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This is the first time I've been able to get to a computer in the last ten days-ish! It's been a rather busy week to say the least, so sorry for the delayed update.The ailments that accompanied my sickness on Sunday were not great; being bed bound in a hot foreign country is not my idea of fun. Having wasted the day feeling sorry for myself, I ventured out to Ra's (our resident tùk tùk driver) "homeland" to celebrate Khmer New Year with his family and friends on Monday. Alike to most Khmer's living in Siem Reap City, Ra's "home" is out in the countryside; his parents', sisters', etc. all find the majority of their employment in agriculture.
It was a very long tùk tùk drive, approx. 44km which, on a tùk tùk laden with three people, took a little bit of time.Rather weary, we arrived at Ra's village. It's peculiar how all the stilted houses in the countryside can all look so similar yet so different all at the same time. In true Khmer style, we were warmly welcomed by all the people, and ushered into one of the houses; Ra's friend's sister. The steps up into the house were teeeeeny and so steep; it seems the Khmer's just love ridiculous steps everywhere! I was surprised by how open and airy the house was; a single room with open windows, open wardrobes; there's next to no privacy!Despite not feeling very well, I felt like there was a reason that we were at Ra's village. His friend, Min, introduced himself to us in admirably fluent English. Now, Min has become one of the most inspiring people I've ever met… Min has so much courage, determination and aspiration in the face of horrific disabilities that leave some of his face paralysed, stunted growth and inability to walk properly. He told his sister after battling with depression (because of her own disfigurement), that she had to find her niche and work with it: "we might be different but you can't just sit around all day doing nothing, you've got to make a difference in your life". Min's sister now has a relatively successful clothes making business; she has the ability to look at a photograph of garments and replicate it instantly - that's truly talented in itself! Min himself is also selfless and caring; he studies environmental science at university and is an ambassador for several charities (makes me feel so selfish!!*). He plans to educate the Khmer people and strives to end the littering culture strife across the rural villages in Cambodia. Min's another resilient, kind, happy and unbelievably powerful Khmer (can we please make them like this in England?!*).
Ra and Min took us out to the local pagoda. Many a monk, lots of people (annoying little kids throwing firecrackers everywhere - why?!), all out commemorating New Year. We witnessed the food offerings to the deceased ancestors; large bowls of rice. There was a 5-toed pig roaming around too. The pig cannot be slaughtered because it's believed to be a reincarnated human (evidence: 5 toes!). We drove a little further on to a water village. It was almost like I'd walked into a completely different country. The poverty here was abject. The smell was unbelievable (dry season so much of the "water" is stagnant). Some of the houses are 20 metres up from the ground, a mesh of wooden sticks propping up the house. I cannot fathom how dangerous this place would be. Children and babies die here in their hundreds every year… fall from the houses, get trapped under the water. It's horrendous. These people go to the toilet, wash their clothes and bodies, and drink from the same body of water (bleugh*).Then again, even in Ra's village, there's no filtered water. They drink out of a disgusting lake, with all sorts of parasites, bacteria, etc. It's sickening that people have no other option than to do that.
Ra's family cooked us a feast - I felt so awful that all I could stomach was rice! Anna and Chris stuffed in my portion as well, so as not to be rude (sorry girls*). The village has genuinely never seen foreigners before, so we felt a bit like celebrities; everyone staring and shouting, offering us things - ridiculous! Then the traditional Khmer games commenced with the entire village… There seems to be no rules in these activities; boys against girls, hitting each others knees, tug of war, duck-duck goose esque, piñata esque, and of course lots of dancing. It's so lovely to see them all so happy and just enjoying each others company.Tuesday was a lazy-ish day; getting things ready for when mum arrives really. Anna and I headed to the pool, but it was too hot so we retreated very quickly! (cannot handle this heat*).Mum's arrived! The weather was awful on Wednesday. It's been sunny the entire time I've been in Cambodia, telling her that it's ridiculously hot, etc. she arrives; it's cold, stormy and monsoon-style raining (typical, eh?!*). She brought it with her from England. We had lunch at the Peace Café and visited the National Museum. I think we're both over satisfied with the thousands of Buddah's we looked at! Twas full of good information and history though, so a briefing for temples. Mum was surprisingly sprightly so we headed out to the night markets, where we bought far too much; I'm the meanest haggler you'd ever see!
Both Thursday and Friday were filled with temple excursions. We decided to do the main Angkor temples; Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Bayon, Elephant Terrace, etc.), Ta Prohm and all the other smaller temples on the "small circuit". I warn you, that took us from 7am - 2pm, so seven hours to do about 7! There's just so much to see. Unfortunately, mum and I couldn't climb AW because it was closed that day for cleaning (just our luck*). However, we scrambled (and I mean basically rock climbed*) up the side of one of the others which was definitely higher once we'd reached the top! Thankfully mum now understands how terrifying the "stairs" are... if I'm honest, the ones we climbed that day were worse, no hand rail, fewer tourists scaling/daring the heights. When we got to the top (I think the temple is Ta Keo*) we stopped for a breather, took in the gorgeous Jungle scenery that surrounded us and read up on the temples. A Cambodian man came and joined us because he likes to listen to people read (how cute is that?!*) and he told us (in very good English) how he has a university degree but there's no jobs here; no opportunity. He cleans this temple for merely $25 a month. It's unfathomable how he even has enough money to live on :( Ta Prohm was MUCH better than the last time I went; fewer umbrella-bearing people (grr*) so we got some good photos, and actually got up close to the carvings!
