Location: Siem Reap and Phnom Penn, CambodiaDate: March 2o something, 2010
Sus-Die!
The transition from Thailand to Cambodia in theory, is an easy one. Yet, the touting and scamming you meet when you try to cross the border can be painfully frustrating...after fighting with an agency to get a fair price on our visas, we walked across the border. Yet, the fun was only beginning to start. Getting from the border town of Poipet to Siem Reap was terrible because of all of the scams they put you through. Though I've now hit the 6 month mark, I still get completely frazzled and irritated with the scams- "no lady, no bus..." me: "but we paid for it already, all the way to Siem Reap, so give us a paper ticket." agent: "no no no, i have to deal with this first. no bus better taxi." me: " no, we're taking the bus. get us a ticket or i'll call the cops." agent: "fine, call the cops!" I walked towards the mini mart to carry out my threat and 3 minutes later I had a paper ticket....yet those who are new to traveling get caught up in these schemes and end up paying a lot of money to get to town, though they've already paid. On the way to Siem Reap, the driver stopped for lunch and everyone on the bus wanted to continue on instead of eat, so after the driver was finished eating he got back on the bus where we were waiting, and in the humid 100 degree weather, told us the air con didn't work (which of course it did...I think he was just frustrated because he didn't get a commission from the restaurant since we didn't eat ). It was an interesting sociological study- a one way battle- the driver fighting us for some reason and was being so passive aggressive during the entire 4 hour ride. Funny, but it's definitely the place that has scammed the hardest, and it can be so irritating that you just want to lock yourself in your hotel room to escape it all...
Alas, I made it to the beautiful Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, a temple complex built for the king during the 12th century. You can hire a tuk tuk for the day (a motorcycle attached to a little carriage) and tour the temples that way. Our lovely driver picked us up at 5:15am and we got to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat after drinking our coffee-in-a-bag!
Horse and sunrise in front of Angkor Wat and (below) the sun rising over the most famous of the temples
More monkeys! Hanging in front of the temple
More monkeys! Hanging in front of the templeThough the day before was spent mostly in conflict with drivers and agencies, the day we explored Angkor Wat was a magical one! I got to meet so many lovely children who hang around at the temples with their parents, or selling postcards and bracelets. At first it can be difficult because it seems like it may only be an exchange of money, but then the conversation opens up and you get to start to understand the child behind the vendor. Some of my new friends are below.
Cambodian children have smiles and hearts of gold. Many of the children do not go to school and just sell things on the street to make profits for their families. However, there are starting to be more and more organizations that provide a stipend for the family if the child attends school daily, and sometimes the kids can go to school at the evening, so they can work during the day. This last little guy is named Ni, and I met him at the end of the day, and his dad let me play with him for awhile.
This temple is called Bayon, and it was my favorite. It had carvings of Shiva everywhere, and great big heads carved into the stone that would peer out at you.
Look carefully to find the hidden faces!
This temple, Ta Prohm, was overtaken by the jungle after it was built. The structure is incredible, with the trees just growing out of the roof and the sides. It was beautiful.
More faces that lined the bridge crossing.
Hanging on to Ta Prohm.
Another group of girls we met in front of the temples. They were adorable and we were able to break through the "buy this lady" barrier and ended up spending some lovely time together.
At the end of the long day visiting temples, our amazing driver took us out for watermelon! In all of my experiences traveling, I had never met a driver like him. We had agreed on a price the day before, but he ended up driving us much longer than we had thought, and then he took us and cut up an entire watermelon for us as a gift, and never even brought up the price (though he had gone over and above). Unfortunately, I find these kinds of interactions involving money occur very rarely, and the conversation revolves around money at points when a price is unknown, but our experience with Nim was such a special one- if you go to Cambodia, you need to meet Nim!
Anyone for deep fried tarantulas?
After Siem Reap, we took the bus to Phnom Penn, where Marisa departed. I had a few days in the city to explore, and I decided to go to an animal sanctuary that cared for animals that have been rescued from poachers.
My guides, Lucky and Andy (English-version names). Lucky (on the left) gave me a two hour tour around the reserve, telling me all about the animals and protecting me from the monkeys that grab...
Malaysian sun bear
The next day in Phnom Penh I spent learning a bit more about Cambodia's history. In 1975, Pol Pot became leader of the Khmer Rouge party, and over the next 4 years, he systematically killed about 2 million people, which was about 1/5 of the Cambodian population. The group he led was communist in nature, and all educated people were captured, put into work camps or torture camps, and brutally murdered. In Phnom Penh is the Tuol Seng Museum, or S-21, which was a high school that was converted into a holding place/torture camp for nearly 30,000 (20,000 of which were children who were murdered quickly) people. I went to go visit this school, and it was such a strange juxtaposition to see a place where I am so comfortable with a history that is so terrible.
