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Published: February 19th 2009
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Err, um, now let me see - where shall I start?
Two days ago we were traveling along in our breezy mode of transport with me casually watching the tuck tuck ahead of us on the street. I commented to Don, 'This has been an Amazing Race sort of day, don't you think?' He replied, ' Are you saying that because The Blondes are ahead of us!' I was stunned, I didn't think he paid that much attention to the show.
Now let's rewind the tape a few hours.
Because I was still not feeling right, we had set off a little later than planned for our walk to the Palace Just as we reached the entrance, an enterprising tuk tuk driver approached and told us the museum, temple and palace were closed for lunch between 11am and 2pm. Sure enough the guide book said the same thing. We just had not bothered to read the fine print.
'No problem' says he. 'I can take you out to the Killing Fields and everything will be open when you return. With the state of my tummy I was not exactly crazy about such a long trip (approx
half an hour) but what the heck! Off we set.
The drive was quite an eye opener in itself, but I will talk more about that in a minute. About 3/4 of the way there the driver pulls over. 'Sorry, flat tire. Please Madame (they all call me that - pronounced the French way) It will take 3 minutes to fix. He asks us to get out and trundles the tuk tuk over to this really grubby shack. Hey, what do you know, it's a roadside mechanic - hole in the wall more like. It was a hard decision for me as to whether I should breathe through my nose so the dirt would not get in my mouth, or breathe through my mouth to avoid the local aromas. Don declined the offer of the two chairs they pulled out for us as he thought they might break if we sat in them.
About 20 mins later we were on our way again. We had our visit to the Killing Fields and Choeung Ek Memorial to all those who lost their lives. What a sobering gruesome experience that was. Now it was starting to rain. Some tuk tuks
Our Phnom Penh hotel
our room is top right had plastic sides that they pulled down to protect their customers, but not ours!!! We set out on the return trip expecting to get quite wet. It was at this point I saw The Blondes.
We came to quite a scenic spot complete with water and stilt houses. We asked our driver to pull over for a photo op. He then pointed to the open sewer spewing its contents into what we though was a little oasis - we lost interest in the shot. We were also very aware that there was garbage everywhere. No one makes any effort to pick anything up. It is criminal.
When we arrived back in town it was still to early for the Royal Palace so we thought 'in for a penny in for a pound' we might as well do the Genocide Museum. About half way through that experience I told Don we needed to leave. It was just all to much sadness and horror to cope with in one day. Just as in Vietnam, there were people taking photos. I could barely look at the originals, let alone take photos.
Yesterday we did more mundane stuff like the museum,
temple and palace. Going to a museum with Don is always fun because he likes to observe and read every single piece of information!
Today we went to the market and then had a tuk tuk drive us around town to get a better feel for the place.
When we were in Siem Reap we met an English couple who lived in Phnom Penh and they told us how much they loved it. They felt they enjoyed a much better standard of living here than they could get in England. He said he was a professor at the University of Cambodia and was able to climb the ladder quicker as professionals are so hard to come by. He said he could almost name his price.
We have been here three days now and we don't get it. I am sure there are lovely parts with gated communities and yes, certain areas have a faded charm and elegance with nice restaurants and bistros but overall, there is no escaping the abject poverty and conditions that a lot of people live in. I guess if you are living out in the suburbs, going about your daily business you can
ignore the bigger problems surrounding you.
Don't get me wrong, the Cambodian people have been great. They are kind and gentle. They have gone through a tremendous amount of turmoil in their lives and they are trying to move forward. There are a lot of NGO's here - Non Government Organizations - all trying to help. The country and the people need all the help they can get. All volunteers are greatly appreciated. I read somewhere that 60% of the population is under the age of 20. Life is tough here and somethings are difficult to talk about as it seems so disrespectful to the people. There is some construction happening and signs that things are slowly improving. Long may it last.
For example, in Siem Reap there are many new big hotels and shops being built along the main road to attract the tourist $. On the very same street there is quite a nice looking local pediatric hospital...but ... as you drive by you see that there are a lot of families with very young children lined up outside, waiting patiently in the unrelenting heat for their turn to see a doctor. Sometimes they wait all day.
I think it is better when I stick to funny stories, don't you?
There are a lot of very expensive, large (usually 4x4) vehicles here, some with no license plates and others with special license plates carrying the initials RCAF and no, that does not mean Royal Canadian Air Force it means Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. These vehicles just strong arm themselves all over the place - they are kings of the road and no one gets in their way. Lexus is the vehicle of choice. There are sidewalks here but they are usually filled with the parked cars and bikes.
Sad to say but this is probably the last blog before we return home. We are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed as Asian beds are very, very hard.
Tomorrow we head to Hong Kong where we will spend three days before flying back to Vancouver. We have had a great trip and have loved every minute of it. We have no regrets and and wouldn't have done an differently. We have had many adventures, met some great people and eaten many new foods.
It is now time to get back to our families and the grandchildren and..... to start pondering where we might like to go next. When we set out on this trip we thought it might be the last adventure experience for us. Now we feel energized and think we could cope with another - as long as Don feel slike pulling and pushing me up the stairs!
I will leave you with this scary thought. We will certainly be spending one of our Hong Kong days in Macau. Don heard that the Casinos there are as 'over the top' as the Vegas casinos. Good thing the tickets home are paid for!
There is so much more I would like to write but the system keeps shutting me out - so far I have written this blog twice. Who knows maybe I will do a post trip blog from home.
Talk to you all soon from the real world.
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Christian
non-member comment
The Amazing Race
"I hope the older couple doesn't get eliminated this round, they seem very nice and you gotta love their bickering... If only they could be faster on the "stair" challenges..."