A Reluctant Audience

Day 116 - Today, we had no need to walk far. We didn't need anything as we will be flying to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon. We didn't need to go downtown for any reason. There was no reason to visit our local market or close small shops either. This fact was unfortunate only as there was a whole lot of noise in our area from 6:20 AM.

Apparently, a new house is being dedicated in the neighbourhood. One might think that a Buddhist ceremony would be peaceful and respectful. Unfortunately, with the advent of PA systems, even religions have gotten obnoxiously loud. There is a speaker on a twenty-foot pole blasting music, chanting, and prayers into the local environment. In tropical places, buildings are deliberately open, and of course sound as well as wind travels well. There was nothing going on on the other side of us in the temple on this Saturday. Today, the guy building a home on our third side did not have his choice of Cambodia pop blasting from his sound system. So, the sound source was unidirectional.

We did walk to see what was going on and tents were set up and ladies cooking huge quantities of food. I should remember what a blessing it is to see how others live. It is educational as well as emotionally fulfilling. We passed a school as the students were leaving. The poor kids here have six days of school per week to contend with. By what we've seen, schools run two shifts though, so little scholar needs to attend just four hours on a school day.

It's now 5:20 PM and al lthe kids are home. The sermon continues strongly. I wonder what time this will end?

Going With the Flow

Day 105 - Generally, the contents of my eJournal and images increase in volume and complexity during times of exploration. I find my mind is more open and free to synthesize new patterns of thought. As one ventures outside one's typical existence, new ideas have fertile soil to spring forth. My writing is generally more profound when we're off in some distant place.

Right now though, I'm noticing a lot of reliance on photographs in these entries. If I scan through the last few weeks in Cambodia, I don't see my expected increase in writing. I guess that's okay. I am just very relaxed in the hot, humid weather of Siem Reap. I had my epiphany about the rise and falls of civilization when we first visited Angkor Wat years ago. So, I guess coming here for a longer period allows me to soak in the environment without commenting profusely. I can accept that.

Here are seven pictures from our closest market area just, across the river and a half kilometer towards town. Jay brought some fruit and vegetables there today.

Another Vacation from Our Vacation

Day 102 - We were looking at the calendar and figuring out how much winter we have left. Actually, I mean we were figuring out how many days until our trip back to Vancouver through Hong Kong.

We found that we have enough time to take a little trip near the end of this month and into April. It wasn't really designed to be a scouting journey for a future winter, but I suppose it could end up being so. We saw online that it'd be easy to fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok. We plan to spend twelve nights in Pattaya. Life here is quiet. A getaway will make for a noisy, crowded contrast to the subsequent remaining week and a half in Siem Reap. Our winter will finish at the end of the Khmer New Year.

Jay and I have visited Thailand on a number of different occasions, but I was unsure when we visited Pattaya's beach. My self-sleuthing indicates our one and only visit was in April of 1991. During an earlier part of the trip, we saw Bangkok and Chang Mai. An old colleague, Don Richardson suggested we visit right after flight restrictions were ending for the first 'Gulf War'. Pattaya was not as big a city 27 years ago. (There was quite a bit less of me too.) I found personal proof of these facts on YouTube.

Out of Bus Windows

Today, we were picked up by a van at 7:20 am to be taken to a bus heading back to Bangkok.  Other vans and tuk-tuks slowly brought people to the same bus, so we didn’t get moving until 8:45.  It took us to the border.  It stopped at the government run tourist bus area where we got a short ride to the border on another free bus.  We had to exit Cambodia there.  We also had to get another free visa for Thailand there.  There were many tourists and it took nearly an hour.

On the Thai side we waited until another nine tourists got through and a new van brought us to a hotel to wait for the ‘big bus’.  It was 2 o’clock by then so we ate.  Eventually, all the other passengers arrived and we were shepherded onto the  ‘big bus’.  The air conditioning was pretty weak but it was fairly comfortable.  We hit Bangkok at rush hour but then this city is in constant rush hour.  It dropped us off in a different part of the city at 7:15.  We had to take a tuk-tuk to the National Stadium Sky Train Station, so we could get to our hotel at Chong Nonsi.  It was nice to get a shower after a little over 12 hours of travelling.  It was a bit easier getting to Siem Reap on our own but today our tickets were only $7.50 each.

After checking in, we went out to a nice outside seafood restaurant for dinner.  I will remember feeding a cat the ends of all my shrimps.  I am happy to be eating anything this time here.  My stomach was not up to ‘real food’ during the first days here.

Short Time Left in Cambodia

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Siem Reap, Cambodia for almost a week.  Today, we had to buy tickets to get back to Bangkok tomorrow.  We’ll be ready at 7:30 am for the arrival of the tuk-tuk.  Then one bus company will take us all the way back. The first is only to the border where we must exit Cambodia and get another visa into Thailand, then we will pick up a bus from the same company on the Thai side.  The arrival in BKK could be as early as 3:30 pm but I shant count on it.