The place of mass extermination in Phnom Penh, aka "The Killing Fields" are outside of the city, and I went to go see them. Basically, there are just gigantic holes in the ground which served as mass graves, where men, women and children were taken and told to kneel down, and then killed. 49 of the 125 mass graves have been left untouched, and you can see some remains still there. At this time, much of the land has been covered by overgrowth of plant life, so it is hard to imagine how horrible it must have been 30 years ago, though there are many skulls on display of some of the victims.
Cambodian children have smiles and hearts of gold. Many of the children do not go to school and just sell things on the street to make profits for their families. However, there are starting to be more and more organizations that provide a stipend for the family if the child attends school daily, and sometimes the kids can go to school at the evening, so they can work during the day. This last little guy is named Ni, and I met him at the end of the day, and his dad let me play with him for awhile.
This temple is called Bayon, and it was my favorite. It had carvings of Shiva everywhere, and great big heads carved into the stone that would peer out at you.
Look carefully to find the hidden faces!
This temple, Ta Prohm, was overtaken by the jungle after it was built. The structure is incredible, with the trees just growing out of the roof and the sides. It was beautiful.
More faces that lined the bridge crossing.
Hanging on to Ta Prohm.
Another group of girls we met in front of the temples. They were adorable and we were able to break through the "buy this lady" barrier and ended up spending some lovely time together.
At the end of the long day visiting temples, our amazing driver took us out for watermelon! In all of my experiences traveling, I had never met a driver like him. We had agreed on a price the day before, but he ended up driving us much longer than we had thought, and then he took us and cut up an entire watermelon for us as a gift, and never even brought up the price (though he had gone over and above). Unfortunately, I find these kinds of interactions involving money occur very rarely, and the conversation revolves around money at points when a price is unknown, but our experience with Nim was such a special one- if you go to Cambodia, you need to meet Nim!
Anyone for deep fried tarantulas?After Siem Reap, we took the bus to Phnom Penn, where Marisa departed. I had a few days in the city to explore, and I decided to go to an animal sanctuary that cared for animals that have been rescued from poachers.
My guides, Lucky and Andy (English-version names). Lucky (on the left) gave me a two hour tour around the reserve, telling me all about the animals and protecting me from the monkeys that grab...
Malaysian sun bearThe next day in Phnom Penh I spent learning a bit more about Cambodia's history. In 1975, Pol Pot became leader of the Khmer Rouge party, and over the next 4 years, he systematically killed about 2 million people, which was about 1/5 of the Cambodian population. The group he led was communist in nature, and all educated people were captured, put into work camps or torture camps, and brutally murdered. In Phnom Penh is the Tuol Seng Museum, or S-21, which was a high school that was converted into a holding place/torture camp for nearly 30,000 (20,000 of which were children who were murdered quickly) people. I went to go visit this school, and it was such a strange juxtaposition to see a place where I am so comfortable with a history that is so terrible.
The place of mass extermination in Phnom Penh, aka "The Killing Fields" are outside of the city, and I went to go see them. Basically, there are just gigantic holes in the ground which served as mass graves, where men, women and children were taken and told to kneel down, and then killed. 49 of the 125 mass graves have been left untouched, and you can see some remains still there. At this time, much of the land has been covered by overgrowth of plant life, so it is hard to imagine how horrible it must have been 30 years ago, though there are many skulls on display of some of the victims. I had read "First They Killed My Father," which was written by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, and it is a good book to read to get some basic background. Much of Cambodia's history is sad- in addition to the Khmer Rouge terrors, many places in Cambodia are still infested with mines from the Vietnam War, and there are many beggars around who are missing limbs because of recent explosions. It boggles my mind how these mines still exist- why can't we get in there and dismantle them? There are thousands of people who are injured by them every year- why can't we do something?
After the depressing time spent in the killing fields, I decided to do a little research on Cambodia's progress by visiting a classroom in Phnom Penh. Many of the students were orphans and their education was supported by an NGO in Japan, so the kids had books and pencils and were able to learn a bit of English. I spoke with Vanny, the school's program manager, who told me that they understand that the kids don't have access to books at home, so they do a lot of repetition in the classroom, which I thought was great, though it would be great if they could get a native English speaker there full time to help out.
After the depressing time spent in the killing fields, I decided to do a little research on Cambodia's progress by visiting a classroom in Phnom Penh. Many of the students were orphans and their education was supported by an NGO in Japan, so the kids had books and pencils and were able to learn a bit of English. I spoke with Vanny, the school's program manager, who told me that they understand that the kids don't have access to books at home, so they do a lot of repetition in the classroom, which I thought was great, though it would be great if they could get a native English speaker there full time to help out. Have a week more in Cambodia, so trying to get some chill time at the beach...unfortunately, the cries of "Manicure, pedicure, massage, lady???" drown out much of the peace I am trying to summon, but I'll manage. All the best from the far East :)
Happy Birthday Brittny and Matty!
