Falls

Today we cycled 56 kms in the hot sun followed by a 45 minute climb up a rocky hill to reach an ancient waterfall.  Here is a photo of this special waterfall:

And here is a photo of my reaction after seeing the waterfall:

Then the guide announced we were going to go and look at another temple.  Sigh.  I was very much anti temple at this point in the day – it was already 4 PM and now raining.  The guide told me that he could spend a day at this temple…but then again he kept telling me how amazing the waterfall was.  I gave up and decided to go to the temple, and the guide was right.  It was pretty cool.  Built in around 950 and not discovered until the 1940’s.  It was in pieces when they found it and covered with termite mounds and trees so they had to put it back together like a puzzle.

Tomorrow we leave at 6:30AM to drive to a 6 hour boat ride to the "rice bowl" of Cambodia.

By the way, I decided to stop drinking for this leg of the trip and I have questioned this decision pretty much every day since I started my cycling adventure.  In fact, I just slapped myself having read the previous sentence.  I would say the 2 hour tour of the Genocide museum and any interaction with Jane have made me think this could be one of the stupider decisions I’ve ever made. 

Tomorrow may very well turn into a 6 hour booze cruise.  I think it all depends on if Jane sits at my table at breakfast.  That and if I can find a bottle of wine.  You'll know if I've fallen off the wagon if I'm slurring in my note tomorrow.

Cambodian Karma

My dear sister, who loves me very much, warned me a few days ago that I should watch my words.  She suggested that I might not be in the position to criticize anyone else’s driving skills given my, ahem, unique style of vehicular management.  Then this morning she sent me a note wondering if I should really be comparing cute little children to stinging red ants.  She’s right, I should have been more careful!  Karma is a bitch, and Cambodia is the land of Karma…and it lashed out at me with a cold sore, a stomach ache, and a terrible cold.  A triple whammy!

Despite feeling like crap, I did have a great day today in the Ankor archaeological site – truly amazing.  I took like 150 pictures (somehow my picture taking skills have deteriorated on this trip).  It’s a surreal place.  And Cambodia and I had our Come to Buddha moment today and I think we’re on the same page now.

Cambodia was overpromised and it under delivered, but now that I understand Cambodia better, I’m OK with it.  My Mom used to say to me when I didn’t like a kid at school that the kid probably had a rough upbringing and I should be nice to them.  And that’s exactly how I feel about Cambodia.  You don’t get a much rougher upbringing than Cambodia has had and so I’m going to cut him a break. 

My problem with Cambodia is that, in general, I am just not a big fan of the people.  This is strange because everyone else seems to agree that the people are incredibly wonderful.  And that has not been my experience at all.  Was that my experience in Thailand?  Yes.  Was that my experience in Vietnam?  Yes.  Was that my experience in China?  Sometimes.  Cambodia – not really.  Men have leered at me, children have bullied me and people have ignored me all together.  So I’m not on the Cambodian people love train.  Do I blame them for not being particularly kind?  Not anymore.  Like I said, they’ve had about as shitty an upbringing as you can get.

It’s the begging that gets me the most.  Where I was in Vietnam, the living conditions were far, far, FAR, worse than what I have seen in Cambodia, but nobody begged once to us.  We were around children and families several times a day and they were lovely.  They didn’t speak any English at all so communication was impossible, but it was always quite pleasant interaction.   Kids would come running from their homes in bare feet screaming HELLO! and giving high fives and giggling.  The same thing happens here, except the Cambodian kids say HELLO! give a high five and then ask for candy and money. 

In the tourist areas, the kids have impressive begging skills and I’m learning from them.  They can be very charming people – they are beautiful for the most part, they speak English, and they’ve been taught the right things to say.  Although their skills are impressive, I feel terrible for these kids because someone has taught them to beg and it's simply not dignified behavior.  Nor does it seem to be required (and this was reinforced by my tour guides).

These kids stick to you like glue and barrage you with:  Where are you from? What’s your name madame?  How are you feeling?  Are you doing OK?  Just one dollar for this silk scarf to help me learn English in school.  Please pretty lady?  Please?  Just one dollar.  And then they just drone on “one dollar, one dollar, one dollar, one dollar” until you want to run away.   I’ve never bought anything from them because I really think it’s terrible.  The other people in my group do (even though the tour guides tell them not to) which causes a terrible stir.

