What people do to each other

You can't really come to Cambodia without coming face to face with the reality of man's inhumanity to man. You could try to come & just see temples & monks; if you just spend a couple of days at Angkor Wat maybe it would even be possible to escape without a glimpse of the horrors this country went through just a short time ago.  But that would be doing yourself, and the millions of people that died either from US bombs or at the hands of the Zkhmer Rouge, a disservice.  I admittedly haven't visited any of the holocaust memorials or museums in either my own country or my 2nd home (Germany), and maybe I should. But that happened a generation befor I was born, and the devastation here happened entirely in my lifetime, while I was a happy-go-lucky teenager & young adult, apparently fairly oblivious to it all. I think that makes it feel more ominous, & makes me feel more shame for not paying attention.
If you spend any time at all in this country, you will be forced to see the damage, or hear the stories.  Every local you meet inevitably mentions it; not because they're proud or whining, but because it's an unavoidable part of each individual's story.  Ask them where they grew up, they may say an orphanage because their parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge. Ask if they have a big family, the answer may be, "no, all dead." Walking to dinner, the beggar you pass and try not to look in the eye has no legs, because they lost them to a landmine.
So we went to the Tuol Sleng museum, a former primary school that the Khmer Rouge turned into their main center of torture, known as S21.  The 1st building is fairly tame; dorm style rooms filled with boards full of photos of the inmates (just their arrival mugshots, nothing scary).  Though the volume of photos was sobering, and the number of little children sickening, it was a soft start. In the next building, though, you see original cells built from wood or bricks, and more photos of the dead and tortured, these not sparing your breakfast or the victims' dignity or suffering.  It was brutally hot that morning, so I could barely breathe as I walked from 1 room to the next, feeling  sick of looking, guilty for wanting to stop, guiltier still for having been worried about prom dresses and football games while it was happening. And not least, angry & frustrated by the knowledge that much of the power in modern Cambodia is held by men with Khmer Rouge connections & history.  Even Hun Sen, the current prime minister, was part of it.  It's a scenario all too typical in the developing world - the most horrific butchers are tossed out and replaced by their henchmen who "only followed orders," left to rule unopposed. The international community tolerates them because they're externally non-threatening, have no real resources, and aren't spreading any undesirable theology.  The populace tolerates them because they're at least the "devil you know," & because opposition can get you killed.
We used the heat as an excuse to not travel on to see the "killing fields," but it really had more to do with being maxed out on disgust.

3M-squared in Sihanoukville

After Kampot we headed to Sihanoukville, or Sinville as the backpacker crowd calls it.  But don't let that suggest it is to be confused with Las Vegas / Sin City, as they couldn't be more different.  

Sihanoukville is a beach town, the new Phuket I guess (the latter being a beach town in Thailand that was dirt cheap bedore it was "discovered." Sihanoukville has definitely been discovered, and is teeming with "farangs," mostly Aussies and some Europeans.  It is still pretty cheap.  The 3 of us ate at the nicest restaurants in town, dinner with drinks and dessert (ya gotta have drinks & dessert) for about $20. We had a pretty swanky hotel room for $43. More basic rooms w/o air conditioning can be had for $10, but it's too darn hot & humid for me to do that.

Sihanoukville is most beautiful at sunset, when the fading light is no longer strong enough to harshly point out the lines on the beggar's face, the disappontment in her eyes when you say no, or the dirty tshirt her baby is wearing.  It's harder to make out the piles of garbage or the shabbiness of even the smartest hotels.  And of course the sun paints the ubiquitous poofy clouds infinite shades of pink & periwinkle. If the mosquitoes don't carry you off, or infect you with dengue fever or malaria, you're all set for a lovely evening.

