Day 9 Bangkok - Siem Reap

Greetings from Cambodia!

Wow, what a change from Thailand. It's like going from Cancun to a tiny village in Honduras. The heat is oppressive, but more than that, it is reall heartbreaking to see the how people live here, especially children. Juxtaposed with the lavish hotels on the main road, the corrugated tin shacks that people live in really makes you feel guilty.

But let me tell you about a true Asami story of getting to the airport. I got up at 6am to catch breakfast at 6:30am and figured it was enough time to get to the airport for my 8am flight. As I boarded my metered taxi, I looked on the back of my Bangkok Airways ticket to find that it says "check in 2 hours before flight." Lonely Planet informs me that I should allow 1 hour to get from downtown to the airport... Uh-oh. When I told my cab driver that my flight is at 8am, he exclaimed "Aiiiii!" and started weaving through traffic. He gave it a valiant effort but Bangkok's rush hour traffic was not cooperating. Amazingly, he got me there in about 30 minutes and I rushed over to the counter and apologized for being late, fully prepared to wait for the next flight. The very pretty ticketing agent explained that my flight is boarding "rightnow rightnow" and rushed me off toward the gate. It was 7:40am. I had to pay my departure tax, then go through security, then rush to my gate... but I made the flight. Getting on the bus to the plane, I found myself the only Asian face on board and it felt like home (until the loud Israelis started shouting at each other in Hebrew).

Bangkok Airways is the "boutique airline of Asia" and it shows -- their flight attendants look like supermodels (but short) and they give you wet naps, newspapers in various languages, a full breakfast of fruit, croissant sandwich, danish and coffee, and announcements in Thai, English and Japanese. I heard that if I had been at the gate earlier, there was a lounge area that provided free Internet access and refreshments. How wonderful! I sat next to an American retired couple who were traveling through Siem Reap and Vietnam before catching a 20 day cruise through China, Korea and Japan. They live in New Jersey, but the wife told me that her husband is from Chicago; he then confessed that he grew up in Arlington Heights, not the city. You should have seen their surprise when I told them that I grew up in Arlington Heights, too! Really, it's such a small world. I can't believe that in the past 9 days, I've run into 2 Chicago area folks, both who at one time lived within walking distance to where I lived. Crazy, isn't it?!

Cambodia is supposed to be a democratic country, but the security here seems more like that of a closed government. They had 3 sets of forms that I was supposed to have finished, but because I got on the flight with no lead time, I had none of them. First, I had to pay $20 for my visa, to which I had no photo. They took one for me and I made sure to look serious and not smile (they don't seem to smile in photos around here). Then at the next counter, they asked me for another form, which I didn't have. They gave me a copy and sent me to the back of the line. The last checkpoint asked for another form which I didn't have, but the guy said "never mind" and let me through. Tee hee.

So last night, when I posted my last blog, I replied to the email from Saron who told me to contact the Khmer Angkor Tour Guide Association. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have some one picking me up at the airport with such short notice, but after looking around a bit, I saw a sign that said "Welcome Asami Hachiuma" -- yay!!! Kon, my driver, informed me that my guide is busy today but he will be my driver and take me to my hotel. His English is limited, but he told me that the Association called him 5 minutes before my flight was to land. He took me to my guest house, which is called "Sakura Village" -- sakura is Japanese for cherry blossom -- and got me a discounted $20/night instead of the $25. It's fancier than I need, but without a Lonely Planet, I am flying blind here.

After driving me to some sites (kind of like my Sukhotai guide who names the ruins and waits for me while I wander on my own), I went back to his car to find him gone. I wandered around looking for him, but I wasn't sure I could pick him out of a crowd without him helping me out. In the meantime, I was getting assaulted by little kids selling me postcards, books, silk scarves, bamboo knicknacks, bracelets... you name it, they were selling it. They are really savvy little punks -- they greet you in a bunch of languages (English, Japanese, Korean, French and who knows what else) and follow you around persistently. "hello, what's your name?" "Where you from?" "Do you want to buy a postcard/cold drink/silk scarf? Only 1 dollar, 3 for 2 dollar" When you say no, they say "okay, maybe later? Don't forget me or I will cry." They sure know how to stick it to you! I had to walk around with my half-full water bottle to detract those selling cold drinks, but it was hard for me to walk away from all the others (but I managed to). Children at that age shouldn't be subjected to that much rejection, it's absolutely hearbreaking.

Oh so the ruins. They are quite impressive. Though the Khmer style isn't my favorite, they sure did alot more decorative architecture than the Thai folks. Plus, the Hindu influence is stronger here so there are cooler figures like Brahmin with the 4 faces and Vishnu who has 4 arms. I guess I'm a bit bored with the run-of-the-mill "Buddha subduing Mara" images. The Khmer style folks did alot more dancing, too. There are dancing figures all over the walls and columns.

My guide told me that the tourists to the area come mostly from Korea, Japan and the U.S., in that order. I heard lots of French and German walking around the sites. There was one site that had a big sign indicating that Sophia University of Tokyo (where I spent a semester during my junior year) had sponsored some excavations. I was so excited to see another connection to a place that was familiar to me! I guess the Japanese really like UNESCO World Heritage sites, as there was a museum in Sukhotai that was paid for by a Japanese organization too.

So my disappearing driver eventually came back, and the lady at the food stand said something to him with an angry tone. Here's what I think the exchange consisted of: "Hey man, where were you? She's been waiting for you for a while now." "I was over there taking a nap/chatting it up with some girl/eating." "Don't be doing that to the tourists!" Well, who knows what they were saying. But the lady seemed displeased that I was looking for my driver for 10 minutes in the heat. Kon suggested that it's too hot now, so maybe we should resume later. I agreed, and said I wanted to get some lunch as well.

I asked for a map of the area at the front desk, and decided to venture out for my first Cambodian meal. I came across Lotus Restaurant, advertising Khmer and European food. The menu is in Cambodian and French, so I have to thank my 4 years of high school French for coming into good use. I ordered the special (which was actually in English), amok fish in curry sauce, and iced coffee with milk. The Cambodian iced coffee is just like Thai coffee. The curry was yellow (which is red curry with turmeric and cumin, according to my Thai cooking class) with the usual fragrant herbs. I ate my meal while reading the Japan-English magazine for local expats. There were some serious translation issues between the Japanese and English in the articles... who knows what it really says in Cambodian!

I am at a scary old internet cafe now, sitting under a fan in front of a Britney Spears poster. It rained like cats and dogs for 5 minutes and the dirt road is all muddy. But as soon as it stopped raining, a girl mopped up the tile floor in front of the cafe. Very diligent people. My buddy who is burning a CD of my digital camera for me speaks some Japanese, and he kept talking to me. I was like, dude, I'm on the clock here! I think he's done now, so I will sign off for now.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the appearance of poverty here and feel quite lost because I didn't get to do exhaustive reserach about the area. Things are more expensive in Siem Reap than they were in Thailand (surprisingly) and they want everything in US dollars, which I don't have alot of left. If 40B = $1 US seems like a bargain in Thailand, it's 4,000R to a dollar here. It's totally monopoly money-like and I am reluctant to go to the ATM but I will have to later today. I don't know what's in store for the rest of the day, but I will write again tomorrow.

Hugs,
asami :-)