Cambodia, Clint Eastwood-style

While I didn't get into any gun-slinging battles while visiting Cambodia, I did have to use my mean voice. And, I did discover the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly about this country. Thankfully, I also got to experience the beautiful in the children of a very small, very poor village.


Good: The Temples of Angkor




When I was in India, I (intentionally) missed the Taj Mahal. Not that I didn't want to see it, but the rumors of tour buses outnumbering the beautiful moments made me think twice. To tell you the truth, I kind of regret that decision. After all, I know it's something that I should see in my lifetime! So, when I got to Cambodia I knew that I wouldn't forgive myself for missing Angkor Wat, what some people call the "Eighth Wonder of the World." And it was really amazing. The photo above is of sunrise over Angkor Wat, which is magical. There is such a rich history in Siem Reap and Cambodia, that those of us in the US can just never comprehend. Many of the temples were constructed more than 1,100 years ago, and they still retain the character and grandeur of their original intention, with a few natural additions (see the tree!). There is an interesting combination of Buddhist and Hindu temples, all reflecting the religious beliefs of the king who built them. And, what's more, there are probably hundreds more yet to be discovered. I spent two solid days from sun-up to sun-down enjoying the highlights of the huge Angkor kingdom which at one time stretched from Myanmar to Vietnam.

While it was beautiful and amazing and I'm glad I did it, when you travel in this part of the world it's kind of easy to get "templed-out" because of the vast number that you visit. I fear that I didn't absorb all that I should've because of my overloaded brain. Sadly, more than once I wished for a memory stick to hold all of this new information!

Bad: The Vendors

Part of the reason that I didn't LOVE the Temples of Angkor as much as I should've is that the vendors around the temples were the most aggressive that I've encountered to date - anywhere! Apparently they do not hear you when you say no, or at least they refuse to acknowledge that they hear you. So, they ask you (I am not kidding) maybe 20 or 30 times if you want to buy their goods. After answering one girl's questions 20 times and showing her the postcards I had purchased from another vendor, I started to lose my patience. After all, they were following me asking repeatedly the same question again and again and again and ARGH! I finally lost it and (regretfully) got a little rude. At one point a child followed me for 1/4 mile asking if I would buy her postcards. "Lady. Cheap price. Only 10 for one dollar. Lady. Lady. Good price. You want to buy. Lady, please. Lady, good price only for you. Lady...". I finally turned around and looked the girl in the eyes, after politely declining at least 20 times, and shouted, "NO! I DO NOT WANT TO BUY YOUR POSTCARDS!" So she did what every good Angkor child vendor does in response to this situation - she cried. God, I felt terrible but also I was glad she finally stopped asking me. Similar situations happened at least once an hour and it really burned me out. I was exhausted, not from the walking or the scorching heat, but from the vendor battles! And, in case you're wondering, I still didn't buy her postcards. Gulp.


Ugly: Khmer Rouge genocide

Though the country has done a good job of "polishing up" the horrors of the past (that is, they are not so evident to passing tourists) reading a bit about the country's history you learn why there is a heaviness in the air here. The legacy of the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia is still fresh. The genocide of the 1970's in which 2 MILLION people perished under Pol Pot is an unforgettable part of their world. Every Cambodian person that I met lost at least one family member in this atrocity, and they talked about it with such resignation. I found myself wondering why I had never learned about the Khmer Rouge in school - neither high school nor college. I had to watch the movie The Killing Fields to get a sense of the horrors, though while here I read a book about one girl's account of her life growing up. Both of her parents were dead (murdered) by the time she was 7 years old. She was one of the lucky ones and survived the executions, tortures, starvation and labor camps imposed on many of Cambodia's people.

This sweet woman's grandfather lived in a labor camp during the war, and while he did live he lost a leg due to a land mine during that period. And that is the legacy that the U.S. has left in Cambodia - there are still somewhere between 3 million and 6 million UXOs (live land mines) in the country, and nearly every day someone (often playful children) is killed or maimed by one. There are several NGOs working to remove the mines, but it is a very time consuming process just to get one. I spent a few hours at the Landmine Museum and found myself in tears the whole way through. Very upsetting to say the least. The good news about all this ugliness is that the perpetrators are finally being brought to trial to take responsibility for their action here. Interestingly though, while I expected the Cambodian people to be elated to finally see some justice, most of them just didn't care. Their wounds have healed and though the trial seeks justice for the people of Cambodia, I got the feeling that they would rather just leave the past in the past, and continue on in their now-regular lives. Here's a story from yesterday's New York Times if you want to learn more...






The Beautiful: The Children

I had the fantastic opportunity to spend some time in Cambodia working with an organization called Cambodia We Care. They work in partnership with a wonderful Siem Reap hotel called the Shinta Mani, and together they are funding projects to improve life for the neediest local residents. We spent a day traveling to the Pouk School in a very small, desparately poor village called Sambour to deliver lunch, school uniforms, school supplies and clothes. My goal was to assist in this mission and to gather information to help the organization get some publicity. But back to the school...imagine trying to get an education here:




In this tiny one room school house (if you can even call it that), there were over 100 students. Because there weren't proper walls, seats or desks, kids of all ages from all over the village came to peek in to see what was happening at school, since it was the only thing going on in town. There was one small chalkboard, and that was it. Most of the kids didn't even have a pencil or paper until we delivered them. To raise the $30,000 needed to build a new school (think about that number), sometime later this summer or in early fall there will be a fundraiser in Seattle. Please let me know if you'd like to donate or attend! Date and details TBD...

I write this post from Vietnam where I am having an amazing culinary tour, complements of my friend Marjie who is teaching here. Check out her blog (http://marjiebowker.blogspot.com/) to see what I've been up to this weekend! I will do my own post soon, but hers summarizes my permanently smiling face and endlessly full belly!


With love,
Pam