Den här gången blir det på svenska.
Ingen egentlig anledning, det bara känns mer rätt...
Nej. Det är inte en natt i Bangkok, men nästan. Det blir en resa med följande stopp:
Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City ("Saigon" om man är lite slarvig).
Kambodja - Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanouk ville.
Thailand - Bangkok.
I nästan tre veckor skall vi (syster och jag) vara i väg och uppleva dessa fantastiska platser. För mig blir det lite av ett kärt återseende, jag saknar verkligen Kambodja...
Den 19:e februari går flyget, den 20:e februari landar vi i HCMC, den 11:e mar landar vi i Sverige igen. Det kommer nog lite bilder och några texter här under tiden, om vi orkar och har tid.
Ses när vi ses.
Showing posts with label Cambodia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambodia. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I promised
To post my travel diary here.
Well. I am a man of my word, so it will be here - just not in the form of blog posts...
I have mixed in some photos with the text and made a PDF of it.
I do not get all the thoughts written down as I would like to. I feel frustrated! There are so many things I would like to put down in writing, so many details, so many meetings, so many events...
I give up. I succumb to the fact that the writings will not be complete and I will not be able to make the journey justice in my writings. So please take it for what it is - some small notes about the trip. Nothing more, nothing less. It is found here - "The Southeast Asian Diaries".
Maybe I'll try to write a more "complete" description of my journey at some time, but then it'll probably be in Swedish and published elsewhere...
Damn, I wish I was a writer and could put my feelings and thoughts in writing.
A more comprehensive photo album will be available at some later point as well. It takes a lot of time going through all the photos (~1500) and selecting the ones that do not bore the heck out of anyone "who wasn't there".
Well. I am a man of my word, so it will be here - just not in the form of blog posts...
I have mixed in some photos with the text and made a PDF of it.
I do not get all the thoughts written down as I would like to. I feel frustrated! There are so many things I would like to put down in writing, so many details, so many meetings, so many events...
I give up. I succumb to the fact that the writings will not be complete and I will not be able to make the journey justice in my writings. So please take it for what it is - some small notes about the trip. Nothing more, nothing less. It is found here - "The Southeast Asian Diaries".
Maybe I'll try to write a more "complete" description of my journey at some time, but then it'll probably be in Swedish and published elsewhere...
Damn, I wish I was a writer and could put my feelings and thoughts in writing.
A more comprehensive photo album will be available at some later point as well. It takes a lot of time going through all the photos (~1500) and selecting the ones that do not bore the heck out of anyone "who wasn't there".
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Last day of disco
Today is my last day in Cambodia.
Tomorrow morning at 07:00 the bus leaves for Phnom Penh airport and the trip to Saigon.
I have really enjoyed my time here in Cambodia. I must say it is a jewel in the bag of travels I've made. A most astonishing country, with so much warmth and friendliness. I will be coming back, that I am certain of.
I know I haven't posted much here during my trip, and I am sorry for that. However, I have decided to post my "travel diary" that I have kept offline when I get back home. I will add photos to it and try to annotate the pictures as well. I will post each day as a separate post.
Until then.
Tomorrow morning at 07:00 the bus leaves for Phnom Penh airport and the trip to Saigon.
I have really enjoyed my time here in Cambodia. I must say it is a jewel in the bag of travels I've made. A most astonishing country, with so much warmth and friendliness. I will be coming back, that I am certain of.
I know I haven't posted much here during my trip, and I am sorry for that. However, I have decided to post my "travel diary" that I have kept offline when I get back home. I will add photos to it and try to annotate the pictures as well. I will post each day as a separate post.
Until then.
Friday, February 13, 2009
A small piece of paradise
I have reached my beach resort - Sokha Beach in Shianoukville.
The beach is great. The sand feels good between my toes and the water is warm.
It is a really good resort. I guess you can stay inside the "fenced" area and not have to see the world outside if you don't want to. But the town of Shianoukville is really nice. The people are nice too. Of course there are beggars around, children with outstretched hands looking with sad eyes. It tears your heart apart. You cannot help them all, and I guess some of them are not really in that deep need... But apart from this it is a nice town.
There are a lot of backpackers here as well, but they tend to spend most of their time in the "cheap" part of town. I visit all parts, both the "splurge" and the "budget". I like the change.
I am almost finished writing down my thoughts from the trip, in another day or two I may start posting them together with some of the photos. But for now I will focus on working on my tan, unwind and continue to digest the impressions.
I really like Cambodia, despite all its flaws.
The beach is great. The sand feels good between my toes and the water is warm.
