China (in summary)

This website was blocked in China so I didn't get any updating done. So I'll just sum up Hong Kong and China in a nutshell.
We were in Hong Kong for 5 days. It's a big place with lots to see and do so it was a bit overwhelming at first. Hong Kong is a good place to make your introduction to China, the weather is mild, most people speak English, and the subway system is very easy. While we were there we took the Star Ferry a few times, took the tram to Victoria Peak, walked around different areas of the city, and went to Lamma Island. We took the ferry to Lamma Island on NYE day, it was really pretty. There are no cars on the island so it's much quieter than the city (even though there were a lot of tourists there). We got some really good, fresh seafood when we got off the ferry and then did a hike to the other site of the island. Victoria Peak was cool, you can get some great views of Hong Kong from up there.

It was a bit hazy when we were up there, but you get the idea.

We took a very comfy 20 hour train ride to Shanghai that got in on Jan 3. The train was really quite good. We shared a cabin with a nice couple from New Zealand and drank a few of cans of Budweiser, which is what the train served...seriously. Shanghai is another big city and much much colder than Hong Kong. Once I got my hand on a coat I was much more comfortable. Our hostel was really close to the river so we walked along the Bund, which has a great view of the skyline.

The Bund is also surrounded by really pretty old buildings. I imagine in the summer the place must be packed with people. We spent a lot of our time in the city just wandering about. It would be a shoppers paradise but seeing as how we are not in for shopping, we were ready for a new location when it was time for Beijing.

We took a really fast train to Beijing on the 7th, it only took us 4 hours. We stayed at Kelly's Courtyard, a guesthouse in one of Beijing's famed Hutongs. Kelly's was the best place ever! The owner, John, was so helpful with everything. He really made our trip to Beijing so much easier. He recommended places to go, things to see, where to eat, and then (the most helpful part) showed us how to get there. Our trip would not have been the same if we had stayed somewhere else.
Here I am in the Forbidden City, which is huge!

Beijing also has a really cool art district called 798. You could spend all day here and probably never do it justice. It's packed with different art exhibits and galleries. Another place that I'm sure is well beyond packed in the warmer months.
This guy was in a parking lot, made out of car parts:

And of course, the Great Wall of China. This is one of those things that was so surreal to me. For one thing, I never thought (before planning this trip) that I'd ever see the great wall. And then when I knew we were going I thought I'd just be able to walk up to it and wait with the crowds to have my photo taken.
With Johns advice, we went to Jinshanling, about 140 km outside of Beijing. We went with 3 other people from the guesthouse and took the subway followed by a bus and then a taxi to get there. The 3 hour trip was well worth it. We were the only people in sight. It was just an all around magical experience. Every bend of the wall showed another breathtaking view and you really felt like it was just you up there. Just another amazing experience that reminded me why we're doing what we're doing. I'm so glad we continued on, grandpa would have been geeked to hear about this experience!

I wish we had more time in Beijing, there's so much to see and do, and EAT! We went out to eat a few times with our new friends from the guesthouse, and had really really good food. We might have to come back.

Grandpa Scruggs

  While we were in Phuket we found out that my Grandpa had to go into the hospital and the prognosis was very poor.  Oli and I made the decision to go home to Michigan to be with grandpa and the rest of our family.  We left from Phuket early Tuesday morning and arrived in Detroit Tuesday evening.

  We were lucky enough to see my grandpa while he was still awake and able to talk to us.  He was, as always, in good spirits and happy to have his family all around him.

  Grandpa came home with hospice on Wednesday and we spent the next few days with him, sharing memories and stories about his amazing life.  He passed away last night, peacefully and surrounded by those who love him, holding my grandma's hand as he's done for 57 years.

  It's hard to put into words the kind of man my grandpa was.  James Scruggs affected everyone who met him.  He was ALWAYS smiling, laughing, humming, and dancing, just an all around positive person.  He loved all of us unconditionally and it would melt your heart to see the way he still looked at my grandma, after all their years together.  They will remain my role models and I hope to spend my life giving the sort of love he didn't think twice about giving.  

