Reflection and some pictures from Cambodia

So tonight is my last in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Tomorrow, Brad and I head to Chau Doc and hopefully all the way to Cantho on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Then after some floating market browsing we will head up to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)) where we have a couchsurfer lined up. The plan is still to try to buy motos and drive them up the dragon's spine of the countryside but truthfully this plan is in jeopardy due to finances. I'll let you know how it ends up.

Since my last textual post, I headed south to Sihanoukville on the beach on the Gulf of Thailand. There I met Brad who left BFC while I went trekking, and Dave Cook, a friend of mine who studied abroad in Siena with me over two years ago. Dave is now teaching English in Beijing and convinced a friend of his, Jimmy, to take a 6 week tour of Southeast Asia with him.

The four of us spent a couple days lazing on the beach and drinking at night. One night got a little out of hand but that story will not be told here.

Brad and I came back to Phnom Penh two days ago and have been exploring the city since. There is a horrible recent history to this beautiful country and this is exemplified in the chilling Tuol Sleng (S-21) Genocide Museum. This former high school was transformed into a prison of torture and death by the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. From here thousands of innocent people, and entire families of men, women and children, even babies, were kept and tortured until their final trip outside the city to the infamous Killing Fields. It has been estimated that more than 1,000,000 people were murdered by the regime during its short reign and the country is still recovering from the terror and devastation of their rule.

Cambodia has been an incredibly diverse place to visit in the last 3 weeks. I never would have expected this from such a small country, nor the fact that I really enjoyed myself and even see myself spending some time here working for a non-profit or even somewhere in the metropolis capital. I never would have thought this before coming here, but I might just end up coming back to this varied nation. However, with the way that development of tourism has been going, I'm not sure that BFC won't be lost forever. Too bad.


PICTURES!!!




Roadside in Phnom Penh.

View from my lakeside guest house, Phnom Penh.

Best shower in the Kingdom.

Enjoying a waterfall swim with my Dutch friends on our jungle trek.

It can get a little dusty in this region of Cambodia.

Ready to go for a spin on my moto!

Taking a swing into the waterfall pool near Ban Lung

Me Tarzan, you Jane.

Enjoying the Cambodian Jungle. Yes my skin is that white and my eyes that blue.


Thats me on my moto ride to BFC.

Ratanakiri

Ratanakiri is the province most northeastern in Cambodia. Ban Lung, its capital, is a small city plagued by motos and a scorching sun which dries the earth until the dust kicked up from the streets leaves everything and all who dare to enter coated with a layer of artificial brown. After four days of travel, I finally reached Ban Lung and its surroundings' many delights Saturday the 19th of January.

Brad and I arrived late in the morning, having shared a minibus with some foreigners from our guest house in Stroeng Treng. The most chatty of them were two Irish sisters and we convinced them to join us later on a moto ride to some waterfalls. For $5 a day Brad and I rented motos and explored the beautiful areas around the town. A 20 minute ride south brought us, and the Irish girls, to one then a second waterfall. The latter, Ka Tieng, was everything I had been hoping for when I decided to visit Cambodia.

A relatively short falls, Ka Tieng descends only about 40 feet and dumps itself into a round pool of water below. From where one reaches the bottom of the falls, it is possible to scramble and even walk around from one side to the other, beneath the roaring water. On the far side of the cavern under the falls hang long vines which originate from among the trees lining the side of the river 5 stories above. I had read in my guidebook about this falls and it took me about 30 seconds to disrobe into my boxers, grab a vine and swing for my life out ten feet over the water while Brad and the girls looked on.

The pool directly in front of the falls is quite shallow and I was able to stand and look around myself. Surrounded by dense green jungle, I was swimming, and indeed, swinging, in an isolated waterfall beneath a tropical sun miles from the nearest guesthouse and hours from any civilization that could be considered a real city. I was in a dream. I was in Cambodia.

Earlier that day we ran into a couple of Dutch guys at our first waterfall. They mentioned trying to find some guys to go trekking and we decided to meet up later that evening to discuss this option. The first guide we met was anything but inspiring and we quickly chose not to go with him into the jungle. The next morning we met another guide, Nan, who they had talked to the previous morning and had taken a liking to.

