Phnom Penh - The Killing Fields

In stark contrast to the joy of the water festivities going on along the river today with the King in attendance and throngs of people swarming around the river, eating and enjoying the holiday, we drive the 16 KM to Choeung Ek, the killing fields where millions of Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge Regime of Pol Pot.

It is shocking to see the almost 9,000 human skulls that were exhumed from mass graves on the site in a Buddhist stupa that commemorates their deaths. Not all the graves have been opened. Prisoners were marched out to the site and many of the stronger people were forced to dig their own graves before they were brutally killed.

More important prisoners were kept in a secret prison, Tuol Sleng, or S21, a former school converted into a torture prison. Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge photographed and documented many of their victims. Tuol Sleng is now a grim memory of the human potential for genocide, cruelty and brutality.

Phnom Penh - Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

What an amazing day in Phnom Penh! We started with a visit to the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace. They are exotic, beautiful, well kept and almost beyond imagination! The Silver Pagoda is called that by tourists because the floor is made up of blocks of silver over 2 pounds from all the recalled and melted money of French Indo China. The room is huge, at least 60 feet long and 30 wide. The riches in the pagoda don’t stop there – the locals call it the emerald pagoda because of the Buddah carved from one piece of emerald that is about 18” high. There are several gold Buddahs – one standing one of over 180 pounds of gold and encrusted with over 2000 diamonds including a 25 carat one in the crown and a 20 carat diamond in the chest. Many of the Buddahs in the pagoda are gold and have diamonds on them.

We asked how these riches survived the Pol Pot regime and during that time, the king was under house arrest in the palace and they were not desecrated like so many other Buddhist temples and art.

Phnom Penh

We arrive in Phnom Penh on a 3 day holiday for the boat races on the river. The streets are crowded and people are everywhere! We have time for a short "tut-tut" ride around the city, much of which was cut off due to the festivities. At tut-tut is a step above a bicycle rickshaw for one - it is a cart attached to the back of a motor cycle. Motor cycles are the predominant mode of transportation with often 4 people on one!

Even after the crazy traffic of India and other places, I have never seen the chaos in the streets as here. Even on main roads, there are few traffic lights and a person (we only saw ladies) stand at the corner with a red triangle flag to indicate that traffic must stop. At other intersections, it's whomever can get through first - after a little observation, there appears to be some order in the chaos: groups of vehicles, tut-tuts, a car and motor cycles ease their way into the perpendicular street and traffic eventually eases for them circling behind to cut off the next hopeful vehicles. Inspite of the fact that motor cycles and scooters are parked on sidewalks, weave in and out of any spaces in the traffic and go whatever way they want on a street, there appear to be few accidents! Quite an amazing traffic flow.

I love Phnom Penh! These people are sweet and friendly, helpful and the cacophony of life going on around feels like a carnival - so much new to see all at once from the ballon men, coconut sellers, people cooking their meals in the park as part of the festival - not to mention the traffic!

The city has not been developed yet. The tallest building is under construction - the Bank of Canada. There is a low profile with pagoda temple roofs and momuments punctuating the skyline.

Singapore - Chinatown

After the return from Palau Ubin, I go to one of the many Chinatown health spas for a massage and reflexology. We are still feeling the effects of jet lag and the humid heat.

Before dinner we walk through the narrow streets of bustling, old Chinatown where we join a tour about early Chinese Singaporeans – how they arrived in ships not unlike the slave ships that came to the US, however, these people came voluntarily in search of a new life. Many did not make it. They had low paying coolie jobs – removing “night waste” from homes before there were toilets, pulling rickshaws and of course, for women prostitution. We saw the tiny “shop houses” – those two stories above the tiny shops that sometimes housed up to 100 people when they first arrived in Singapore!

Pulau Ubin Photos

Pulau Ubin

As we drive into the village of Changi at the Eastern end of Singapore, it already feels like a step back in time. Gone are the sleek buildings and fancy shops. Changi feels more laid back with older apartment buildings and eateries under large canopies along the road. Across the street is the pier where wooden “bum” boats and boatmen wait their turn to take passengers over to Pulau Ubin. We climb aboard the old wooden boat that has old tires hanging all around its sides as bumpers – hence the name bum boats. We are about 12 passengers who sit facing each other on two wooden benches.

Within 15 minutes, we’ve entered another world in one of Singapore’s 60 islands. Pulau Ubin is a throwback to Singapore in the 1960’s. The island is home to Singapore’s last villages, or “kampongs” and about a hundred villages live there. Ubin residents rely on wells for water and diesel generators for electricity. Most people store electricity in batteries in the day, and run generators in the night.

In the small main village where we dock, buildings sit on stilts in the water near the mangrove trees and homes have been converted into bicycle rental stores. Hundreds of bicycles are lined up for rent. The students who rode over with us already have bikes and are taking off along the miles of paved and dirt roads through the forest. As we drive around the island, we see many cyclists enjoying the lush vegetation, abundant flowers and butterflies as well as stopping to enjoy the blue waters of the old granite quarries that are all over the island. We see about 30 egrets perched on dead trees above one. The natural beauty of the old tropical forests, overgrown rubber and coconut palm plantations is breath taking. The roads wind among dense forest to an open wetlands area where at low time the sea anemones are abundant in pools

Our guide’s teenaged daughter has just returned from a five day outward bound adventure on Palau Ubin where the campers spent a lot of their time kayaking around the island. We see a number of teen-aged groups hiking or biking together on school break camps.