  I know I'm very lucky to have so many memories of my grandpa, and a lucky girl to have danced with him on so many occasions.  Here we are making all the girls jealous at Mel and Dan's wedding in 2008.

  My grandparents on their wedding day in 1954.

   Getting loved by all his girls at MaryBeth and Kevin's wedding in 2009.

  My grandparents loved to travel.  Throughout our trip, my grandpa's been tracking all the places we've been on a HUGE world map.  We plan to continue our travels and will be flying to Honk Kong after Christmas...I know he would be  happy to hear that. 

  Cheers to you Gramps, I can't thank you enough for all you'd taught me.  We'll love you always. 

Phuket

Our VERY good friend Kate Panozzo flew into Bangkok the evening of Nov 30th and we all flew to Phuket on the first. We stayed at a great hotel (way above our normal standards, perfect for a vacation from our vacation).  Phuket is a wild place and we were staying in the heart of the craziness.  To keep in PG, we'll just leave it at that.  We got a little rained out, but did get to hit the beach once or twice. It was so great to have Kate come, she's such an amazing friend and always up for a good time, the perfect travel buddy :)

Megan Lewis and her bf Tim were also in Phuket (purely coincidentally, how crazy is that??) so we got to hang out with them too.

Here's Megan, Kate, and I on our first night in Phuket.  We attempted to see some of the local "attractions" but didn't last too long (again, my grandmas read this so I will not elaborate) and ended up just having a few beers. 

Oli, Kate, and I out for some Changs

We rented scooters to see more of the island, but ended up getting rained out.

It was so good to see everything, thanks so much to Kate for making the trip!!!

Battambang

Battambang, Cambodia has been a great experience, thanks largely to our tuk tuk driver, Chinchin. We hired Chinchin to take us to a couple of temples, but he also took us all over the countryside to see more of the real Cambodia. Yesterday he took us to rice fields, peanut fields, fruit farms, and even to a market where fruit bats inhabit the trees (those suckers are HUGE!). First we went to the bamboo train. It is basically a platform that runs full speed along some very rickety tracks. I think the locals use it to get from A to B quickly. Tourists use it just for the experience. The thing goes so fast and "cars" run in both directions, so when one is coming straight at you, you just have to hope your driver (the guy behind you running the motor) sees it. When there is a jam like this, they just lift the platform off the tracks and let one another through. Here we are on the bamboo train, just at the beginning:

Here's Oli helping our driver get the car facing the other direction so we could go back.

After the bamboo train and Chinchin's tour of the countryside, we went to Banon Temple. I think we must have walked over 1,000 steps to the top, but it was pretty. Then we went to the killing caves, where the Khmer Rouge executed more thousands of people. Being in these places, there's an overwhelming feeling of sadness. It's unbelievable that so many people went through so much terror.

Today we went again with Chinchin to see a temple just north of the city. Along the way we stopped at a local market which was really interesting. Then we stopped at a small village where they make bamboo sticky rice. Chinchin said they make the rice in the bamboo because it's easier to carry with you when going to the fields for work. It was quite tasty.

After the sticky rice, Chinchin took us to the river to a fish market. In this area their primary harvest is rice but they also consume and sell loads of fish from the river. We saw them drying the fish, fermenting the fish, and making fish paste (which smelled as awful as it sounds).
Here's Chinchin at a "petrol station" filling up. It's cheaper for them to get gas from Thailand so they bring it over in bottles. You see a lot of strange colored coke and fanta around here.

We also went to another killing field. Here, Chinchin told us his family's story during the Khmer Rouge era. The more I learn about this time, the less I'm able to wrap my head around it. It's just so hard to understand the cruelty and horror behind all of the killings. There was a memorial here housing skulls, clothing, and bones of the victims. The memorial also has stone carvings showing many of the horrible things the Cambodian people had to endure during this time. Here's some writing from the memorial, very well said I think.

