On Wednesday I will set off on a trip with a group of alumni from Williams College. We will start in Siem Reap, Cambodia, staging ground for the incomprable Angkor Wat temple complex. From there we will board a comfortable river cruiser and sail down the Tonle Sap to Phnom Penh. My interest in politics and history will lead me to the grisly Tuol Sleng prison, now a museum of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. We will continue down the Mekong, stopping at various points in Cambodia and Vietnam, and wind up for a couple of days in Saigon. There will be much to see and understand...
Thus, the blog will be even quieter than it has been of late. I may be able to post something from Siem Reap and Saigon, but the boat ride in between will be internet free! I will set up a couple of posts to appear while I'm gone, and will have plenty to reflect upon once I get back.
I have never been to Cambodia or Vietnam. I'm a China guy and most of what I experience will be filtered through my China perspective. That might be useful in some ways. But I will have to let go of that comparison to see what is there before me, because, unlike the Daodejing (passage 47), I believe that opening ourselves to new places gives us a fuller sense of Way.
Peace...
Have a safe trip. I visited both countries in 1998. Toul Sleng and the killing fields were quite eerie. I loved everything about Vietnam: the coffee, French bread, and if course the people.
Posted by: The Western Confucian | March 15, 2011 at 11:20 PM
I should also say, you're likely to find Cambodia more Indic and Vietnam more Sinitic in influence.
Posted by: The Western Confucian | March 16, 2011 at 08:56 PM
Yes, Cambodia is a marvelous place. Too bad I can't figure out how to get into my Typepad account to put up a post... This comment will have to do.
Definiately more Indic - and that's before I have even seen Angko Wat. Just walking around the town of Siem Reap I can see the differences....
Posted by: Sam | March 18, 2011 at 03:04 AM