Culture Shock, etc.

I have alluded to the fact that this trip was a bit difficult and overwhelming to me, so I want to explain some of that.  I did go alone. While I've been some other places alone, they were typically for a long weekend and to other European countries.  So I knew what to expect. It was very intimidating to get on that 11 hour flight to Korea by myself and have no idea what was really waiting for me. I was actually so nervous I was almost sick to my stomach, which is ridiculous and yet, there it was. 

 

The first night at my hotel in Phnom Penh I was terrified that the guys from the front desk knew I was alone and were going to sell me into white slavery, "Taken" style. I also knew I was being irrational and ridiculous. After a day or so at the hotel, it became apparent to me that there were other solo travellers at my hotel and it wouldn't have been so highly recommended on Trip Advisor if people got "Taken" there.  I'm a paranoid idiot. 

 

But on a more serious note, I've never felt so blond and white and conspicuous. There were not many Westerners around. A few and even fewer were alone. Many of the younger Westerners were a bit more, well, "granola" than me.  You know - dreadlocks, Birkenstocks, backpacker types. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I just felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. Like everyone could tell I was a middle class business person and totally out of my element. It made me uncomfortable walking around even though no one really said or did anything offensive to me. 

 

I had never been to a third world country before, not even Mexico. And while I knew in theory what it might be like, the reality is much harsher and dirtier than imagination.  For example, this was the street that my hotel was on. And this was a nice neighborhood in Phnom Penh.

Please don't misunderstand that I am just bashing a poor and lesser developed country than my own. It was just part of the culture shock to me to see it.  Many street had large piles of trash on every corner and the general smell of the city was a combination of trash and fish.

 

I had read in advance about poverty and beggars.  I live in London and have lived in New York, so I've encountered the city-type beggar who hangs out by the subway asking for change. But this was different. They were aggressive. An older woman followed me down the street in Phnom Penh carrying a wailing baby for about 100 yards asking for money.  100 yards is a LONG way with a baby crying right behind you and someone begging for change. Everyone around me was watching and I was mortified.  A tiny little girl approached my taxi from the airport when I had just arrived - she couldn't have been more than four, it was midnight and she just walked around other traffic to get to my window.  

 

Most of the beggars are children, especially around the tourist sites and the temples at Angkor Wat. Much of what I read recommended that you do not buy trinkets or give money to these children. As long as they make money, their parents have no incentive to send them to school, so by giving you perpetuate the lifestyle.  Instead, I researched some non-profit restaurants and shops in both cities and spent some money there.  I didn't want to ignore the problem, but tried to do some responsible giving. 

 

Here are a couple more photos I took while on the bus to Siem Reap. Nothing particular to show, just a general look at some things that seemed different to me. 

 

 

I wish I had taken a few more pictures of some general scenes - like the riverside quay in Phnom Penh, the markets and the people on the streets.  But in my attempts to not look SO touristy (which, seriously, who was I kidding?), I tried to just observe and not photograph everything I saw. 

 

My one genuinely bad experience in Cambodia came later in the trip.  My iPhone was stolen while sight-seeing at Bayon Temple. (Hence my earlier comment - have a secure day bag!) I guess if you travel enough, eventually you will be pick-pocketed. Apparently iPhone's are very popular targets in SE Asia because they are valuable.  My friend Bec just moved to Phnom Penh and her's was stolen within a week - except they grabbed it out of her hand while she was talking on it!  Mine was stolen because I got sloppy. I was alternating taking pictures with my camera and iPhone. I almost always had one in my hand and one in the outside pocket of my bag, which is a cross-body style bag. But the outside pocket just snaps and isn't secure. I had taken a photo and then slide the phone into the pocket - anyone watching me would have seen me do it. Then we got caught in a little traffic jam of people and within a minute I realized it was gone. My tour guide tried to help me file a report with the police but since no one had molested or physically attacked me to take it, they couldn't be sure it wasn't just lost.  They weren't much help. I tried not to let it ruin my trip but it was frustrating.

