An Exciting Week

School starts for all of my friends at U of O and OSU next Monday. I'm excited for all of them, because the first week of school is by far the best week of school, except for perhaps the last week. But it's way too early to be thinking about that.

This week is also exciting because it is my mid-term recess week. NUS is on a semester system - our term is 18 weeks long and half over, having started in early August. Some students, especially the graduating students, are deep into their many difficult classes and study the whole week. Everybody else (including most of the exchange students) isn't studying as hard, and so vacates the country.

I'm in the second group. For my recess week, I am going to Cambodia for five days with my "Politics of Heritage" class. I think it's the best field trip ever. Not that I think you might need it, but here's a map:

The red arrow points to Singapore and the green arrow points to Cambodia.

I don't know what possessed my professor (Dr. Patrick Daly) to decide to take 40 undergraduate students to a third world country for five days, but I really appreciate it. We're spending three days in Siem Reap, the departure point for touring Angor Wat and some other temples. Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world, I'm sure you've seen pictures of it. Here's a refresher:


I'll have some pictures of my own to share next week.

After Siem Reap, we take six hour boat ride to the capital city of Cambodia, Phenom Pehn. Aside from being the capital, it's also the location of several museums and memorials for the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Our trip will not be all pleasantries.

The purpose of our trip is to experience first hand the process of selling heritage and the issues that arise from that processm. To what extent is charging admission (60USD, no less) to a Angkor Wat, a UN "World Heritage Site" permissible and right? What about profiting from the grisley power of a genocide museum to attract tourists? How much tourism should be allowed if it interferes with the preservation of these sites? I think the academic perspective of this trip will make it more interesting and I'm looking forward to writing about it for the class when I return.