Ribbon Cutting

About two months ago destruction starting taking place at Daepyung.

The playground in the lower portion of our school's yard was being ripped to bits by large, noisy machinery - that just so happened to be operating during school hours, right outside my window.  It was a dusty distraction that even I found trying.

But luckily it was only for one month.  The second month fell during summer vacation so it was of little bother.  Why some genius didn't think to plan the whole destruction operation during summer is beyond me; but as it is in Korea some (most) times - common sense doesn't always seems to be the first way of thinking.

They ripped up the old astroturf that lined a central square of the yard.  Hammered, cut, sawed, slammed and smashed the jungle gym until it was flattened.  And cleared it all off to make way for the new one.

Although the new playground has been open for a few weeks, today was its official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony.

Five students from every class (excluding first and second graders) came out to witness the event and then learn the proper playground etiquette and rules so that they could pass them on to their classmates.

I was excused half through the telling of the rules.  I'm not sure why I was asked to be present, but it was nice that they did!

Have fun little monsters!!

Bolaven

It would seem as if the rainy season has returned, but it's just another typhoon - Typhoon Bolaven.

Many reports were calling it the "most powerful typhoon in a decade" and lots of fears and preparations were taking place throughout the country.

Although, it all seemed to be full of hot air (pun intended).

Busan only got hit with strong winds.  The typhoon moved further west and carried up the coast missing us entirely.

I was hoping for a day off work - a day to sleep in and read about what Jon Snow was up to; sadly, none of that happened.  However, Bolaven did pose such a threat that younger students (elementary and kindergarten) were given the day off from school (8/28), which meant my longest day was spent pouring over the internet instead of teaching six back-to-back lessons.

Compared to Khanun, which hit in July with worse rain, Bolaven seemed like a walk in a turbine wind tunnel.

Unfortunately other areas of the country took a hard hit.  Hopefully the damage isn't too bad and people were able to stay safe.

Duty

As you might have noticed, I was not able to post while I was on my trip.  In truth, I didn't even try.  The heat of Vietnam and Cambodia, the packed days and nights, and the rush to repeat it everyday, for two weeks - left me with little desire to try and hold off sleep for even an hour in an attempt to write.

And even now that I've been back in Busan for a week, the dust has yet to settle.

I want nothing more than to read how Jon Snow's wound will heal and fall asleep at 8pm.  But if I were to do that, I would never post anything new and I would fall back into old patterns of letting this blog get waylaid with posts more outdated than they already are, or worse - no posts at all.

So I will have to hope that Jon Snow's wound does not fester and instead I will tend to the *dish and get started writing about my trip.*

 *I'm going to back date the post, so they appear more in order with the dates they actually took place on

Angkor

Everything and nothing comes to mind when I try to think how to describe Angkor and the surrounding sights and places of Siem Reap.

Because it was everything!  And nothing I could say could make you experience the dominating feeling of wonder as you look at it all.

As Lonely Planet Encounter's says:

Angkor has the epic proportions of the Great Wall of China, the detail and intricacy of the Taj Mahal and the symbolism and symmetry of the pyramids, all rolled into one.

And it truly does. 

We got the 3-day pass for Angkor and woke up each morning before the sun to set out and start exploring the "earthly representation of Mt Meru, the Mt Olympus of the Hindu faith and the abode of ancient gods."

We visited:
Angkor Wat (8/16) -

Angkor Thom and Bayon (8/16) -

Ta Prohm (8/17) -

Banteay Kdei and Sra Srang (8/17) -

Eastern Mebron (8/17) -

Ta Som (8/17) -

Preah Neak Poan (8/17) -

Preah Khan (8/17) -

Phnom Bakheng (8/18) -

Sorry this is mostly a picture post, but as I said, everything and nothing comes to mind when I try to explain Angkor so I'm leaving it to the pictures to do the talking.

Unknown Horrors

Since we each had our assigned cities to look into - and my city was in Vietnam - I did little no research regarding Cambodia.  I knew Angkor Wat was there and Laura Croft did some bombass fighting in one of the temples, but that is where my knowledge stopped.  And as you can see my knowledge was limited and thoroughly based on hard facts…?

But not knowing what I was going into allowed me to see things with fresh eyes and an open mind.  I didn't have Fodor's or Footprint* or Lonely Planet telling me what I "should" look at, while ignoring all the other wonderfully moving elements that were there as well.

I got to see things as I wanted to see them - and it was beautiful! and devastating; due to the harrowing history in Phonm Penh.