It is a really good resort. I guess you can stay inside the "fenced" area and not have to see the world outside if you don't want to. But the town of Shianoukville is really nice. The people are nice too. Of course there are beggars around, children with outstretched hands looking with sad eyes. It tears your heart apart. You cannot help them all, and I guess some of them are not really in that deep need... But apart from this it is a nice town.
There are a lot of backpackers here as well, but they tend to spend most of their time in the "cheap" part of town. I visit all parts, both the "splurge" and the "budget". I like the change.
I am almost finished writing down my thoughts from the trip, in another day or two I may start posting them together with some of the photos. But for now I will focus on working on my tan, unwind and continue to digest the impressions.
I really like Cambodia, despite all its flaws.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Today's post is brough to you in Horrorvision®
Today was a rough day.
Not physically, but mentally.
The day started with a visit to the S-21 prison. It used to be a school before the Red Khmer converted it to a place of torture. The atrocities... It is almost impossible to believe that a human being is capable of thinking up such cruel methods for inflicting pain in other humans.
The "Security of Regulation" - prison rules - says it all. You can almost smell the terror in the walls of the classrooms-turned-prison-cells.
And then. After the S-21 chambers of torture I visited the final resting place of the haunted souls. The so called "Killing Fields" outside Phnom Penh. This was just one of roughly 160 fields where prisoners were brought to have their lives put out. And not by simple execution... These people were beaten to death, cut to death, hammered to death, buried alive, pounded against the trunk of a tree untill their skulls cracked... I feel sick... But I believe these are stories that must be told and re-told, over and over - for we must not forget, we must not let such things happen again.
The picture below is of a skull in the memorial building. It contains roughly 8000 skulls, which is less than half of the people killed in this place (16-20 thousand bodies), and it is just a tiny fragment of all the people killed during the reign of the Red Khmer (somewhere between 1,5 and 2 million people were killed during those years - that was ONE THIRD of the entire population of Cambodia at that time!). It will take some time to digest this.
Time to sleep.
I dare not think of what my dreams will be like tonight.
Not physically, but mentally.
The day started with a visit to the S-21 prison. It used to be a school before the Red Khmer converted it to a place of torture. The atrocities... It is almost impossible to believe that a human being is capable of thinking up such cruel methods for inflicting pain in other humans.
The "Security of Regulation" - prison rules - says it all. You can almost smell the terror in the walls of the classrooms-turned-prison-cells.
And then. After the S-21 chambers of torture I visited the final resting place of the haunted souls. The so called "Killing Fields" outside Phnom Penh. This was just one of roughly 160 fields where prisoners were brought to have their lives put out. And not by simple execution... These people were beaten to death, cut to death, hammered to death, buried alive, pounded against the trunk of a tree untill their skulls cracked... I feel sick... But I believe these are stories that must be told and re-told, over and over - for we must not forget, we must not let such things happen again.
The picture below is of a skull in the memorial building. It contains roughly 8000 skulls, which is less than half of the people killed in this place (16-20 thousand bodies), and it is just a tiny fragment of all the people killed during the reign of the Red Khmer (somewhere between 1,5 and 2 million people were killed during those years - that was ONE THIRD of the entire population of Cambodia at that time!). It will take some time to digest this.
Time to sleep.
I dare not think of what my dreams will be like tonight.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Quick update (again)
I have no idea how long this connection will work, so I'll try to be brief.
I have so many experiences I want to share.
I have seen the sun rise above Angkor Wat, I have visited the "jungle temple" (Tomb Raider you know...), I have wandered around some more (I must consult a map of the Angkor area to recap the names)... Two days of traveling around the Angkor area.
A picture of me in the Jungle Temple. At last I managed to upload ONE picture.
Taken by one of the numerous Japanese running around there at the same time as I.
I have somewhere around 1200 pictures that I can use to terrorize all of you with later. Can someone say "Diabildsprojektor" and "släktmiddag"? ;-D
I have now reached Phnom Penh and I feel drained on energy. So much to take in, in such a short time.
Tomorrow I will do a tour of the not so fun part of Cambodian history - time for Killing Fields and the S-21 prison - the Red Khmer history.
This will be the round-up of the round-trip, so to speak. After tomorrow's horror-trip I will spend the evening somewhere in Phnom Penh and the morning after take a bus out to Shianoukville to spend a few days at the beach. I think it will be needed to digest this intese journey.
I will try to take the "wind down time" at the beach village to write down as much as possible about my trip and then post it all here when possible.
I have so many experiences I want to share.
I have seen the sun rise above Angkor Wat, I have visited the "jungle temple" (Tomb Raider you know...), I have wandered around some more (I must consult a map of the Angkor area to recap the names)... Two days of traveling around the Angkor area.
 |
Taken by one of the numerous Japanese running around there at the same time as I.
