Finding our Buddha

July 28, 2009

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia on July 21st and instantly became millionaires! (in Cambodian Riel, that is). After a very fast paced trip through Malaysia we decided to slow down a bit in Cambodia and split our time between Siem Reap and the capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodia is a difficult country to get a feel for. Cambodia is still, in some senses, haunted by its past. Landmines still litter the countryside and travelers are advised to always stay on the roads when traveling through the rural parts of the country. The effects of the Pol Pot genocide of the 70’s are still being felt and will likely to continue to impact the country for many years to come. Yet, despite their tragic history, the Cambodian people are extremely upbeat, friendly and optimistic. The new generation of Cambodian youth is a generation removed from the Pol Pot regime and, as a result, are receiving a better education and living with higher ambitions. For example, in our first day in Siem Reap we met a boy named Rith, who gave us an impromptu bike tour of some local monasteries and the surrounding villages. Rith has been learning English for the past three years and he was eager to practice with us. He told us about the history of Buddhism and told us that his dream was to one day be a tour guide at Angkor Wat. He told us that he would also love the chance to study at university one day, but his family could not afford it. Even after leaving Siem Reap, we received an email from Rith sharing more info on the history of the Buddha.

Our guesthouse in Siem Reap included free bikes, which Kevin and I took full advantage of. Biking in Siem Reap was hilarious! There are essentially no rules of the road. We saw motorbikes carrying families of five and driving down the sidewalk, trucks carrying at least twenty, and vehicles passing us from literally every direction. Everyone drives like they own the road, yet at the same time they are very conscious of everyone around them. It is a very communal approach to driving, and the horn is used frequently but not in an offensive way. Despite the lack of structure, the roads seem safe, probably because everyone is moving fairly slowly. The most common vehicles on the road are small motorbikes and Tuk-tuks, which are motorbikes with a carriage behind used to taxi people around. It was a lot of fun attempting to blend in with the Siem Reap traffic.

Most of our time in Siem Reap was spent exploring the ancient city of Angkor, and its Hindu-Buddhist temples built in the 10th and 11th centuries. The temples were incredible. Some of the highlights included Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm. Angkor Wat is the biggest and, in my mind, the best temple. It is simultaneously a feat of engineering and artistry. The structure itself is incredible, but what makes it special is the intricacy of carving throughout the temple. Ta Prohm was also really cool. Located in the middle of the jungle, it has trees that, over time, have grown into the temple. It is incredible that certain parts have remained standing for almost 1000 years.




We spent three days exploring the temples on bike. The owner of our hostel gave us a great route to tour Angkor which let us avoid (as much as possible) the annoying crowds of tourists. It was a great route and we were able to experience Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Wat and Bayon essentially by ourselves. On the flip side, during Ta Prohm we were walking through in a big queue of tourists: much less fun. The only downside to this route: we had to wake up at 4am two days straight.

We celebrated Kevin’s birthday on July 24th with a traditional Cambodian BBQ, at which we sampled beef, chicken, squid, crocodile and snake. We washed that down with a number of 50 cents pints and indulged in a Siem Reap specialty: the fish massage. The picture should be self-explanatory.

The next day we bussed to Phnom Penh, where we met Robin and Sara, two of Kevin’s friends from Sweden. We had a great time together discussing all sorts of things and learning about each other’s countries. Canada could definitely learn a thing or two from Sweden in terms of social policy.

Our next day in Phnom Penh was a tough one, as we decided to visit the Killing Fields of Cheoung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum. These are two remnants from the military rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge was the ruling party in Cambodia during this time period and they practiced one of the most extreme forms of Communism that I have ever encountered. Led by Pol Pot, they strove to abolish money and create a completely self-sufficient agrarian society. Their twisted form of communism despised any sort of specialized knowledge or individual thought. The Khmer Rouge committed one of the worst genocides in history, exterminating doctors, dentists, academics, other educated people, and anyone who they deemed to have “too urban” a mindset. In just under four years, they wiped out 2 million people, a quarter of the Cambodian population. Cheoung Ek was one of the “killing fields” where the genocide occurred. Tuol Sleng was a high school turned torture chamber, where people were sent to be interrogated and, almost certainly, killed. Both were extremely difficult and disturbing to visit and brought out both anger and sadness. While it was difficult, I am glad that I saw these places. I think this a story that everyone should know, in the same way that everyone knows the stories from WWII.

