Floating Village Cambodia

I just wanted to send a quick note about today's adventure. I took a one hour tuk-tuk ride to a boat landing which took me for a 2-hour boat ride around a floating village. It sounds really cool but the reality is that these floating villages are where the poorest of the poor live. You can't quite imagine such a thing unless you see it. The village is a collection of the most rickety houses - made of bamboo and miscellaneous scraps - and they are all floating in this brown soupy river. There are also floating stores and schools. For the tourists there is a floating visitor center showing how people live and a couple of restaurants.

My guide told me the most interesting fact...the village rests right off shore today however, come the dry season in April, the entire village (2000 homes) will have to haul their little huts and stores out several miles to accommodate the lowering of river. In other words, if the village stays were it is today, they will be on dry land and will have to walk several miles in order to do their fishing. It's an incredible picture; kids floating to school in little boats; tiny kids in boats that look more like buckets paddling from one house to the next. There is even a floating Catholic Church and a floating basketball court paid for by the Catholics.

My guide took me to a little store and I paid too much money for some books and pencils, we then went to the floating school and delivered them. The school is just one floating room (10x15)that holds approx. 25 kids and one teacher. I had to pay some company 35 dollars to take this tour (I know now there are other ways) and my guide told me they pay him $40 per month. Next time I will try to avoid the "company" and deal with the locals directly. It really pisses me off how much money this "company" is charging/making when some of the people in the village are so poor that they have to drink the river water where the village waste is dumped into. That's it...I return home tomorrow. Thanks for your responses...it's been nice hearing from people.

Cambodia

Oh my goodness…Saturday must be burn night. It’s 6 p.m. and I’ve returned to my hotel to breath. Like so many poor countries, there is no garbage pick-up so people just burn their trash. The air is so thick with smoke that you can hardly see, let alone breath.

It is incredibly hot, so hot that the moment I step outside my air conditioned room the sweat just begins to poor.
Outside of those little inconveniences (breathing difficulties and instant dehydration), all is well.

Cambodia is a lot different than Thailand. Although both countries are Buddhist, the Thai seem more formal with their traditions. It is common to be greeted with a big smile and the welcome phrase “Sawadee Kha” (or “Khop” if you are a man) and a bow of respect. Shoes are always removed before entering a temple or private home. The bow to whatever level of respect the person deserves (slight lowering of the head to the hands in prayer position for general respect and a deep lowering of the head to monks, elders and royalty). All this graciousness derives from the belief that their is karmic kudos in gentility and kindness.

The Cambodians on the other-hand do not always smile, take their shoes off or bow formally. Perhaps it is the poverty and the relatively recent “bad times”(war and mass murder of many thousands of people during the 70’s) that give Cambodians a harder edge.

Cambodia is much, much poorer than Thailand. Really, the poverty is just incredible and deeply disturbing. Children accost visitors in droves with pleads that you buy something from them. It may be pencils, clothings, any little thing that they can produce and offer in exchange for some money. If failed to buy anything, I would hear things like “if I no sell I no go to school!” or “okay lady, you buy me food.” Last night I had a little boy of about five hold onto my hand and beg me to buy him food. He was so dirty I could hardly see him in the dim light. His front teeth were all rotted and he had not shoes or shirt on.

Even more disturbing is the number of people missing limbs and with birth defects. I’ve seen probably 20 people with missing limbs today. Many of them carry around signs saying they were victims of landmines and need help. Mostly the Cambodians are not interested in begging but prefer to sell some little item to make a tiny living. One man approached me as I sat and asked me to buy one of his books. He reached out his arm to shake my hand and I realized as I reached forward that he had no hand.

The Angkor Temples are amazingly beautiful. I was told it was a huge area but I did not realize just how huge. There are over 40 main temples and I’ve only managed to see 5 in two days. I have one more day at the temples and then I’ll take a day trip to a floating village not too far away.

I had planned to leave tomorrow to spend my last two days in Bangkok but I’m going to change my flight to stay here until I go home.

2/7/09

I'm in Sukouthai. Tomorrow we bike ride through Sukouthai's temples and then take a bus to the River Guest house outside of Lompang. From Lompang we travel into the mountains to the Elephant hospital. I'm with an interesting group of 12; mostly Australians, a couple of Brits and one German (thank God because he's a big, loud, hairy TRIP). I spent my first two days in Bangkok and experienced the most intense sensory overload. Luckily the confusion over whether to eat myself silly or shop myself into the poor house was such that I was thrown into a tail spin so severe that nothing other than a Thai massage could help lull me back to sanity. I've made it a daily routine to keep it a mellow laid back trip. I've just returned from this evening's night-time rubdown. The lady walked, kneaded and prodded me in ways that made me believe I would leave a foot taller.