The Cambodians appear to have received more international aide than Vietnam and have put it to good use – and Cambodians seem to be quite industrious and take good care of their homes and land. This surprised me because both my Cambodian guides and Vietnamese guides said that the Vietnamese were harder workers than the Cambodians, but based on what I have seen I think it’s the opposite.  There were loads of Vietnamese hanging out in hammocks doing nothing or watching tv.  But in the Cambodian villages we’ve been in, the people are almost always working on their homes and cleaning up or taking care of their cattle or rice. 

So there are good things and bad things.  But I really sort of value human kindness above just about everything and I’m not feeling the love.  Cambodia just feels a bit arrogant or desperate.  Tomorrow we’re headed to more villages and I’m curious to see if I feel the same way. 

Disclaimer:  This is just my own uneducated opinion based on what I've seen.  I'm an ignorant traveler here...I learn most everything about the places I'm visiting once I arrive. Cambodia has a king?  I didn't know that.  He might be gay?  How interesting.  So take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Now that I’ve apologized and everything, I do have to redeem myself with the following quote from my friend Mike who emailed today after recently arriving in Cambodia from Vietnam:  “So I'm having a tough one in Cambodia..bad hotel experiences, got a cough, got food poisoning, got computer problems, etc.”

Sounds like Cambodia hit him with the bad Karma too…I’ll have to let him know that it’s Angelina’s fault.

First temple we visited which was made famous by...Angelina Jolie in the movie Tomb Raider.  These trees were amazing growing all over the building.  It is the only temple in the area where the trees are allowed to grow like this.

The detail was amazing even though they were made in the late 12th century.

The temples went back and forth between being Hindu and Buddhist.

My guide loves this photo and took it for everyone in the group

Ankor Wat is HUGE.  Really impressive.

The Jolie Effect

I've just finished a long day of 13 hours travelling, so perhaps I am a bit prickly right now.  But I've been wondering about this place all day....is it really the case that the rave reviews of Cambodia have been created solely by Angelina Jolie?  How is that possible?  My 75 year old neighbor couldn't stop talking about how lovely Cambodia is.  Was she just listening to Angelina?  Probably.


Sometimes our society drives me crazy.


So Cambodia, I've reset the bar really, really low and you have exactly 4 days to convince me that you're worth all the positive remarks the world gives you.  I've been wrong before (like when I changed my mind and decided to go on a 14 day cycling trip instead of 7 days so I could see both Cambodia and Vietnam.  I should have stuck with Vietnam).  


Good luck  ...

My day started out with spiders.  I HATE spiders.  I'm thankful I got to share a room with rats.  At this charming bathroom stop, the kids are waiting for you as you get off the bus (nothing new there) but here they throw giant spiders on you.  This is our Cambodian guide Rong (endless entertainment from that name) with a giant spider.

And in case you are hungry, you can eat them too!

Then we got to take this dirt road for about an hour to lunch.  We were supposed to cycle this bit, but unfortunately too much time was spent with the spiders and we were running late.  At the end of this ride, I vomited.

But it was totally worth car sickness, because look at what we got to see!  These rocks are as old as the pyramids.  Wow.

There were more interesting things to look at, and here the temple guide is pointing them out.  Unfortunately I couldn't understand a word he was saying.  When he mentioned a German organization had sponsored his English lessons, things began to make more sense.

These were the red ants that were climbing up our legs and stinging us while we tried to figure out what the guide was saying. 

These were the kids begging who never left our side (this happens all the time in Cambodia).  More on this topic later when I'm in a better mood and can say nicer things.  Right now I would compare them to red ants.

Then it was time to cycle for about 30 kms which took us an impressive 4 hours.

Unfortunately one of the 2 members of the group who likes going in reverse caught her wheel in the dirt and fell, which really stinks.  This caused quite a commotion in the village and everyone came to watch her get bandaged up (her entire right leg is now covered in bandages because she's fallen down a few times).

While we were waiting, Jane, in her ultimate wisdom, chose to walk with her bike down a steep, muddy ditch to do...what?  I'm not sure.  Anyway, she fell all the way down and was covered from head to toe in mud and god knows what else.  This made all the villagers laugh..

We ended up being really late and it was cool to be in rush hour traffic with lots of ox pulled wagons.

It was a gorgeous night for a ride.

Then back on the bus for another 3 hours.  I was sandwiched in between a Belgian lady who really can't speak English (I was wrong, she's not faking) and a British guy.  We all had our knees up to our ears - except for Jane and the other slow poke who took 2 seats for themselves.  Nobody bothered arguing.
The Belgian lady ended up stealing my water bottle.  I confronted her and she pretended like she didn't understand what I was saying.   This reminds me -  I wish I spoke another language that nobody else understood so I could pull that off.  I'll have to speak to The Healer about this.  There's gotta be something he can do.