Nan is a 26 year old man from Ban Lung. His English is beyond what we could expect for a guide in this isolated area, and the man is funny. Within 10 minutes of our meeting and before we could even order breakfast Nan is telling us detailed hilarious stories including one about a Danish woman who had a leech in her ass and how he had to help her get it out. Perhaps his defining characteristic is his affinity for the ladies. I don't think it is possible for him to discuss anything without bringing the conversation back towards women. Plus he is a bit of a pervert and for him, Monica Lewinsky is the most beautiful woman in the world. The Dutch guys and I loved him and we decided to hire him for a three day trek starting the next morning.

Later than evening Brad dropped out of the trek because he has really bad ankles and a knee that keeps him hobbling even on flat ground. It was probably a good decision and we resolved to meet up later in the south of Cambodia.

The next morning the two Tulip growers, Peter and Ramon, and I met for breakfast. Ramon is a tall lean man with a full head of dark and wavy hair. Peter is shorter and has a tall forhead and pointy nose which led me to think immediately of Beavis and Butthead, but not unattractively so. Both are constantly making a joke and ready with a sarcastic comment to ease any uncomfortable situation. Ramon's favorite line is a very ironic, "I'm VERY angry."

Strangely, right before we were set to leave, a short Australian girl with a small mouth with big teeth wandered by our restaurant apparently looking to go trekking and was talked into accompanying us by Nan. So we were again a 5-some. That was easy.

The first day of the trek involved an hour long ride along bumpy and dusty roads sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. We gave our seats inside to some mothers and babies already in the bed, choosing adventure and experience over comfort. After a lunch at a riverside cafe we took a short longboat ferry across the narrow river and began our walk. The route took us first along a road and then veering off, through agricultural land and through sparse forest before finally delving into jungle. Pausing for a rest at the outskirts of a village we sat on the grass and were watched from afar by a gang of nervous looking young children.

An hour later we ended up at our camp at the ranger posting for the gibbon protection area of the forest surrounding Virachey National Park. After a short wash in the shallow stream, a dinner of rice, fried pork and a horrible fish slurry, we sat down for some conversation and Mekong whiskey. After the five of us polished off one of our two bottles, I was feeling just warm and contented by the alcohol. Of course then the guides from a couple other short parties sat on the ground outside under the full moon and motioned for us to join them. As we sat down forcing the circle to accomodate us, we were continually handed glasses of rice wine, sometimes straight, sometimes mixed with some lemon and sugar. After 5 or so of these, I was no longer simply warmed by definitely buzzed by the alcohol. After the party broke up we went to bed in our mosquito net lined hamocks. For Ramon and I, the hammoks were too short and we suffocated away for a restless night followed by a slightly hungover morning.

The next day promised to bring us further into the denser jungle and we were accompanied by our forest ranger guide, a strong quiet man, Su. A couple hours of hiking brought us to our first waterfall where we again didn't hesitate to cool off in the pool. After lunch the bees started swarming so we got out of there on our way to yet ANOTHER gorgeous jungle shrouded waterfall. Yawn. The entire day was rather long but we hiked quite slow and rested too often for my taste so we couldn't have covered much more than 12 miles total.

The morning of the third day, we woke up early and headed into the forest with Su in search of the gibbons for which this area was supposed to be safely harboring. After over an hour of straining our heads to find their grey shadows among the trees hundreds of feet above us, Ramon and I had grown cynical and decided we didn't care about the gibbons anymore. Literally seconds after voicing our opinions to each other, I grabbed his arm, pointed to the sky and yelled, "Shit, Look!" Above us in plain site, a male gibbon swung from one tree to another, followed by a female, and two more all in a span of 30 seconds. The exposure gave us a plain view of our visual prey and we left the jungle satisfied by our siting.

The rest of my stay in Ban Lung went well but without much excitment. I ate meals and went drinking with Nan, the clog dancers and the Aussie, who we called Bug by her choice. I returned to the waterfall to do some swinging and also back to the pristine circular crater lake where the locals and visitors gather to sun bathe and take a dip in the crystal clear water.

In total the Ratanakiri province was for me the antithesis of the tourist haunt and disappointing sites of Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. The isolation, natural beauty and great friends I met in the region shaped my experience there into one that typified my expectations for this trip to southeast Asia and one that I will never forget.