We spent the rest of our time in Phnom Penh enjoying some traditional Cambodian cooking, exploring the lively markets, going bowling and taking in some of the night life. We had a minor flood in our guesthouse one night, but besides that our stay was excellent! I really enjoyed Phnom Penh. The city has a distinctly local feel and most of our experiences were with Cambodians rather than other tourists. I can't wait to come back and explore more of this country.

Next up is trekking in Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand.

Lost in the Jungle

July 21, 2009

Hello from Malaysia! Kevin and I are coming to the end of our second country, so I thought it would be a good time to give you an update on our amazing first ten days.

We started off on July 11th with a reunion in the Singapore Airport. After not seeing each other for over six months, the first moments in Singapore felt surreal. We were both zombies that day, as I had just flown for 36 hours straight and Kevin had spent an uncomfortable night in the Guangzhou airport.

Singapore was certainly impressive at first glance, with its lightning-fast subway system, beautiful skyscrapers and impeccably clean streets, but for all the city’s flair, it lacked substance. It didn’t provide the culture shock I was hoping for, as we quickly found that English was spoken everywhere and the city felt more North American than Asian. That being said, we did enjoy our time in Singapore and we had fun exploring the Kapong Glam (Arab) district, the Esplanade River walk and the Central Business District on Saturday evening.

On Sunday we went to Sentosa Island, a small and very touristy island just south of the city. We walked around the manmade beaches and watched some kids fly down the sentosa luge course, which essentially was a go-kart speeding down the side of a mountain. The verdict on Sentosa: tastefully tacky. After Sentosa we went to my favourite part of Singapore: Little India. Little India was more raw than any other part of the city, and felt like one of the few places in the city which had remained untouched in Singapore’s recent industrial boom. The streets were narrow and packed with shops and restaurants and there was a huge Sunday afternoon Bazaar (market) operating at full-force. We headed to the airport Sunday night to catch a flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. This is where things really started to get good.

Kota Kinabalu is located in the northwest part of the Malaysian province of Sabah and on the island of Borneo. Our experiences in Borneo were nothing short of incredible. We spent our first day snorkeling, swimming, and hiking in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, which are a group of islands just off the coast of KK. The water was beautiful! Later that day we discovered, to our initial dismay, that most of Sabah’s best attractions we very far from KK and were only accessible via expensive tour buses…that is unless you have your own vehicle. Kevin and I decided to take the plunge and rent a car. In doing so, we became Sabah’s first non-Malay drivers! To boot, Malaysians drive on the left side of the road and almost all the highways are single lane. Let’s just say that we didn’t need any coffee to stay awake well on the roads.

In the end, having the car made the trip. The car made the island completely accessible and we were able to stop and check out anything that we were interested in. It also made the trip much cheaper, as, thankfully, we were able to avoid booking any tours. On our first day with the car we drove from KK to Lahad Datu. Our drive took us through the mountains and past the incredible Kinabalu National Park. The views as we traversed the winding roads were spectacular! The park is filled with lush green mountains, deep valleys and rich green foliage. My mouth was hanging open for at least the first hour of the drive. Later in the day, we stopped in at the Batu Puteh caves, which are some natural caves that were formerly used as a Muslim burial site. The cave humidity must have been close to 100% and after climbing to see them we were literally dripping as we admired the thousands of bats and stalactites.

From Lahad Datu, we had hoped to go to visit the jungles of Danum Valley, but after learning that one night would cost RM1000 ($300) that dream quickly died. Luckily we discovered the Tawau Hills National Park, whose admission fee of RM10 fit nicely into our budget. The drive from Lahad Datu to Tawau Hills proved to be quite the experience, as it rested almost entirely upon directions from Malays who spoke less than ten words of English. Normally this wouldn’t be too big a problem except for the fact that we received multiple sets of contradictory directions! After a fair bit of detouring, we made it to the park. The park was incredible! It is located in some of Borneo’s most dense jungle and to our surprise we found that we were literally the only ones (besides workers) in the park. This was exactly what we had hoped for: to explore the jungle on our terms. We spent two days hiking through the jungle and enjoying many of its beautiful sights. The density and richness of the jungle truly amazed me. It seemed like a different world: there was a perpetual layer of steam located about 100 feet above the ground, certain spots were fairly dark even at midday, and life was everywhere. We spent a good part of our first day at the spectacular Bukit Gelas waterfalls, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The falls came down a large rock face, into a pool that we swam in, and were surrounded by thick jungle. It was our little piece of paradise. The park is also home to some gigantic trees, including the world’s tallest tropical tree, which is an incredible 88m in height.

