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Published: December 30th 2012
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Im on top of it
It is absolutely a good idea to sit at the table you are selling your goods from, better overview and in control of it all - at least as long as your not selling something alive and poisonus Our first day in Siem Reap was a lazy one, and we used it to acquaint ourselves with this new country (we know, of course, that a town visited by millions of tourists who come to see the temples each year, and that boasts an entire neighborhood of pubs and restaurants that would not look out of place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras is not a true representation of any country).
Though there are some things worth remarking. Crossing the border reveals the novelty of tuk-tuks, essentially a small moped towing a seating carriage, varying in size from 4-seaters to what seems like infinite seating if one is to judge by the amount of people travelling in them at times. Levels of ornate decoration, and even corporate sponsorship, vary also. Their drivers hang on every corner (literally, as they often take out hammocks and string them on the inside) and are more than eager to offer their services. Travelling by tuk-tuk is surprisingly cheap, which also means one can easily be coaxed into not walking for 10 minutes in the baking sun when the pricetag is just 1 USD...
Cambodia is much poorer than its neighboring countries, you
Pigs back
and thats it! In Vietnam they transported pigs in truck loads, in Cambodia they just roll them up in bamboo and drive of. And the pigs are very much alive don't have to go far outside a town center to find that most people are living in nothing more than thatched bungalows, many without electricity. This together with the fact that few roads are paved and the soil is generally just red sand floating up in clouds after each passing vehicle, and added to the amount of garbage lining most roads and floating in most rivers, can seem to paint quite a desolate picture.
Getting closer to Siem Reap on the bus the day before, we had noticed a number of pump-wells in people's gardens and in schools, all with a huge, fancy sign next to them making sure anyone driving by could be sure to see who the kind donation came from. As an aside, and not trying to criticize the kind gift of access to potable water in a country where cholera is rampant and people throw trash in the same creek they bathe and fish in, it does seem strange that the most solid structure on these familie's land was the big sign, and not, sadly, their house.
The surprising thing about Cambodia is actually how civilized it seems, bearing in mind all of the
Its time for bed
The kids just outside of the city of Siem Reap dont care much about covering up. Its warm and sunny so they leave their clothes some where else. Good thinking above, especially after 7 weeks in Vietnam. The population density is low, the roads are mostly empty (although in as bad shape as we had heard, so we didn't regret our decision to sell the bikes) and the few drivers on them are relaxed and, if we dare say so, rather courteous. We assume that, were Cambodia your first destination away from the west, you may consider it mad, lawless and frantic, but that really is a question of perspective.
Many locals speak really good English, and the vast majority of people are really friendly. Even the toilets are nicer accross the board, with the bathroom in a shack cafe by the road in Cambodia having a comparable bathroom to, say, the bathrooms in a spick-and-span newly built petrol station in Vietnam. There seems to be more obvious corruption (police setting up shop and shamelessly pulling over westerners on motorcycles in order to scam them out of their cash) but fewer scams otherwise, and the general vibe is very positive. The food, also, is much better accross the board (Vietnamese cuisine is delicious and varied, but most everyday places really just serve edibles on a plate as a source
Far away from home?
Well even in Siem Reap, the Norwegian company Jotun seem to be helping the locals with keeping the colors in though weather conditions of fuel, not culinary delight).
So yeah, pretty much as soon as we got to Cambodia, we knew we'd stay longer than we had planned...
Only drawback so far (besides all the above, of course): Cambodian coffee is really a letdown after Vietnam. Everything might just well be...
Funniest company sponsoring a tuk-tuk: Jotun, fine paints from Norway. They're everywhere!
We are getting old: as soon as we got to Cambodia, we realized we would now be «sir» and «madam» to most locals addressing us...
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susana
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tuk tuk
i'm sure this expression or word will become world famous now! also, how do i find that 'waterboy' photo?