Khmer love

Jomripsu! (A Cambodian greeting)

Sorry it has been a little while since we have posted. We have been so captivated with the beautiful Kingdom of Cambodia that we haven't gotten much of a chance to get onto the internet. As such, we will be trying to catch up on our experience in Cambodia thus far, and as one may imagine, this will take a few hearty posts to get the stories down.

We began our sojourn to Cambodia last Friday morning, leaving our comfortable guesthouse on the river in Chanthaburi, Thailand to set out via minibus to the Cambodian border. I know we posted last on Wednesday that we would be leaving Chanthaburi the next day, Thursday, but we had such a lovely dinner on Wednesday night - and after a long day of travel already - we decided to postpone the border crossing until Friday morning. We spent the day walking around Chathaburi, experiencing the sort of sleepy town that makes up a lot of Thailand's country. Finishing off our afternoon playing a heated round of Brisk and enjoying some Singha beer, we met a couple, Cathan and Lindsay (Irish and American, respectively) arriving at our guesthouse who were set to travel to Cambodia the next day on relatively the same route we were planning to do. The four of us enjoyed dinner together before heading off to bed to ensure we would all be ready for the full day of travel ahead of us.

The next morning, passports, passport photos, money and tenacity in hand - we headed to the minibus station, determined to have a smooth border arrivial into Cambodia. We had to negotiate with the minibus driver on how much the hour and a half ride to the border would cost us. He said 150 baht - I said 100 baht. He said 130 baht - I said 100 baht. Finally, he agreed and told us we would be leaving at 11 a.m. Because we had about fifteen minutes to kill, Jay and Cathal ventured off to buy water. Lindsay and I chatted for a while in the bus, until we decided to stand outside the bus and get some air - afterall, we had a long enough bus ride in the crammed, stuffy thing, no use in prolonging it needlessly. We stood outside the bus, waiting for the boys to return, when the driver got into the bus (smiling at us in that true Thai fashion) and started the engine. In true typical Maeve scenario form, I said, "wouldn't it be funny if he just drove away with all our stuff?" to which Lindsay chuckled and replied ""yeah, what could we really do?"". Of course, as she completed uttering the words...he drove off. Just like that - with all our packs, our purses and knapsacks. We looked at each other nervously, until my nervousness turned into furiousness which I unleashed on the man who I had bargained with. "Where is he going?!!!!!" "He come back. He he he he. Mi pen rai! ("nevermind!"). As Jay and Cathal returned, we saw their happy faces turn from confused to worries as they noticed the van was gone. We sat waiting for the return of the bus which luckily for us about 15 minutes later returned with one passenger and a full tank of gas, and our packs intact. Phew.

We made the journey to the border, stopping to pick up people in many villages who work or visit family in Cambodia. During the rule of the Khmer Rouge, many Cambodias fled by foot to Thailand and as a result a large amount of Cambodians have settled and raised family on the bordering Thai towns. We arrived at the Cambodian border, apprehensive because of all the horror stories of being swindelled we have heard. The border which we arrived at is not used often by tourists, mostly by commuting Cambodians and Thais, so we knew this would either work for or agaisnt us. We proceeded to fill out the necessary visa forms and give copies of our passport photos. The border official asked for the $20 American (as they accept American money everywhere in Cambodia, as well a Riel - the Cambodian currency) or 900 baht - which is more than 20 dollars American but they were not willing to budge on that. $20 is the advertised price for a Cambodian visa, so if we could get our hands on some American money we could make it across without getting swindelled as we had feared. Noticing a group of older British travelers passing into Thailand the other way, we decided to ask if we could switch baht for dollars since they would be using baht soon enough and we needed the American...a very kind woman traded with me.

