Ancient ruins, alcohor and night buses

February 16, 2011

As I type this we are in Cambodia on route to Siem Reip.
Our bus rides were uneventful, but I have decided that the actual traveling part of traveling is my least favorite part of traveling... If that makes sense. The long bus rides, the initial unfamiliarity of a new place and the vulnerability that comes along with that. 
As foreigners we have a difficult (read impossible) time getting a taxi to use their meter. Instead they charge us an inflated flat rate more than twice the proper price. We've taken to getting locals to negotiate with the taxis for us and sometimes that works.
We arrived at the border where you have to purchase your visa for Cambodia. We had read that there are lots of scams charging you more than the actual price so when our taxi dropped us of at a nice building we were immediately suspicious. We asked if this was the proper visa location, of course it was and the price seemed accurate from what the guide book said. A little further down the line we spoke with some other travelers and they paid about $10 less each. In the grand scheme of things its not much money, but I think it's just the fact that you feel almost taken advantage of and unfortunately its hard not to be on guard with all the locals thinking they have some trick up their sleeve to get more money.

From Thailand to Cambodia you can certainly tell when you've crossed the border. You leave a country of concrete and highways full of vehicles and enter a land of wooden shacks, people pushing wooden carts piled 15 feet high with boxes and oxen pulling carts down the main highway. This also helps put things in perspective. Why feel bad about a few bucks, when these people can use the money so much more than we can.

February 17, 2011

Today we had the pleasure of exploring the ancient civilization of Angkor. Built at the end of the 12th century over a period of two ruling Khmer kings to serve as both temples and palaces. There are over 300 temples spread over an area roughly 1000 square kms. This which makes it not only the worlds largest ancient civilization but the eighth wonder of the world. At its peak between 1100-1200 a.d. there were over a million people living within the Angkor area. Angkor had been sacked a few times by neighboring countries and has many of the statues within destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime but still remains as one of the most amazing feats of architecture in the world. 

As we mentioned, there is a lot of poverty here and lots of people trying to sell things in markets and outside the temples. There are quite a few children selling things as well and they can be relentless. Rather than let them get on our nerves we've taken to talking to them about their life, school, how old they are etc. You can't help but fall in love with them. They are so cute and so intelligent. Most of them speak amazingly good English and when we asked how they learn it they say from the tourists and they go to school for half a day and work half a day. One little boy said he was in grade five and when Q said "you look too young to be in grade 5" the boy wittingly responded "we're small here you know." 
We did have an experience yesterday that now weighs heavy in our hearts. After a long day of walking we decided to go for a massage. We had read about these 'Massage by the Blind' studios that help people who are blind be self sufficient since they get no government funding/support. We went, and for $5 you get an hour long massage. After talking with the manager he explained that the masseuse' work for two years getting room and board, but no wage. After two years they get funding from the company to start their own massage parlor and then they earn a wage from there. Having already paid for a massage we took out another $10 and gave each masseuse $5 for themselves. I couldn't believe the expression on their faces. It was as though they had just won the lottery. They smiled from ear to ear and one lady even held the bill up to her face as though she was smelling the money. After my initial feeling of happiness, I was quickly overwhelmed with so many emotions and as we walked away I couldn't help but cry. It was a flood of emotions i find impossible to describe. A feeling of hopelessness that there may be no betterment for their lives and so many other lives. A feeling of regret for not having done more to help. A feeling of selfishness for the life we lead at home that seems so overindulgent and greedy when compared to most of the world. It was in those moments that all we could say to comfort ourselves was we need to do more good in the world. Its so easy to be overwhelmed by all the suffering here and in so many other countries we've never visited. We don't know what we will do at this stage to make a positive impact, but we need to take a step in that direction.