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Checking in on Kim
How are you feeling? Don't hold back. Tell me the truth. Day 15 Tuesday January 27, 2009
Now that our temple tour was over Kim gave in to the illness that had been brewing in her (bad imagery, I know) for four days. She was really quite ill overnight. We had made an appointment with Rak to go to the floating village of Chong Khneas, but Kim was in no shape to leave the hostel and Cara and I didn’t want to go without her. Instead Cara and I went out for coffee then to the new ‘National Museum’. The museum was pricey ($12) but it was nicely done and very informative. We both wished we had gone before seeing the temples. There a several things I would have paid more attention to while there had I known about them beforehand. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to check on Kim. She was still in bed and looked horrible. I was genuinely worried about her, but she seemed like she was hanging in there. I had to tell our buddy Rak that we didn’t need him anymore that day. We ate lunch at the hostel then all tucked in for a nap. Later in the day I called Rak to
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Fishermen rigging a fish trap tell I’d be going to the floating village alone the next day. That night Kim stayed in while Cara and I went out to dinner with one of our roommates, a Scottish girl called Christine.
Day 16 Wednesday January 28, 2009
Promptly at 7:30 am Rak picked me up to take me to the Vietnamese floating village called Chong Khneas on the Tonle Sap Lake. The trip there took about twenty minutes and it was nice being able to sit riding forwards. We pulled up to a small building where I purchased a ticket for $25.00. Before continuing, Rak told me that inside the village they would ask me to donate money to the school by way of purchasing books. He said that I needn’t feel obligated to buy them because the money I paid for the ticket went directly to building their roads and to the children’s hospital. We then went on to the river. I had to walk down a steep embankment to get to the small boat where I met Kane, my guide for the trip. It was only myself, Kane, and a driver on the boat and I’ll admit I felt slightly uneasy but
I trusted in Rak and knew he wouldn’t have sent me into certain doom. He did warn me about the donation after all. As we motored down the river towards the lake, Kane explained the villagers’ fishing techniques, their methods of house construction, and how the village functions during the rainy and dry seasons. I thought it was all really interesting (cuz I’m a nerd like that) but I was starting to wonder when the fleecing would begin. We stopped at a floating market where I saw a crocodile farm and a fish farm. I bought a keychain for the sis and went up to the top deck to check out the view. Then, after we were back on the boat I got the ‘donate to the school’ spiel.
I figured “Why not?” I am, after all, working as a teacher and even though I knew it was a scam I decided that if the money is somehow going to help the people that live there it can’t be all bad. So I went into a small shop where a tiny girl was terrified of me and purchased a couple packs of notebooks and some pencils. We puttered
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my 'guide' Kane over to the school but had to wait while a giant boatload of Chinese tourists finished their ‘donation’ visit. Ugh. This was starting to feel not so great. When they had finally left I got off the boat and walked into the tiny school. The children there didn’t even acknowledge my presence. The Chinese tourists had brought them toys, so they were otherwise occupied. My stomach did a little ‘you’re such an idiot’ turn when I saw pile after pile of new notebooks and other school supplies. These kids didn’t need supplies. They needed adults who cared about them. Kane had me pose with the teacher for a ‘donation’ picture. He then told me that all the children there were orphans who lived at the school, and the teacher took care of them but did not receive any money to do so. He said I could donate money to the teacher and pointed out a donation box. Uhhh….no. I was done being knowingly ripped off. So they made me wait around for a few awkward minutes. I suppose they were hoping I’d change my mind. But I did get to squeeze an adorable puppy so the visit wasn’t a total
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a floating pig farm loss.
The school was our last stop and we slowly made our way back to the dock. The whole time Kane did not stop talking. He first spoke casually of his family, then he moved on to a ‘friend’ in the U.S. that gives him money, then he launched into a full on sob story. His mom was in the hospital. His baby brother cries for her at night. He has no money for school. His job doesn’t pay him enough. He has to sleep on the boat and it scares him. And on and on and on. The he flat out asked me for $30.00. On my Chinese salary, thirty bucks is a lot of money and a heck of a lot more than most people there make in a month. I had planned to give him a tip of maybe five or ten dollars, but after all that I was concerned about pulling out my wallet. It was just me with two men on a little boat. No way.
I must have looked shell shocked because when I got off the boat Rak came charging down the hill towards me to ask me if I was
all right. I lied and said yes then made a b line for the tuk-tuk. Rak stayed where he was and yelled something down to Kane in a “What’s going on?” tone and Kane responded with a shrug and said something in a “Nothing” tone. Rak joined me at the tuk-tuk and again said “Are you okay? Is everything all right?” I was back safely in my tuk-tuk with my favorite Cambodian so this time I told the truth and said yes. And then we made out.
Okay, so that last part isn’t true, but that would have been cool, huh? I was back at the hostel by 10:30 am. I chatted with some other guests in the lounge then had lunch with Cara and Kim. They were both feeling punky so I wandered around the town for several hours. I went back to the hostel around 7pm and we all went out to dinner then to the Night Market for some shopping.
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