3Ms most memorable Moments

3M for Monica, Mike & Maria!
Greetings from Kampot, in the Kingdom of Cambodia.  Our 4th day in country, and we've managed to avoid drowning in a monsoon.  Well we came close 1 night in Kep.  It had nearly stopped raining, slowed to a mere light sprinkle, so we thought it would be nice to walk to dinner.  Just about the time we reached the road the sky opened up.  TA first it came almost straight into our faces, resulting in a feeling like we were walking into a shower, our backs remaining dry.  That lasted for maybe 10 seconds, after which we were completely drenched through and through.  The little box of napkins on the table in the restaurant was not up to the task. They're more like Kleenex, really. Just make a mess if they get wet. So we drip-dried while ordering cold beers and grilled kampot pepper crab.  Kampot is famous fornits pepper, perhaps the best in the whole world (at least according to locals).  You get your seafood sauteed in the green peppercorns before theyre dried.  They have to be eaten within a few days of picking so you know they're fresh!  And they are absolute little flavor explosions! They sort of pop when you bite them, releasing a pepper flavor that is intense but not too hot.
So we first spent 2 days in Kep, directly on the coast, which used to be the playground of the rich and famous during the 60s.  Of course that was everything most hated by the Khmer Rouge, so they destroyed the place.  There are bombed out hulks of what used to be opulent villas hidden amongst the vegetation everywhere.  It's worth a visit if you get a nice place with a pool and just chill.  You can take nice walks along the coast and stuff yourself with those amazing green pepper crabs (the 3 of us stuffed ourselves for $20), but there's not much else to do.
It's great spending time with Maria, who, though she modestly criticizes her language skills speaks great Khmer.  I'm so proud of how well she's adjusted to the lifestyle, and how mature she is in her perspective.  For readers who aren't aware, Maria is our niece, who is serving here in the Peace Corps.  Peace Corps workers are volunteers.  They are given housing and a stipend of $4/day.  We met some of her colleagues yesterday, equally committed and earnest young women. And now we're in Kampot, where Maria lives.  It's a sleepy, rundown French-colonial town. Almost all the buildings are blackened with mildew, giving the impression of a photographic effect that would be called "charcoal." 
On such wages they quickly learn the right price for all goods and services and learn how to make sure they're not overcharged.  Still the shopkeepers love them because they treat them with respect and are providing needed services.
I have so much respect for these young people who give up so much to do good and have this incredible experience. I was never so brave.  As always I am finding that it's not the sites that make a vacation amazing, but the experiences and the people we meet.
Will add pics later.

The next big adventure

As we prepare to embark on another exciting journey, Mike & I decided we need to dust off the travel blog to give our friends & family a non-Facebook way to follow our adventure.
This time we're off to Cambodia, to visit our niece Maria. We last saw her in July of 2011, as she stopped in San Francisco en route to join the Peace Corps in Cambodia.  This photo's from our dinner together.  We went to a great middle-eastern restaurant, knowing that she'd soon be missing the immense variety that is unique to the American culinary landscape.  Of course Cambodia is "not all rainbows & unicorns," but is doing her part to make a difference, teaching English & a little of the American spirit to kids not that much younger than she.



We're terribly proud of her, & excited to have a tour guide in such a fabulous place who is local & speaks the language (which is Khmer, in case you're wondering)!
We'll have a couple of weeks with Maria, mostly visiting the south coast where she lives. Then her mom Teresa will join us, so we'll have the opportunity to see more of Phnom Penh & Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat & other temple ruins.
We leave on Tuesday & have completed almost all the pre-trip rituals - passports are current, shots updated, passport photos for visas, digging through boxes to find gear we haven't touched in a long time.
More to come from the road!

Festivals

Whether you're in a small town in rural America or a big cosmopolitan city, local festivals are pretty similar. You have local guys in hokey costumes honoring their heritage, silly games that help raise money for something locally meaningful.

You'd think that when you're wandering around like we have been, you'd lose a sense of belonging & community. It's not turning out to be so. In the first place we have great friends everywhere we've been, so there's a warmth & welcome that might not be present if we were strangers on our own. But I think it's also that these humble little celebrations grant some escape from our gadget laden, time pressured, bling studded daily lives & bring us back together in a way that's not so common these days. The guy in the dunk tank could be the owner of the local hardware store, or a farmer, or a Silicon Valley millionaire. Or just the poor schmuck whose wife was in charge of the dunk tank this year ;p They throw out the same candy in the parade that they did when I was a little girl excited for Blossom Time. I'm not sure some of that candy hasn't been in the cupboard that long. And kids of all ages, still get all excited about seeing who can get the most.
At the Columbus Day parade the tossing got pretty humorous. The Columbus meat company was tossing out (individually packaged) salami sandwiches, which were very popular. The parade came to a virtual standstill while they competed to see who could throw the most sandwiches into a 2nd floor window above our heads. It wasn't the guy whose sandwich landed on my head. They even had a karaoke singer belting out Italian - well, Italian American, maybe, in the style of Deano & Frank - tunes.

