Spiders and Roaches and Crickets, Oh My!

Sunday, December 30^th

By Noah Weinberger

Today, we packed up and left our hotel by 8 am, headed north for the six hour drive to Siem Reap.  Along the way we stopped by a market known for their deep fried tarantulas. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were greeted by many children who were very extroverted and kind. The kids were selling bananas, mangoes and pineapples for only a dollar. We could not eat the peeled and sliced fruit because it would not go down well with our stomachs but we gave them at least a dollar each and bought some bananas for the road. As we proceeded, we soon found out that not only did they have piles of fried tarantulas but fried, abnormally large crickets, crunchy grasshoppers, juicy earthworms, roasted water birds on a stick, and last but not least, cockroaches. My arachnophobia started kicking in and I was scared. But of course our tour guide Veng was not afraid of spiders so he picked up a huge tarantula and put it right on his shirt. Next, he picked me out of our entire group and placed the hairy creature on my shirt. Thankfully, tarantulas don’t bite and there was no danger.  Next we stopped by a woman with a bucket full of fried spiders in a garlic sauce.  It was kind off gross because the spiders had still had hair on their legs and big abdomens. Mr. Kosegarten was the first to try one and when he did, everyone freaked out. According to him it did not taste that bad. Then Brooke and Dana ate a tarantula together. Veng just laughed his contagious laugh. Then he gave me one and I could not deny the man so I try a few legs and then I am done. It was the crunchiest thing and the worst part about it was that it would just sit in your throat when you tried to swallow. Matt, Blake and Brigid all tried a sample, but C’Maia steered clear and Dr. Romeyn said she was too busy taking pictures [Dr. Romeyn says:  "I did eat some tarantula legs once we got back on the bus, thank you very much."]  Veng then led us to a bunch of crickets that were deep-fried. Once again he picks me out of all people to eat it. Veng places the enormous cricket inside of my mouth and I begin to chew. It was the same texture as the spider. I spit it out but at least I can say I tried!  Mr. Riffee was the most adventurous, eating a tarantula, cricket, grasshopper and earthworm.  He said the tarantula was the best.  Finally we were done so we boarded the bus and waved goodbye back to all the children and we continued our voyage to Siem Reap.

[Dr. Romeyn says: we arrived in Siem Reap about 4 pm, after a long, hot ride (the aircon on the bus died about halfway through the trip.  Everyone enjoyed the pool and a shower and we are headed to dinner soon. Hopefully, there will be no fried insects on the menu.]

Rural Cambodia

Blake Priddy, Matt Hansan 

Reporting on the activities of Saturday, December 29, 2012

Today we started out with a long two-hour bus ride heading out to Bo Pha Phnom Phen. Our always laughing tour guide, Veng (sort of pronounced like Wayne), posed for a picture with us.  On the way we stopped for a picturesque view of some Lotus flowers and tried some Lotus seeds. After we arrived we hopped on some speedboats and headed out to meet Lung and Ding, some new friends of ours. We met our new Cambodian pals at the ancient capital city of Cambodia. It took about 30 mins to speed boat out there but it was a fun boat ride so it seemed like nothing. We docked at the ancient capital and were greeted by a bunch of Cambodian kids from the village. The kids were so nice and happy to see us. We were led up to some ancient temples and the little children accompanied us and picked us some flowers. Two of the little kids, who were named Lung and Ding, gave us some flowers and walked with us the rest of the way. After climbing back down the steep stairs we headed back to the boats. Before we got on the boats we spent some time with the local villagers and Matt bought about 50 gumballs for two dollars and distributed them to all of the kids in the village. After all of the kids were satisfied with their gumballs we headed back on the boats to eat lunch. We had lunch at a local place named the Titanic, which made us feel super safe after we noticed it was basically held up by bamboo sticks. It was here that ate some fried Cambodian chicken, or as our guide Wayne/Veng calls it FCC, their version of KFC. Everyone enjoyed the meal and we left with full stomachs heading out to another temple built on the top of a hill. On the way there it began raining, steadily getting harder and harder. We reached the temple and began trudging up about 400 steps in the rain, though we did have umbrellas with us. We reached the top and were greeted with an amazing view that allowed us to see all the land around the temple for miles. We didn’t spend much time at the top because of the rain and so we headed back down and hopped on the bus to head back to hotel.  From our bus, we could see how 80% of Cambodians live:  on less than two dollars a day, working in rice paddies and tending to cows and chickens, with few modern conveniences.  

Reflections on Genocide

Rachel Weinberger and Dana Martin:
(reflecting on the activities of Dec 28)

Today we went to visit the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sieng Museum of Genocidal Crimes. The Killing Fields were where millions of Cambodians were slaughtered under the rule Pol Pot. Pol Pot was the cruelest dictator in Cambodia. As soon as he came into power, he had former government supporters and current government dissenters sent to either prisons for questioning or the fields for death. At the fields, we saw skulls and clothes of the people that were killed. We even walked over the bones of the bodies that were buried under our feet and were revealed when the rain washed the dirt away. The most upsetting event we learned about was what they did to kill the babies. They would grab them by their arms and slam their heads into trees to kill them. We visited the tree and saw all the memorial bracelets that hung on the tree to honor them. It was so hard to see because these children were too young and innocent to do anything hostile towards the government. It just shows how cruel Pol Pot was during his dictator years.

