Glorified Charades.

We are currently in Peru the land of alpacas, Inca ruins and chicken and papas fritas. I am learning to be an English teacher which essentially means I play charades on a daily basis and hope that people can somehow decipher what the hell I am doing. So far things are going great, I taught them how to do the Chicken Dance and about Martin Luther King Jr. so basically they are set as far as I am concerned.
Peru is dynamic, the scenery and landscape are beautiful and rugged and so are the Peruvians themselves. The weather here in Cusco is ever-changing. Anytime the sun comes out I become irate and start swearing at it like a crazy person because I know it is just teasing me. To say the weather here is unpredictable would be a huge understatement. I spend about 50% of my day shedding layers and then bundling up again like an Eskimo. Here, life is hard but rewarding, I can be having a bad day and all it takes it having a good conversation with the woman at the bakery, and having her tolerate my broken Spanish and I am back on top of the world.
So now I am focusing on my drawing, and acting skills and teaching Peruvians about American culture like the Chicken Dance. I am slowly but surely remembering how much I hate grammar and how some things in the English language cannot be explained. Overall I have a lot of respect for the students I have met here their desire to learn English, and to better themselves is really inspiring. Teaching was just a means to an end to me, I was just interested in working to travel and get going on my next big adventure. I am slowly realizing that teaching is a huge adventure in it's own right. Also my stick figures are getting really professional. When I get home everyone is gonna want me on their team for Pictionary.

Sumatra: The Untamed Beautiful Beast

Our last few weeks have been slow and grueling travel. I have endured long bus journeys with sadistic and maniacal drivers who have some serious road rage, and need to seek help. I have killed an obscene amount of mosquitoes and creepy, crawling creatures. Spent days without running water, electricity, or clean clothes. I have been trucking along doing the best I can with a lack of sleep, a lack of toilet paper, a lack of internet and a lack of western conveniences.
But through this period of supposed depravity, I had some amazing experiences, saw some of the most wonderful places and animals, and met truly gracious and generous people. I gained much more than I ever thought I had suffered. I am truly lucky to have been inconvenienced and challenged by a place as startlingly beautiful as Sumatra, Indonesia. Indonesia is the place that steals your heart. You try to fight it but it woos you like few other places can. It has been hit by tsunamis, earth quakes, violence, you name it. Despite all of this misfortune and disaster she somehow rises back up and manages to intoxicate you with her rugged and stunning scenery. So forgive me for all my bitching and moaning, Sumatra, I am so not worthy.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Malaysia is like an Asia's Greatest hits compilation. It has the oldies, and the goodies.
Here you are reunited with all your favorite things about Asia. Mainly the colorful people and the delectable food. Walking down the street in Malaysia feels like catching up with old friends. It has a little bit of flare from all over the continent.

Malaysia is the melting pot of Asia and it shows. Being here makes a traveler feel both nostalgic and alive, to look down the main drag in Kuala Lumpur, or Georgetown, and see a tandoori chicken restaurant, a Chinese noodle soup joint and a Malay/Cambodian curry food stall all lined up next to each other. It is even more exciting to watch Indian, Chinese , Malay and any other combination of ethnic South East Asians socializing. Malaysia is alluring because of it's lack of homogeneity. It is a country where you can easily feel at home because of the mixing and mingling of cultures and people. Malaysia was so unique and inviting because of the multicultural feel and the vibrancy of the people. In Malaysia they love their culture and their food and they love to share it openly with visitors. Malaysia made a little American girl feel at home in big bad Asia.

Legend of the Hidden Temple

Hanging out in the many amazing temples on the Angkor Wat trail in Siem Reap was like the adult version of the Nickelodeon game show Legend of the Hidden Temple. Except for the temples were real and the challenge of finding your way through the maze of tunnels did not end with you winning a Sega Genisis or a new bike but instead your prize was a flock of Cambodian children hassling you to buy wood flutes and postcards.

But seriously, all jokes aside Angkor Wat is breathtaking. These temples are beyond words and visiting these architectural marvels is an amazing adventure that cannot compare to anything else.

We set out by bicycle at 4:30 am to catch the Sunrise at Angor Wat the biggest and most astounding temple. Then from there we visited Angor Thom, Bayon, Preah Khan, Ta Som and Ta Preah. It was crazy beautiful. We spent 12 hours at the temples and that was not even enough. I am hooked.

Phnom Penh

While traveling in South East Asia your sightseeing experiences cannot always be cheery and whimsical, or even enjoyable. Often times the history of these Asian countries is unpleasant and depressing, and the reality of the past must be dealt with. In Cambodia the two places described below are far from pleasant, in fact they are brutal and horrific places, but imperative to knowing and understanding the country.

In Capital City of Cambodia the recent past of the Khmer Rouge cannot be avoided. This brutal regime that was in power in Cambodia from 1975 til 1979, brutally murdered over two million people in the name of creating a class-less agrarian society. Normal citizens were rounded up for being so called "subversive elements" and "threats to the state." These victims were not given due process or any legal rights what so ever, and were sent to S-21 to be tortured and ultimately to the "Killing Fields" to be murdered.

