Cambodia

Cambodia - Sep 20-25, 2008

My first of a few long weekends from Hong Kong was a trip to the fascinating but incredibly down-trodden country of Cambodia. The main touristic draw is the ancient sprawl of the Angkor temples, located in a large swath of the middle of the country. In most other places, the main temple complex of Angkor Wat would be an absolute Disneyland of tourist exaltation. But in Cambodia there is a crowded, but modest, road with a series of huts surrounding it. I found myself continually asking why more than any other place I'd been.


Why were the people so shockingly poor? Why were there only about 10 real roads in the country? Why did they seem unable to pull themselves up by their bootstraps like neighboring Vietnam? Why was I bargaining with a kid to knock the price of a t-shirt from US$1.50 down to $1? Why weren't we bargaining in the local Reil, rather than in US Dollars? Why were there 5 people riding on a single motorcycle?


The Economics of Strife

I found it bizarre that a world away from America, almost all transactions were quoted in Dollars. The simple reason is that the Reil is pegged to the Dollar, so without an exchange rate that moves much, it doesn´t really matter which currency you use. But I don´t think that´s the whole story. My take was that the local people´s frequent use of Dollars was a sign of their lack of confidence in the Cambodian government. If you have Dollars in your pocket and the political system falls apart again, at least you still have something you can trust. I don´t think this stems from any love or hate of Americans, of course. Instead it´s that the Dollar is still by far the most stable and accessible currency in the world and that a lot of their tourists are Americans. It´s amazing to think about how many Dollars aren´t actually in America.

And Cambodians do have a lot of reason to mistrust their government. Since the fall of their great Hindu and Buddhist Khmer Empire that built the Angkor temples in the fourteenth century, the country basically has gone from one mess to the next. During the Vietnam War, American forces believed that Vietcong rebels were hiding across the border in Cambodia, resulting in serious bombings (including Agent Orange) and also the placement of mines. During the war, a communist rebel regime called the Khmer Rouge was inadvertently aided by the negative sentiment caused by American carpet bombings and gradually took control of the country as the Cambodian people turned away from the West. And, as often happens, the new leaders were worse than the old ones. The Khmer Rouge sucked all the life out of the country. Formally starting at the end of the war in 1975, Pol Pot´s government was so ruthless that millions of Cambodians were slaughtered in one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time. America was so weakened and shy after such a difficult time in Vietnam that no help was in sight for Cambodians.


The Khmer Rouge ripped their way through the country, indiscriminately destroying anyone they felt were remotely capitalist and anything they considered intellectual. The population was clearly devastated, with an estimated 1.5 million people killed during their reign. In Cambodia, it´s obviously a bit taboo to be chatting away as if this happened hundreds of years ago, so I don´t know most of the details. So I focused my attention on the little bit I could glean from the locals and also on the obvious results in the Angkor Temples.

One example pointed to me by a young boy was a caved in temple tower of where a Khmer Rouge soldier had tossed a hand grenade. I´m not sure if it was out of spite or boredom, but it was clear they were indifferent to the incredible history of their people and had no qualms about destroying some of the greatest monuments ever conceived. The path of destruction continued for many years, finally being completely wiped out of Cambodia by 1998.

It Has To Get Better From Here

Thankfully for Cambodians and the world, most of the temples were left alone. They´ve since been cleaned up and reinforced mainly by tireless work of French archaeologists (who had actually started in the early 1900´s and are dysfunctional Cambodia´s greatest hope for progress. I was often questioned about my interest in Cambodia by the Chinese friends I had in Hong Kong. Why would I want to visit some place that is so poor and recently unstable? For me, it was about seeing the temples and experiencing a place so recently opened up to Westerners. And I was not disappointed.


Designed and built only between 900 and 1200 AD (an amazingly short period in history for such an accomplishment), the Angkor temples are an experience. In all but the ones currently under renovation, you can climb up and inside them. This may not sound like much, but after Beijing's extremely controlled sites, the freedom here seemed incredible. And it allowed me to get glimpses of life in ancient Cambodia. Imagine worshipping in Angkor Thom and being watched by the thousands of carved faces. Must have been awe inspiring.


Angkor Wat is the most famous temple and the center of most of the tourist bustle...


...but my favorite temple by far was Ta Prohm, the temple prominently displayed in Tomb Raider. I learned this fact at about the same time in my guidebook as when a Japanese tour group shuffled past with their guide chattering away...."Yadda yadda yadda Angelina Jolie." Which got the chorused response, "Ahhh Angelina Jolie!"