Today, there’s not much to do.  We don’t want to ‘see’ anything else.  After breakfast out, we spent at least an hour in the Old Market.  It is fun to walk around as it’s a curious mix of food, meat, and souvenirs.  I bought a CD of MP3 Cambodian pop music.  Yesterday I bought an eight-by-five inch wall hanging of the Bayon Temple faces.  It is made of wood and I’m sure I could have haggled a better price than $10 but it is worth it as it’s something that cannot be bought in other places.  I now try to avoid global souvenirs.  Why do some people buy souvenir-type items for their houses if they haven’t actually visited that place?  Export of such items cheapens their value.  For example, I often see similarly carved Kenyan giraffes for sale in shops in Canada while ours were actually purchased from a Kenyan.  I don’t even have to mention the silliness of buying supposed local souvenirs which are, in fact, made in China.   I limit junk to one item per trip nowadays.  It’s really past time to spend $1000 on a good curio-cabinet for the apartment in Vancouver.

Adaptation is Key

This morning we finished up our ‘breakfast supplies’ of jam, cheese, juice, and most of the bread.  Tomorrow will be our last full day here and we’ll just try eating out for breakfast.

After eating, as soon as we headed toward the old market, our tuk-tuk driver of yesterday came by.  Ever since getting here, Jay has really wanted to go to the “Floating Village”.  As it’s not far, we agreed to a price of just $5.

Both on yesterday’s long trip and today’s shorter one, it is interesting to see how people live by driving past the houses and neighbourhoods.  It is surprising how quickly the new scenery become familiar.  Most of the houses are on the second storey with the first floor just up on sticks or pillars.  This keeps the living quarters dry during flooding.

The most peculiar phenomenon is the annual enlargement of the Tonle Sap Lake.  It can increase 4.5 fold during the rainy season.  That’s now.  The change in the biosphere is amazing.  Both flora and fauna have to adapt to areas being underwater for half the year.  The village we took a boat to was made up of boats and floating houses.  I have, of course, seen old movies about Vietnam but seeing folks up close living out their lives in such different circumstances is quite amazing.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in our travel experiences is that people have an amazing capability for adaptation.  People do change clothes, abodes, and beliefs to fit their  circumstances.   I often hear from a particular type of intelligent but misguided person that they think “people are all the same everywhere”.  These statements are simplistic and wrong.  These mushy sentiments are usually heard from well-meaning people who have, themselves, been nowhere.

Over a Hundred Kilometers

We didn’t arrange to go on today’s trip through the hotel.  There are literally hundreds of tuk-tuk drivers trying to find customers.  Here, there are not the Indian type of 3-wheel vehicles.  Rather they use an ordinary 125 cc motorcycle and tow an attached type of rickshaw seat, cover, and wheels.  They have leaf springs and are quite roomy.  We knew that going to the River of 1000 lingas would take quite a long time as it’s 60 kilometers from downtown.


We found a friendly driver with whom we’d talked with yesterday.  He actually found us on our way to the location where he parks.  He agreed to take us to Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean.

We left Siem Reap at around 9 o’clock in the morning.  We weren’t back from the interesting trip until nearly 4:00 pm.  He had agreed to take us for $17 this morning but we gave him a $20 bill.

Climbing the two kilometers up the mountain to see the waterfall and river carvings was quite intense.  It reminded me again why it is important not to put off travel until retirement.  An older person may have had quite a difficult time doing the things we’ve done this week.  Perhaps an older person has the interest, time, and money; however, they very well may no longer have necessary the physical ability.

I will be a little sore tomorrow but I’m so glad we’ve already taken on a lot of the world before it becomes more physically difficult with our increasing years.

Spreading Around a Few Dollars

We needed a day of rest between temple visits. We ended up walking around Siem Reap. After such a hectic day yesterday, it was nice to have little to think about today.

One of the bigger questions of the day was simply where to eat. There are many upscale restaurants where meals can be bought for $8. While that may sound pretty inexpensive, there are also more down-to-earth restaurants where the entrees cost average $1 only. Honestly, it’s not just my wallet that is happy to eat at the latter. I would much rather eat where locals do. I want to experience where I am. It seems silly to come somewhere different but live as if one were home. Of course, we could have eaten at a French or Indian restaurant but I got more satisfaction by going Khamer.

Even then, there are times when I have to think hard about cash. For example, I avoided the mother with child who were begging. I was just returning after eating a $2 pizza and $2 bottle of beer. Just a fraction of that $4 could have fed them for a week most probably.