Visiting the "Killing Fields" and S-21, (Security Prison 21) also know as Tuol Sleng Prison was an experience I will never forget. Words cannot describe the gruesome experience of walking through these notorious places and thinking of all the victims.

Our first day in Phnom Pehn we biked to the "Killing Fields" which are essentially farm lands about 16 kilometers outside of the Capital. This is the sight of mass graves and where most of the accused civilians were brought to be murdered by the Khmer Rouge Army. The land is still littered with bones and remnants of clothing from the victims. It was horrifying. The brutality still lingers in the air in these fields, it is a place that rattles a person to the core.

The following day we went to S-21 or Tuol Sleng Prison. Tuol Sleng is right in the heart of town only a fifteen minute walk from our guest house. This prison and torture center was once a girls high school that was converted into a place of interrogation and carnage. Eerie, haunting, creepy, chilling; none of these words come close to the terrified emotions one feels walking through this school. I have never been so frightened walking down the halls of a building. The magnitude of the killings and that took place boggles your mind.

During our stay in Phnom Pehn we also had the opportunity to attend the current tribunal that is being carried out by the United Nations and The Extraordinary Chambers of the Court of Cambodia. It has been 30 years since the Khmer Rouge dictatorship took over the government and only now are the perpetrators being brought to justice. This tribunal made up of International and Cambodia lawyers and judges is attempting to finally make justice possible for the victims and their families. The court is trying those who are still alive and were once in positions of power within the Khmer Rouge dictatorship. This is a task becoming increasingly more difficult, due to the fact that so much time has past.

We were able to hear one of the few survivors of S-21 give testimony about his horrendous torture and imprisonment. The defendant on trial at the moment is called Duch and he is the man who ran the S-21 prison from 1975-1979.

While we were in Phnom Penh many of the locals we met did not seem to know about the UN and ECC tribunal and were indifferent to discussing the Khmer Rouge past. The new generation of Cambodians want to put the past behind them and forget about this genocide. I cannot blame, them this history is tragic. I only hope that what little justice can be done will help to ease the pain and help the families and the country achieve some form of closure.

After visiting these places and learning what I could about the history, I came to my own conclusion that even with the convictions taking place and justice being carried out (or the most feasible version of justice considering the circumstances), the Khmer Rouge should never be forgotten. The atrocities committed by their leaders and supporters should stay fresh in our minds. This is the only way that "never again" becomes a reality instead of an empty pledge.

Fortunate Son

As an American you cannot visit Vietnam without contemplating the 25-year war we fought there. We call it the Vietnam War and the Vietnamese appropriately refer to the struggle as the American War. Vietnam is an interesting place to visit not only because of its heart wrenching history plagued with war and destruction; but for me the history certainly added to the power of its beauty and the respect you felt for the Vietnamese people. This country paid a large price for its sovereignty and you cannot escape the evidence of war here. Vietnam was awe-inspiring for me as an American. I believe that the blatant tenacity of the Vietnamese people and the magnificence of the land is provoking and makes one very introspective. No matter what your politics may be, traveling through this beautiful country is a humbling experience. It brings you to terms with your own values and forces you to think about American Ideals and American politics and about who pays for our blunders. It also made me think about the American soldiers and the price they payed for this war. It seemed that every time I let my mind wander while I looked out of the bus window at the landscape, the same thought would cross my mind, "what the hell were we doing fighting in Vietnam?"

The scenery of Vietnam is absolutely mesmerizing: the glistening rice patties, the gorgeous green water and karst peaks of Ha long Bay, the lush plains of the Mekong Delta and the bustling hyperactivity of Hanoi and Saigon come together to create an image of extreme splendor. These places and others make Vietnam one of the most distinctive and glittering gems of South-East Asia.

But beyond the scenery, I felt the history and the strength of the Vietnamese made everything you saw much more sacred. These fields and cities were for me symbols of how much people are willing to sacrifice for their land. Everywhere you look there were reminders of what this scenery meant to the Vietnamese. The more I learned about their history and the numerous countries that attempted to dominate their lands, and the bloodshed that was spilled by men, women and children fighting to keep their country. The more honored I felt being here and putting the history in context. I felt that I understood their struggle a little bit better and it gave me a more accurate depiction of the place and the Vietnamese people to juxtapose with the image of Vietnam found in the American history books. I felt I could empathize with these people and their suffering and the sense of pride felt in their defeat of imperialists such as the French and Americans. I also learned to face my American misconceptions that we are always fighting on the side of democracy and justice. Sometimes we are just plain wrong. But for me visiting Vietnam and meant coming to terms with the guilt I felt about being an American citizen and facing the music about our governments actions in Vietnam. When visiting the Remnants of War Museum in Saigon, looking at the old U.S. tanks and Bombers they had on display outside the museum gave you a real understanding of what the Vietnam were up against and the strength of the U.S. military. The graphic pictures of the brutality of the war and the effect agent orange had and is still having on both Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers was enough to make you want to gag and cry at the same time. It made my heart hurt with sympathy for American soldiers and Vietnamese citizens alike.

After having to come face to face with the history of the Vietnam War and the destruction and death I realized that our single enemy, the most evil thing on this planet is war. That is true for Americans, Vietnamese and everyone else a like. Those of us who have not had to fight in a war, we truly are the fortunate ones.