Markets

I've been shopping at markets in many places from London (I lived for a year just a block from a famous antiques market on Portobello Road) to France to Christmas markets in Germany to the Grand Bazaar and Spice Markets in Istanbul. So you know I was going to check out the markets in Cambodia.  They were quite different from other places I've been.  Mostly the other stops have been places to buy handcrafts, locally made items, specialty items and fresh foods, like farmers market style shopping.  The markets in Cambodia had those things too, but they also had basic everyday goods - like toilet paper, makeup and car parts.  A strange variety.  Like a combination farmers market, Dollar General and souvenir shop all combined. 

 

This was the Central Market in Phnom Penh.  It is located in an art deco style building.  This central section was full of jewelry and watch vendors.  Then each wing branched off the sides with clothing, food, household goods, etc.  I didn't buy a thing here, just wandered around. 

 

The other market I visited is known as the Russian Market. It was not nearly as formal of a set up. Actually when my driver dropped me just outside, I should have paid better attention to where I was because later it was hard to navigate back to him!  It was a labyrinth. A million tiny booths all connected to each other and with a tin roof overhead. Mark (my brother the EMT/fireman) would have died about the safety - I tried to pay attention to how to get out in case of a fire.

 

I'll speak more to this in another post, but I was extremely conscious of my Western-ness.  It was obvious that the vendors were as well because I couldn't walk 5 feet without being asked "you buy scarf lady?  you buy picture lady? you buy FILL IN THE BLANK WHATEVER THEY ARE SELLING lady?"  It made me feel like I couldn't stop and look hardly at all. Instead I looked at things out of the corner of my eye and when I decided to buy, just picked a vendor, did some bargaining and got 'er done.  Bargaining is not my favorite thing and somehow I feel ridiculous haggling with an twelve year old girl for a wooden toy to save an extra buck or two.  But I guess that's the way to go, so I did a little but didn't drive too hard of a deal anywhere.  I left satisfied with my loot of a couple of toys for my kiddos and a wooden carving for myself. 

 

Here are some pictures of the food sections...

 

I have no idea what some of those fruits are. Before I leave this post, let's talk about the food. I am not an adventurous eater. I am much better than I used to be, but this was a whole new level. I didn't try anything crazy on this trip and mostly stuck with eating at my hotels or if I was out, getting really basic things like fried rice or grilled chicken skewers.  I had read some travel blogs before this trip that mentioned the really outlandish stuff you can get in Cambodia - like fried tarantulas, bugs, rats, skinned frogs, etc.  I didn't even see any of this stuff.  Maybe I didn't investigate hard enough because the food sections smelled so strongly of fish that I could hardly walk around without being nauseous.  I did wander through the food stalls at a night market and nothing looked too crazy.  Lots of noodles, meat skewers and things that looked like battered and deep fried something.  I don't know what the somethings were under the batter and again, being the conservative eater I am, didn't want to try it. Some might say I really missed out and if I did, that's ok - I never got sick. 

Khmer Rouge

Contrary to all the statements I've made so far about what I don't know about Cambodia, I did actually read up a bit before I made this trip.  (I know you can barely tell!) Fun fact: Cambodia is the only nation to have a building on their flag - the main temple at Angkor Wat. 

 

Mostly it was recent history I learned about though. Cambodia was part of the French colony Indochina from the middle of the 1800s until they gained independence in the 1950s. You can see a bit of French influence in the architecture in the larger cities and the fact that baguettes were pretty common.  :) Being a neighbor to Vietnam, they were pulled into that conflict.  The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot came into power in Cambodia at the end of the War. They were an extreme Communist group who wanted to exclude all Western influence from Cambodia and return to the agrarian societies of the 11th century. Any one with Western education, intelligence, influence, religion or sympathies were arrested and killed. There are no precise figures, but between 1-3 million people were murdered during the period in the late 70s. 

