Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So my adventure in Phnom Penh and Cambodia has now drawn to a close. After 6 weeks here, I leave this evening on a 20 hour night bus across to Bangkok... but more about that later. Since I last wrote, I've had quite a time of it, and several quite unique experiences, which I know are really opportunities I may never come across again. First up was my visit to the Cambodian province of Kandal! I was expecting something similar to the night we spend in the Mekong Delta homestay last year on our family trip to Vietnam... this was far beyond that! I felt thrown very out of my depth on the first day. I was sleeping on wooden planks with a thin 'mattress' of woven sticks, showering from a bucket, and I won't go into the toilet situation! The food was similar to the volunteer house, rice and simple meat, but a lot more makeshift (creative, inventive, call it what you will)... I was eating frog (slimy skin, breast and all), rat mouse, uncooked pig skin, eel (we think, but we could never quite get to the bottom of that one). On the first night, there were 3 big lizards eating flies on the wall. On the second night, there was only 1, and guess what was served up for dinner? Anyway, it was a real experience. The mum and dad were so cute! Through our broken English/Khmer translator they communicated that 'You now have a home in Cambodia too!'. Mum and Dad, others have replaced you in my affections. Paisley, you're still up there. I'm definitely glad that I did it - I've talked to another person who did the same thing as me in a different province, and we agreed it was great to observe their cultures and rural communities, although a real shock to the system. There's actually a lot of sitting around and waiting, obviousy accentuated by the fact I could chat with them! To an extent, I was a novelty, and it was a litte like one big game of Cart the White Guy to Every Gathering! Anyway, whilst their dancing and music is horrendous, it was great to join in, and I was inevitably invited into the "Men's" circle round the back, where they all drank a LOT of beer and Çhun Muoy! 'd each other - which means cheers/down it! I came back to Phnom Penh for one night before heading off to the monastery, which was really eerie. The city was dead with everyone off in their provinces or having a week off - I struggled to get a tuk tuk or a moto whereas a week earlier I was being hailed 3 times at every corner. I met a couple of travelers and safe to say they were pretty annoyed at picking the wrong week to head to Phnom Penh! the next day I headed off with Jaime to (O)Udong(k) - there are multiple spellings - to spend 3 days in the monastery with monks and nuns. This was not the tranquil, serene, enlightening experience I had expected. It was basically a Buddha Boot Camp. We did 4 hours of meditation a day, which was really intense, and it didn't feel like we were learning anything new. The monks had no more to offer in terms of how to switch off from the outside world than the books we had read - they just reiterated that it takes time, and to focus on your breaths. The whole experience also dispelled some of the opinions I had about Buddhism - that they don't treat themselves as a religion and don't pray as they believe Buddha was a man, not a God, that they are based on equality between classes and sexes, that they were all about leading a simple life. In fact, a lot of praying and worshipping went on and there was a clearly hierarchy - the nuns had to sit and wait whilst the monks ate all their meal before they could even start, they had to pray when any monks went past, and everyone had to hit the ground and pray when the head monk was present. When we wanted to leave we had to beg in Khmer for our passports back from the head month, a moment which definitely didn't feel like it was based on equality for all. Looking at the vast, gold-roofed buildings which were purpose built just years earlier to train the monks, it was difficult to match this to the frugal life the monks had told us they lived. This was not the main issue. The MAIN issue was the food. We ate breakfast at 6.30am. Lunch came at 10.30am, a slightly ridiculous time for lunch we couldn't help feeling. And then, then, they DID NOT EAT DINNER. I then waited 20 HOURS for my next meal. I DID NOT EAT UNTIL 6AM. As you can imagine, I was really struggling. I know that all of this makes it sound like we didn't have a great time. It wasdefinitely really tough, but was an incredible experience to have, and one that I'm proud to say that I've had. The meditation was good, although I think you really have to go with a decent amount of experience because 4 hours a day is so intense. learnt a lot about the religion and way of life, and am glad I spent the week in the way i did rather than just go and party with westerners. I've got plenty of time for that!
So moving on. As I said I head off tonight, and last minute Jaime has decided to come and travel round Thailand (and possibly Laos) too. She lives in Texas but not from there originally, been in Phnom Penh for just over 3 months now, and is ready to travel around and see a bit of Asia - I think she's heading off to China for a bit, but she isn't really too sure. In terms of the plans for the next 3 weeks, we'll head straight down to the South and do some beach bumming for a while, then wizz through to the North for a bit of culture. We have 15 days visa free total, and from Chang Rai in the North I'll cross over to Laos for maybe another week or 2, before heading to Hong Kong around the 22nd-24th of May. Unfortunately the play in Hong Kong has fallen through, so I'll probably only be staying for about 2 weeks, seeing my friend there... and then head off to Indonesia! Anyway, that's enough. It was quite tough saying goodbye to my class on Friday. They're such cool guys, they've been so nice to me (inviting me to their little parties, taking me out to see cool parts of the city at night etc) - I think they've enjoyed having a male volunteer, because all the past ones have been female, becuse socialising is still quite gender orientated here. I'll try and do an update at some point in my travels, but until then, 'Neei Hai'!
- comments
Virginia Banks Lovely catch up - have fun xx
Mandy Bruno, it all sounds amazing and a bit scary. Not eating for 20 hours isn't my idea of a holiday. But well done you.