While in Bangkok I did manage to visit the Royal Palace. I spent the entire day and took many pictures. I've never seen anything quite like it. I don't have the words right now to describe the extent to which the Thai show homage to their culture and history through their art. The detail, density and color cannot be rivaled. My pictures show, but do not give their art justice.

The Thai LOVE their royalty and in fact, no matter where you are at 8a.m. and 6 pm. everyone stops and sings the national song to the royal family. 8 am. this morning, we were in the train station. A policeman blew his whistle and waived everyone to stand up. I followed as everyone turned toward the giant portrait of the king and began to sing. People are very serious about it and it is a serious offence (maybe illegal) to disrespect the family in any way. I'll write you again later. I've done and seen much more than I say here but I'm deeply tired right now -- or maybe it's just the mosquitoes draining me. Much love, Jilala

Sawadee Khaaa!

I'm not sure if this will come through but ....
Sorry for so long getting back. (I'm traveling with a bunch of Europeans and I'm starting to talk like them :). All is great. I think last time I wrote I was in Bangkok...not sure now. Since then we have been to Lempang for one night and from there to a Elephant Conservatory. The elephants were/are wonderful!!! They are the sweetest animals; so intelligent and expressive. Also visited the elephant hospital which was sad. The Thai elephant hospital is the first in the world and quite famous for the work they have done with some elephants that have been injured by land mines up towards the Burmese/Thai border. The two countries have been on/off at war for thousands of years. It's been peaceful for some time but land mines remain as remnants of war.

Tomorrow I fly to Cambodia which also has landmine problems and, apparently, there are many people there who are missing limbs. I'm forewarned that it's quite disturbing to see the number of people who have missing limbs.

After we left the elephant hospital, we drove to a hot spring which was not so interesting. From there we traveled to a small village for a home stay with a Thai family. It was extremely rustic accommodations. We all slept together in one large room on floor mats in a traditional Thai house. The only luxury was a bright pink mosquito net over our mats to save us from being eaten alive while we slept. But, we were offered some of the best food I have ever eaten in my life. YUMMMMM!!!

We started out the next day by offering food to the monks at the temple across the road. Thai monks cannot work so the people are expected to feed them. After, we were taken on a bicycle tour through the village to a temple, a mushroom farm and a small clothing factory. Lastly, we were brought to the local school to help teach for an hour or so. This was my favorite part of the day. The children are incredibly smart. They do not seem to have much resources but their culture seems much more disciplined and the children seem well advanced in their studies. They study Thai and also english as early as 5 years. There was a little girl at the homestay named Boi (boy) who already knew her letters and numbers in Thai and English.

From the home stay we drove to Chiangmai/Chiang Mai. It's a much smaller city than Bangkok and the people seem softer and more traditional here. We visited a temple atop a mountain that borders Chiang Mai. Later we all met for dinner and wandered the market.

There is a main market area but it's hard to distinguish where it starts and ends; the entire city seem like one huge market. There is everything here...really...everything. It's quite overwhelming actually. I've bought a lot of great stuff and may need to purchase a new bag to bring my items home. Everything is incredibly inexpensive. Massages are about $7 an hour, clothing $3 dollars for a lovely dress, Rubies (cheap), Sapphires (cheap), watches (really cheap) and food ($1-3 for dinner) so inexpensive and delicious I feel I should just eat all the time.

I am still with the group of 11 until tomorrow until we arrive back in Bangkok. We will take an overnight sleeper train the 17 hours back and, from there, I will fly to Cambodia. I am really enjoying traveling with a tour group. It's been really easy, as all transportation and sleeping arrangements have been arranged for. It's an eco-friendly/back-packer company which attracts folks like me who are interested in a more cultural/environmental experience of Thailand. I would highly recommend this type of travel for anyone who can handle a bit of a rustic physical experience. It's not too strenuous though. There is a 65 year old Australians who has enjoyed all our activities and still manages to wander the streets until 2 a.m. He insists he has not had any "happy endings" but I think otherwise. There are quite a few very nasty old white guys walking around with young Thai girls. I'm torn between being terrible embarrassed for them and degusted by them.

I hope you are all well. I think of you all and make sure to dedicate each mouthful of delicious spicy Thai food to each one of my loved ones.

Sawadee Khaaaaaa!
Jilala