On our second day we quickly discovered that not everything about Tawau Hills is perfect: the walk, while beautiful at first, turned ugly fast. Leeches!! Apparently when it rains all the leeches come out of the ground, looking for victims. i.e. the only two human beings in the entire park. We literally got leeches everywhere. Thank god, we had bought leech socks before we left, or else the walk would have been unbearable. We were very relieved when we finally reached the beautiful, and leech-free, natural hot springs. The hot springs were a great spot to relax and take in our surroundings. Later that day we came across a big family (about 30) of Macaque monkeys. They were so much fun! Not surprisingly, they seemed a lot more playful and energetic then the monkeys I have seen in the past in zoos.

After our Tawau Hills adventure we drove to the city of Sandakan. This marked the first time we had seen a white person in 2.5 days, a streak we were pretty proud of. From Sandakan, we went to visit the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Center, a center which is dedicated to nursing sick, injured and orphaned Orang-Utans back to health. Sepilok was incredible! The Orang-Utans were so friendly that they would come right up to us, close enough that we could have touched them. We got there early (before the banana feeding and the hordes of tourists) and had a chance to spend some very personal moments with two Orang-Utans and a big group of monkeys. The feeding can be described as an epic battle for bananas between the Orang-Utans and the monkeys, in which the Orang-Utans asserted their jungle dominance. Even still, the monkeys were sneaky enough that they were able to steal quite a few bananas over the course of the feeding. The next day we drove from Sandakan back to Kota Kinabalu, stopping at Kinablau National Park on the way, where we spent the afternoon hiking the trails. This would have been really impressive earlier, but it didn’t compare to Tawau Hills Park.

From KK, we flew to Kuala Lampur, where we spent two busy days. We explored Chinatown, Little India, and the Colonial District and spent some time admiring the stunning 452m Petronas Twin towers. On our last night, we found out that Manchester United was scheduled to play the Malaysian National soccer team, since Man U’s game in Jakarta had been cancelled due to the bombings. I’m not much of a soccer fan, but the game was a lot of fun. Kevin and I, and two friends that we met from Quebec City, suited up in Malaysia headbands to support the hometown team. The Malays loved it. We felt it was necessary, as most of the fans at the game were ardent Man U supporters.

Throughout the course of our travels in Malaysia, we have been amazed at the kindness and hospitality with which the Malay people have treated us. Normally a simple terimah kasih (thank you) is all it takes to get a giant smile out of them. Even when we couldn’t communicate verbally, the mutual respect was clear.

Next, we are off to Siem Reap, Cambodia and the temples of Angkor!

-Mitch

Sleeping Is Giving In

July 9, 2009

Hello family and friends,

Today is the day! After years of dreaming, months of preparation and days of packing, I am finally embarking on my year-long trip around the world. The idea to travel came to me in second year at U of T. Initially, the idea of taking an entire year off to gallivant around the world seemed exciting, but a little outlandish. But the more I thought about the possibility of traveling, the clearer it became that this was an opportunity that I simply could not pass up. For two-and-a-half years this has been my light at the end of the undergraduate tunnel, and now it is here.

One of the most difficult things about planning this trip was trying to choose where to go. Nearly every place that I considered seemed appealing for one reason or another. After making a lot of tough decisions I have decided on the following itinerary. Today, I am flying from Winnipeg to Singapore via Toronto and London. I have about 22 hours of flying time and 12 hours of layover time. This means that by the time I get to Singapore it will be 8am on July 11! In Singapore I will be reunited with the long lost Kevin Chubey. Chubey has been studying abroad in Sydney, Australia since January and is currently doing some solo travelling in China. I haven’t seen him since his going away party at the start of January and I can’t wait! He hasn’t cut his hair since January, so I think his locks should rival mine. Karen Chubey was less than impressed when she saw some pictures of Kev, but I’m sure that he will stick to his Winnipeg roots and avoid paying for the haircut the rest of the trip.