Biker's Butt

My ass hurts.  On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is Hiney Heaven and 10 is Tush Torture I am scoring at least a 27.  Our pace is SO SLOW that I end up with my butt on the bike for about twice as long as it needs to be.  There are two people in the group who practically go in reverse (you can guess who one of them is) and the rest of us have to slow down to make sure we don’t lose them (no matter how much we want to lose them).  It ends up with me practicing my balancing skills quite a bit because I’m standing still on my bike for a good portion of the ride.  Anyway, the good news is that there are 2 nurses in the group and they each have their own special remedy for Bikers Butt (I’m not sure if Biker’s Butt is a real condition, but there really should be more readily available treatments).  

Tomorrow we have another 12 hour travel day but only about 2 hours of it will be cycling so hopefully I’ll be able to make it….the rest will be on the bus which means I will be asleep for most of the day.  Today we cycled through the city of Phnom Penh which was an experience.  Between the city cycling in Vietnam and here I’m totally over my city cycling fear. 

Traffic here is complete chaos.  It’s not like places in China I’ve visited where is seems drivers randomly got a license and said Woooowee!  Let’s give this driving thing a try!  The drivers in Vietnam and Cambodia definitely know what they’re doing and then consciously and collectively decide to ignore all rules.  In Vietnam there were motor bikes coming at you from the left, right and center – you really had to pay attention.  On top of it, you’d have little kids on the bikes that would zoom up next to you waving and yelling ecstatically “Hello! Hello! Hellooo!!!!!  What is your name!  What is your name!  What is your naaame?!?!?!” and I found myself wanting to respond: “Listen kid, appreciate your enthusiasm, but I’m just trying to get to a rodent infested hotel so I can wash all the mud and dirt off of me and I’m not going to get killed by a motorbike in Vietnam just because you want to practice your English.”  But instead I would wave hello and yell back and forth until all English was exhausted which really didn't take long.

The difference with Cambodia traffic v. Vietnam is that there are cars, which makes cycling more even more exciting.  Overall, Cambodia is definitely different than Vietnam.  The food is better, the people are very beautiful, and it is more corrupt.  But that’s just my first impression.

I didn’t get many pictures today because I was on a bike for most of it but here are a few…

I wonder if their butt's hurt as much as mine does.

My "friends" let me cycle around looking like this for a few hours.  Finally Patrick asked to take a picture so he could show me how silly I looked.  But at least I didn't get a sunburn!

This is a temple that the old King build like 15 years ago.  The whole king situation here is very interesting...

Buddhist Temple.

This is the traffic in Phnom Penh.  I'm in a tuk tuk which felt a lot safer than riding a bike.

Civilization

Took a 5 hour boat ride on the Mekong to Phnom Penh Cambodia.  I love being on boats and the sun was out so it was a great trip.  In case you're wondering where I am, here's a map of the route we're following:

Upon arrival in Phnom Penh I was ecstatic to be back in civilization!  We went to lunch at a lovely restaurant on the river that had REAL bathrooms. 


Then our new tour guide (can't spell his name) decided to temper our joy by taking us to a Genocide Museum.  I know what you're thinking - why didn't we make it to the Cambodian Killing Fields 15 kms away as planned?  Unfortunately our guide took us on a VERY thorough 2 hour tour of the museum/prison and so we didn't have time for any more Killing Fields which was a real shame. 


It was too horrible and sad for words and I've had it with horrid and sad history lessons.  I am ready to experience the wonderful things of Cambodia that everyone has told me about.  Tomorrow we cycle to Ou Dong and then have the afternoon to ourselves to explore Phnom Penh.  Hopefully the sun shines like it did today.


No triscuits today, but I did find a convenience store and cleaned them out of nearly all remotely healthy snacks.  I am now a walking grocery store, but I will not go hungry.  


And I avoided Jane for most of the day.  The only real exposure I had to her was when we were at customs on the Cambodian border.  It took a while, but eventually we all got our visas except for Jane which made her very nervous.  I think she knew as well as I did that the Cambodians are smart enough to know she shouldn't be allowed into their country...they've heard how she eats magnets and pees in showers.  But somehow they ended up letting her in.


Today is my 8 year anniversary with Philips.  A huge, huge thank you to Axelle and Jaap for letting me take 2 months vacation!  I cannot thank you enough (but you're probably so busy you never read my blog...).  I feel so lucky to be celebrating the anniversary in SE Asia and lucky to have been able to move all over the place with Philips over the past 8 years.  


