Meet The Travellers: Jack and Sophy Tung

I met these two lovely friends on my day trip to the Upper Mekong Delta and the bus stop coffee/smoke hammock experience was one that will forever mark a singular journey of friends albeit instantaneously made and kept.

As I was talking to my Japanese lawyer seatmate at the bus for the day tour, I chanced at seeing Jack. I was taking photos of the road and the parked bicycle nearby and then when I changed lens on my Nikon D5000, Jack gave me an approving look and commented I had an awesome camera. When the initial pleasantries were exchanged, I showed him the photos I took of the sunrise at Angkor Wat. He was elated to see it and commended me for the photos I took.

Here comes Sophy, Jack’s lovely wife. They both are vacationing in Vietnam and Sophy, like Jack is very down-to-earth and friendly. We exchanged experiences and shared inspiration on the road. Jack told me that an accident at the friend’s wedding party in Vietnam erased their two-weeks collection of photos of their travel so I generously offered them a photo using my camera.

The photo I took may not be an ace ones but it truly meant for great friends you come to meet down the road. The road we both travelled was one that brings us together in the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City and now, as we part to where we are, they being in the USA already and I, back in the Philippines, the friendship bridge cross the pacific so to speak.

Cheers to both Jack and Sophy Tung! Wishing us all the opportunity to meet on the road again wherever it maybe.

Travels 237: Angkor Wat, the grandeur that is.

There were many visitors already who have been to Angkor Wat and what a great way to delve into Khmer history and culture than this. Nothing in the world will ever replace the opportunity for me to see through a sprawling complex full of temples, ruins, bas reliefs, devatas and other architectural wonder that promotes Khmer in the context of Hinduism and Buddhism which I love to study and embrace.

The Angkor Wat was built for the King Suryavarman II in the 12^th century to make it his capital fortress and city. Occupied a land surrounded by a moat, the Angkor Complex has all the amenities of royalty and grandeur. So named and popularized by Frenchman Henri Mouhot, Angkor Wat captured the attention of the world as a great escape for the traveller and a great venue for the religious.

Just around 5.5 kilometer away from Siem Reap, I took off with my rented tuktuk  at 5am to see the wonderful and perfect sunrise I have ever seen in my life then after breakfast together, I went back to the complex to see the Angkor Wat myself in broad daylight.

My journey through the Angkor Wat complex is one that made me climb the stairs and take the vantage scenes from where I consider the most: rare opportunity and blessing.

Travels 234: Crying on Christmas day at the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek

After having been subjected to my life-changing reflections at the Tuol Sleng (S21) visit early in the day, I paused and prayed at the Choeung Ek Wat on my way to the infamous Killing Fields in Asia and that is in Choeung Ek in the Kingdom of Cambodia. So named “Killing Fields” by survivor Dith Pran, it is living museum where atrocities to humanity were forever paused for many around the world to come and reflect. The horrors of 1975-1979 years of the evil Pol Pot regime were mostly evident in the Killing Fields.

Nowadays, many tourists and backpackers around the world come to Choeung Ek to come to this memorial which stands time and perhaps learn more about what made Cambodia into what it is today. I understood Cambodia now more than ever, much more, felt her and embraced her and the entire Cambodian people because of what they had been forced to go through some 35 years ago. Million of Cambodians died and perished, families, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, siblings, children have died after a gruelling torture and rape. This particular trip is my final stop on my self-imposed reflection journey on Christmas day.

I have designed my itinerary around these sites for me to embrace humanity as everyone back home celebrates a joyous Christmas. I and my friend Lyna arrived in time and I paid $7 for the audio guide. Upon arriving at the Killing Fields as they say, I felt the sudden burst of raw emotion. If one was not to the Tuol Sleng (S21) Genocide Museum, one perhaps can never connect and relate to the horrors. For me, it is as if I took on the simulated trip of a prisoner from Tuol Sleng to Choeung Ek for execution, only for me, I stopped at the Wat to pray.

When the narrator started to explain the holy and sacred place called the “Killing Fields”, I started to walk along other tourists and backpackers, some were with me at Tuol Sleng. I was allowed my own personal time by my friend Lyna to walk around the entire complex on my own. He just patiently waited for me. I pass other numbered stations until I came across the Killer Tree which is the same place I felt my tears fell on the ground from my cheeks. The audio guide explained that the tree in front of me is where children and babies were killed by smashing their little heads on the tree, brains scattered on the trunk then they will be thrown off the open pit which serves as their mass grave.

I walk farther away, I saw bones, fragments of skull on the ground and were cordoned off by a rope reminding guest not to walk on mass graves. I also saw the Magic Tree where no magic was wielded but sheer cruelty and eerie music played on loud speakers to defuse the moans and cries of people dying and fighting for their lives.

The “Killing Fields” is a tragic community where men and women were reduced to nobody and whose physical body were subjected to so much pain, broken their spirit and left to rot. It may served as a memorial now however, the pains of the Cambodian people remain including that of the entire world where many have suffered after those evil years where Pol Pot ruled the country.

The last stop of the audio guided tour to the “Killing Fields” is the stupa which sits at the center of the complex. It is where hundreds of recovered skulls were placed meticulously on glass dividers and where visitors can come in and pray. I did went inside and prayed, took photos, said my prayers and left in peace.

The journey I took reduced me to tears and I was wiping it through which others can also gleaned. I silently bowed down my head and absorb their silence and their peace, seeing some in tears too. The first Christmas I cried was never home but where my heart felt at peace and it is at Choeung Ek. I never mind it was Christmas that I took the journey for it defines me my own humanity and strengthened in me resilience to see through every pain and challenge I will have to face while I live. The journey was entirely one that created in me the longing of a son to a father and a mother whom I lost already and felt their spirit too, abiding in me.