Bali- Indonesia

We're here to i) experience Bali and its history, ii) share a mini- holiday with our daughter Becky when she arrives Sunday and iii) find Julia Roberts' villa and the Holy Guru she met in the Eat, Pray, Love movie.

Here's the history. Bali is a small island in Indonesia with a population of 4 million. It ranks as the 12th most populated island- there are 300 million people in all of Indonesia. A very interesting point is that Bali is 90% Hindu whereas Indonesia as a nation is 90% Muslim.

History shows Hinduism in Bali as early as the 11th century with construction of the Pura Besakih temple complex, the largest and holiest in Bali:

There are 23 temples that sit on parallel ridges in this beautiful complex.

Near the Bali capital of Denpasar, there is the Hindu Goa Lawah Temple. They were having a Hindu ceremony when we visited:

Locals lined up in their best attire to have food blessed as part of a traditional ceremony held twice a year. Note what the little guy has in his hands- the marvels of technology aligning with hundreds of years of tradition.

One last piece of history- for centuries, Bali was governed by different kingdoms. The Klungkung was the strongest and their palace dates back to the 17th century:

The palace was largely destroyed during the Dutch colonial conquest in 1908 (they ruled from the 18th century till 1948). The first pic is one of the gates to the original palace. The next pic is their 'floating palace' and the basic remains of the court of justice.

And something totally different- a piece of trivia for you:

This is a bat we found outside a restaurant and this guy was doing all kinds of acrobats. If you look at the pic closely, you'll see he's peeing- very strongly. Just thought you might need to know this trivia if a bat gets close to you sometime down the road.

The Gorgeous Temples of Siem Reap- Cambodia

What we enjoy most about our travels is getting a glimpse of the history of each country we visit. This is especially true with Cambodia. Back in the Khmer dynasties of the 9th- 15th centuries, it was the most powerful nation in Southeast Asia. It ruled most of what is now called Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and southern Vietnam. But today, it is only a fraction of the size, about 20% the size of Ontario.

The mighty Khmer kings developed these lands and built some of the most beautiful Hindu and Buddhist temples in the world and a lot of them are still standing today. The most impressive ones are in and around the city of Siem Reap and the most famous is Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world:

This temple, constructed in the early 12th century, was dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu. The walls are adorned with magnificent sculpted stonework:

There is an intricate sculpted wall (almost the length of a football field) which depicts the story of the beginning of time and the creation of the universe. It is also a story about the victory of good over evil:

In this middle scene of the wall, you can see the gods (devas) pulling on the right, the demons (asuras) pulling on the left- in a tug of war of good and evil- with Lord Vishnu in the centre. Lucky for us, goodness wins. 

What's also interesting about this temple is that toward the end of the 12th century, it gradually transformed from a Hindu centre of worship to Buddhism, which it still is today. In one of the main towers, there is a full Buddha enshrined (13th century) and still revered:

There are many other temples, both Hindu and Buddhist around Siem Reap. The oldest, dating back to 967 A.D. is called Banteay Srei, dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva:

And some may recognize the Buddhist temple Ta Prohm, completed in the 13th century that was used as a back-drop for the movie Tomb Raider (with Angelina Jolie before Brad Pitt):

Unlike most temples here, this one is in much the same condition in which it was found. The combination of trees growing out of the ruins (which they couldn't take out without destroying the temple) have made it one of the most visited in the region. 

Another temple we visited that historians say is the most spectacular temple of all is the Bayon temple (Buddhist), with its 54 towers, each tower bearing four enigmatic smiling faces:

The Bayon was the last state temple to be built at Angkor.

What fascinated us was a whole nation transitioning from Hinduism to Buddhism- it is now 95% Buddhist- and most of this happening almost 1,000 years ago!

Next up- Bali, Indonesia

The Killing Fields of Cambodia

It's gut-wrenching. It's horrific. It's called the killing fields of Cambodia and it happened just 40 years ago. You might not want to read this. It was during the reign of Pol Pot and his extermination of millions of his people starting in 1975. Just a week after the U.S. pulled out of neighbouring Vietnam, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government and started his genocide:

                                  

It's incomprehensible because Pol Pot was an educated man. But his views on politics and controlling the population were fanatical. He wanted to establish the most advanced and purist form of communism in the world and for the next 4 years he killed over 25% of his people (some estimate 3.3 million people) to cleanse the population. He killed doctors, teachers, business people and their children. He killed anyone considered 'smart' because it was easier to control the nation that way. 

He started with creating over 160 'interrogation centres' where he imprisoned and tortured his people to find and eliminate the unwanted: 

This is the Tuol Sleng Interrogation Centre. It was initially a high school and he made the classrooms detention cells. Note the sign put outside the cells with instructions that the prisoners had to follow:

After the people were 'interrogated' (severely tortured), they would be moved by truck to genocidal centres (killing fields) and killed. There were 360 of these set up throughout Cambodia. They were killed manually with cart axles, hoes, axes, iron bars or just slitting throats. They were then dumped in fields and buried.

We visited one of the killing fields just outside Phnom Penh. Today, it is the site of a Buddhist memorial to the victims:

Inside this memorial are over 5,000 skulls of people that were eliminated:

A real gut-wrencher on this site is a tree they used to kill kids:

In what is the most barbaric practice I have ever heard, they would grab the children by the ankles and smash them to death against the tree. Words cannot describe the utter horror that the Khmer Rouge inflicted on their people.