I said, "1400 baht is rougly 40 dollars American, a bit more...if you would trade with me, I would be very grateful, because this border man ain't budging." She agreed.
I handed her (what I thought to be) 1400 baht and she traded her 40 American and we both went on our merry way. Once we were done our visa exchange, Jay and I assessed our financial situation...and we were looking much better than anticipated. As I stood examining our funds, I realized that in my haste, I had handed the British woman a thousand baht bill and four 20 baht bills, not four 100 baht bills which would have made the appropriate exchange...and she was long gone. Ooooooooops. Turns out the only person swindelled at the Cambodian border was the woman who traded currencies with me! Teehee.

That was that, and we were in Cambodia. The border was sparse, a few cows lazily grazing and a few taxi drivers eagerly awaiting to know our destination. We met one taxi driver who told us he would take us to Battambang (where we had planned to stay that night) for 300 baht each, a fine deal considering the journey was over three hours on a notoriously unkempt, bumpy and dusty road.

Despite the condition of the road, we couldn't of asked for a finer start to seeing Cambodia. We traveled along a path that is not usually traveled by foreigners and so many Cambodians stopped and stared as we bumped along the road, to the sound of sweet Cambodian "beats"(provided by our driver - who looked like a Cambodian version of Terrance Howard). The sights along the way where too much to take in all at once, but we did our best. We saw chickens plucking away at the earth (and of course I thought of my mum), we saw cows, people lazing in hammocks, beautiful mountains and palm trees. Eventually, once we had passed the town of Pailin (where most retired Khmer Rouge leaders are now living), we noticed a lot of red signs with little skull and crossbones on them...of cours we knew what lay beneath them - landmines, and plenty of them. At one point, we passed a row of the little signs, one of which had a group of people standing around. As we got closer, we saw beneath the sign a huge cavity in the ground, at least 5 feet deep and 8 feet across. Our driver told us that the mine had exploded that very morning, killing three people.

Cambodia is very much moving past the horrific genocide which tore the country apart between 1975-1979. It is moving past the American bombs the preceeded (and perhaps prompted) the genocide, and it is moving past the famine that plagued the country after the genocide. But it must be hard to move past it all when deadly reminders are still scattered throughout the countryside...

As we drove along, we contemplated how much this small country has had to overcome in the last forty years. Over 40% of Cambodia's population is under the age of 15, which means almost half the country is free of the horrific images that their parents and grandparents must see when they close their eyes. Almost an entire generation of people in Cambodia were killed, around 2 million people in a population of just 11. The government has yet to sort itself out, while it claims to be democratic the particular ruling party still controls everything imaginable through corruption. Tourism has boosted the country's economy for the first time and that is a good thing.

We drove along looking into the faces and smiles of all the people we passed, into their humble roadside dwellings, smelling fish drying in the sun and garlic cooking in pans. Our driver told us he had finished high school and not gone to university...but that his son, the eldest one of five, was going to be going to the one unversity in Siem Reap. There is a great hope and future for this country yet.

We arrived in the town of Battambang, which is still very much influenced by the French occupation which ended in the early 1950s. The French left behind a few things, namely: Large riverside French boulevards, French architecture and, best of all, baguettes! They are everywhere, and we have happily indulged.

Khmer food is also very delicious. Amok is Khmer curry - not so spicy as Thai and less potent than Indian curry, but very aromatic and flavourful.

Arriving to our hotel (which was "helpfully suggested" by our driver - don't get me started...) we plunked down in our $5 a night room for a while, until we explored town, ate dinner and drank Ankor - the national beer of Cambodia, of course.

Eating dinner on the streetside, we were accosted by beggers - some children, some mothers with children, some elderly folk - I guess we had the look of newbies because we seemed to be the concentration of their begging. Cambodia is still very much an improverished country and beginning in cities is quite prevalent.

We had arrived in Cambodia, and eagerly awaited our next day's exploits. In the mean time, a few beers and a comfortable bed awaited us, so after our drinks we returned to the room to hit the hay.

Of course, we returned to a bed infested with ants. The roughing it had begun.

Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the Ox....

love (post 1)
Maeve/Jay