It's a Crunchy Beetle

              Heyoooo =). Klaus and I have spent the past week in Cambodia. Fabulous country, great people, colorful culture. So far I’m loving it and I am learning a lot. I’ll try to do a quick recap of the past week’s adventures.

Looking out into Cambodia from Vietnam

            We crossed into Cambodia via a five hour boat ride up the Mekong River. We stopped at Phnom Penh for a couple days. I met our Cambodian student interpreters and had a blast learning traditional Khmer dancing/Korean modern dancing out in the city park…interesting combo. 

Cambodian Students =)

While here I also visited the killing fields – a mass grave site from the Khmer Rouge genocide. The site includes a tower made of 8,000 skulls dug up as evidence for trials that ended in 2010 actually. 

Memorial Tower Filled with Skulls

There was also field of mass graves with bones and clothes sticking out as the rain eroded away the soil. Really morbid/disturbing place. I also visited the school the rouge converted to a prison. The site now is all open and you can just walk around through the cells. In some of the rooms if you look at the ceiling you can still see spattered blood from those tortured in the rooms. It is a weird feeling to just freely walk through a place with such a dark history knowing that not so long ago someone else was standing in that very cell dying. The genocide killed about 2 mil people and ended in 1979. Those targeted included anyone who was not uneducated. As a result the country was in an extreme state of poverty and still struggles economically today. Wew…sorry for the depressing content. It is an important context for understanding Cambodia today. The rest of the blog is not so sad I promise!!

            From the capitol we took a bus to Siem Reap and visited Angkor. These are ruins from an empire that collapsed in about the 16^th century. It was awesome climbing around and exploring.

Looking up a Tower

Getting Crazy 

Story of life in Angkor carved into stone - amazing how it was still in such great condition

Towers 

=P

Monks and temple ruins

Angkor Wat - The largest of the temples

Ok, now for the nerdy part (you can skip to the next paragraph if you are bored) From an environmental science perspective Angkor was also very interesting. There was a recent study on why Angkor had collapsed. At first people thought it was just an invasion by Thai forces. However, upon further examination it is now thought the deforestation of the watershed may have also contributed. As the empire grew it created a large canal network to move water and irrigate agriculture. This allowed Angkor to become the largest low-density civilization of its time with a pop of about 1 million people. However, the as more forest was cut down the erosion rate sped up and the canals began to fill in. Dredging the extensive network took a lot of manpower. With this manpower tied up fighting the Thai forces the canal maintenance became overwhelming. Without the canals operation the movement of goods and the growing of crops would have been limited. Ok, that is it for the nerdiness.

         

   The day after Angkor exploration we took a trip to Tonle Sap Lake, one of the large freshwater lakes in the world and the only lake to experience reverse flow. Due to a fault (GEOLOGY =) the water from the Mekong flows in to the river during the rainy season. During the dry season the water flows out of the lake. We spent the night on a floating village and learned about the ecology/life here. Tonle Sap Lake is a very productive freshwater fishery because during the rainy season the lake floods the surrounding forest. Here the fish can access the nutrient rich detritus from the trees. Many fish spend a part of their life in the flooded forest and then migrate up the Mekong. As a result of this pattern the lakes shores have been divided up into several huge fishing lots that get auctioned off for millions of dollars. For the open fishing season the winners of the auctions set up fences around the whole lot and trap the fish moving out of the forest. Now the village we stayed at was on the edge of one of these massive lots. For class we paddled around and interviewed the villagers about their livelihoods. What I found was that most depended on fishing as a source of income. Over the past five years the numbers of fish have been declining (likely due to the fish lots). Most of these families are so poor they cannot afford to buy land and therefore are stuck in this village. With declining catches their livelihoods are at risk. To make matters worse the government won’t recognize this village as an official village because vice-governor of the neighboring district who would authorize this also owns the fishing lot the village borders. He doesn’t want the village to be official take away from his fishing profits (they would move into the mouth of a river where many of his fish come from) or report his illegal activities (using nets with holes smaller than allowed). Because the village isn’t official they get no government help. This means no education for the kids. There is a school built by UNICEF but they have no steady teacher. Also, there is little medical help with a doctor coming once every two months. Sanitation conditions are poor with most families drinking the water their house is floating on. This is the same water their toilet directly empties into. Some boil the water but, many don’t even do that. As a result disease is not uncommon and death rates are especially high among children. Overall, the trip was interesting and sad. It is a very different way of life. I couldn’t imagine never walking more than 20 ft… 

Rowing Boats in the Village

Kids at One of the Houses We Interviewed

Life in the Village

Kids at the House I Spent the Night in

            Upon arriving back from Tonle Sap Lake after a crazy boat ride (the boat kept breaking, was leaking water and pitching so bad we almost capsized multiple times -always an adventure) we moved on to Stung Trang (a 7 hour drive turned into with 12 with 11 people in a minivan…good times) in search of river dolphins…more to come on that later.

            Food update: Added crispy beetles, crickets, snails and something else I cannot remember. Overall though Khmer food is fabulous. I have been enjoying some amazing curries, barbeque, etc.