There is one poignant picture that was taken the day after the fall of the Khmer Rouge at Tuol Sleng. When the liberation army came in, at the back of the detention centre amongst the clothes of people left before going to the killing fields were 4 kids:

The mothers apparently hid them before being taken away. Small miracles. The two boys, now in their 40s regularly come by and talk to visitors. There were also 9 adults alive and shackled- 2 are still living. We met one of them, Mr. Chum Mey, who was kept alive because he could fix things in the detention centre during those 4 years. Another small miracle.

Travelling the Mekong River to Cambodia

We decided to get to Cambodia from Saigon by travelling the Mekong River, the largest river body in Southeast Asia stretching from Tibet in the north down to its delta in south Vietnam.

We started at Chau Doc and visited the centuries old floating market. Farmers from this region still bring their goods, fruits and vegetables and sell them to local dealers using boats:

If you look closely, you can see samples strung up on poles that show what they're selling. Also, along the banks, there are floating houses, many doubling as 'fish farms':

It's called fish farming and it's big business here. It started about 30 years ago- farming fish under a floating house by using fish nets secured underneath.  The first season had good results so other boating families then learnt how to farm fish. Gradually more and more floating houses were built each year with steel nets completely underneath the diameters of the house. 

Our guide showed how they feed the fish. There are thousands and thousands of fish underneath and when the food is dropped the fish go into a frenzy:

The business here has reached $17 billion per year representing 13% of the worldwide market. 

Travelling the Mekong looked quite idyllic and I took picture after picture as the scenery was awesome:

But you also see a very primitive and hard life for the people living by the river or on the boats. When you think how whole families live, some with only about 3 metres of space, it's really a basic existence.

And now we come to the marvels of Cambodia!

Some Thoughts on Saigon

We've had a delightful stay here in Saigon- the people are very friendly. But with 18 million people and their 9 million motorbikes, the traffic is really, really bad. We kidded earlier about the death-defying feat of crossing the street but with so many bikes, it really is dangerous and the drivers pay little heed to traffic lights!! Even the sidewalks are parking lots for bikes and not very walk-friendly. At times, we had to walk on the road as there was no space on the sidewalks:

We also noted that there are very few McDonalds, Starbucks, Subways or other Western fast food chains here. There is a huge network of many sidewalk restaurants, even makeshift restaurants:

Our host mentioned that McDonalds didn't come into Saigon until a few years ago as the 'income level' did not warrant a major footprint. We saw maybe half a dozen Starbucks and they're competing with thousands of Vietnamese fast foods and coffee shops that sell for less than half the price:

One of our guides mentioned that the younger generation will spend the $5 for a Starbucks coffee (money from their parents) as they really like the western influence. It will be interesting how much market share these North American companies will get.

As a city, Saigon is not religious and there were few temples and shrines. The reality is that the country is communist and only 25% of the people identify with any religion. A noticeable difference that we did find here is the form of their Buddha compared to other countries. Here in Vietnam, Buddha is shown as a full-figured guy:

One explanation/ theory is that before Buddha existed, there were many years of famine and when he became 'the Buddha', there was plenty of rain and good harvests and he is shown as very content. Beyond that explanation, it's just interesting that the physical form and shapes of the Buddha are different going from country to country.

The Vietnamese food is exquisite and very affordable. We've had wonderful dinners that didn't go past $30 for the two of us. For drinks, they prefer beer and there is very little wine; only one restaurant served sparkling water as they offered only soda water (so I had that).

One final comment- we went to their Art museum and saw some dazzling work pre and post communism. This one painting sums up the mood quite nicely:

Ho Chi Minh is revered here and and the people strongly feel their good economy is a direct result of his efforts. "Uncle Ho's" legacy will live on for generations.

Next up- Cambodia

Ho Chi Minh City- Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City (used to be called Saigon but the name changed after the Vietnam War) is the largest city in Vietnam with a population of 18 million people: 

That's larger than all the people in the top 10 cities in Canada put together. And it is extremely hectic as this picture of a group of motor bikers show:

Notice the masks worn, more than half of the bikers wear these as they consider bike fumes harmful to their health. 

Something else we found quite interesting- the skinny, tall buildings throughout the city:

Land is considered such a premium that they will build up several floors just to maximize rental revenue.

When we chose Vietnam in our journey and did some research, we really wanted to see the War Remnant Museum. We were told to be emotionally prepared when we visit as we would be seeing the Vietnamese 'side' of the war. It is truly impactful. First, they show a quote taken directly from the U.S. Constitution:

Then the museum shows them not doing that. They show actual military tanks, aircraft and other combat equipment used against them. They present some very sobering statistics like i) the tonnage of bombs dropped on Vietnam was 3 times the amount of bombs they used in the 2nd World War, ii) that over 4 million Vietnamese lives were lost (their figure) and iii) that the toxic contaminant in Agent Orange, the most harmful chemical ever discovered by mankind to date, directly impacted another 2 million people.  But perhaps the most dramatic display of the war's impact were in the pictures on the walls of the museum taken by journalists killed in the war:

It is something we will always remember.  At the end there is a collection of artwork by young children showing their ideas about war and peace and one in particular caught my eye:

There was a veteran of First World War who said it best- "no one wins in war"- so true.