The silk cotton trees growing up and around the stone walls for what must be thousands of years gave the temple the feeling that they were only discovered yesterday. And also maybe that zombie polar bears could spring from the spooky doorways, with a lady in a tight black outfit jumping out to save you....


In the end, I left with a great appreciation of the positive spirit of a people who on the surface had every reason to be bitter. Perhaps by rallying around their ancient history and Angkor Wat, they can improve their fortunes. I have not seen a country that deserves it more. And then maybe the Riel will really be worth something.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong - Aug 25-Nov 29, 2008

I had worked out my arrival in Hong Kong with the logistical precision to make my former engineering professors proud. Since I would be working in HK for 3 months (covering for a woman on maternity leave in my department), I had shipped 2 boxes of the belongings I would need from my old apartment in London to my new office in Hong Kong. This was at the same time I shipped the rest to New York, except for the items I had been carrying with me for the past 3 months.

My plan was to take the amazingly efficient train from the new airport to Central Station, walk the few blocks to my office, get my boxes, and then take a cab to my new apartment, where the check-in attendant would be expecting me. So simple, it couldn´t go wrong. Except on this day, Hong Kong welcomed both a Storms and a typhoon.


For anyone not familiar with East Asia weather patterns (I certainly wasn´t), a typhoon is basically a compact hurricane that passes by in a day or so, but the short time means it usually doesn´t cause as much damage as a big hurricane. But small points of intense wind can be catastrophic if you happen to be in the area. Hence frequent pictures after a typhoon of the ubiquitous bamboo scaffolding sticking out awkardly from somewhere it clearly doesn´t belong, hopefully not a person.



Hong Kong has a useful 1-10 warning system represnenting both the wind speed and the appropriate reaction from the population. At #8, the city completely shuts down: all staff is expected to go home if they are able, buses soon stop running, taxis could continue but are encouraged to avoid the flying bamboo by insurance rules stating that any damage occuring with a warning of #8 or above won´t be covered.

Needless to say, flights don´t land there as well. Mine was one of the last to arrive this day before the #8 flag was hoisted. Luckily, the trains mostly still run, so I eased myself into the seat of a nearly empty car and soon after the #9 flag was raise. 45 minutes later I walked into a windy, but rainless, day of one of the busiest cities in the world to find myself completely alone. Think of the beginning of Vanilla Sky (where I´m Tom Cruise, of course). Luckily, big companies never truely shut, no matter what life threatening storm system is approaching, and the lights of my new office still burned brightly. I don´t think I´ll even be happier to be at work.

Thankfully, while I was trying to explain to the dubious security staff why a bearded American backpacker was trying to get into their Hong Kong office in the middle of a once-in-10-years typhoon, a former colleague from New York walked out of the elevator to my surprised smile. Mei didn´t recognize me at first, but some explaining got the message across and she finally returned my smile with a wonderful welcome. And so I had my first friend in Hong Kong.

The next day was clear and beautiful and I headed up to the top of "the Peak" (Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island), probably the best destination in the city. The view speaks for itself....


That was where I met up with Fei, another friend from NY living in HK, who helped make my introduction to HK life a breeze. Spending time with his wife and adorable new baby was certainly one of the highlights for me. I also met some cool people from Taiwan, who introduced me to the local HK restaurants (usually boney meat in noodle soup, but quite nice if you like that kind of food). Here is Fei, Miranda, and me at a waterfall on the Peak on that first day.


The next 3 months passed quickly. I found myself back in the office-stride quicker than I thought I would be considering I had been away from work for the whole summer. I´m sure I was helped by the newness of the people, culture, and lifestyle. I marvelled each night at the stunning view from my apartment of the IFC Tower 2, the world´s 7th tallest building.


And generally tried to see as much of the city as I could.



I enjoyed the world-renowned nightlife, especially in nearby Lan Kwai Fong, a crazy party street.


I was even able to make it to Hong Kong Stadium to see a Rugby Union match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies, a huge event for any rugby fan.




My favorite part was definitely the times I got out of the middle of the concrete jungle and into the beautiful wilderness that surrounds HK. My coworkers took me on the ferry one night to Lamma Island for a seafood feast. And with Laura, my lone visitor and former London flatmate, I discovered the "World's Tallest Outdoor Bronze Seated Buddha" (quite a distinction, I suppose) and a great beach at Cheung Sha only an hour away on the subway.