Blueberry Shake

=)   

Other Random Shots: 

Klaus at the Royal Palace 

Met a Monk in a Pagoda

Visited an Artisan Community Built to Help Preserve Khmer Arts. In This Room All the Women Were Deaf.

And I found a rock....=)

Can Gio Adventures

Ferry Ride to Can Gio...on the lookout

          Once again I am about a week behind in the blog. So here is Meg and Klaus’ life a week in the past. Pardon extra prevalent misspellings, missing words and other such typos they are most certainly the result of my current state of existence riding a bus through the countryside of Cambodia at terrifying speeds over “flat-ish” roads. It is kind of like being on an amusement park ride for five hours and simultaneously trying to use a laptop. Added bonus: fabulous Khmer music in the background =).

Last week we took a trip to Can Gio Biosphere (about 5 hr from Can Tho) along the coast of Vietnam. Life there was pretty tough. We stayed at a resort with a pool and along the beach. Somehow I managed to survive – barely =). I also had about one of the best meals I have eaten in my life. Started off with some white clams followed by crabs smothered in tamarind sauce, a dish of lemon grass stingray and some barbequed venison. Ridiculously fabulous. I know I have already discussed the eating style before but, I have to reiterate how much I love communal dinners. Usually 3-4 dishes in the center of the table (or floor) and everyone has a rice dish. You then just grab a little food at a time from the main dishes. The cool part is reaching over people is accepted and passing dishes is rude. Definitely getting people together for meal like this back in the states =).

            Can Gio itself was great too. We came to learn about the mangrove forest (this forest is just south of Ho Cho Minh City and was replanted following the war).

Mangrove Forest inside the shrimp farm (sorry no mud photos, I will try to steal one for a later blog)

Our ventures took us through the forest in waist deep mud. The more you struggled the deeper you got. We emerged at the other side of our transect completely covered with lots of swamp life crawling all over us. The final push was a slither along the tidal mud flat into the murky water for a mud war. I might just have to look into geology professions that involve deep mud…

            Day 2 was a trip to a shellfish farmer living on a platform in the bay. Really fascinating to observe an entire life out on a stilt house in the water. 

Shellfish Farmer House

Using the Facilities...there was no TP in case you wondered

They even had a dog. 

View of the harvested oysters (and the dog =)

We came at a particularly high “king” tide so the interior of the house was actually flooded.

Flooded Interior

During low tide the region is exposed and the farmers tend to the shellfish.

Oyster Lecture at the Stilt House

After this farm we continued on our boat tour to a shrimp farm in the mangroves. Here was another fabulous diner with the farmer on the floor of his living room. 

Dinner with the Shrimp Farmer

We rode back across the water in the dark with the entertainment of an incoming storm flashing across the sky. 

Different Storm but, same weekend

            Upon returning to Can Tho I crammed for a Vietnamese midterm, couldn’t understand about 70% of the exam, said goodbye to the homestay over a dinner of goat and headed off to Cambodia.

            That is about that for now. I’ll save the Cambodian adventures for another day. I hope life in the States is fabulous. Live it up!

=)

Other Random Shots: 

Making Friends

Monkeys at the Reserve

This reminded me: We took a stop at monket island too. Perhaps one of the most the most terrifying park experiences of my life. The island sells food to feed the monkeys. As a result, after years of feeding the monkeys now jump on the tourists, bit them, steal any objects available, etc. Quite horrifying especially on a deteriorating bamboo boardwalk with massive holes over a crocodile exhibit with 3m monsters swimming beneath you. 

Baby ducks on the ferry

It's a Wedding!

         Just a short blog about going to a Vietnamese wedding today. Our program assistant’s friend got married and invited us to the wedding party. The ceremony itself takes place at the house but the party is a public event. The reception was 10am-noon (very short!). The bride and groom greet everyone at the door and then walk in. The parents go on stage and say some words (I couldn’t understand what happened there). They then set off fireworks on the stage inside the building which is pretty cool and balloons rise to the ceiling where a row of nails awaits. The balloons pop and raise a banner. I am not sure how the banner then stays up… After this the bride and groom walk around

and get pictures with every table. It was a lot of fun =)

         For the wedding I got an Áo Dà, traditional Vietnamese dress. Apparently a tall figure is ideal for these. My host mom got pretty excited and my host Dad mentioned something to the effect of “Vietnamese boy might go unconscious, very good!” and then laughed. At the wedding I got my pictures with a bunch of random people. It was rather comical. They wanted us students to sing a song too which happens everywhere we go. Kind of unfortunate because I can’t sing ha ha. Maybe this trip will improve my performance skills…

The gang + bride and groom. 

Crazy shot!

Seafood Soup at the wedding.

Brides Mom.

Feeding Frenzy

=)

Tram Chim Excursion and Life in Can Tho

 

I saw these and a knew something big had to be in the park...

...and then a saw A WATER BUFFALO =)

            This is going to have to be a weird blog entry (sorry!). I have several rather unrelated topics =p.

            First off I finally got out of Can Tho and into a park =). I definitely have missed open spaces with no houses/development.

