Killing in the Name Of

A cliché tattoo of a maple leaf, a flag sewn on my backpack and my obsession with hockey are manifestations of the patriotism I feel towards my home and native land. I had already decided it was the greatest place on the planet to live, even before I had visited other countries. My travels have now taken me to over 20 countries (roughly 10% of all that exist). Some countries have amazing natural beauty, some have long and storied histories and others have magnificent ancient structures, but none are the total package that is Canada. The World Wars occurred during the lifetime of my grandparents but never crossed the Atlantic to put our soil in danger. At no point in my life time have I ever felt scared or in danger. A peaceful and ever increasingly multicultural nation, but Canada is not perfect. The mistreatment of our Native people, the internment of the Japanese and the constant battle between the French and English are just some of the blemishes on the skin of the Nation. Today I visited one of the Killing Fields just outside Phnom Penh and it further cemented my appreciation for the fact I was born in Canada. I have never seen anything like it. The atrocities the Cambodian people suffered at the hands of their fellow countrymen are so disgusting they seem unreal. In a period of 4 years an estimated 3,000,000 Cambodians were executed by the Khmer Rouge. You can read about these events in textbooks but until you see the mass graves (that still produce bone fragments and teeth during the rainy season over 30 years later) and the large monument filled with thousands of skulls it doesn’t really hit home. I spent over two hours walking around the site listening to the audio tour and viewing the photo exhibits. I can’t remember ever visiting somewhere and being so emotionally impacted. It scares me what humans are capable of when they turn on each other, and what went on right under the noses of the rest of the world. It is so important that we learn from these events so that it can be avoided in the future. The moment it truly hit me was when I was inside the monument and getting an up close viewing of the skulls and bones. The skulls are divided into scientific categories by sex and age. When I came to the side that contained the adult males aged 20-40 I couldn’t help but feel lucky. If I had been born a few years earlier and on the other side of the world I could have been a skull on that shelf instead of sitting here writing about it. Oh Canada, I stand on guard for thee.

Wild Orchid

During an earlier walk along the water to Otres beach I discovered a small bar in the middle of nothing in particular. Little did I know when I walked by there the first time that the Blue Orchid bar would play a major role during my stay in Sihanoukville. My favorite Beach Road staff member worked during the late afternoon and into the evening, the other Estonians were usually sleeping off a hangover or off sailing and several friends from my first trip to town had gone home. For all of those reasons I had time to myself. A lot of my spare time was spent enjoying the amazing view, comfortable chairs and hospitality of the staff. The couple working the bar have been traveling the world selling jewelry and picking up odd jobs for almost 5 years now. All those experiences equipped them with many stories to tell. My favorite evening at the Orchid happened when they handed over control of the iPod to yours truly. It became obvious after only a handful of songs that barman Adam and I grew up on many of the same bands. It became a tribute to the rock of the early to mid 90s that featured several enthusiastic air guitar sessions and was highlighted by a top of the lungs version of Bad Habit by the Offspring. Silverchair, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins rocked the little bar until Adam’s co-worker and girlfriend, Mouette, was sick of us old guys and our “classic” rock. She switched the tunes to Spice Girls and other awful late 90s pop. I guess that was my cue to leave. Many fun evenings were spent at the Orchid which cemented a place in my traveling hall of fame for the lovely couple.

As March drew to a close so did my 30^th year of existence. After celebrating my first 30 birthdays in Canada with friends and family this one was spent 13,000 KMs away. The massive week long birthday celebration of last year would be followed up this year with a much smaller gathering. My Sihanoukville best friends Sandra, Adam and Mouette did their best to make me feel at home. I started off the day feeling a bit down knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing the regular cast of characters of years gone by, but that soon faded as my new family took excellent care of me. Its becoming clearer with every stop on my journey that a physical location is only as good as the people you are with. I guess it was lucky that I managed to meet such wonderful people in such a fantastic place. Thank you Sihanoukville for making my 31^st bday one to remember.

Come as You Are

The second leg of my world travels started with another visit to the beach/port town of Sihanoukville in Cambodia. It was my second time there, but this time around was much more eventful and I got to know the city a lot better. I was only there for a few days the last time around and those days were spent in a 4 block radius between the beach, the parties and my hotel. The two greatest contributors to exploring the city properly were renting a moto and the list of sights to see/things to do that was provided to me by Cambodia’s best tour guide. Having the moto gave me the flexibility to finally leave the area around my hotel without relying on the tuk tuk drivers. For the cost of $4/day and about $1.50/day in fuel I had ultimate freedom. When was the last time $5.50 a day bought you freedom?

Lonely Planet and the other guide books seem to concentrate the backpacking world on certain hotels, restaurants and attractions but many of the best times I’ve had so far have come on the advice of locals. The beach parties I experienced the first time around were dominated by travelers and were quite different from my first time at a bar for locals. It was a much friendlier atmosphere than any nightclubs back home. Everyone dances together and are more interested in having fun rather than showing off their fancy clothes and hitting on the opposite sex. At home its common to see a group of girls dancing around their purses but rare to see a group of guys dancing on their own (even more so dancing around a pile of wallets). At LV (the name of the club) there were just as many groups of guys dancing together as girls, as well as mixed groups. The music and the dance moves at the beginning of the night were not unlike what I’m used to, but then things changed…In the middle of the evening the DJs stopped , people cleared the dance floor and several singers performed Cambodian pop songs. It was interesting to see this at a night club, but Ill have to be honest and admit that I do not care for the Khmer tunes. All the popular songs are slow and quite depressing. The music videos seem to all feature people breaking up or dying. I’m not sure why this is, but there seems to be an opportunity for a happy and uplifting band to come in and brighten up MTV Cambodia. After the session of glorified karaoke came my favorite portion of the night. It was a modern version of traditional Cambodian dancing. Everyone on the dance floor moves together in a slow clockwise direction and the majority of the dance moves are done only using your hands and arms. It kind of reminded me of my Mom’s attempt to dance in the car during our family vacations on long drives. The locals were happy to see us foreigners trying out their moves and they were more than happy to give us some tips.