I knew that taking a tuk-tuk in from the airport might be a bad decision, that an AC taxi would be more comfortable and perhaps faster, less dangerous and less like smoking a pack of cigarettes in 30 minutes but think of the fun I would have missed! Traffic in Phnom Penh is a frantic flurry of chaos, a ballet of cars, bicycles, tuk-tuks, motorcycles and the occasional brave (or stupid) pedestrian. It’s like the opening of the Beijing Olympics, only in the daytime and without fireworks.
I spent eight days in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. It was an eye-opening experience, especially after being in Bhutan where happiness is a huge part of the culture. It seems to me that Cambodia is struggling under a heavy load of history and poverty. A Canadian woman I met who was attempting to volunteer there had heard that the population is very young, like 50% are under 16. She said, “They are doing the best they can with little leadership and the best of intentions, but no experience.”
While in Phnom Penh, I visited the National Museum which contains a beautiful collection of Khmer sculpture and is housed in a really neat building, and the Royal Palace, a mini-version of the Bangkok Royal Palace. Both are good places to take a break from the constant inquiries of tuk-tuk drivers, and children selling water and postcards. On the other side of the spectrum is the Tuol Sleng Museum. It is a devastating reminder of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, housed in the actual building where torture took place. (There were hundreds of places just like this.) These are tough images to shake. Being an ostrich with her head in the sand, it was hard to believe that a tragedy of this proportion could have happened in my lifetime, but it did and well, it is happening now in other parts of our world.
My favorite thing to do in Phnom Penh was wander despite the fact that it was extremely hot and the sidewalks are used for parking lots, making walking a challenge. I walked for a while and then sat somewhere for a beverage and then walked to the next place. The buildings are in a variety of styles and conditions. There would be small shops next to grand bright shiny banks next to a market that was in disrepair down the street from a bright shiny mall. ‘Twas a good place to wander.
After a painless six hour bus ride I arrived in Siem Reap, home to a zillion temples, among them Angkor Wat. (En route, I watched the scene along the road, grateful that I didn’t have to live there. The houses were simple wooden buildings, on stilts, with no screens on the glass-less windows and not much evidence of doors or anything inside needing to be kept under lock and key. There were often basic bridges of bamboo crossing the small ravine that ran along the highway. So very different from my comfort zone.),
I went to the temples on a bicycle and was so thankful I did. En route, I met a young British woman who kept me company on our 30+ km ride. I have to say Angkor Wat was not my favorite. It was massive and impressive and amazing, but others were more fun to wander around. And being on bikes, without a guide, we were free to see them at our own pace. There was also the mystery of having no clue what was going on, which we both enjoyed. My favorite was Ta Prohm which is famous for being in the “Tomb Raider” movie with Angelina Jolie. It is being taken over by fig trees—it’s very cool looking, kind of sci-fi. The temples reminded me of the Greek ruins: when you have a ton of old stuff around, it isn’t important much less possible to make it all look pretty. And often Mother Nature does some pretty-making of her own. I also really liked Bayon which has 216 faces smirking from every angle. It made me laugh.
The other highlight of Siem Reap (other than the food—who knew the food would be so good?) was a visit to Tonle Sap. This lake is huge. When I was there, just at the end of the wet season, I was in a boat, toodling around among the tops of the trees. During the wet season, water from the Mekong fills up the lake and swamps the forest; during the dry season, the lake drains a lot of water off down the river and the folks, who all live in floating villages, have to move their homes out into the middle of the lake. There are schools and stores and basketball courts and “dry docks” all floating out on Tonle Sap and twice a year, they have to call on the tow boats to move them. I have got to go back in the dry season to drive among the trees I have only seen from above.
Having survived twenty hours in the air and a total of over 30 in a vertical position en route home, and a week of jet lag, I am settling back into life in North Carolina. It snowed last night which was really different from the high heat of Southeast Asia. I have been looking at pictures and reading about Buddhism and eating ema datse, Bhutan’s national dish of peppers and cheese (two of my favorite foods). I tenderly filed my passport and promised her she’d have further adventures sooner rather than later. Shoot. I really love to travel despite the global warming, politically incorrectness of it. One thing I always know, like they say in Asia, it’s going to be “same same only different.”
No comments:
Post a Comment