 

Two infamous locations in this episode were the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng. They are both popular visitor sites in Phnom Penh.  The Killing Fields were rural areas outside of Phnom Penh where the regime murdered and buried thousands of people in mass graves.  I did not visit the Killing Fields.  After my one month overload on Holocaust locations last year, I couldn't handle much more of people-doing-horrible-things-to-each-other-sight-seeing.  I didn't want to be completely callous though and seeing and remembering some things like this are important.  So I did visit the Tuol Sleng museum.  

 

Tuol Sleng was originally a high school.  It is a set of four buildings with classrooms set around two large courtyards.  The Khmer Rouge commandeered the buildings and turned them into a prison called S-21 during the height of their regime.  Everyone brought here was first photographed and then interrogated and tortured.  The regime was looking for confessions of espionage and other crimes and also looking for prisoners to name other friends, family and acquaintances to be brought in.  It was basically a witch hunt and no one survived.  There are only 12 known survivors of the estimated 20,000 prisoners who came through S-21.

 

I won't get into detail about things they had on display. It was gruesome, I don't really want to and you can read it in a book if you are interested. I also don't take many pictures at places like this because it seems irreverent.  But here are a few views of the outside of the buildings.

 

In the 1980s Cambodia was governed by a combination of the Khmer Rouge leaders, Vietnam and the Soviet Union. The country was continually at war and unstable through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. King Norodom Sihanouk was named in 1993, although all power resides with the government and prime minister. Their current government is not exactly anything - sort of a combination democracy, communist state. I know that seems ridiculous, but apparently they have some policies that favor both.

 

In 2010 the first leader of the Khmer Rouge was found guilty of war crimes for what happened in Cambodia in the 1970s. Most of the those responsible have not been tried and those surviving still live in Cambodia, some even holding positions in the current government.  Pol Pot died in 1998.

 

I read somewhere before I went to take notice of the general age of the population in Cambodia. I agreed with the article - there were very few people older than about 40 years old. I encountered almost no one my parent's age and only saw a very few people in their 70s and older.

Mekong Islands tour - part 2

After the school stop, we rode for another 30-40 minutes and then made a second stop here.  This house is very typical of what many of the houses looked like. Most were built up on stilts and the people used the ground level as living-type areas.  I'm sure they are strategic to avoid floods during the rainy season too.  The walls were a woven, dried, grass-type of thing.  Tin roofs.  Sometimes the walls were tin as well. 

 

Amom had arranged a snack here for us - fresh fruit and water. Little clementine oranges, bananas, papaya and mangos.  She also had this interesting spice mix to dip the papaya into - it was salty and sugary and spicy all at once.  I wasn't a particular fan, but for those who know me, that probably isn't surprising! 

This home is actually a silk maker's and it is a family business.  I wasn't clear on the relationships of everyone there, but this girl was sort of our tour guide.  Here she is showing us how they get the silk from each silk worm.  They do the entire process themselves and all by hand.  Grow the worms, harvest them, spin the silk into threads, dye them and weave them.  All in this little house!  

The worms in cocoons...

A younger member of the family working on the loom. She was very sweet to let me take her picture.   

 

Another family member.  We did see dogs and cats somewhat frequently throughout the day and although they did not seem quite like my version of a "family pet", they appeared well-fed.  

Some of the finished products.  They were beautiful!

After the silk maker's, we rode again for another 45 minutes or so and made a stop here.  This was a local Buddhist temple.  We passed several that looked like this throughout the day and to me, they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.  But I guess there is a population around?

The temple had several monks there eating lunch.  Amom told us that it is traditional for the community to bring food for the monks to eat.  After they have eaten their fill, then the children sitting behind them would eat what was left.  I was unclear about why it was mostly all children and few adults in this group. 