During our tour in the Museum, we saw different forms of how the Cambodians were tortured to give information. Some of the forms included drowning, whipping, hanging and slashing. The torturers were kids, around our age, from schools that were brainwashed to follow the rule of Pol Pot or face death. They were too young to organize or rebel against these cruel acts against innocent civilians. As we walked through the old school that was later turned into a prison, we saw pictures and photographs. They were of the convicted and the executioners themselves. It made everything more real when you put faces to the dead. Some were brought to tears while others just had to look away or go outside to take a breath. As we were leaving the Museum, we met one of the seven survivors that lived though the prisons. He is now 82 years old and does not speak English, but we were fortunate enough to have our tour guide be our translator. With such a tragedy in our minds, we mounted the bus and went back to the hotel to rest before heading off to a nice dinner at the Lotus Blanc.

Eating and Sleeping in Phnom Penh

Brooke Priddy and Brigid McCaffery:

December 29, 2012

When we arrived at our hotel in Phnom Penh, we were not expecting to see such a gorgeous hotel! The lobby has a big chandelier, a huge pool and more than 100 rooms. Each hotel room has a nice bathroom, a television and comfortable beds. There are lots of New Years and Christmas decorations throughout the hotel. There is also a workout room next to the pool, which Matt and Noah and Dr. Romeyn have used.

In the morning the hotel provides a huge buffet with lots of western style dishes. The first morning we were treated to pancakes, and the next day French toast. They also have eggs, bacon, sausage, donuts, croissants, and fruit. The choices for drinks include water, orange juice, milk, pineapple juice, and tomato juice. For lunch of the first day we went to ‘Friends’, which is a restaurant that takes children off the street and gives them an education and shelter. The restaurant picks the children who need help the most. The children come to the restaurant fairly young and train until they are able to choose their own path. The restaurant we went to for dinner, called Lotus Blanc, had the same program. Some of the things we tried at the restaurants were rice, salad, curry chicken, fish, beef, fresh fruit, and chocolate cake.  We all tried the different dishes and were surprised at how good they were.

A Long Flight and a Cyclo Tour of Phnom Pehn

12/28/12 9:15 pm by Matt Hansan

We finally arrived in Cambodia after over 24 hours of traveling, but sadly our luggage didn't make it on time. After about a two hour delay in Washington D.C., because of some issue with snow and de-icing the plane, we finally took off. We got off our toy-sized jet and we were immediately in panic mode. We  were originally supposed to have a 3hr layover in JFK but because of the delay it was now a rush to get on an international flight in less than an hour. All eleven of us began sprinting to get to the next terminal. After weaving through the airport we reached the check-in desk for Korean Airlines, and we were told that we might not even make the flight. That was a possibility they would hold the flight for us (and they did) but one certainty was that we wouldn't be able to get our luggage transferred in time. Instead our luggage was flown into Siem Reap and then driven to the Phnom Pehn Hotel, arriving half a day later around noon.

Our first day was filled with mixed emotions. The early morning consisted of riding on cyclos which took us to the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is both a religious and political shrine, and after spending about an hour and half looking at the elegant and stunning statues, gardens, and temples we headed back to our cyclos to take us back to the hotel (and our luggage). As we were getting re-acquainted with our cyclos, the tour guide asked me if I wanted to take the reins and cycle myself and my cyclo biker back to the hotel. I was delighted to have this once in a life time opportunity, and so I quickly said yes and hopped onto the bike. It was so much fun but also pretty tiring. I quickly picked up on how to get in and out of lanes, even with the horrible motorcycle traffic. I soon began to go from the back of the pack to the front, passing everyone and loving their flabbergasted faces as they noticed I wasn't riding it but driving it myself. After a good fifteen minutes I pulled into our hotel, tired but excited about what I had just done. It was something that I don't think happens often so I am thankful I had this opportunity. So far the trip hadn't been going great with the luggage but I think the cyclos really brought our spirits up and kicked off the beginning to an extraordinary trip.

(More to come tomorrow on our afternoon experiences at the Killing Fields and the Museum of War Crimes.  We are all still trying to process the stories told and evidence witnessed and we need to get a good night's sleep.)

The group enjoys a delicious Thai meal after the visit to the Buddhist temple.

On Sunday morning, the group took a trip out to Silver Spring to visit a Cambodian temple. When we arrived, our contact, Tun, had to read his part in a 100 day memorial service for a man who was a important member of the temple. The Buddhists have numerous services after one dies to encourage a positive afterlife: as a human being, a demigod, or a god, not an animal or a dweller of hell. 

http://www.cambodian-buddhist.org/

After the service we went inside the temple, where Tun, a former adviser to the president of Cambodia in the 1960's before the khmer rouge, explained the memorial service, the concept of karma, and he taught students the 5 precepts for happiness( no killing, no lying, no intoxicants, no sexual misconduct, and no stealing) and gave a brief description of the murals in the temple, which depicted the life of Buddha, who left his family and his material life of comfort to find enlightenment and spread Buddhism. 

We then went down to the basement of the temple, where students were stretching for their traditional Cambodian dance. Unfortunately, we did not have time to participate.