I also feel lucky because I get to sleep in the most normal hotel I've stayed at in 4 nights.  If I pretend, I can almost convince myself I'm in a Super 8!

Goodbye Vietnam!

I tried to post this last night but the hotel didn’t have wireless (or rats or roaches I don’t think).  It did have bugs though and when you used the hotel’s computer you were covered with them…

We finished late tonight about 7 km’s from the border of Cambodia.  It was a boat/bike/bus travel day from 8 AM until nearly 9 PM.  The day started out very pleasantly at some floating markets. Despite the fact that the market sellers lived on small, dirty boats and used the same filthy river as both a bathtub and toilet, pretty much everyone had a smile on their face.   Then everything was put into perspective at the very end of the day when we drove through over an hour of dismal slums – the worst I’ve seen so far here, or anywhere for that matter – and then the grande finale was a visit to the Killing Fields which I believe was Vietnam’s way of saying “Christy, I’m afraid it’s not going to work out between us.  It’s not you, it’s me.  Have you considered my friend Cambodia?”

It was shocking to see the dismal living conditions in the slums even after spending the two previous days in very, very poor villages in the Mekong Delta.  It was sheer squalor.  And what really didn’t add up as we drove through the night on a torn up single track road through the slums was that at least ½ of the homes (if you can call them that) were lit up by flickering television sets.

There’s a part of me that can understand why these families would choose to invest in a TV over, say, refrigeration.  It may be the only easy escape when living in a slum.  But it’s not just having a TV.  Most of the small villages had what could only be described as ball gown shops where brightly colored strapless dresses covered in sequins were sold.  I really can’t think of any occasion outside of prom where I would have the opportunity to wear such a dress, so the purpose and use of these dresses in a flooded, disgusting slum is a complete mystery to me.  The other common shops were hair dressers and motor cycle shops – I kept looking for a couple on a hot rod with freshly blown out hair decked out in a tux and ball gown to go flying past our mini bus, but I never saw anything close.  Anyway, none of it added up and just made me feel worse about their living situations.  Don’t misunderstand me – pretty much everything else I had seen in the previous days was poor but certainly not depressing.  For the most part, everyone seemed very happy with their families and led simple lives.  But these slums were just wrong.

Then we got to the Killing Fields.  And I guess our guides wanted to give us the VIP treatment because we got a private late night viewing.  Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like seeing Killing Fields in pitch black darkness on a moonless night!  Especially when the monument is a collection of thousands of skulls and skeletons of the people massacred by Pol Pot.  I did not like it there.

On to happier things!

Two exciting things happened today.  Operation Triscuit is complete!  It’s a bit shameful really – I ended up loaning some cash to the WI tough guys and suggested they pay me back in Triscuits.   Unfortunately, attempts to kill them with kindness and charm their socks off were not successful.  Sometimes you do have to buy love.  I will say that I’m changing my tune on my fellow statesmen and made too quick a judgment on their character.  They came to breakfast bearing a powerbar as a gift to replace the ones eaten by the rats which was really nice.

The other exciting thing is that Jane tried to eat a magnet today because she thought it was a piece of candy.   The magnet was in the shape of mini bananas and so you can understand how she got confused.  It wasn’t as good as peeing in a stranger’s shower, but it gave me a good chuckle.

Tomorrow we leave at 6:30AM to get on the boat to Cambodia.  Goodbye Vietnam!

Taking a shower in the river.

Doing laundry in the river.

Floating markets - not for tourists, but for the locals.

The kitchen at the restaurant we went to for lunch.  I didn't bother taking a photo of the bathroom, yick.

Buddy #2!!!

Me and MY Triscuits!  They were 4 cheese and the thin triangles (not the classic ones) but I was thrilled!

We went to a stork sanctuary.  I have no more comment on this one, I don't really like watching birds.

From Rats to Roaches

It’s amazing how after having a rodent infested hotel room with rats eating the majority of your food while traveling in a part of Vietnam where the cuisine makes you want to gag can make a cockroach laden bathroom seem OK.

I was feeling really confident about the hotel tonight - especially being on the 4^th floor (surely rats wouldn’t come up this far?)  Took a shower (no hot water here, but to be fair, they don’t advertise it like the hotel last night) and washed away the mud.  Then went to a normal (Halleluiah!) dinner and even got to drink 2 diet pepsi’s (!!!!!!!!!)

When I came back from dinner and found cockroaches in my bathroom, I laughed.  I mean really!  I went next door to ask my new friend Patrick if I should get a different room.  He came and checked the bathroom – yup, cockroaches confirmed!  Patrick told me not to worry, unlike rats they carry no diseases and will stay in the bathroom where it is moist.  But he advised me to always wear my sandals (like I would take them off?!?!) otherwise I might crunch one.  I asked – do you guys have cockroaches?  He looked at me with disgust – God no! 