Tram Chim

Lecture out "in" the field.

The park itself has an interesting history. It is the low point of a large regional basin (Geology connection!!) whose rim was slowly developed over the last 300 years. During the war this was an important hideout area and as a result the entire region was deforested by the US. Canals were also built to drain the wetland and make it easier for the US army to access. Following the war the region was developed for rice cultivation. This national park represented the last undeveloped area (the lowest point ie swampiest point in the basin) and in 1985 some forward thinking individuals set it aside as a conservation area and fishery. It wasn’t until 1998 that the park was officially started. However, the natural flooding of the rainy season and hydrology of the region had been forever lost due to the artificial drainage by canals. The park then built a dike around the area to keep water in during the wet season and allow drainage during the dry season. Interestingly, the local community doesn’t necessarily like the park much because it prevents access to an area they previously depended on for food and income. While the government is now allowing limited access there is a lot of tension with the locals. Park rangers will give chase to poachers illegally using resources and locals have learned that setting fires as a distraction is a good counter. (Clever!) Therefore, the park has forest fire problems in the dry season. Fascinating management issues. Sorry that might have gotten a bit nerdy. 

Swamp with methane bubbles coming up. 

Wildlife sighting on the boat ride to the campsite.

            The park was gorgeous. It is a refuge for a highly endangered Sarus Crane ~ 100 left in the world mostly in this park. 

Sarus Cranes - Sorry it is a bad picture. They were super far away.

We stayed at a guesthouse for night one. 

Guesthouse mosquito nets =)

  During the day we took a boat out into the wetland to measure soil, water and plants. 

Testing the water.

Catching critters. 

The large catch!! (Two Minnows)

We camped at a watchtower/platform for night two.Wonderful place to hang the new hammock I purchased =). Why can't class at college include a two hour hammock nap??

Campsite

Interestingly, the army was also posted there to watch for forest fires and illegal poachers. It was kind of ironic/awesome that on an old Vietnam War battlefield American students spent an evening interacting with the Communist Army. 

            During the excursion I also got a chance to sample rat meat served on lily pads at our campsite. The verdict – AMAZING! Probably one of the best meats I have ever tasted. 

Dinner at campsite.

That brings me to the second topic I wanted to address today. Meat. Yea so my host family mentioned that dog meat was really popular here and so I mentioned it would be interesting to try. Well sure enough last night we went to try some thit cho. I didn’t realize it but we were going to a dog meat restaurant. We sat down and right next to our table was a really cute puppy tied up to a post. So dish one is a dog sausage with fermented shrimp sauce. It smelled like dog poop for some reason and I couldn’t stop looking at that puppy. Then came dish two. I didn’t even know I had signed up for a multi-course dog dinner. This was a marinated meat. Tasted alright. Still couldn’t stop looking at the puppy. Third dish was a boiling pot of strew brought out on a small bucket of coals so it cooked on the table. That was rather intoxicating. The next day I also learned that most dog meat here is obtained by stealing people’s pets in the countryside…sigh my soul is slightly disturbed right now.

            On a happier (but also sad) note I went to volunteer at an orphanage today after class. One of my Vietnamese friends invited me. We just hung out with the kids. At first we visited a bunch of babies which I had no clue what to do with. I was just hoping that I didn’t drop them by accident! They were so cute though and I had a lot of fun trying to remember children’s songs and how baby toys worked. There was also a Dutch couple volunteering there. Apparently they were part of some Dutch travel volunteer program – on the road for about 6 months traveling and volunteering in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

We also played with the special needs kids. That was really sad. In Vietnam there are a lot of disabled children/adults because of Agent Orange used in the war. People who grew up during the war and were exposed to the chemical will have a much higher risk of having a disabled child and/or developing cancer. Often these children end up as orphans. It is really sad to realize that even some children born today will never live a normal life because of a conflict that happened forty years ago. 

            Sort of related to my visit to the orphanage I went with my friend Imy to her Grandpa’s house for dinner. Good times =). Here I met the vice-director of Can Tho University where I currently study. He was talking to me about my stay here and why I came to Vietnam. Like everyone in Vietnam he was amazingly friendly and told me multiple times that he personally feels responsible for the SIT students because they are guests of the university and therefore his guests. There was also an older farmer there who started a conversation with me saying that the war ended forty years ago and what has happened in the past is for historians. The future is what we live in. He made me promise not to forget him in America and to tell my people that Vietnam is a new place that welcome Americans. No hard feelings. Interesting especially in light of my afternoon with the orphans.

Sorry this one was a lot of ramblings and musings and random references to the Vietnam War. I was hoping to not focus on this topic much while I am here. However, these experiences were particularly thought – provoking and I thought they might make a good blog.

Also, I am hoping to update more frequently so I don’t have to jam everything into one entry. Hope life is awesome! Oh, and you really ought to try rat meat at some point in your life. =) Klaus says xin chao (hello)! He and I have to get practicing for a Vietnamese language final on Thursday!

Group Shot (minus me)

In case you wondered...I'm having a blast (need I mention I was in class during this photo =p)