I grabbed a minibus down to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, today. When I arrived and checked my email for the first time in a week I found out that Brad and a friend of mine who I met while studying in Italy and who is now teaching English in Beijing are a few hours south of me at the Cambodian beach town. I was planning on skipping it as my loyal readers know I am not really a lover of the beach. But since I have multiple friends down there, I bought a bus ticket and will head out early in to morning to soak up some sun, or perhaps rather do my best to hide from it. After a few days here, I will return to Phnom Penh and soon, I will across the border and into Vietnam where hopefully adventures will abound!

Siem Reap--> BFC

A couple days ago I told Brad that I have been telling my friends that we are headed to "bumfuck Cambodia." He thought it more politcally correct to say BFC. Fine.

So Monday morning Brad and I hopped on the back of a couple "motos" (vespa-like scooters that run EVERYWHERE in this country) and headed for regions less traveled. For the not-so-modest price of $45 we were taken on a 5 hour ride, much of it on horribly dusty roads full of potholes. The road was bumpy to put it lightly which brusied my fragile posterio. The brown dust covered our clothes and skin, giving me that deep tan I've always desired, and we even blew a tube which I paid to replace. It was hot and my upper scalp- read newly exposed scalp due to my receding hairline- was burned, and blistered by the scorched country's sun and it pussed all over my hair. Luckily its not visible.

But for all that, I had an amazing time. It was exactly the type of liberating adventure I had been missing in the tourist overrun cities of Bangkok and Siem Reap. Finally we were out on our own, among the water buffalo, tiny villages, stilted houses and dirty-faced children waving as we passed. It was tremendous. Upon arrival in Tbeong Mean Chey (sounds like bong men chay) we got a hotel and set to work trying to move on from here. The only problem is, as we are on about a $20/day budget we decided we couldn't really afford to keep up this off the beaten track adventure. It would have cost us $80 apiece to make the next leg of our journey to Stroeng Treng (still can't pronounce it) across roads that about 75% of people we ask say don't even exist. Some people say motos cross between the cities, but most say nothing does directly and that our trip will have to be diverted hundred of kilometers south then back north. Ah that crossing woulda been sweet.

Instead, however, he and I took a couple of shared taxis south costing us a total of $15 each to Kompong Cham about 120 km northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. From here, tomorrow we will catch actual buses (still haven't been on one here in SEA) up the 350+ km to Stroeng Treng and then get motos over to Ban Lung, the capital of the Ratanakiri province, our ultimate destination. We want to get up there and relax a bit after all this helter skelter travel and that seems like the out of the way place to do it. Lets just say I've read things including, gorgeous jungles, pristine crater lakes for swimming and waterfalls with strong vines for Tarzan-esque swinging. Brad will have to be Jane.

With any luck, we shall realize this dream in only a couple days and maybe even stay under budget for a day or two! Inshallah.

Bangkok--> Siem Reap

To answer the question on everyone's mind. I fell to the tyranny of the Temples. Heeding every warning not to miss them, I paid the $20- a full days budget- to enter the enormity that is the grounds of the Angkor Temples. The guy I am traveling with, a 30+ Couchsurfer from Boulder I met in Bangkok named Brad, and I rented bicycles and ended up doing a 26km circuit which was a lot of fun. The temples themselves was as I realistically expected. Big temples, big tourists. The best temple was Angkor Thom which you were able to walk through and felt more like I was in an Indiana Jones Movie.

Some of the best times I had though were laughing with some local kids who were trying to sell us postcards. I lent them my hat and Brad was teaching them numbers. Then later we sat down for a cold drink in a small stall/restaurant place and spent the time being taught useful phrases in the Khmer language! On girl's name was Ngyuen which sounds like my name, so she liked me.

Backing up a bit, I had a great time in Bangkok since I last updated. Thursday night I met up with abour a dozen couchsurfers, both hosts and guests, for dinner. Afterwards, three Canadian travelers and I went to Patpong, an area of gogo bars and an all-around circusy atmosphere. I wasn't really interested in going but lets just say one of the Canadians was a female of a certain sub-continent descent, and she easily convinced me.

I'll keep the following description short but honest. There were gogo dancers. There might even have been uncomfortable objects being retrieved from anatomical places they had no earthly business in ever being. It was sick for lack of a better word. I left and chatted up a young Thai guy outside waiting for my friends. Eventually Sofia, yes thats her name, and I left the two other guys, chatted for awhile in the lobby of a nice hotel nearby after using their bathroom and them shared a cab ride to our respective homes.

The next night I hung out with three more CS'ers, Alya from Moscow, Charly from Cameroon- who was living in Bkk, and Brad, my current travel partner. We went to a bar, ate some crickets on the street, and had a good time until it was time for me to leave.

