On the Lighter Side!

Frog Leg
Like they say...tastes like chicken!

The Killing Fields - Pol Pot Era

This a prison cell at the high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into Security Prison S-21 during the 1975-1979 khmer regime. Prisoners were chained here and regularly beaten and tortured for information that most of them did not have. There were rooms and rooms like this and then there were walls and walls of pictures of people who died here or were sent on to the killing fields to be killed and buried in mass graves.


This is a map of Cambodia that is made using real skulls. Mom took this picture, I couldn't go into the room because it was all images and real bones.

This is the memorial at the Killing Fields. This is the place that the people were trucked to and murdered on mass. Little babies were smashed against trees, women and children were shown no mercy. The Khmer Rouge believed that if you killed the father (soldier) then you had to find all of the family members and kill all of them or they would come to revenge the death. No one was safe from the senseless killings.

"An estimated 1.5 million are worked or starved to death, die of disease or exposure, or are summarily executed for infringements of camp discipline. Infringements punishable by death include not working hard enough, complaining about living conditions, collecting or stealing food for personal consumption, wearing jewellery, engaging in sexual relations, grieving over the loss of relatives or friends and expressing religious sentiments. Khmer Rouge records from the Tuol Sleng interrogation and detention centre in Phnom Penh (also known as S-21) show that 14,499 "antiparty elements", including men women and children, are tortured and executed from 1975 to the first six months of 1978. Only seven of those detained at the centre will leave it alive.At least 20 other similar centres operate throughout the country." (internet quote)

This was a very difficult day for me to visit both the killing fields and the genocide museum. I felt awful....I thought that my mom was 15 at the time and my auntie was my age...9. This was happening in my parents generation and now there are bad things happening in my generation like Afghanistan and what will I say about that in 20 or 30 years to my children? What sense will we make of war ever?

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This is how I like to go through the crowds.
Driving violation #1: This is 4 to a moto.

Driving violation #2 - no lanes, too many types of vehicles!

Driving Violation #3 - can you count the family of 5 on the moto...don't miss the baby on the front; oh and usually the driver is the only one with a helmet...can you imagine..your baby is on board but doesn't have a helmet but you do? bizarre!

To Bangkok

Sorry we are out of sequence with the hotel pics but this is our flight from Australia to Bangkok. The plane had a camera on its nose and we got to watch our take off and landing from the vision of the pilot. Wild huh?

Bangkok hotel

The best thing about Bangkok was the hotel buffet. It was 4 rooms of different kinds of ethnic foods from japanese to indian...all hand prepared. This picture is the entrance. Bangkok itself was very polluted and I couldn't stand the traffic and the dirt and the smell and the smog.

More road to Melbourne

This is the Eden Whale Museum. This picture is of the jaws of one whale. It was amazing to learn about these miraculous creatures. They had a story about how the killer whales helped them to find the big whales and drive them to shore...they were the fisherman's best friends and they were named and well known to the locals.

This is a bug at the rainforest we stopped at. Can you see it? It was really weird looking and mom didn't want to get any closer to take a pic in case it could jump + sting + whatever. We wandered through the rainforest path and never saw another person for an hour so if it did sting no one would know ....

90 Mile beach

We camped here for the night just above the beach. There was no one...for 90 miles easily.

I'm back on the Blog!

Sorry I've had technical difficulties getting the blog loaded but I have it figured out now and will be loading all the pics up to today by end of day today. Of course today for me is tomorrow for you and you guys are just going to bed...it's 9 pm your time Nov 15th and it is 11:00 am my time Nov 16th. Wild huh? You can wake up bleary eyed to my blog tomorrow...night!

Eliot

More pics from the road to Melbourne

Here are the caterpillars as they sit in the tree. They raise their heads/tails when they hear someone coming...kind of slapping them on the ground or tree to let each other know there is danger around. So hundreds of them lifting their tails/heads in the air...super creepy.

ON the road to Melbourne - Oct 20-23, 2009

On the road to Melbourne -

We're on the road to Melbourne now in our Wicked Van. We thought this beach was pretty much deserted (Pebbles Beach) except for these birds and ... wild kangaroos. You aren't supposed to pet the kangaroos but what do you do when they are licking you?

This is Mom's contribution

My mom thinks this is art.

Museum of NSW - 17.10.09

We went to see the Kaldor exhibit at this museum. He funds exhibitions of public art in public spaces. They are usually large scale and hard to miss. He has had artists drape things like a piece of the coast of australia. People don't have to go to the "art" because the art is in their public space and they can react to it however they feel.
Look at the blue structure outside the museum. It is the newest piece of public art. When you go up the stairs into it it is the top of the statue that sits outside the museum. See the photo above. The artist wanted you to see the statue from a whole different perspective as it has been there since 1920 or so and most people don't see it anymore. There were 2 boxes that were rooms and in the other one the TV console had the head of a horse and the coffee table had a man's head on it.

Travel is Exhausting!

I needed a massage to recuperate from all that walking!

Powerhouse Museum 15.10.09

This is Artefact H15015...this is a virtual artefact commissioned by the Powerhouse Museum. To find out more about it go to their website. It is fascinating. You can load your own images into it and "feed" it. It is an interactive artefact. When you touch the cube you affect the artefact and when you enter your information on line you feed it.

They used to race these.

Here I am helping to launch a pretend rocket. We learned all about the components of a rocket.

The Powerhouse Museum is a science + design museum. They had transport starting with steam engines and going to space ships.

Taronga Zoo - 14.10.09

You actually can't touch the koalas as they sleep 20-22 hours per day and they shouldn't be disturbed. They have flat heads so they can sleep in the tree and a flat bum like a cushion. This one woke up for a moment while we were there which is really rare. They have really sharp claws so they can hang onto the tree so picking them up like you see in pictures is not reasonable.

This is a wambat. The zookeeper (we had a private tour) jumped in so we could pet the wambat and then he had to jump out quickly after he put him down because the wambat thinks he wants to play and, you guessed it, he has sharp teeth and claws!

I was afraid to feed the emu...they are huge and very strong!

The kangaroos look cute but a big one can kill a person. They stand up on their tail and kick their hind legs at you with a massive force. This one was small and friendly.

Botanical Gardens

13.10.09
At the tropical garden we found carnivorous plants. They were small not like in the movies but they eat bugs and insects...like the venus flytrap.

Sydney Opera House - Inside

Well, we found out. This is the ceiling of the restaurant. There are six performance theatres and each one has a different ceiling depending on the acoustics that are required.

Sydney Opera House

12.10.09
The Sydney Opera House is an iconic (mom's word) piece of architecture in Sydney. Everyone goes to visit it. I wondered if the ceiling on the inside looked like the roof on the outside?
What do you think?

The Museum of Contemporary Art - Sydney

11.10.09
We are at the MCA Sydney. This exhibit is by an artist who uses graphs and statistics to make her art. (Her last name is Butardeci if you want to look her up)

What do YOU think art is good for?

Dim Sum in Sydney

10.10.09
They call Dim Sum - Yum Cha here in Sydney. There are 4.3 million people living here. Do you know how many of them are asians?

World Masters Opening Ceremony

10.10.09
Here is the opening ceremonies. My mom arranged for me to walk in the parade of athletes. There are over 28000 masters athletes here. My mom doesn't compete until Friday so we have the week to hang out. The ceremonies were really fun.