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Published: November 1st 2009
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I want a costume
Our first dinner came with tradition dancing (I remain in remarkable health. Still no sign of Swine Flu despite checks at all the boarders)
I didn’t think it was possible to fall so completely in love with a country. From the moment I crossed over the boarder, Cambodia worked its magic on me. I was fascinated by the greeness of the fields and the little wooden shacks that formed the houses on the way to Siem Reap. My first impression, based soley on the reaction of seeing the shacks was that it was not only a poor country but a sad one. With very few cars on the road, and people on foot or on motorbike, nothing dispelled it for me until I got to talk to the Cambodian people.
Cambodian People
On our first night we joined in the local night life. Dining with traditional Cambodian music, having a drink and a fish massage. I am never letting biting fish near my feet again. You won't believe how much they can tickle you for all they are only a centimetre or two long.
I learnt a lot about the people in the first full day in Cambodia. We had arrived during the Festival
Fish Massage
It tickled a lot of the Dead. Cambodia is predominately Buddhist and most families went to the temples in the morning during the festival to feed the monks so that they would in turn pray for their dead ones and for people who had no one else to pay for them. The families didn’t just buy the food out of the supermarket , they took the time to prepare it and came in their finest clothes. I went to a temple with out people from the tour to look around and the people welcomed us in. With gestures and many smiles they invited us to take part and showed us how to place the incense. It turned out that they had to visit seven temples to complete the ritual and that became my challenge for that morning - see seven temples.
I did manage to accomplish this with one member of the group - Helen and one very useful Tuk Tuk driver who only charged us $8 between us for driving us around for a couple of hours. He was an excellent driver, taking us without asking around the back roads to each temple so that we could see a how the locals
lived. It was a stark contrast to the main roads. On the main routes the roads were smooth and the buildings the westerners were in were covered in concrete, while the side roads were bumpy and the houses wooden shacks, and the local shops were built along the same lines.
The most interesting temple was typically the last one one that we visited. It gave me the first insight into the genocide. Placed in front of the temple was a tower with glass sides filled with skulls and bones. It gave me the shivers. The shivers only grew when one of the teachers at the school that was attached to the temple came to greet us and show us around. He took us to a window where a sniper rifle could fire off into the forest and where the prisoners would have been held. Sadly he added that the tower was not the only reminder, the foresty land was still covered in land mines.
The conversation grew a little happier when the teacher shifted to talking about the school. The kids who went to it were orphans and lived in and around the temple. They shared two to
a bed and couldn’t lock their belongings but the upside came when we got to see their lessons, the monks where well supplied with material and the lesson was well structured, taught to groups of no more than six at a time.
Can you believe it only took us the morning? I barely can and we weren’t done for the day. We went on to see the Floating Village.
Floating Village
In the notes I made in my paper journal, I had ‘this rocked’ in very large capital letters which is pretty accurate. Out on the lake we saw the floating houses organised in a street like fashion. Imagine how rows of terraces look and you have get a sense of how organised they are. Of course they have the advantage of swapping neighbours if they don’t like the people on either side of them! The houses are either built on top of a boat or on top of bamboo which has to be replaced every two and a half years. I imagine it is quite an operation sliding fresh bamboo in and the old bamboo out without sinking the house.
The electricity is
Sniper View
You could see a good distance run on car batteries. They need to be replaced every four days, even though they are only used for a couple of hours a day. It doesn’t say much for their life and most kids never set foot on land. They make their money from the fish and the kids...well they make it from begging. When we sat down for a drink at the floating cafe, a young kid came up in a basin she was using to make her way around the water on, and kept repeating one dollar to us with her hand outstretched for the whole forty-five minutes we were there. But we couldn’t give in to her as that would only encourage the kids to keep begging rather than attend school.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a hammock bar. It was awesome to swing there with a drink while the sun went down. There was a spice of excitement added to it when snake was delivered to us to try. Snakes are surprisingly bony and the easiest way to eat them to tear small strips away with the teeth. I wouldn’t even say they tasted bad.
I guess you
Teacher
Outside a bed shared by two boys wondering if I did see the famous sight of Angkok Wat and the answer is yes! I was just saving the details on it for last.
Angkor Wat and various others
Another predawn get up to see the sun rise over another historical monument. This one was very crowded compared to the Great Wall. There were many tourist groups lining up in front of the water to take the perfect snap of the sunrise and Angkor Wat reflected in the water. I was a little to sleepy to feel excited until the last minute. The clouds were in the way once again but they added to the mystery of the place when dawn broke.
We all went snap happy that day as we went around the temples. I can say this with certainty as one by one people complained that their camera batteries were dead despite being fully charged the night before. By the second to last temple, the Pink Lady, only my camera and one other was still going. Mine was alarmingly showing signs of low battery so I kept taking the battery out to shake it and persuade it to go a little further. I am
Sleeping Quarters
of the monks and orphans so glad I did because of the lat temple of the day.
The last temple was made famous by Tomb Raider. I got my shot of the entrance they used during the film, so I wasn’t completely unhappy when my camera gave up the ghost five pictures later. I won’t waste time describing the temples as the pictures really do speak for themselves.
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Kath
non-member comment
Hello
Incrediable. Hope you are enjoying Australia - I am sure you are. Catch you online sometime. xxx