But best of all was the day hike my friend Miranda took me to in Sai Kung. This "rural" hike around a freshwater reservoir ahd stunning views and has been made very comfortable by the hardworking Chinese - the entire pathway is paved better than most Western roads.

The Hong Kong Story

In a way, Hong Kong is most fascinating simply because it exists. It is basically a collection of islands hanging off China in the South China Sea that for most of its life had no huge significance. After the British won the Opium Wars, Hong Kong became officially part of the United Kingdom in 1842. It then continued modernizing and became a major trading center for the British while they attemted to consolidate their control of Asia.

After a brief, but not forgotten, period of Japanese control, British run Hong Kong was ceded back to the galvanized People´s Republic of China (PRC) on July 1, 1997. The event, known as ¨The Handover,¨ was recent enough to my visit that it seemed to me people still hadn´t quite decided how they felt about it. On one hand, Hong Kong had clearly prospered beyond imagination under British control. On the other, it is clearly very much a Chinese place by culture and location, and the newly prosperous China could perhaps usher in a new era of success for Hong Kongers. The agreement they decided up was basically that China would allow HK political and economic freedom distinct from the philosphy of communism in the mainland. There are a few other of these Special Administrative Regions (SAR), such as Macau - known as the Las Vegas of Asia.

Since then HK has thrived. It is effectively the West´s portal to China because of the liberal economic rules and the large number of English speakers (more than any other part of Asia, I would guess). The central Beijing government seems to be slowly chipping away at the political freedom, but business is still doing well and this doesn´t seem to want to change. Shanghai is especially racing to catch-up with a lot of help from the government, but Hong Kong has a dynamism of life and work that´s hard to beat.

Granted, HK is being hit by the economic downturn like everywhere else (including the previously super-hot property market), but my guess is it will pop back up just as quickly when things turn around. The combination of the funnel of money from the West (one third of foreign capital entering China flows through HK) and smart local Chinese business people using HK as a base for their mainland manufacturing firms is hard to beat. The nearby city of Shenzhen seems to only exist as the Chinese face of the Hong Kong coin.

As for daily life, I was reminded often that this as certainly not yet a first world place. The tap water is mostly undrinkable (though I allowed ice cubes since you do gradually build up an immunity). My favorite Cheung Sha beach had pretty miserable water that the few times I went in I felt I should take an even longer shower immediately after. There was a massive milk scandal where Chinese milk producers were trying to save money by watering down the milk and adding melamine so it would pass the simple protein test the government uses. And, of course, the air is noticeably polluted, making my skin break out and on bad days I think even making me feel a bit lathargic. So shortly after I arrived, I realized I wasn´t supposed to drink the water, milk, or breathe the air. It´s a good thing Hong Kong is also the Asian wine hub.

Finally in one place for more than a few days, I also did my best to understand the HK Chinese culture. The main language of the region is Cantonese, which is related to, but quite different from, Mandirin, the Chinese national language. They are both tonal, meaning that one word pronounced differently can mean two very different things. I heard about one friend asking for salt and being brought an ash tray. The idea of a tonal language was quite confusing for me until I realized that we have the same concept in English....to a smaller extent. Say outloud these two phrases - ¨You.¨ and ¨You?¨ Can you hear the inflection go up in the second ´you´? Apparently there are at least 5 more of those tones and they are used to a great extent in Chinese languages. (I´m really hoping your coworkers are giving you strange looks now.)

I found the people to be very curious about my life in America and my travels. I especially remember one conversation with a girl from near Shanghai on Halloween. She quized me over dinner before heading out to experience the crazy festival in Lan Kwai Fong with friends....

She wanted to know all about different traditions in America...Halloween, New Year´s, and especially birthdays. Apparently in much of China birthdays aren´t big events, just something to note rather than to celebrate. So our tradition of a big cake and a party were pretty strange for her. It was a fun conversation though and gave me some good ideas of questions to ask other people to learn about their cultures. My new favorite - How long do two people see each other before you are called boyfriend-girlfriend?

My final discovery was that the pictures we see in the West of Chinese people wearing surgical masks out of fear of infection is not quite the whole story. Sure during SARS that was a big story, but these days most people actually wear them altruistically when they are sick to keep their own illness from spreading to others. Sounds like quite a modern idea, eh? It´s a bit uncomfortable to talk to a coworker in the office while he is wearing a mask, but you get used to it and in the end appreciate that they are looking out for you!

Here´s to Hong Kong!!