Phnom Penh

We'll start out on a light note, cause this will get a bit dark.
Siem Reap was a blast! We got to see the wonders of Angkor during the day and hit pub street at night. Here we are on our last night in Siem Reap, with Lucie and Edgar (and another couple who joined us for a couple buckets):

We only spent a couple days in Phnom Penh. On our one full day we visited The Choeung Ek killing fields and the S 21 museum. Choeung Ek, 17km outside of Phnom Penh, was once a Chinese graveyard but is now known as the "killing fields", used by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. Here they executed thousands (17,000 according to wikipedia).

This is a photo of one of the mass graves discovered after the Khmer Rouge rule ended. Almost 9,000 bodies have been found so far at the killing fields. Bones, teeth, and clothing are still found all over the grounds, washing up after the rainy seasons. The ground are full of mass graves. There is a memorial stupa when you first enter the field. Inside is a glass case with level after level of bones recovered from the many mass graves. On the lower levels are the skulls, separated by age and sex. It's a really haunting display.

This is called the "killing tree". Here, the KR killed children by throwing them against the tree. The killing fields were first discovered after the Khmer Rouge rule ended. People started coming back to Phnom Pen (they had been forced to the countryside by the KR) and walking past the fields they noticed the stench. One witness says the tree was covered in blood and brains when he found it. Bullets were too expensive so they chose to execute their victims with their hands. They used the tree for children and used tools such as machetes and hammers on the adults. This often caused a long and tortuous execution. They had loud speakers set up in the trees playing music to drown out the screams of their victims.

This is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It's a former school and was used as the S-21 security prison by the Khmer Rouge. Many of the people executed at the killing field were once prisoners here. The prison was used mainly for detaining and torturing "enemies" of the KR. Many were tortured for days and weeks until they confessed to outrageous allegations, such as being spies for the CIA or KBG. Once they signed confessions they were taken to be executed. Many prisoners were also forced to name their family and friends as associates so that the KR could arrest, torture, and execute more people. It's estimated about 20,000 prisoners were detained at S-21. Of these, 7 survived.
Before coming to Cambodia, I knew nothing of the events of this time. I can't believe all this happened just over 30 years ago and I've never heard of the Khmer Rouge until now. It's hard to believe it really happened, that such a mass genocide could have happened during our lifetimes. The Khmer Rouge case trials are currently taking place.

More on the Khmer Rouge from our good friends at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_rouge

victims of S-21

More Angkor photos

There are so many impressive trees here, just taking over the ruins.

Angkor

We've spent the last few days based in Siem Reap, Cambodia and visiting the ancient city of Angkor. Angkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer empire from approximately the 12th-15th centuries (that's a direct quote from Wikipedia...to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor). It's a huge area of centuries old temples and it really is amazing. We spent one whole day visiting temples on bicycles and another day seeing the ones further out in a tuk tuk. Luckily, we ran into Lucy and Edgar, who we met a couple times in Bangkok, and got to see the temples with them. There are loads of temples in Angkor with Angkor Wat being the largest and most well preserved temple.

Another wiki fact that is pretty interesting:
In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest preindustrial city in the world, with an elaborate system of infrastructure connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) to the well-known temples at its core.[2] The closest rival to Angkor, the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, was between 100 and 150 square kilometres (39 and 58 sq mi) in total size.[3] Although its population remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor area may have supported up to one million people.

I would think you could spend months here just exploring all that is in Angkor. It's one thing I knew very little about before starting this trip but now am so glad I've seen. Also, Siem Reap is a very happening city with loads of bars and restaurants catering to tourists. We've been able to try great local Khmer food and also have yummy $1 tacos and $1.50 margaritas. I wouldn't have thought it before coming here, but it's a great vacations spot, even if you just have a week or two.

Here's a few photos. To be honest, I have no idea what the names of these different temples are, sorry!