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Published: February 13th 2006
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Aki Ra
Just some of the mines that Aki Ra deactivated on show at the Aki Ra Landmine Museum. There are more than 27,000 victims in the Siem Reap area alone. There are estimated 6million active mines in Cambodia today. Hello again! So yesterday we ended up wandering all around Siem Reap on foot and it was great. We bought a whole bunch of fruit an sat by the river. That bit isn't as nice as it sounds - have you seen the river here? Putrid. We attracted a hungry looking beggar child who sat on a rock a little ways away looking at us shyly so I smiled and offered her a banana. Blink and you miss it - banana was gone! She was 6yrs old. A couple more saw the action and came over so we gave them the rest of the bag of the fruit which they loved! We wandered a long way out of the tourist area through little village type places. There were so few foreigners that when you actually saw one and you passed you said hi to each other. So that was how our day was spent, now let me tell you about the night.
Well I thought I would mention a little of the nightlife since I didn't mention it in the last entry. Here in town there is a street called Bar St. Guess whats on it? Yep, bars. And restuarants.
Lunch at the river
These are 2 of the kids we had lunch with So no points for imagination but big score for making them easy to find (very important when you're a weary traveller) and having lots of funky places close together. We've eaten from roadside vendors around the place and the sitdown market stalls where mostly kymer eat and thats a good authentic experience, tasty food and cheap as hell, but every now and then you want to sit somewhere that feels a bit more familar like a western style bar/restuarant or ,rather, a Cambodian approximation of a western style bar/restuarant. We'd tried a few but they were pretty expensive (well, $US4 a meal and $US1 for beer IS expensive here) but then we found a fantastic place last night in the middle of the strip that we wish we found sooner. If you're coming here I highly recommend Angkor Famous bar and restuarant. And it ISN'T in the 'Lonely Planet'!
At 'Angkor Famous', they do buy one get one free cocktails ($US3!) and meals for a dollar. It was a nice place right on the main strip and after a few beers (Jim chose 60c beer over cocktails, so I did 2 for 1 on my own) he decided it
At the markets
Dried meat not so inviting as Jim makes it look wasn't busy enough where we were and thought he'd help the spruikers gather more patrons. His attempt was unfruitful except for the laughs he got from the cambodian guys. He came back and told me to try. The pressure was on! Eyes were watching and Jim was videoing. It has been a while since my frontline days as a street based Greenpeace fundraiser but it all came back. My first approach was to 3 guys, they stopped, made an excuse about having to meet friends (I knew they were lying) but within about a minute I had one guy asking what the 3 best things about the place were and I knew I had 'em! They joined our table and after an hour or so they decided we needed some girls at the table so I went out again. First approach this time was 2 girls, turns out they were aussie too (nice ice breaker) and 2 for 1 was the extra encouragement they needed. What a strike rate!!! I still got it going on!
I had too many cocktails and scored a couple of freebies for bringing in 5 new patons so that was a good and unexpected
Tuktuk
The remorsque is Cambodia's answer to the tuktuk. extra. We had a good night until it got a little sad in the end when some beggar kids approached our table. We gave them some food and the littlest girl jumps on my lap. after about 30mins of talking with the kids her big brother (she was about 6, he was probably 7) come over with the tiniest baby ever and they ask for baby formula for it. The guys at our table said they'd pitch in so we got a tub for them and the little girl was so happy but by the time I'd been led by her to the shelves at the back of the bar where the formula was (does this in itself seem at all wrong to any of you?) and to the cashier and back to our table it had been engulfed by double the kids (now about 12) and at least 2 mothers carrying babies desperately begging for formula too. It was so overwhelming we had to leave.
So today we went to the Aki Ra landmine museum just outside town which was great. It is run by a guy, Aki Ra who was conscripted as a child soldier for the
Beggar Child
The girl I mentioned from our night at 'Angkor Famous'. The beggar children are easy to spot. Just look for real little kids in real big baseball caps. Kymer Rouge, was given an AK47 at age 10 which was as big as he was a taught to go out and kill. Captured by the Vienamese Army he was then made to fight with them, then after that back with the Cambodian army against the Kymer Rouge. During this time he became somewhat a specialist in laying and deactivating landmines. When the Kymer Rouge fell he joined the UN in deactivating mines. With the help of donations Aki Ra built a museum in the traditional style bamboo and grass a filled it with many 'souvenirs' he'd collected along with personal stories and paintings and practicl advice. He continued his demining efforts all around the area and has collected in excess of 30,000 mines. He goes to villages and explains about landmine dangers. He also has taken in many children who are landmine victims and has at the moment about 15 kids. These kids were either orphans or there parents couldn't or didn't want to look after them. At the museum site is where Aki Ra's home is and the school where the kids are taught. Volunteers come to teach them and donations to the museum fund the support of
Money
The Kymer Rouge currency that they printed. Look close. Most depict war scenes. the kids. Really well done, a great cause too so it is a good alternative to the government museum there.
After that we went to Children's hospital to give blood. It is against the kymers religion to give blood so blood banks are always low. Many children are dying due to haemorragic dengue fever and being unable to receive transfusions because of the short supply. Who funds the childrens hospital? You guessed it, private donations: 95%. It will be a long time before the government will be in a position to take over majority cost of this. I'd never given blood before but don't go thinking I'm just a good samaritan. I really did it for the free can of sprite, whole packet of shortbread and free t-shirt. Oh, and a sticker.
Next stop Phnom Penh!
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JIm
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Phoney Ballony
If you want to know whats really going on in the trip go to http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jim-Leigh/