After another ride we stopped for refreshments before ferrying back to the city.  This is sugar cane juice.  They had this as a roadside and market treat all over the place.  The sugar cane was put through a juicer-type of thing and this was what came out.  It was cold, very sweet and refreshing!

It's a little hard to see here, but I am eating an egg.  Eggs were also a common snack.  They were basically hard-boiled and would dip them into a salty/spicy mixture like we did the papaya earlier.  They were actually pretty good!  That's Amom behind me.  Please excuse my dreadful appearance and remember I've been cycling for 4-5 hours in the mud and rain. 

After the ferry back, we had another short ride to where a van picked up us.  Unfortunately, this part was when it rained the most and by the time we got there, we were soaked!  Not to mention that I had mud splattered all over my clothes from riding on the muddy roads all day.  Everything had to be washed when I made it back to the hotel.  We did have a nice lunch at a local restaurant to end the tour. In total we rode about 20 km, which is maybe 12 miles.  The bikes were mountain style and well-maintained to handle the rough roads.  It was rough but all very flat and easy riding. All in all - a really fun day!

The Mekong Islands cycling tour

Originally when I planned my trip to Cambodia, I signed up for a 3 day cycling tour that would pass through the countryside from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.  About a month before the trip, I found out that I was the only person signed up to go, so they cancelled the tour and instead I signed up for a day tour in each city.  

The night before the tour, I could hear it raining on the tin roof outside the hotel.  It was dreary and not promising when I woke up, but was only drizzling when I made it to the tour office.  There were five of us signed up for the tour and they did offer to reschedule for the next day, but we all opted to go ahead even if we got a little wet.  

Our guide was a lovely young Cambodian woman, Amom. She spoke great English and had an enthusiasm for showing us her country.  We started by riding through Phnom Penh to a ferry across the River. I wish I could tell you whether we were crossing the Mekong River or the Tonle Sap River, but they converge just next to the city and I'm not sure which it was at the point we crossed.  Ah well!  

A view of the type of ferry we were on...they were pretty rustic!  This was the one crossing the other way.

Our bikes parked on the ferry.  We sat inside and it only took about 15 minutes to cross.  On both sides the entrance to the boat itself was a ramp, but I use that word "ramp" loosely. It was just a dirt path and since it had rained, it was a mud pit. My shoes were covered immediately and we watched several cars struggle to get on and off because of the mud!

Most of the riding part of the day was on dirt roads that looked like this:

Our first stop was at an elementary school.  We peeked into a class of about 15 kids who may have been 6-7 years old.  Amom clearly knew the teacher and allowed us to listen while the kids did some counting. Two of the ladies in our tour had purchased some fancy pencils at the market to hand out at a school and so we all took a few to give away. 

The school building itself was a series of classrooms around an open courtyard. The kids wore a basic uniform of white shirts and blue shorts or skirts.  

 That's our guide Amom with the red backpack on - I'll show a better photo of her in a later post. And more to come on the rest of our ride...

Phnom Penh - the Royal Palace

Lots of places in Phnom Penh reminded me of the scenes from The King and I.  But none more than the Royal Palace. 

It was more of a walled compound than a specific "palace."  Some parts of it are still used by the royal family today, so the visit was somewhat limited.  The building above was the main throne hall. Visitors were not allowed inside, but could look in through the end doors and windows. It was basically a large open room, with an area at one end for the King's throne and room for the court all around. Also no photographs of the inside, sorry I don't have anything to show! 

The next photo below is the Moonlight Pavilion.  This was about as close as I could get to it - visitors were also not allowed.  But it was closer to the river than any other building in the complex.  It was a very large, open-air pavilion meant for entertaining and in particular to showcase Khmer classical dance. Can't you just envision this all lit up at night with candles and torches while watching a dance?  Enchanting.   

Some of the greenery on the grounds. The gardens were very beautiful.