I have somewhere around 1200 pictures that I can use to terrorize all of you with later. Can someone say "Diabildsprojektor" and "släktmiddag"? ;-D
I have now reached Phnom Penh and I feel drained on energy. So much to take in, in such a short time.
Tomorrow I will do a tour of the not so fun part of Cambodian history - time for Killing Fields and the S-21 prison - the Red Khmer history.
This will be the round-up of the round-trip, so to speak. After tomorrow's horror-trip I will spend the evening somewhere in Phnom Penh and the morning after take a bus out to Shianoukville to spend a few days at the beach. I think it will be needed to digest this intese journey.
I will try to take the "wind down time" at the beach village to write down as much as possible about my trip and then post it all here when possible.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Ready for action
I stopped by the local "Naturkompaniet" on my way home today.
Naturkompaniet is a store specializing in gear and wear for outdoors activities. I needed a pair of "utility" trousers. The kind of trousers that have zip-off for the legs so that they can be turned into shorts.
I want to travel with as little baggage as possible and those trousers are perfect - they're two in one. And I will look soooooooo much more like someone from an adventure game when I walk around Angkor Wat in these and a pair of hiking shoes, than in the standard tourist wear (Nike-shorts and flip-flops, or whatever the kids wear these days) - big plus. ;-D Remember kids - Image is everything!
I think I have the list of stuff to pack set now. I have laid it all out on the floor just to see if there is something obvious missing, and to make sure it all fit in the bags I'm planning on using.
I kind of feel like there is something missing... I'm traveling way too light according to the stuff on the floor in front of me. Hmmm. Ah well. I have a couple of days left to figure it out and go shop whatever it is that is missing. Time to wrap this up and prepare for the trip to Stockholm tomorrow.
Naturkompaniet is a store specializing in gear and wear for outdoors activities. I needed a pair of "utility" trousers. The kind of trousers that have zip-off for the legs so that they can be turned into shorts.
I want to travel with as little baggage as possible and those trousers are perfect - they're two in one. And I will look soooooooo much more like someone from an adventure game when I walk around Angkor Wat in these and a pair of hiking shoes, than in the standard tourist wear (Nike-shorts and flip-flops, or whatever the kids wear these days) - big plus. ;-D Remember kids - Image is everything!
I think I have the list of stuff to pack set now. I have laid it all out on the floor just to see if there is something obvious missing, and to make sure it all fit in the bags I'm planning on using.
I kind of feel like there is something missing... I'm traveling way too light according to the stuff on the floor in front of me. Hmmm. Ah well. I have a couple of days left to figure it out and go shop whatever it is that is missing. Time to wrap this up and prepare for the trip to Stockholm tomorrow.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Better late than never
I started to listen to words (and some basic phrases) in Khmer some weeks ago using the Talk Now!™ series.
Well. This software is nice and all, but it is just that - Software. Software requires a computer, a computer is not present at all times (truly, I swear, I am not constantly connected to my laptop, although some may beg to differ) and you need to sit down and focus on the single task of language learning in order to use it.
I was hoping for a more traditional language course like the "Teach yourself <X> in <Y> days"
Well. Today I found a more "classic" course on the FSI1 Language Courses web page. Already in mp3-format and with a +400 pages PDF. This was what I wanted!
OK, so it's only a little over a week until takeoff, but I can probably extend my vocabulary a little and perhaps say something more intelligent than "Hello! My name is Roberth. What is your name?", which is about the most advanced construction I can formulate right now - other than that my knowledge consists mostly of words without the grammar to fit them in to a proper sentence.
I guess I will not be able to add Khmer to the list of known languages in my CV any way, but I like being able to understand at least some of the words around me when visiting foreign places.
1] FSI - Foreign Service Institute. US government training institution for diplomats. More or less...
Well. This software is nice and all, but it is just that - Software. Software requires a computer, a computer is not present at all times (truly, I swear, I am not constantly connected to my laptop, although some may beg to differ) and you need to sit down and focus on the single task of language learning in order to use it.
I was hoping for a more traditional language course like the "Teach yourself
Well. Today I found a more "classic" course on the FSI1 Language Courses web page. Already in mp3-format and with a +400 pages PDF. This was what I wanted!
OK, so it's only a little over a week until takeoff, but I can probably extend my vocabulary a little and perhaps say something more intelligent than "Hello! My name is Roberth. What is your name?", which is about the most advanced construction I can formulate right now - other than that my knowledge consists mostly of words without the grammar to fit them in to a proper sentence.
I guess I will not be able to add Khmer to the list of known languages in my CV any way, but I like being able to understand at least some of the words around me when visiting foreign places.
1] FSI - Foreign Service Institute. US government training institution for diplomats. More or less...
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