Phnom Penh, Cambodia, including the Killing Fields

Part of a series: Asia, March 2023:

• Taiwan—Taipei American School 
• Malaysia—EARCOS conference (Kota Kinabalu)
• Malaysia—Survivor Island (Borneo)
• Cambodia—schools and history in Phnom Penh
• Cambodia—Siem Reap
• Cambodia—Angkor Wat/other temples

On 3/26/23, after a dream day on Survivor Island (Pulau Tiga off the coast of Borneo), I woke at 2:50 am for my 3:20 am ride to the airport for my 5:20 am flight to Phnom Penh. This would be my third week in Asia and my third country on the trip.

rotary design, Phnom Penh style

That it was, in more ways than one.

When I was there, the lows were in the high 70s, highs in the mid-90s. 

My Phnom Penh hotel, Baitong, was a form of a dream as well—no false notes. Wonderful staff, nicely designed, environmentally conscious, good food, the convenience of good food on site, cool rooftop for eating that food, a small bakery on site with nutless banana muffins (my favorite), even a tranquil “forest pool.”

It also had a second, more traditional pool...except for the fact that you could look up into the pool from the lobby.

Soon after settling in, I set out for what would be the two most emotionally challenging stops of my three weeks in Asia: the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (formerly the S-21 torture prison, and before that, a high school) and the Killing Fields. 

I went in knowing virtually nothing about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the Communist regime that tyrannized its own people from 1975 to 1979. For starters, I did know not “Khmer” is a term that some Cambodians use to refer to themselves and their language. And while I was familiar with the term “Killing Fields” (from the title of a movie I’ve never seen), I did not know that it refers to more than one site around the country, though it now seems obvious.

The prison was converted to a museum very quickly after the Vietnamese toppled Pol Pot’s rule. The place is almost unbearable. You walk throughout rooms where innocent people were tortured beyond human comprehension. In some spots you think you can almost still see the bloodstains on the floors and walls. At least 20,000 Cambodians suffered and were murdered there. The number known to have survived: 12.

barbed wire

dozens of displays of victims

some were kids

The photo on the wall shows the same room but with 

a victim. It was grotesque and profoundly sad.

As a child, this man survived the prison and now

sells a book about his experience at the museum.

I visited the most well-known Killing Fields site, Choeung Ek, which is in Phnom Penh. Also nearly unbearable.

Buddhist stupa with grim contents

For the next three days, I spoke at two schools: Canadian International on Monday and Tuesday, Australian International on Wednesday. Yes, an American speaking at a Canadian and an Australian school in Cambodia. That’s some kind of punchline in the making. Yet for now, it was only a fulfilling round of assemblies and writing workshops with a largely Cambodian group of young people. 

Though I’ve been to Asia multiple times before, including a similarly long trip in 2016 (that also included three countries, one of which was also Malaysia), this trip marked the first time I rode in a tuk-tuk (three-wheeled, motorized taxi common throughout Asia). It was how I got to and from CIS. With an app called Grab (comparable to Lyft), it was easy—and not nearly as loud or fast as I was expecting. The breeze was nice, too.

Thank you again to my hosts at both schools, Lisa and Stacy, for the enriching privilege of visiting your country. They took a chance on me on fairly short notice and I’m grateful. I was Stacy’s first in-person author since COVID, her first American author…and since she’s retiring at the end of the school year, her last author.

me and the Mekong River

Visiting “Survivor Island,” Pulau Tiga, Malaysia

Part of a series: Asia, March 2023:

• Taiwan—Taipei American School 
• Malaysia—EARCOS conference (Kota Kinabalu)
• Malaysia—Survivor Island (Borneo)
• Cambodia—schools and history in Phnom Penh
• Cambodia—Siem Reap
• Cambodia—Angkor Wat/other temples

I’ve watched every episode of the U.S. version of Survivor. It debuted in 2000, and, except for fall 2020 and spring 2021 (for the obvious reason), has aired continuously since. 

I planned not one but two Survivor-themed birthday parties for my daughter (age 10 and 12).

Yet I did not know till I landed in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to present at a conference how close I’d be to Survivor history. 

In the short ride from the airport to the hotel, I heard or saw the word “Borneo” and my geography-challenged brain caught up. 

Borneo is an island split among a trio of countries: Malaysia (including Kota Kinabalu), Brunei, and Indonesia. (The only one of the three that exists solely on Borneo is Brunei.) 

Borneo—specifically a smaller island orbiting Borneo called Pulau Tiga—was the setting for the game-changing first U.S. season of Survivor.

And Pulau Tiga was only 2.5 hours away from my KK hotel (two hours by car + 30 minutes by boat).

That meant I was going there, somehow.

I had only one available day—Saturday 3/25/23—and only the two days prior to arrange it.

Even when the first half-dozen tour companies I contacted said they currently don’t offer trips to Pulau Tiga, even when I was told that the one resort on the island had closed during the pandemic (which I guess was the explanation for why tours were no longer going there), even when multiple concierges at my hotel were unsuccessful in helping, I was undeterred. 

(I would soon learn that there are at least two resorts there, both open.)

Thanks to intrepid traveloguer Justin Walter for trying to help me find a way there. (His own trip to Pulau Tiga in 2015 included some especially enviable moments.) 

I went to bed early Friday night, not knowing if any plan would come together but wanting to be rested if it did. 

