of them are very good at what they do...They are con artists and this is their "job"....They put on the smiling face and say they need food, etc.....But if you don't give them money they turn dark and angry (one little boy actually hit Gannon)....And if you do give them money they either keep asking for more, more, more or you're besieged by a dozen more children......
That afternoon we had chosen to do a "homestay"....We were totally in the dark about the details, we just knew that we wanted a local experience, away from what the typical package tourist tours consist of.....We were dropped off at this hotel where these two guys had motorbikes, waiting to whisk us away....They said we would go with their to their families home in a nearby village for lunch and then we would sleep at their home that evening.....We hop on the bikes and drive for maybe 20 km outside of town.....I notice the roads get narrower and narrower until we are on nothing but what looks like a dirt footpath through the jungle. We arrive at this "dock" and wait for the flimsy bamboo raft to ferry us to the other side of the waterway.....Once across we proceed to this house far back into the backwaters of the Mekong Delta for a truly delightful and amusing lunch with this beautiful family of 12...plus all the neighbors kids who came to check out the Westerners.....The meal they provided was amazing, I even broke my no-meat rule. First out of respect (there was nothing vegetarian except for plain rice or noodles) and also because I felt like I could trust it. The one guy who'd arranged the whole thing was named Fu, he was my age and also the only one who spoke English. He'd brought us to his uncle's house where about 10 of his family members lived, mostly cousins. His uncle was a smiling and friendly old man who brought out some homemade rice liquor (tasted like very strong sake) and we all proceeded to have ourselves quite a few drinks. The women and children were hanging around the table laughing at the faces we made every time we drank a shot and the kids were hanging off of Gannon. I spent a lot of the afternoon getting candid shots of the family interacting, especially the children - they loved the camera and were hamming it up. Through Fu were able to have a conversation with his uncle about the war, the aftermath and his thoughts of America, etc. I was in tears at one point....It's difficult to carry around the guilt of something you personally had nothing to do with, I was not even alive during the war, but since it's my country - I feel this sense of responsibility about it.....The need to express to them that I know our involvement was wrong and the way we deserted the south and left them completely fucked weighs on my mind often as I travel through this country. Not only what America did to Vietnam but to neighboring Cambodia and Laos....
It sickens me. But of the people we've met they all seem to have such a bright outlook on it all. They may hate what America did as a country. But the individuals they have no ill will towards.....These people have been through so many hardships and years of oppression, famine and distress....Yet the majority of them are truly happy people. They have a sort of light which shines through their smiles and their kindness.....I've been thinking a lot about the basics in life, what is really important in the world....And these people seem to have a very firm grasp on that which is helping to open my eyes to many things......There's so much more I could talk about there but it's all stuff I'm still sifting through......
We're here in Saigon for another 2-3 days then we're off to Da Lat, an artsy community in the mountains north of here.....I've been enjoying getting lost in my head, writing and photography.....I feel a lot of soul-shifting happening....Thoughts expanding and evolving.....More on that next time.....
Much love to all.....