Cambodia: Cue Guilt and Heatstroke

Although the departure from Thailand was soul-crushing, the grand adventure around Southeast Asia continues! We touched down in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, Tuesday afternoon. Why Cambodia? Well we wanted to venture to at least one more country in the northern part of Southeast Asia . . .if that makes sense. We had narrowed it down to Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam. We ruled out Laos after talking to some crazy hippie Chiang Mai backpackers who informed us that the country has very little unique culture, there’s not much there that’s very different than northern Thailand, and it’s basically just a good place to get wasted and drink ‘shroom shakes. I’ll take a pass on the ‘shrooms. Tickets to Cambodia were cheaper than tickets to Vietnam, so that settled it. I didn’t really know much about Cambodia before coming. Everything I knew about the country I learned from Phil, the host of the Amazing Race. I’m pretty sure he’s referred to Phnom Penh as ‘the bustling capital of Cambodia,’ but that’s all I retained. I also knew that Angkor Wat is in Cambodia, so it was thrown on the list of things to do.
First impressions – Poverty is much more noticeable and prevalent than in Thailand. I’m talking naked babies, children without shoes, begging for money, sleeping under newspapers, trash everywhere along the streets, the whole nine yards. In Phnom Penh there was quite a trash/waste stench, which when combined with the extreme heat, (100-110 during the day) is enough to make you a little nauseous. There were some beautiful parts of the city as well. Ornate palaces, wats, and statues were scattered around. Along the river, there were a scattering of lovely cafes. Although I must mention that the French influence is not nearly as strong as I anticipated, (Cambodia was colonized by France – you can Google those dates if you’d like). I was expecting crepes on every corner! Every now and then there was a restaurant called “La Maison,” or something of that nature, but those years of high school and college French went to waste yet again. Although it is such an impoverished city, things in Phnom Penh were not nearly as cheap as we’d like. Cambodia uses the USD in addition to their own money, the riel ($1 = 4,000 riel) which I assume is an effort to cater to tourists, or something like that. But this meant we were spending $4-$5 on a meal, or $1 on a water. 150 baht for dinner?!? It’s ludicrous! Mais, c’est la vie.

We tried to find some nightlife in Phnom Penh, but sort of failed. Although there are many bars and cafes, there aren’t enough tourists to fill them, and the result is a whole slew of bars with about 4-5 patrons in each - not really our scene. And most of the tourists in Cambodia seem to be older, certainly older than a lot of the Thai tourists. At one point a senior citizen man, who had graduated from Babson, offered to buy Erin and me drinks. I’m just not at that level of desperation yet. Give me another 10 years sir, I might reconsider. I did find chocolate ice cream, and was reunited with a lovely glass of wine after far too long. We spent our one full day in the city learning about the tragic, very recent, history of Cambodia. Well . . .after getting a little shopping in at the Russian Market, of course. (Still not sure why it’s called the ‘Russian Market’ but it certainly did a number on my wallet. Silk scarves + jewelry + Emily’s February salary = not a good mix). We then continued our tuk tuk tour of the city, visiting ‘The Killing Fields’ just outside the city, and Tuol Sleng prison, (a former school,) both of which have been transformed into memorials and museums. They detail the gruesome atrocities brought on by the Khmer Rouge, the extremist communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1976-1980. Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed, mostly intellectuals, city-dwellers, and other people whose ideas differed from those of the Khmer Rouge. The exhibits were hard to see, but the thing that got to me most was the display of the photographed faces of those people who had been imprisoned and most likely killed at Toul Sleng, several of whom were children, some only babies. The most shocking part of it was that it was happening only 30 years ago! It was a sad, but enlightening day to say the least.
On Thursday we hopped a bus to Siem Reap (the town where Angkor Wat lies) and after five hours of lovely farm and plantation scenery we had arrived. The town is extremely touristy and also much more scenic than Phnom Penh. However, the extreme, in-your-face poverty still exists. You can’t even walk through the market without being bombarded by someone, often a child, either selling something or simply begging for money, crying “Lady! Lady! Lady! Lady! I need moneyyyy.” After dinner and drinks on Thursday evening, we were suckered into buying 2 containers of Similac baby milk at the 7-11 by a couple of small children, each with an infant slung around their backs. How can you say no to these kids and still live with yourself? A couple of British brothers we were with shook their heads at us as we held the children’s hands and accompanied them into the store. “You know, those are probably a couple of the richest kids in this town,” the Brit pointed out to me. But as Erin says, even if those kids sell the milk and it’s all a scam . . .someone is going to get baby milk. “And,” we informed our pessimistic Brits, “now we’re going to heaven.” Since then, I’ve also bought a bracelet from a young girl who informed me that if I bought one she would tell me the president of the United States and the capital of the United States. She got an A+. Erin bought 4. I’ve officially found Erin’s soft spot: impoverished Cambodian children, especially those with small heads. Angkor Wat is an ancient temple, I believe dating back to the 12th century, (we didn’t have a tour guide and there were very little informational signs so my facts are lacking). You may remember our Sukhothai entry? – well Sukhothai is sort of the Thai version of Angkor Wat, although Angkor Wat crushes it in nearly every department. The ruins are much more expansive, and some of the “jungle ruins,” those where the trees are sort of eating away at the structures, were even used in the filming of Tomb Raider! Very cool. It's all very Indiana Jones-esque and Erin and I feel like we are contestants on 'Legends of the Hidden Temple.' (Remember that show, all you children of the 90's?) We were taken from temple to temple by tuk tuk, driven by an adorable man that works for our hotel. He basically just chose which ruins to take us to, and we trusted him completely. He also pointed us to which food stands to eat at, and would nap while we visited the temples. He was pretty adorable. The only pitfall occurred when we got a flat tire on our way to a far off, more removed site. We had to sit at the home of some rural Cambodian residents while our buddy went to change the tire. We played "This Little Piggy" with the kids and watched the little naked baby take a cold "bath," screaming his head off while Mom poured cold water on him. I sort of wish I could have gotten one of those baths.

We sweltered away under the beating Cambodian sun, climbing, photographing, and exploring the ancient temples. The catchphrase of Siem Reap seems to be "It's so hot." We've heard it about a million times from our tuk tuk driver, children begging for money, waiters, security guards at the temple - everyone! I'm unsure whether these people are actually hot, or whether it's a line reserved for the tourists. The only downfall (besides the heat) was the fact that there were many tour groups swarming the temples . . .I almost felt as though the little Japanese women were preparing to pillage and ransack the remains. They were extremely pushy and didn’t seem to have much consideration for the other tourists. Because of this, our timer shots were lacking. Not only is it sort of embarrassing to take a timer shot when there are a lot of people around, you are just sort of limited in space and opportunities. Our timer shots sort of turned into weird pseudo-candids. In any case, the National Heritage Site is extremely beautiful and interesting, although perhaps a bit difficult to appreciate when you feel like you may lose consciousness at any moment. Don’t worry, Mom, I drank lots of water and used my bug spray.

Oh and last night we got the infamous fish massage . . .SOOOO TICKLISH, I almost died. But for $2 we got our dead skin eaten by fish, an Anchor beer, and a complimentary neck and shoulder massage (done by a human). Never again, though . . .
We have safely touched down in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and have met up with some of my old Emmanuel crew, Sarah and Anna. Very exciting! I'm already having big city culture shock after all our time in Hangchat and visiting ruins! If our luck with the free wifi continues, so will the blogs!