Home to both Malays and Chinese, we stop to speak with an herbalist whose roots are drying in pans along the road. This man is harvesting a root that will be dried similar to ginseng and used in Chinese medicine. His wife spends the week in Singapore and comes on the weekends to their very basic wooden home with high ceilings and open walls to allow for good ventilation. . A big room has tables for serving cold drinks to cyclists from the large freezer stocked with cold drinks. He raises and harvests his herbs on a small plot of rough land that supports papaya, banana as well as other medicinal plants that he introduces us to.

We visit Malay home where the residents are Muslim and have inscriptions for Mohamed and Allah over their door and a picture of the Hajj in Mecca on the wall. The couple invite us in and we are told their home is lush by contrast with traditional homes with upholstered chairs on the screened porch, a TV, a refrigerator and table and chairs in the kitchen. Traditionally, dining is taken in the “women’s” room on the floor. The garden has papaya, banana, tapioca and other cooking and medicinal plants. They too, have tables and chairs under an awning where they can serve cold drinks to cyclists.

There are shrines around the island to Chinese gods and goddesses, particularly Quan Yin. In fact, the weather has created her image in granite above one of the quaries. The altars are generally wooden boxes perched up on a stand and offerings of incense, fruit and water are placed there daily. We visit the largest Temple which has a number of shrines both inside and out – there is a lazy atmosphere to the place with people and stray dogs and cats cooling in the shade. The main altar is covered with statues – it seems like an entire cosmology of gods with incense, plates of oranges, water and flowers. Outside there are two cones where visitors burn their prayer papers hoping the ethers will answer them.

We’ve learned that Singaporean leaders are long-range planners and Palau Ubin was on the plan to be developed including a tunnel connecting main Singapore with businesses and homes. This development has been put on hold due to environmentalist concern witih some of the natural environments that would be disturbed with over development. So for the moment Palau Ubin remains a rustic reminder of Singapore’s past.

We top our visit off with traditional Chili Crab and Fish Head soup! (you got it - served with a big fish head floating in the serving dish!)

Singapore

We arrive in Singapore at 6:30 AM to a bustling airport with lush tropical plantings and friendly and helpful people. Our taxi driver narrates our drive from Changi airport on the Eastern part of the island to Chinatown where we are staying, he recommends sights, must-eat foods and tips for enjoying our visit. Our rooms are not ready since it is so early in the morning, so we stow our luggage and walk around the neighborhood.

Our first stop is to the “food court” across the street where small food stall hawkers have been congregated under one roof with tables for eating fast food. The stalls are opening and people are grabbing something on their way to work. It looks like noodle soup is a favorite selection. We have some fresh lychees and enjoy the bustle of the starting day around us.

The Chinese medicine stores, massage places and dispensaries are opening as we walk by - they have a lot of special ingredients for all sorts of ailments. We are especially charmed by a flayed Gekko lizard guaranteed to cure cough (not quite sure how!) I want to return for a massage to get rid of the aches from the trip!

We get a big dose of the ethnic diversity of Singapore today. Geraldine our guide, treats us to the sights and experiences of communities in the Arab Street/Kmpong Glam where small Muslim and Arab shops specializing in fabrics, rugs, baskets and a beautiful mosque cap off our wanderings. Although real estate is at a premium in Singapore and there is so much building (including about a 20% increase in land mass by sea reclaimation), the ethnic streets have been conserved for their historical value. In contrast to the gleaming and towering glass and steel edifices around the city, these smaller neighborhoods have colorful low buildings and narrow streets that step us back into former centuries. Most of the sidewalks are covered by arcades to protect walkers from the sun and possible monsoon showers and are filled with goods for sale. The people here are friendly and not intrusive.

Little India is in the next few blocks and suddenly I feel back in the markets of Mumbai or Delhi with colorful saris, shawls, fruits and vegetables, marigolds and other offerings for the temples. We visit an ornate and colorful South Indian Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Kali – the destroyer. The gold altars of the inner sanctum are locked off , but the silver steps and railings leading to it are magnificent. We stop here for pooris and for me to get my hand hennaed!

We learn about the Peranakan folks who are descendents of the early Chinese communities who settled here in the 17th century. About 80% of Singapore is Chinese, 8% Indian, the rest Malay and others. The Singaporeans are proud of and celebrate their diversity – there are numerous religious or ethnic festivals in which everyone participates and we learn that students are encouraged to learn about their neighboring communities. Schools are integrated and are primarily public with a few private schools.

We are treated to an orientation drive around the main part of the city from the financial district with it’s huge office buildings, the museum and cultural arts area, the original Cricket Club which was originally established as a “Europeans Only” private club with it’s open area long the esplanade that has remained open space inspite of the rising cost of real estate. Orchard Road boasts shopping that rivals Rodeo Drive, The Champs Elysee or Via Viento. The shops range from tiny haute couture stores to giant multi storied department stores open 24 hours a day. Singapore is certainly a shopping Mecca, whatever one’s tastes.


In a city that prides itself for being a city in a garden (there are beautiful tropical trees, shrubs, flowers draping from expressways and orchids everywhere), the Botanical Gardens with the National orchid Garden stands out. Although we only saw a small portion of the whole garden, it was stunning. We are standing in front of the Singapore National Flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim. I’m sorry my greenhouse at home is so small – there are so many things I’d like to add!