Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2018
Edit Blog Post
Cambodia, Cambodia, Cambodia. It is definitely a country in transition. We're not sure if the term “3rd world” is used anymore but If it is Cambodia definitely qualifies. We were picked up at the port by a lovely man named Heng in a small mini-van. He had a fairly okay command of the English language as he provided us information throughout our journey but he struggled with comprehension when he was asked questions. That being said, his command of English far exceeds our command of Cambodian!
Cambodia is a country that you need to embrace being a “traveller” vs. a “tourist”. We were once given definitions to these terms; a tourist is someone who visits locations looking through the eyes and expectations of their home culture while a traveller is someone who visits locations with an open mind and tries to view experiences through the local lense; you NEED to be willing to do this if you want to appreciate your time in Cambodia.
Garbage is everywhere, roads are not maintained, electrical wires drip from poles, traffic rules are an imaginary concept, children and families will beg you for money, and the standard of living is poor; despite this,
cranes seem to litter the landscape as Chinese investors are working hard to build beach front resorts, new dusty Lexus’ scatter the roadside, we saw a couple Porsche, tonnes of Prius’, and quite a few Audi’s. Heng (our guide) explained that there is NO middle class. You are either poor (80 percent of the population) or rich (the 20 percent).
We visited a couple Buddhist temples, including our first look at a reclining Buddha (Yay!), but these temples were obviously working temples. Garbage was still very visible, mangy cats and dogs wandered through our legs, the paint on the idols could use some maintainence and children openly asked for money; but we also were graced by many friendly orange clad Monks and we also saw a few monkeys!
After the temples we headed to the local markets. Despite the poverty we never felt unsafe; the markets overflowed with people and traffic. It got to the point that our van could no longer move in the traffic so we all hopped out to follow our guide into the local market. The stalls were jam packed and contained everything from textiles, to toys, to fruits, to live seafood and
local food items. We wandered through tightly connected stalls but we didn’t end up making any purchases.
Back in the van we headed to a local waterfall. It took us about 30 minutes on a deserted bumpy red mud road to reach our destination, but when we got there we were greeted by many other vans, cars and locals. It turns out the “waterfall" is more of a local park, it was a vast complex with tonnes of public hammocks, swimming holes and the odd merchant selling snacks, drinks or trinkets. The waterfall itself was nice, but nothing spectacular. That being said, seeing the locals enjoy the park and cool off with their families is something we’ll remember for along time.
Following the waterfall we headed to our final destination the local fishing village. As we approached the dock we saw a handfull of children playing in the water off the pier cooling off on this crazy hot day. We walked the pier and saw fisherman loading their boats in preperation for their future aquatic hauls. It was interesting to watch the preparation, but we were actually there at a fairly quiet time as most fisherman head
out early in the morning or evening. Despite that it was fun to watch and we also had a good view of our ship.
Cambodia is a country we might like to revisit in 10 or 15 years. It is still figuring itself out, but we're excited to see who it will become and we’re grateful we got to see it in its tourist infancy! PS we fed monkeys on the roadside!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.023s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb