I have found it very difficult to begin this particular blog post...there is so many things to say and very few words to explain the emotion experienced. I wont begin with the gut retching poverty you probably wont want to read on and I don't blame you. We almost didn't come to this country, I wanted to close my eyes to it all and selfishly surround my self with positive things. We came though and we found out something unexpected... that behind a recent dark history, and the poverty lays a country with a powerful and captivating ancestry, impressive architecture and culture, and beautiful people that want to show you their amazing country. Siem Reap proved to be a jewel in the rough somewhere that is fast becoming one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. We stayed at the lovely Soria Maria hotel for four nights and enlisted the help of the fantastic Mr. Yang Sam Rach who drove us around ancient Angkor for 3 days in his tuk tuk. The ancient Angkor region just out of Siem Reap is made up of over 45 known temples and buildings rediscovered in the early 1900s completely overgrown by the thick jungle. The restoration process is still going on today and the magnificent temples have survived several wars, looting, the time of evil Pol Pot, and neglect to become one of the 7 man made wonders of the world. The temples are believed to be constructed from around 900AD onwards and still survive to tell their tale explaining the existence of the powerful and inspiring Khmer people that created this empire. Like the pyramids its hard to comprehend how these architectural masterpieces were constructed without modern technology. Almost every inch of stone is carved depicting scenes of everyday life, worshipping the Khmer Gods and religion. Huge lions, elephants and serpents guard the entrance of temples while the faces of huge buddhas look at you from every direction. The huge constructions, the carving and conscriptions along with the huge roots of silk trees intertwined through the stone make some of these temples magical and spiritual. Of all the temples we saw Mike and I enjoyed the famous Angkor Wat the best, watching the sun set over one of the libraries as the night insects AKA Gods sung in the trees. Siem Reap is not only about the temples...markets, amazing food, music, quad bike riding through villages, yummy bakeries, and the people make this place hum. They close down the main street "pub street" in the evening to all traffic and it just comes alive with the restaurants, bars, music, night markets, and hilarious tuk tuk drivers fighting for your business. However its obviously not all cotton candy and one third of the population lives on less than 40c a day. To put it bluntly the poverty is depressing, the street children's only chance of survival is to beg and manipulate the tourists. Dishevelled and dirty young mothers cary the new borns across their fronts in scarfs...rotting teeth and very thin due to lack of food or drug addictions they clasp their hands in prayer begging for money. Children as young as 4 walk the streets alone looking for cans or glass bottles, little girls tug at your clothes as they offer their postcards, scarfs, bracelets, and cold drinks. Land mine victims play their instruments and look at you with big hopeful black eyes. The feeling of helplessness is awful and the Cambodian government doesn't seem to be helping (the opposite of the dol pushing government I grew up with). Handing out money to the children keeps them on the street fuelling substance abuse or worse still goes to bastard pimps. Mike and I managed to distract them with games, naughts and crosses in the dust, fresh water, coco cola, food, sometimes they just wanted humour...something to brighten their repetitive days or something that got their intelligent little brains ticking. The children that gathered around the temples selling their wears knew every trick in the book, knew the basics of so many different languages that they had learnt from tourists, had the most beautiful smiles and knew who was the "weakest" amoung us. It got to a point where after what seem likes hours of following you around begging you to buy their wears they offer you "$10 for NOTHING" even though it lightens the situation it doesn't make the lump in my throat and the ache in my heart go away. The Khmer Rouge, evil Pol Pot and Vietnam war really hurt this country but the people are so resilient and positive. We are so glad that we have had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and learn about the history and culture of these people. Knowledge is power and maybe if we all have the knowledge and visit this awesome country we can have the power to help, even if its in a small way. If you want to learn more about Cambodia's history read "First they killed my father" by Loung Ung its a powerful true story about a little girl trying to survive the brutality of the Khmer Rouge Army.
I have found it very difficult to begin this particular blog post...there is so many things to say and very few words to explain the emotion experienced. I wont begin with the gut retching poverty you probably wont want to read on and I don't blame you. We almost didn't come to this country, I wanted to close my eyes to it all and selfishly surround my self with positive things. We came though and we found out something unexpected... that behind a recent dark history, and the poverty lays a country with a powerful and captivating ancestry, impressive architecture and culture, and beautiful people that want to show you their amazing country. Siem Reap proved to be a jewel in the rough somewhere that is fast becoming one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. We stayed at the lovely Soria Maria hotel for four nights and enlisted the help of the fantastic Mr. Yang Sam Rach who drove us around ancient Angkor for 3 days in his tuk tuk. The ancient Angkor region just out of Siem Reap is made up of over 45 known temples and buildings rediscovered in the early 1900s completely overgrown by the thick jungle. The restoration process is still going on today and the magnificent temples have survived several wars, looting, the time of evil Pol Pot, and neglect to become one of the 7 man made wonders of the world. The temples are believed to be constructed from around 900AD onwards and still survive to tell their tale explaining the existence of the powerful and inspiring Khmer people that created this empire. Like the pyramids its hard to comprehend how these architectural masterpieces were constructed without modern technology. Almost every inch of stone is carved depicting scenes of everyday life, worshipping the Khmer Gods and religion. Huge lions, elephants and serpents guard the entrance of temples while the faces of huge buddhas look at you from every direction. The huge constructions, the carving and conscriptions along with the huge roots of silk trees intertwined through the stone make some of these temples magical and spiritual. Of all the temples we saw Mike and I enjoyed the famous Angkor Wat the best, watching the sun set over one of the libraries as the night insects AKA Gods sung in the trees. Siem Reap is not only about the temples...markets, amazing food, music, quad bike riding through villages, yummy bakeries, and the people make this place hum. They close down the main street "pub street" in the evening to all traffic and it just comes alive with the restaurants, bars, music, night markets, and hilarious tuk tuk drivers fighting for your business. However its obviously not all cotton candy and one third of the population lives on less than 40c a day. To put it bluntly the poverty is depressing, the street children's only chance of survival is to beg and manipulate the tourists. Dishevelled and dirty young mothers cary the new borns across their fronts in scarfs...rotting teeth and very thin due to lack of food or drug addictions they clasp their hands in prayer begging for money. Children as young as 4 walk the streets alone looking for cans or glass bottles, little girls tug at your clothes as they offer their postcards, scarfs, bracelets, and cold drinks. Land mine victims play their instruments and look at you with big hopeful black eyes. The feeling of helplessness is awful and the Cambodian government doesn't seem to be helping (the opposite of the dol pushing government I grew up with). Handing out money to the children keeps them on the street fuelling substance abuse or worse still goes to bastard pimps. Mike and I managed to distract them with games, naughts and crosses in the dust, fresh water, coco cola, food, sometimes they just wanted humour...something to brighten their repetitive days or something that got their intelligent little brains ticking. The children that gathered around the temples selling their wears knew every trick in the book, knew the basics of so many different languages that they had learnt from tourists, had the most beautiful smiles and knew who was the "weakest" amoung us. It got to a point where after what seem likes hours of following you around begging you to buy their wears they offer you "$10 for NOTHING" even though it lightens the situation it doesn't make the lump in my throat and the ache in my heart go away. The Khmer Rouge, evil Pol Pot and Vietnam war really hurt this country but the people are so resilient and positive. We are so glad that we have had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and learn about the history and culture of these people. Knowledge is power and maybe if we all have the knowledge and visit this awesome country we can have the power to help, even if its in a small way. If you want to learn more about Cambodia's history read "First they killed my father" by Loung Ung its a powerful true story about a little girl trying to survive the brutality of the Khmer Rouge Army. 
Wow what a trip you are having!
ReplyDeleteLove you bothxxx