Dealing with beggars is not something new for me. It is strange how one can get used to it. One really cannot help out ever single one or the wallet would be empty before the day was done. Still, of course in Canada, I refuse to give any handouts. I know we have social institutions set up to help those in need. There is simply no reason for a person to have to resort to begging on the street. However, when travelling in poor sections of Asia, it’s important to remember there is no safety net. A person who has lost his leg from a landmine cannot work and may have no access to a pension. Some are out on the street begging because they have no other option.

I didn’t give money to that woman with a baby but I did have to try harder to make sure that fact didn’t negatively affect my memory of the great dinner.

People Must Travel to Know

We spent the day at Angkor, Cambodia. Some visitors get there before dawn but we left at a more reasonable time of 7:30 am. The tuk-tuk driver delivered us back at the hotel at around 4:00 pm. Without previous travels in India and Asia, I don’t think I would have been ready to really get much meaning from the massive amounts of stone I saw today. These great civilizations were powerful when Europe was in the dark ages and the Americas 'undiscovered'.

Perhaps I’ve been affected by Buddhist philosophy or perhaps it’s just wisdom that comes with age, but it’s hard to escape the temporal quality of existence. Huge cities, temples, and places of education come but are erased with the mere passage of time. Some civilizations peak but eventually, always, the importance moves to other regions. Humans stumble around thinking they are the end result of progress but in fact, all they know will one day be lost or considered irrelevant.

Today I looked at enormous rocks that once created walls and shrines that time has tossed around and that gigantic trees now straddle. I saw temples of such scope that their grandeur still amazes but they are no longer living places; they are simply empty husks no longer connected to the lives of those who once inhabited them. One temple in particular made me feel sad. I was overwhelmed almost to the point of tears. Bear in mind, I’m usually a pretty butch guy. I saw the crumbling walls, the forgotten effort, and the dead dreams of some ancient peoples.

Life is not one continuous procession of progress. History lurches backwards as often as forward. We think of ourselves as the end product of linear evolution. A few centuries ago, though, European power shifted to the Americas, and now a newer shift is rapidly rejuvenating China. Some life grows and old things dwindle.

This process shouldn’t really make me sad at all; it is, more simply, what makes me a part of humanity.

Hanging ‘round Town

We could have gone to the Floating Village or Angkor Wat today but we chose to just take it easy. After all, that is what a vacation can be about! Sometimes on these 'always-on-the-go' ones, it’s good to remember that fact.

We are sort of playing this part of the trip by ear. For example, although the idea of heading to Phnom Penh is on the table it looks increasingly possible we may stay right in this town for our whole week. Seeing Angkor Wat may well take several days. And in this heat and humidity, it’s best to take things slowly.

Today we walked around the city of Siem Reap. Unfortunately, too many tuk tuks are plying for the tourists in town. It’s impossible to walk fifty feet without being asked if we want to be taken somewhere. It could be annoying to some, but I quickly learned to smile and just say no. After all, the dollar they earn by the luck of having a ride may mean a huge difference to them and their families. After all the lot of us are here flashing around cash on seeming extravagances.

We managed lunch not on Pub Street but in a rather upscale restaurant. We were so full we ended up just having soup from sidewalk vendors for dinner. I really rather like it here. It must be like what Bangkok was like 60 years ago. Well, perhaps not. Yet, it has the feeling that it is a bit ‘undiscovered’ even though at that very moment a huge tour bus will rumble by.

Every weather forecast I see calls for different conditions for the the next six days. I bet we’ll try checking out Angkor in the morning tomorrow. Or maybe …

Bangkok to Siem Reap

There are tons of scary and complicated stories on the Internet about trying to travel from Thailand to Cambodia.  We read them all.  We tried to figure out how to prepare and decided to come by bus.  Key in getting here was the fact we got e-visas before our trip.  The whole process is pretty straight forward except near the border itself.

(I will leave this space to allow for a more detailed account of how we got here when I have the time.)

It was dark when we got to our hotel.  We had reserved in Canada so we knew, they knew, we were coming.  We must have checked in at around 6:45 or so.  First things first: a shower.  We then walked around looking for something to eat for dinner. 

I think I’m going to like Siem Reap.  It seems a perfect size, at least this part.  There are sufficient numbers of tourists to have a thriving restaurant and bar area.  Lots of folks can throw down $6 for dinner and get a rather upscale meal.  We’ll do that tomorrow.  Tonight we bought from street vendors.  We spent $3.50 in total only because I got a can of Anchor beer.  People bring in US dollars as they are the main form of currency.  There is also local currency called a riel.  At the present time the unofficial exchange rate is 4000 to a buck.  Stores and restaurants price in dollars but will accept riel.

We didn’t venture too far and will be in bed by ten. A little tired, yes.