We headed out further from Siem Reap to visit Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean. Mum and I got lost on our way to BS... No idea how, but we managed to walk about 2km in the wrong direction (can I get a round of applause?!*). The temple is beautiful though; it's pink and petite! BS is thought to have been carved by women because of the intricacies, detail and depth of the artwork that graces it's whole body. (I think mums been inspired to venture into the world of stone carving art when she gets home*). The most is filled with lily pads and lotus' so it looks so girly; a princess palace! We headed out further to Kbal Spean. This took a 2km climb up the mountain side, scrambling over rocks & tree roots. It's no wonder there were very few people who visit the beautiful inscriptions in the water... The climb is really tough (add the 5kgs of water strapped to my back, and I was dying!!*). It's more of mountain trekking than a light stroll... Boulders upon boulders to clamber and trip over. It's through the jungle too, so just to make it that little bit easier, dodging the tree roots and vines is a personal agility trial. Despite the sweltering heat, the views on the way up are exquisite, there's such a lovely breeze and the carvings are worth the trip (so so beautiful; one of my favourites!). We bypassed a waterfall too, which was lovely!
Whilst at Kbal Spean we visited the conservation and biodiversity centre which was nice, learn about some of the native and endemic species here and also about some of those that are endangered :(. Very interesting but a bit too long, and the heat was stifling! We decided to stop off at the museum on the way back to the hotel... I thought mum needed to have this bit of culture too because I'd been so heavily impacted by it a couple of weeks ago. Once again I let myself into the harrowing realisation of just how dangerous this country still is and how relentless the aftermath has been on the people here. Hundreds are still killed every year because of undetonated land mines... It's just disgusting. The museum has been set up by an ex-teen Khmer Rouge officer, who himself set up a lot of land mines admist the civil war. His mission is to clear Cambodia of the landmines, but the sheer severity of the task is unknown; anywhere between 1 and 6 million land mines could still be out there. Theres thousands of land mine artefacts shown in the museum; its sickening to think that these are just a fraction of what's left, what's yet to be discovered. The museum also holds the makeshift prosthetic limbs that victims had to use... Many of them evidently smaller to fit a child. On site is an orphanage too. It's an orphanage for land mine victims, a sustainable one, not the "tourist attraction" ones closer to the city (which are a massive issue here*). Mum said it was definitely worth the visit and I think it's put what she's seen into perspective. Once again: a real eye opener.
Mum and I have immersed ourselves into the food here too! (Thank you lonely planet for the recommendations!*). It's all so delicious and ridiculously cheap (holiday chub*). Siem Reap's very small so we're able to walk everywhere pretty easily, if you can orientate yourself! We've been to all the markets now I think, we definitely found some better ones, well ones that don't sell all the same tat repeatedly at every stall, later on (nothing now fits in our suitcases haha). The best plan would probably be to come out with an empty suitcase; I want everything!!
The artisans d'Angkor is amazing! It's all little workshops of artists doing several different things: silk weaving, silk painting, silver plating, brass moulding, stone carvings, wood carvings, etc. 'twas lovely. It's all hand crafted and made me feel really bad about haggling at the markets... Buying everything for a tuppence when months of rigorous, painstaking work goes into the creation of a single thing (perfectionism at its best!). To make up for it we bought lots of things in the shop (everything's about 20 times the price of the markets which is good because its fair trade - and still cheap!). Lots of gorgeous gifts! Lunch was at the Peace Cafe, as its our final day in SR (waaaaaaah*). We're all packed and ready to go elsewhere (eeek*).
But... Not before the worst tourist swizz ever. We booked to go on a river cruise and out onto the Tonlé Sap lake. We were sold a lovely evening on a boat, all you can eat and drink (champagne etc.). Couldn't have been far from the truth. We pootled along this pretty much dried up river (dry season - no water) do we kept running aground (fun eh?!), I got splashed by the parasite ridden water (not happy!!!!!), then we got out onto the "lake" and were harassed by begging children bearing snakes. I didn't think it could get much worse but we had delinquent people with us who decided to give these kids money leading to them clambering in the boat and putting snakes around people's necks etc (my one slight fear is snakes*). We were made to leave to boat to visit a crocodile and fish farm (animal cruelty if you ask me). Couldn't get any worse? Well then the food was awful, the champagne was basically whiskey and the promise of "the most beautiful sunset" was overshadowed, quite literally, by a storm. The latter not the company's fault but the experience was dreadful. Hilarious looking back on it now though...
Mum's had an amazing time all in all and exploring the city, the culture, etc. has all been really worth while. We're now in BANGKOK, staying with friends! It's amazing here too, but I'll speak about that in the next blog post which'll hopefully be up sometime this week! Thank you for reading.. Keep posted!!
Love,
Jordanna xx
p.s. sorry that one was a little boring, I'm not feeling too great. I promise the next one will be a million times better :)
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