I learned something today when visiting a Buddhist temple about the circle of life and how good things come to people who have had a string of bad luck.  It’s my time Buddha.

It was a tough day and we even had to quit early because we were so slow on this terrain.  The ride was technical and it took a lot of mental willpower to get through all the muck and mud and rocks and potholes.   I didn’t get into a fight with Buddy #2, but I did tell him to get his shit together a time or two.   I certainly wasn’t humming any tunes about My Buddy and Me enjoying each other’s company.  But I never fell down and for that I am thankful.  There were several spills today and one ubber dramatic emotional melt down from a tired and cranky lawyer to end what could be one of the longest days of my life.  Side note:  Tomorrow is supposed to be longer.

I’ve mentioned that I am struggling a bit with enjoying some of my fellow cyclist’s company.  There are some fabulous people – Patrick and his boyfriend Dirk being two of them.  They have great attitudes, are laughing and joking all the time and are trying their best to teach me Dutch (Cockroach is Kakkerlak!).   Then there are others.  Take Jane for instance (I have changed her name to protect her identity.)  I’ve been searching my brain to come up with the right word to describe Jane, but I don’t think there is one.  The best comparison I can think of is that character Milton in Office Space who was obsessed with his red stapler, except she talks a lot more.    And when she speaks in English, I want to grab her by the shoulders, look her dead in the eyes, and beg her to speak any other language.  Dutch, Belgian, French, Farsi – I don’t really care.  Just please, Jane, never, ever speak my language again because it makes me want to say things to you that are really not nice.  But then Jane was the one who made me laugh until I cried today, so I have promised myself to try not to curse her so much when she speaks.

It was the end of 40 miles of hot, sweaty, muddy, gritty cycling and we were finally at our mini bus eating some watermelon before riding to the hotel Kakkerlak. Somehow Jane walked up to me and said out of the blue “I peed in someone’s shower today.”

She had a blank look on her face as she said it, and I stared at her.  What?  “I peed in someone’s shower today.  I didn’t know which room was the bathroom and so I peed somewhere and it was the shower”

At this point I was laughing so hard I couldn’t stop.  It’s not so much what she was saying, but how she was saying it, and the fact is – it is really difficult to figure out where to pee here.  I nearly peed in someone’s bedroom this afternoon because you can’t tell where the toilet starts and the rest of the house begins. 

Then, as I am doubled over in laughter, she says with a completely straight face, “I’m afraid the guides know the people who have the shower and I want to give them money for peeing there.”  I am wiping tears from my eyes and ask her between snorts  “how much do you pay someone for peeing in their shower?”  And she just looked at me with wide, blank eyes and said “I don’t know – how much do you think?”

And with that I just walked away because there’s no right answer to this question and I was laughing so hard I couldn’t control myself.

Alright, onto the photos.   

But first, brief update on Operation Triscuit:  I am now buddy buddy with the WI ladies!  Misery loves company and what could be more miserable than sleeping with rats??  They ate my story up and it gave them even more reason to complain about how awful they think this tour is.  This even resulted in them talking about their Triscuits and admitting to having them in the bag right before my eyes.  I’m getting closer! 

Until I finagle a triscuit, I did manage to find almonds tonight so I am back up to a full supply!!  This is a good thing because for breakfast this morning I ate 8 bananas.  I know this sounds extreme, but the bananas here are small and all the other food was covered in flies.  Since bananas are protected by their peel, logically it was the only thing I felt safe eating.  I bet if you had been in my shoes you would have done the same. 

This Buddhist temple is 800 years old.  All Vietnamese men have to go to the monastery for a certain amount of time...then they go on to lead their normal lives, get married, have kids and the whole shebang.

Yes, those are bags of live ducks.  Paul's face says it all.

Bathroom stop #1.  This is why I understand how Jane could get confused.  The toilet was the ground next to that bucket.  You pee on the ground and then take some water from the bucket and splash it on the floor.  Seriously.

And Toilet #2!  I know it's obvious, but you walked to the back corner next to the yellow crates and peed through the holes in the floor into the river below. 

This was after about 3 hours...

The kids here are adorable.  I can't tell you how many times a day I've been screaming "HELLLOOOOO!!!!" back to little kids who run out to wave and give you high fives as you cycle by.  It's really sweet.

Lunch - this time real veggies.  YAY!

Gorgeous day - still no rain!  It's a beautiful country...