Dawn over Angkor Wat

We arrived in Siem Reap (very hot from a long non-air conditioned bus ride) yesterday afternoon and went straight out to do scavenges. Our hotel here (the Heritage Suites) is amazing…bungalow styled rooms with private gardens and an interesting mix of oriental and hip architecture. One of the nicest places I have ever stayed.

For those who do not know the details of this competition, a bit of catch-up information: each team has two members and we have 10 teams this year; during this trip we will visit 10-12 countries on 4 continents and we will stay in each country for 1-3 days; we do not know where we are going next until 4 hours before we leave; when we arrive at a new country we get a book of scavenges to do in that place and a check-in time. The trick is to amass as many points as you can during the set time frame that the particular rally is open. The book of scavenges that we receive always has way more challenges than you can get done in the time that we are in that country – and each thing is worth different points (easy stuff is 10-15 points; hard challenges that take a lot of time and efforts can be worth up to 300 points)– so part of the competition is strategizing what to do and in what order to best use the time that you have. In every country we have mandatory challenges that you have to do or you get no points for that leg. Most of the mandatory challenges are eating or food scavenges (sometimes lots of yucky stuff) but you don’t have to eat it all: just try it. I obviously cannot describe every scavenge that we do in each country, so I am trying to pick a few of my favorites each time to just give you all a flavor of what we are doing. You are only allowed to scavenge with another team for a maximum of 5 scavenges in a day – so we are spending only part of each day with Nanny and Ben.

Scavenge # 1: Obviously we had to visit the various Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom and Ta Prohm – and there were bonus points if we started at 5 AM and watched the sunrise on the temples – so we were up in the dark. They were all amazing. Truly a wonder of the world. My favorite was Ta Prohm where the trees have grown all through the temple walls. I got a great photo of where the trees have grown all over a sculpture – with only the face (miraculously) still visible. Sooooo cool.
Scavenge #2: Do some good: Either visit the Kantha Boptha Hospital and give blood or visit the Angkor Hospital for children and make a donation of some blankets, children and adult clothing, coloring books, crayons, pens and pencils or mosquito nets you bought in town.
I’ll be honest – despite my absolute fear of needles – I strongly considered the blood donation because, after all, it was for 100 points and it involved only one trip to the hospital (without having to first go and buy stuff) – that’s an economical use of time. But Rainey made sensible arguments about possible side effects of fainting from the needle prick (a real possibility with me), hitting my head and then having to actually be treated at a Siem Reap hospital. Rainey cannot donate because he had Hepatitis years ago. Good sense prevailed and we did the shopping trek instead. We arrived at the children’s hospital at dark with our supplies and the children were already asleep – sleeping in an open concrete-floored patio area. No beds, no blankets, no walls, no wards – just sick children all over the floor sleeping. They were all covered up with pink mosquito nets that were draped over benches - like a tent city of ill kids. (Not a great photo - but I did not want to do another as the flash could wake them up). I was sure that Ben would freak out and start talking about contracting leprosy and antibiotic resistant TB but he was so moved that he could not even speak. Heart wrenching.

Scavenge #2: Locate and visit Beng Mealea
Beng Melea is a sprawling jungle temple that has only barely been rescued from the thick foliage. It is almost 2 hours from Siem Reap and - after driving up here without air conditioning yesterday (did I tell you yet that it is 150 degrees here – in the shade), it seemed like nothing short of torture to decide to go out there yesterday afternoon. In fact, I cussed Bill’s (the producer of this competition) name for every kilometer. But then we got there… and it took my breath away. It was just like you stepped into an Indiana Jones movie, went on a jungle trek and discovered a hidden world all by yourself. There were no other tourists there because it is so remote so we had the place all to yourself. The jungle is all around you and it is a quiet world of tumbled down rocks and 1,000 year old carvings. The trees grow thick all around – and through - the fallen in temple walls. Ben climbed all over the rocks (yes, they actually allow you to climb up and walk on the roof of the old temple) like a monkey. It would violate every government inspection law in the US for us to just climb in - and on- every part of this fallen wonder - but it was great fun.

Scavenge #4: Visit the Land Mine museum, meet the owner/curator Mr. Aki Rai and listen to his story.
During the various wars here, land mines were heavily used. Aki Rai was orphaned at 5 (when rebels killed his parents) and he was taken from an orphanage by the army at the age of 14. His job for the Khmer Rouge was to plant land mines all over the countryside. When the war was over, and he was married with kids in his 20s, he decided to dedicate his life to de-activating land mines here and to helping children maimed by land mines (his karmic pay-back). He has taken in, and educated, dozens of land mine amputee children and spends a chunk of every month in the jungle finding and doing controlled explosions of land mines. His museum is simple but very moving…with even a short video about his work. And his "adopted" children work at the museum .. taking tickets, running the video. So amazing to see how one kind-hearted man can make a difference to so many.

And just a few observations about Cambodia.

Observation #1: People really can live with very little. Driving out to Angkor Wat yesterday, we passed through village after village: no electricity, water dragged home in a bucket from the communal hand pumped well, dirt floor wooden shacks… yet in front of every house there was a hammock hung up between two trees in the shade with a mother and some number of children - or an old man - swinging away in the 100 degree heat. In every market, there were groups of men sitting around talking and laughing. They clearly have no concern for the Dow Jones or the collapse of the subprime market. Ignorance truly can be bliss. Above all else, this trip makes you feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the fortune of your own life.

Observation #2: Yes, it is scary when this is the sign outside of one of the restaurants that we had to eat in…. I guess that it actually says more about the other restaurants than this one.