We were only there for a short visit (8/13-14), but it was long enough to absorb the tremendous sadness and horror that the country and its people endured during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

We went out to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (aka the Killing Fields) where millions of people lost their lives and faced hardship of such extremes that unimaginable.  It was a numbing place to walk around - the marks of violence still present and ghost strolled silently with you as you observed the places where they were slain.

Afterwards we went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (aka S-21), a former school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a torture and interrogation center.  It felt as if the monster still remained.  Walking into old classrooms that bore the marks of so many untold nightmares; left me with a choking feeling that was difficult to shake, even after we had left.

They whole day seemed tainted by the darkness the Khmer Rouge brought to Cambodia.

But there was beauty and charm in Phonm Penh as well.

The Preah Borom Reach Beang Chatomuk Mongkul (or for short, The Royal Palace) was beautiful and ornately decorated and carved.

The Palace grounds were vast and telling what-was-what got to be a bit difficult, but it was nice to have such a lush and tranquil place to walk around after all the darkness of the other sights.

After just two days in Phonm Penh we took our seats on a WiFi air-conditioned bus and headed north to the treasures of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

*Footprint was the guidebook I used for this trip.

(Can't) Miss Saigon

For this trip we each were assigned a city to plan for.  Only problem was there were 4 of us and 5 cities we were stopping in.  Somehow we overlooked that bit of info, and no one planned Saigon.

It wasn't a problem for us - open the guidebooks, log on to TripAdvisor and soon enough we had a room booked, a tour planned and everything in order for when we arrived.

It was a problem with the airline we were flying*.  Well.. a problem of one kind or another that lasted over 4 hours!! However, we had a little luck and found out ahead of time that our flight was delayed.  So we pushed back our departure for the airport and were able to enjoy a nice, last (tummy upsetting) meal in Hoi An.  Only to get to the airport and find that the flight was delayed again!!  Still not much of a problem - there were few people at the airport at 1 am and lots of benches to stretch out on.

Putting all the mess of transit aside, we got to Saigon without any major difficulties, tucked in to bed and rested up for out Tiger Tour the next day (8/11).

We had originally thought to do a scooter tour with another company, and no knocks against the other company, but I so happy they were booked up.  I loved our Tiger Tour.  It was amazing.  It was so much fun!!  It was so well done, so thoughtfully planned and tailored to what we wanted.  They looked after us, took photos for us, answered all of our questions as locals and not scripted tour guides and even after it was all done they treated us to a feast of a meal!!

In just under 5 hrs we covered all the sights my guidebook listed for the city center of Saigon!  Random cotton candy pink church, local market, Central Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Hall and a few other places that I was unable to get pictures of with the lens I was using (50mm) while riding on the back of a scooter.  Vroom, vrooom!  We checked them off like scootering champs!

The rest of the afternoon was passed in a giddy, nonsensical stupor that carried us into the evening as we wandered around the city on foot.  We had little idea where we were going, what we were looking for - we were jus going.  Laughing and wandering.  Finally we found ourselves back at our hotel and called it a night.  We had tiny tunnels to explore the next day!

I knew the Cu Chi Tunnels would potentially be a problem for me.  I hate small spaces.  Even thinking about them gets my heart racing in a manner that is not enjoyable.  But I had gone down into the tombs of Egypt, I could do this!

I... thought I could…

(sorry for the video quality and choppiness, I was a bit distracted)

Overall, the tour was not a great experience.  I regret that I was unable to crawl through the tunnels, but that was something I couldn't help.  What could have been helped was the atmosphere.  I realize that tourism is a money-making industry - I get it, I respect it, I love it.  But I don't think that should lessen the respect that a place deserves.  People died there, people fought there, some fought just for the right to live; and although it may have hurt the side that you support, you shouldn't cheapen the sacrifices that people had to make by forgetting where you were and what happened all because you get to shoot guns and climb on a tank.  In hindsight, I wish we had gone on a private tour.

After the Tunnels we got dropped off at the War Remnants Museum.  Not the best museum I've been to, but man does it do the job!  Sad, depressing, disturbing.  I left feeling more than a little bit empty and a lot upset.

And after that we were done.  It was time to leave Vietnam and cross the border into Cambodia.  I didn't want to leave.  I still wish I was there.  Vietnam was a amazing, sweaty, dirty, beautiful, smelly, delicious, crazy, thought-provoking, frustrating, insightful, hilarious, most wonderful adventure.  I can't wait to go back!

*We flew Jetstar to Saigon, which despite the delays was a really nice company - leather seats that were wider than the bigger carries and really cheap fares (almost made the extremely long delay forgettable)!