The Oktoberfest in Campbell wasn't quite as authentic or nostalgic. German food & culture were in short supply, and virtually the only people in "folk dress" were some young ladies who bought their dirndls at Fredrick's of Hollywood. But there were fun bands, good beer & good friends in a cute little downtown. Overall, a fun time.
The Polk Street Blues festival was a few weeks ago and I'm delinquent in writing about it. It was in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Fran, where we were staying. Big city, and you can still run into people you know at the neighborhood festival, even when you're new. That was followed by the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park. No silly games at these unless you count "try to avoid letting the homeless guy crush your feet while dancing." But what could be a more classic San Francisco experience than watching Joan Baez in Golden Gate Park, while surrounded by hippies and "incense?" I didn't know if it was 2010 or 1970.

All these experiences take me back to a time when life was a little simpler, I didn't care about the corporate ladder, and it was easy to just let go and have fun. It's good practice.

Because we can

Carpe diem! Seize the day! How many times have we said it, read it, applauded it? How many times do we DO it??

Believe it or not, it's been hot in the city for several days. We were parched at the Festa Colioniale Italiana and the Polk Street Blues Festival on Saturday. Took it easy yesterday to recuperate. Today, I woke up and saw a crystal clear sky without a shred of fog, and the weatherman said it was going to be the warmest day all week, even at the coast. So I pushed aside all the research I was going to do on target companies, and said Let's go to the Beach!

We went to Point Reyes National Seashore once, years ago, with our dear friends Rhonda & David. We never got all the way to the lighthouse, because it took so long to get up there and around, and we just ran out of daylight. Today we made it. We did a great hike down the Laguna Creek trail, walked the beach along to Limantour, and hiked back up the Coast trail. The trails were HOT, but we had them to ourselves (passed 1 guy with his 2 kids). The beach was amazing. Endless stretches of sand, a seal bobbing in the waves, warm balmy breeze. I could have laid in the sand and read a book for hours. Except I was already getting sunburned, and we still wanted to make it to the lighthouse. We drove back out to Olemma, took a short break for ice cream, then drove on up to the lighthouse. We actually had to put our jackets on up there, it must have been 20 degrees colder! It wasn't a front that moved in, when we got back to Point Reyes Station it was back to almost 80. We had a lovely dinner (best oyster stew I never dreamed of!) and headed home. Perfect day.

How many people just stick their nose in their computer every day, beating out meaningless words and numbers, while a beautiful day like this passes them by? I realize it's a luxury that I am able to seize a day like this and savor the best it

can be. It makes me think about other days when I truly could have and didn't. I know this much for sure. When I'm breathing my last breath, I will be much more thankful for days like today than for all the days at work.

It's days like this that give me the fortitude to buckle down and work on finding the next great adventure.

Perspective

How many times have I counseled team members about the value of changing your perspective to see things in a new light? Couldn't begin to count them. It's one of the reasons I travel. Every time I come back from a new place I see "home" differently, notice things I didn't before or hadn't thought about in a long time. So I'm not really surprised to be realizing that right now, but I'm noticing it and learning it all over again.

There's the obvious new perspective on this magical place. I've been to San Francisco a dozen times before. I'm not at all surprised that living here has helped me to see it / know it differently. I've always been intrigued by the "slow travel" concept. Inspired by the Slow Food movement, slow travelers believe in longer vacations where you stay put and experience the place like a local, savor it like a good meal. No "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" tours for this crowd. Most Americans don't have the luxury and/or don't prioritize vacations like that. If you're intrigued, check out their website at www.slowtrav.com. But I digress.

How different this city is up close. No less charming or beautiful. In a short time I feel like I'm really getting to know the neighborhoods, and their unique character (and characters). I'm finding hidden nooks and crannies, parks & lanes & beaches completely empty of tourists. The Golden Gate Bridge is stunning from the viewpoint on the north side - it's a hell of a photo opp if you can photoshop out all the tourists. But the view of that bridge from my window, with a hawk hanging in an an air current about 30 feet away - now that's something special to behold. The "squiggly" block of Lombard is cute, but it's even more entertaining to sit on the hill leading up to it and watch the tourists burn out their brakes & clutches.

The much more enlightening change of perspective is more personal. The way we've lived since we hit the road is so different than our lives have been for a long time. Not better or worse, but different. Camping out in the spare room of a friend or relative, or even living in a 1-bedroom apartment, really makes you look differently at what stuff is required in your life. Hanging out with our niece the recent college graduate in her first job reminded me what it was like when there was nothing but possibility and adventure ahead, and 10% of what I now earn seemed like a fortune. Living in a place that takes my breath away and makes me smile every day is a constant reminder not to settle for someplace that doesn't.