Saturday Sofia and I met up again, got a massage and then met a contact of hers in BKK. A friend of a friend type deal. Nice guy, another Canadian and we hit it off. We only hung out for a bit and then we went home cus I had to get up early.

At 5 the next morning I took a cab across town to Brad's hotel, and we got picked up by a minibus to the border. I let Brad book out bus tickets and this was his choice. I wouldn't let him be in charge again. The ride was more expensive, and full of lots of hassle because they are trying to get us to pay extra for stuff like 'assistance' with the visa.

After all we got to the border, and got our own visas. The guys at the visa service usually deal with guides who take around $35 from tourists for the $20 visa, then pay the officials $25. We came to the window wanting to pay only $20 but got the glass shut in our face a couple times when we kindly asked for only the $20 price listed on the sign. Finally we paid a little more as a bribe and finally got our visas after we were told to wait 3 hours for the $20 price. THEN we stood in line through immigration for 3 hours. In the heat. That was rough. A 3 hour cab ride along the bumpiest road ever to Siem Reap finished out first day in Cambodia.

The second day was yesterday at Angkor. And today was a day off to plan and prepare for our upcoming journey. At my suggestion, Brad and I are setting off on uncommonly used roads up to a remote but supposedly beautiful region in the Northeast of Cambodia. I don't expect there to be much internet up there so it may be a couple weeks before I can update this again. Just know while you don't hear from me that I am bathing in waterfalls, hiking through remote jungles and, less glamorously, holding on for dear life on the back of a motorbike along horrible bumpy and dusty roads for hours on end.

The journey is the destination. And this is Evans Journey.

Bangkok 1

Just to prove that I will be updating this as often as possible, and also to waste time before I meet friends, I will throw out a few things I've noticed in the capital of Thailand.

The food is incredible. Today, as a snack I just had some kind of meat nuggets (I'll guess pork) in a bag with a long toothpick. Delicious. I've also already eaten Egyptian and Indian food, which brings me to my next observation...

This city is overrun by foreigners. Thousands of westerners work here and more thousands are constantly walking the streets in just about every neighborhood I've been in and all over the public transport. In India I was used to getting stared at because I look different or at least a second look out on the street, but here no one gives a crap. In some ways it is awesome because I just blend in which is nice. In others it sucks. Why am I not longer special because of the color of my skin??? Whoa... ok moving on...

There are a lot of foreign guys with thai girlfriends, holding hands walking on the street. In Nepal I saw a few Nepali guys with western girls, but never the other way around. I am somewhat intrigued. I would be more interested had I the yellow fever. I don't. I miss Indian and Egyptian girls. I couldn't talk to them, they couldn't talk to me, we had a great arrangement. And now its all screwed up!!

Speaking of this, my couchsurfing host, Diana, who is a lot of fun by the way, asked me yesterday if I'd had any young thai girls whistle at me yet? I thought that was a weird question but she insisted that the local girls love guys with blond hair (which I STILL contend I don't have) and are not shy in expressing their affinity. I have not been whistled at. I am not surprised. Having been told for years that local girls in every country I visit from Italy, to Egypt to India would find my lighter features attractive and never having seen proof of this myself, I just smiled knowingly at Diana's implication and changed the subject.

I may have realized something extremely important. Future travelers pay attention. Temples... are boring. A lot of boring. All kinds. I have almost no desire to spend time and money jostling with families of fat British tourists to take a picture of a statue of Buddha in another shrine encased in another temple inhabited by other monks. I've seen it. It's been done. In Europe I could sit in a big cathedral for a long time. The difference? SITTING. There is no place to sit in the temples of Asia. No pews to take in the grandeur before you. No priceless works of art, sculpture and statues to admire. Asia is full of so many wonderful things to see and do that are infinitely more exciting than sweating through a horde of camera-wielding pale-face bulls.

When I find out what those wonderful options are I will be sure to choose them and leave you all to the crowds and touts. By the way, I love the lack of touts! They are such pussies!

- Excuse me sir, do you need a-
- NO!

And they just give up! They would all starve in India.

OK thats enough for now I have to meet some couchsurfers for dinner in 10 minutes. I'm going to Cambodia in a few days. I'll let you know if I succumb to the temptation of Angkor Wat or if I stand fast against the tyranny of temples!