We will spend July 11th and 12th in Singapore before flying to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Malaysia on the evening of the 12th. KK is the largest city in the Sabah province of the North Borneo jungle. For nature lovers, the possibilities in Borneo are endless. Borneo is famous for its wildlife tours through the jungle and it boasts one of the world’s largest populations of Orang-utans. It is also a world-renowned scuba diving location. I hope to try scuba diving for the first time ever. Another main attraction is the 4000m Mount Kinabalu, a climb which Chubey and I are considering undertaking. We will spend a week in Borneo and then fly to Kuala Lampur on the 19th. After a few days in KL we will head to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat and other Hindu-Buddhist temples. After seeing the temples of Angkor we will head to Cambodia’s biggest city, Phnom Penh. On July 28th we are flying from Phnom Penh to Chiang Rai, located in Northern Thailand. Northern Thailand is well known for its beautiful mountains and its hill tribe treks, on which local tribes take you on treks through the mountains and teach you about their customs and way of life. The hill-tribe treks are a must for us. We also plan to see the cities and towns of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Pai in Northern Thailand. After we get our fill of trekking we will head to Southern Thailand for some much needed beach time. We plan to go to Koh Phangan for the famous full moon party and also plan to spend some time on some quieter islands. Our next stop will be Bangkok and from Bangkok we will head to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We will head north through Vietnam until we reach Hanoi. From Hanoi, we will fly to Hong Kong, where Chubey flies back to Canada on August 22nd.

After doing Southeast Asia with Chubey, I will head north through China on my own. I am really looking forward to the challenge and adventure of travelling alone. The China section of the trip is less well defined at this point, but I hope to get to the Yunnan province, Guilin, Shanghai, Xian and Beijing. I am very excited to see China again to see how the country (and my perception of it) has changed since my family’s trip to China in 1999. My Dad and I are hoping to meet in Beijing (work permitting) and travel to Japan together for about 2 weeks. In Japan, we plan to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo. In Tokyo we hope to stay with some of Dad’s close friends from work. I think this should be a good opportunity to get a more realistic taste of what life in Tokyo is like. One of our main goals for the trip is to conquer Mount Fuji. The climb is apparently quite difficult, so we are looking forward to the physical challenge.

On September 26th Dad will head home and I will fly from Tokyo to London. I will spend the rest of the fall in Europe and fly back to Canada on December 21st, just in time for Christmas. On September 26th I hope to meet Minju in London and then we will head back to Lyon, where she is studying at Jean-Moulin University for the fall. I plan to spend my first few weeks in France with Minju and then head to Eastern Europe. I know that my Grandpa Bushuk will be living vicariously for this portion of the trip. We have arranged for me to stay with friends of his in Poznan and Warsaw. After going through Poland, I will be meeting Grandpa’s cousin in Brest, Belarus. I am excited for the culture shock when I get to Belarus. The language barrier should be formidable and the way of life is very different from the western life I am accustomed to. The highlight of the Belarus trip should be a visit to the village where grandpa grew up, Yacovichi. His family emigrated when he was 10 years old, in 1939. I hope to see the house that he grew up in.

After Eastern Europe I will head to Venice to meet with Mom for a two week trip in Italy. We hope to do Venice, Cinque Terra, Florence, Naples and Rome. The rest of my Europe trip is undefined at the moment but I am most excited to see Greece and Spain. I would also love to get to Morocco, Portugal and Turkey. I do not want to plan too much for this portion of the trip because I am not sure yet what type of pace I will want to travel at. So that is the trip! More to come after Christmas…hopefully.

I’ll be posting again sometime shortly after Borneo, so check back in about a week.

I have set up the commenting feature on the blog so that anybody can comment, even if you don’t have a blogspot account. Please comment! I would love to see who is reading.

Thanks for reading,

Mitch