Phnom Penh - National Museum and Silver Pagoda

Day 1 in Cambodia!  I got a late start on my first day out.  My flight arrived near midnight the previous day and with the jet lag, I couldn't sleep until almost 3AM.  So I slept in until noon, then had a nice breakfast of toast and fruit at my hotel. Just in front of the hotel were several tuk-tuk drivers. 

Tuk-tuks were the main form of transportation I used in Cambodia. They are essentially small motorcycles with a little carriage attached to the back. They are EVERYWHERE and as I walked down the street I was constantly asked "tuk-tuk lady?" by drivers looking for business.  Outside my hotel I employed the same driver everytime I went out. They were cheap too, about $1-3/ride, depending on how far you want to go.  The drivers will also negotiate with you if you want them to wait for you. For example, one afternoon I went to visit a museum and then to a market and back to my hotel. I paid my driver $8 and he drove me to each and waited outside for me at each.  It was probably a 4 hour excursion altogether.  It was nice to use the same driver because we had sort of established a rate I was willing to pay, I knew he wasn't going to pull any tricks upon arrival (like demand more money than we had agreed) and I knew that he knew where my hotel was.  So no getting lost in translation. 

Anyway, enough rambling about tuk-tuks.  Here are some sights - starting with the National Museum. The building itself was a work of art, as you can see. It was mostly open air with big windows and doorways between the galleries and the courtyard where this photo was taken.  The museum was filled with artifacts from the past, over 1000 years of stuff.  Some were statues, paintings and lots of carvings that would have been removed from temples around Cambodia.  Similar to what I would see later in the week in Siem Reap, but in museum form.  I wasn't supposed to take pictures inside, so don't have much to show beyond the outside of the building. 

My second stop was just a 5 minute walk up the road to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.  They were all part of the same compound (and entry ticket) but I will show the Palace in another post.  For now, the large building at the left of this photo is the Silver Pagoda. It is called this because inside the floor was covered in solid silver tiles. Also no pictures inside here.  While I'm sure it looked very opulent at one time, now it is mostly very tarnished and covered about 90% with rugs to preserve it. So there wasn't much to see inside. They did also have a Buddha statue carved out of a large emerald, about 18 inches tall. 

I was more impressed with the grounds at the Silver Pagoda. Around the outer wall was this long pavilion that had elaborate paintings. I read that the paintings show Khmer history, along with scenes from legendary stories.  

There were tons of Buddha statues...

As well as elephants.  Sometimes the elephant head is for the Hindu deity Ganesh, who is known to be the remover of obstacles.  I readily admit that I don't know much about the religions in this part of the world. I did learn that the majority of modern Cambodia is Buddhist and the monks that I will show later pictures of (in the orange robes) are Buddhist. 

General splendor...

Cambodia - an intro

So I have been procrastinating on writing about Cambodia for two reasons.  First, it was such a big trip (not just long, but in significance) that I hardly know where to start.  Second, I want to not just post pictures but to give a real overview of what I thought about the country and my experiences while I was there.  But the thing is, I'm not really much of a writer!  Seriously, I'm an accountant - lists and spreadsheets. So I just felt like this was going to get short-changed.  (See how I made an accounting joke there?  I'm such a nerd.)  I was just reading a travel blog that I really like and decided to steal her format.  So here is an overview and then I'll get to some detailed posts later on with more pictures. 

What made you choose this destination for your travels?

I had enough vacation time left for a 10-14 day trip late in 2013. I had already been several places in Europe and wanted to try somewhere new.  Several years ago there was a TV show based on the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die" and the hosts went to Cambodia. It stuck with me and Angkor Wat in particular I wanted to visit.  So I started doing research and bought a plane ticket!  Important note here - I went alone.  None of my friends had enough time off in November to go with me, or maybe weren't interested, didn't want to spend the money, whatever.  I didn't (and don't!) want to let the idea of going alone to hold me back from going places at all. 

How did you get there?