I woke at 6 am and began my last-ditch attempts to make this happen. The kind driver who’d taken me to the hotel the first night connected me with someone named Alex, and thanks to Alex, I found both a ride to the jetty and a boat to the island. I set out before 9 am, almost as excited as if I was going to be on the show.

Almost immediately after we began to drive from Kota Kinabalu to the Kuala Penyu jetty, the driver I’d hired, Fitri, said he’d like to accompany me to the island. I said if the boat operator was okay with it, I’d be okay with it. He was a friendly person and offered to take photos for me, which is merciful for anyone reading this post because it means fewer selfies. He also spoke English, which was allayed some concern because I was told the boat operator—nickname PP—may not. (Turns out he did.)

Another small point of concern: because it was Ramadan (day 3), Fitri would not eat till after sunset. By his own admission, he could get woozier as the day went on. At the same time, he told me not to worry. Early in the drive, he said he was at about 90%. 

Yet another concern: multiple user reviews online said the landing beach was dirty—littered with plastic and other trash that had washed up. I was relieved to see that was not the case—perhaps those who work on the island now do a better job keeping it clean than when those reviews were posted, or perhaps those reviews were inaccurate.

Seeing the island loom and first stepping foot there were instant life highlights for this pop culture archaeologist.

I managed to miss not one but three animals that I have never seen in person: a whale shark as we drove to the island, a green (non-venomous) snake on the island, and a monitor lizard on the jetty upon our return. The whale shark went in a different direction and the other two split when they saw humans but before this human saw them.

Roughly halfway through my exploration, Fitri said he was then at 60%. But he rallied and we made it back without incident. 

This ended up being the priciest of the seven day excursions (Taiwan: Yangmingshan, Taroko, JCC, Tianmu Trail; Malaysia: this; Cambodia: Killing Fields, Angkor Wat/temples) during my three weeks in Asia; the cost breakdown, in ringgits:

• 10 tip for concierge
• 450 taxi
• 110 tip for taxi driver
• 1000 boat
• 50 tip for boat operator
• 10 entrance to the area with volcanic mud
• 20 conservation fee

This equals about $375. And totally worth it.

Only after my trip did I find out that Alex worked on season 1 of Survivor. Naturally I sent him a bunch of questions, and if he answers any, I may share that here.

The illustrated highlights:

King of the world. Wait, wrong cultural touchstone.

Meet Fitri, driver and fellow explorer.

Yes, I had to document the sign in multiple ways. 
(It obviously was not even there when the contestants were.)

start of the path to the volcanic mud,

which some Survivors rolled around in

new volcanic mud bath survivors

newly formed mud eruption

(hard to gauge scale in this photo, but it is fairly small)

Here stood the first Tribal Council:

No trace of the set now, except perhaps a certain tree that only the most fervent of fans would pinpoint. The walk from the camps to here would have taken an estimated hour and a half.

The Survivor crew spent about four months on the island. After they cleared out in 2000, their quarters were converted to a resort, which has since closed. But others have risen elsewhere on the island, while the ruins of this one beckon intrepid explorers—and bats. (If this was in my neck of the world, it would surely be fenced off or demolished. Some of the floors had rotted and could easily give out from under you.)

once a game/karaoke room

abandoned keys were everywhere

Meet boat operator PP.

Tagi Beach, home to one of the two season 1 tribes

(including eventual winner Richard Hatch)

Squint Eastwood.

reviewing the day with PP and Fitri

voted off the island

So long, Survivor Island, birthplace of a phenomenon.

EARCOS conference 2023, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Part of a series: Asia, March 2023:

• Taiwan—Taipei American School 
• Malaysia—EARCOS conference (Kota Kinabalu)
• Malaysia—Survivor Island (Borneo)
• Cambodia—schools and history in Phnom Penh
• Cambodia—Siem Reap
• Cambodia—Angkor Wat/other temples

After seven days of speaking (within which my record was seven times in one day) at the Taipei American School, I flew to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, which has a much different vibe than the other part of Malaysia I’d visited, Kuala Lumpur. KL is urban (though has a natural side). KK is coastal (though likely has a downtown of some kind).

Not that speaking is ever a grind for me, but it felt even less like work in this setting: a resort in a tropical paradise on the South China Sea. (“Coastal” undersold it.)

view from my room

I was one of two children’s authors speaking at a conference called EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools), the other being the epically kind Susan Tan.

I was originally scheduled for 2021—but COVID. So I was (conditionally) rescheduled for 2022—but still COVID. 

My appearances were spread over two days, consisting of two talks and a screening of Batman & Bill in a huge banquet hall, after which I did a short Q&A.

The morning before my first talk, I puttered around the harbor.

 

Both afternoons after my commitments, I changed into shorts and got a smoothie at the pool (no line but no rush—took about 20 minutes). The second evening, I watched the sunset over the ocean from the small beach in the “backyard” of the hotel.

Possibly the best photo I took over my three weeks in Asia:

One friend commented that the moon and what looks like a star are close to forming the crescent and star symbol of Islam. (Malaysia is a Muslim country.) 

But it is not a star. The same friend noted the possible “occultation,” when the move passes in front of another celestrial body—in this case, Venus.

One of my favorite aspects of Malaysia was how grateful locals are when you say “thank you” in Malay (“terima kasih”). 

Terima kasih again to Ed Greene and Kristine De Castro for the invitation and for throwing a great conference/party.

Oh, the reason I couldn’t say for sure if Kota Kinabalu has a developed downtown is because I did not leave the resort for my three days there—with one exception.

Survivor Island.