The Travel Flu: November 2019

Once back in Ho Chi Min city, a long coach journey to visit two very different sites.

On one hand, the main temple of the Caodaist Church, several hours North-West of Ho Chi Min city. On the way there our guide offers us extensive information and a few personal reflections on the country, it's education and health system, taxes, and many more topics (some of which, if arrived to the wrong ears, could land him into a lot of trouble if he was categorised as 'political.

Also, an 'unscheduled' stop at a lacquer handicraft workshop allows us to learn about the techniques involved (and of course, offers the opportunity to buy some).

The Caodaist Church is a relatively recent (Founded in 1926) religion that tries to integrate some of the main religions in Asia (Hinduism, Buddhism, Catolicist, Islam, Taoism, ...).

After lunch, and on our way back to HCMC, we stop at Cu Chi, to learn about the tunnel network used by the Vietcong during he Vietnam war. Some of the tunnels had been build during the war against the French (some 50km), then fell into disuse until, during the war with the US, they were recovered and the network extended to some 250km!!.

Today we'll talk about landmines, mostly.

First thing in the morning we had to 'deactivate' a potentially explosive situation. As airline companies operating in Cambodia are not easily available to book over the internet (it is possible to do so, but with some difficulty), we had booked from Spain using a tour operator, which we quickly learned that you should never use. Not only broke all European regulation on privacy and unsolicited spam mail, but they sold us return tickets on a flight that did not exist. At some point once we were already travelling, they sent an email (to only one of us) mentioning that the flight had been canceled by the company (false: that schedule never existed), and that they'll place us on another flight. We never heard from them again, and when calling their customer service, they were very polite but never sorted anything out.

So, we look for the address of the airline offices in Siem Reap and we head that way. Once we located such offices (they had just moved from a previous address and not all contact information on their website had been updated yet), they kindly sorted out our new tickets and even the extra luggage charge.

It was a relieve (we were already looking for alternatives, from night bus to bicycles across the mountains), and after that we could resume our sightseeing activities.

Our afternoon includes the visit to APOPO, an organisation that helps removing landmines with help from very clever mine spotters, and to the Landmine Museum. As the Landmine Museum is a few km out of Siem Reap, we also include a stop in one of the 'great circuit' Angkor temples on our way back.

Landmines are a problem for many countries. They were used for the first time during the American Civil War and they have been used in more or less degree in all subsequent wars, as well as part of defensive tactics. The problem with landmines is that they remain hidden, and they end up maiming, blinding and killing civilians many years after the conflict is over. Specially affected are children and farmers. Other explosive devices, like unexploded shells, present similar problems.

Cambodia had, at the end of the war, an estimated 6 million landmines. Many were deployed from the air, of the terrain has shifted with the rains, so it is impossible to locate them easily. When a mine explodes in a field, the unfortunate farmer may be killed or wounded, but additionally, the rest of the people in the village usually moves elsewhere, abandoning the area, for fear of more landmine explosions.

Clearing a filed from mines is a costly and time-consuming task. Usually using metal detectors, it could take several days of work to clear an area equivalent to a tennis court. The approach adopted by APOPO is different. A certain species of rodent from Tanzania is trained to smell the explosive contained in a landmine or unexploded device. As even antipersonnel mines require a weight of several kilograms to be triggered, and the trained rats weight less than one kilogram, they do not have the risk of triggering them. Once some prior work has bee done around he field to be able to use the rats, they can examine a field in less than an hour. In 2019, APOPO is on the way to have deactivated around 2 million landmines and other devices.

Visit the site of APOPO here

After APOPO we visit as well the Landmine Museum. This museum is a private initiative to raise awareness about this problem. It was founded by a man who used to clear mines himself, and teach other people his methods. As some of those methods were not the paradigm of safety, he was encouraged to refrain from engaging in activities that could endanger himself and others. Nevertheless, he created this small museum, where landmine affected voluntaries act as guides and receive some help.

Finally, on our way back to Siem Reap, one last temple, Pre Rup, of the mountain temple style, in the great circuit (a series of temples farther away from Angkor Wat.