I flew Korean Air from London Heathrow, connected through Seoul and arrived into Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.  Korean Air is lovely. The flight attendants are beautiful.  I know that is superficial, but they were skinny, had flawless skin and were smiley and polite the entire 11 hour flight. A complete change from the grumpy and frumpy flight attendants I usually encounter on US-based carriers.  (Sorry to anyone reading this who is one, but it's the truth.) The food was good!  They had regular Western-type options, but you could also get bibimbap, a traditional Korean rice dish. When I ordered bibimbap the flight attendant was very concerned about whether I had tried it before and even gave me a little instructional card (with pictures!) about how to mix the rice with the vegetables, sesame oil and pepper paste.  It was delicious!

Where did you stay?

I debated this ALOT before I went. The obvious way to meet other solo travellers is to stay at a hostel. Call me a snob, but I just couldn't foresee being comfortable in such a new place staying in a dorm room with strangers. Plus I wanted to be as safe as possible. So I went for mid-budget level hotels in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.  Both had a restaurant and pool, so I could opt for a relaxing evening in if I wasn't up for going out at night. Both also had good reviews on Trip Advisor, even commenting on things I would never have thought of like "this hotel's management doesn't allow guests to bring extra guests onto the property - so you won't have to deal with men bringing home prostitutes to hang out by the pool."  True comment on Trip Advisor. And apparently can be a real problem at some hotels in this part of the world. 

Tips for future travellers to this destination?

They use a combination of US dollars and Cambodian rials, but primarily USD. So bring lots of small bills ($10 and under) as most everything is going to be less than $10.  Also, bring cash to pay for your visa that you apply for upon arrival at the airport. I booked almost everything for this trip before I arrived, including my hotel, a taxi for airport arrival, day cycling tours and even my bus ticket from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. But it seemed you could do all of that upon arrival too, so don't feel like you have to get locked into everything before arrival.

Tips for packing for this destination?

It was hot and sunny most of the time I was there.  Low 90's, which seemed delightful compared to London and at the same time, unbearably hot.  Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat were important for my fair-skinned self.  One day was rainy all day long and a couple of evenings had torrential downpours, so an umbrella and light jacket are probably in order too.  I suspect the rain could be much worse if you went during rainy season.  Some of the temple sites require a bit of modesty so try to wear a long skirt or pants.  You could also buy these ridiculous hammer pants type of things for about $5 outside every place that needed knees covered. Tons of people wore them and they were very goofy looking.  I wore tshirts with short sleeves to protect my shoulders from burning, but it seemed most people in tank tops were ok. Somewhat sturdy shoes as you'll walk over lots of stones and rough terrain.  Be sure you have a secure travel bag.  More on that later. 

Must see spots?

Angkor Wat was my primary reason for this trip, but it is part of a HUGE temple complex just outside Siem Reap.  Think of Angkor like a national park in the US that goes on for miles.  And it was dotted with dozens of temples of varying sizes and in varying states of disrepair.  I only spent two days in the park, but you could easily do a week. In Phnom Penh, seeing the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda were my favorites.  Another popular visit in Phnom Penh is to S-21 and the Killing Fields.  These both commemorate the atrocities committed in the late 70s/early 80s by the Khmer Rouge. I only visited S-21, which was a school, then a prison and is now a museum. In both cities, the markets were fun as well - interesting just to walk around and see everything for sale from souvenirs to raw fish to motor engine parts and toilet paper. If you like bargaining, you'd have fun too - it's not my fave but I did some.

Final tips for this destination?

Get a massage - they are cheap!  As cheap as a couple of dollars on the street or I went to a nice spa for a private room and paid about $15. Great way to relax after a long, hot day of sight-seeing. Try to do something that gets you out of the main city centers and tourist tracks. I did a cycling tour from Phnom Penh that took us into the surrounding country-side and villages.  It was a completely different look at the normal lifestyles than what you get in the city.  Even taking the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap allowed me to see more than I would have if I had flown between the two. 

More to come in some forthcoming posts with pictures and details!