Hey Lady, You Want Tuk Tuk?

Suisdei everyone! We apologize for the delay... The internet in Cambodia is painfully slow! We are currently in Bali, but wanted to recap our experiences in Cambodia with you. For those unfamiliar with this country, it is located just southeast of Thailand and directly south of Laos. It is a popular stop on the backpacker agenda and coincedentally, we saw a lot of our old friends from Spicy Laos while in Cambodia.

Poipet Border Crossing

To start our journey, we took a local bus from Melissas village to the border and walked across into Cambodia. Since the cheap buses only leave for the cities between 6-8am, we decided to stay a night in Poipet, the border city. This is a mistake. Poipet is known as the armpit of Cambodia and the reputation is well deserved: stinky, messy, and just plain gross. Please cross at any other part of the border aside from this one!

After an interesting night, we took an early bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It was crowded, bustling, and exciting... Packed with tuk tuks (Asian taxis), street food, and an amazing mix of architechture. Just what an Asian city should be!

Us, being adorable whilst sightseeing.

Our first full day there, we decided to learn more about Cambodia. We are not sure how familiar you all are with Cambodia's tragic past, but here is a brief account.

The Vietnam War had devastating effects on surrounding southeast Asian countries, especially Cambodia. In fact, a full on civil war took place in Cambodia from 1970-1975. When the dust settled, a political group known as the Khmer Rouge ursurped power. The Khmer Rouge grounded its core principles in extreme Marxism, meaning they wanted a communist agrarian based society. They wanted to start from ground zero without any history or independent thought, so they shipped people from the cities to country farms, destroyed remenants of Khmer culture, and tortured and killed people based simply on traits such as being an intellectual or being suspected of having ties to capitalism. In 1975 through 1979, the group basically turned Cambodia into a country wide concentration camp, leading to the genocide of around 2 million people. Although the Khmer Rouge was overthrown by Vietnam in 1979, remnants from the ordeal are still evident throughout the country.

There are several museums in Phnom Penh memorializing the tragedy. We had a heavy day as we explored the Killing Fields and S-21, one of the most notorious prisons.

Skulls of the numerous victims kept in a mass grave monument.

Clothing of the victims, along with bone fragments, continue to appear during rainy system.

One of the prison cells where they kept victims for torturing.

Very disturbing images from the day the Vietnam government came to the prison.

The Khmer Rouge took pictures and bios of every prisoner they housed.

Most of the makeshift jail cells are still intact.

It was hard to see so many needless casualties and even harder to know that this was a recent event. However, it was important to us to know the background of the Khmer people and to be aware of how such brutalities came about, so that hopefully we can prevent them in the future.

Whew! That is a tough part of the journey! On to happier topics!

We explored the rest of the city and as always, went Wat hunting. We found the Wat that supposedly contains one of Buddha's eyebrow hairs. As part of the worshipping ritual, we lit incense at the alter, while an older gentleman chanted and splashed us with questionably  scented water. Consider us cleansed!

The eyebrow is kept in this Buddah statue. Or so we were told...

We also had the pleasure of speaking with a young monk for over an hour! He wanted to practice his English and we wanted to learn more about his culture. We ended up discussing food, specifically fruit. One of the most priceless moments came about as we discussed guavas. Katie tried to get the monk to pronounce the "va" in "guava", but he kept adding an "s" at the end of the syllable, making it sound like "vas". So Katie asked him if he could pronounce "ah". The monk said "ass, ass, ass".

We exchanged email addresses. How many of YOU have a monk for a penpal?

Oh my goodness. There is nothing funnier in the entire world than hearing a holy man say "ass" over and over and OVER again. We tried to hold in our giggles because we didn't want him to think we were laughing at his English, but it was way too funny. Tears from laughter were streaming down our faces!

There is a huge river that flows through the town with a large stretch of sidewalk running alongside it. We enjoyed jogging along the path, as well as doing some major people watching, as the riverfront acts as a central hub of local activity. Soccer games and food vendors flood the asphalt, but the most noteable activity is the dancing. Huge groups of people dance in synchronized clusters, similar to aerobics classes. The music ranges from techno to Little Jon to traditional Khmer tunes. It was a lot of fun to watch.

The beautiful river.

Just a small taste of the amazing street dancing.

After a few days, we moved on to Siem Reap, a town synonymous with the famous Angkor Wat. You guys, we were in Wat hunting nirvana! These are the temples that make other wats look like everyday houses. Words cannot express the beauty of these structures, so without further ado, here are some of our favorites:

In typical Amanda and Katie fashion, we rented bikes for two of the three days we went to Angkor and biked around the temple grounds. We rode around 20 km each time, but the majority of our time was spent in the actual temples with our trusty guidebooks. It was very easy to spend 6-7 hours exploring the bas reliefs and admiring the intricate details.

On our third day, we decided to wake up at 4:30am and run 4 miles to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. 

Yeah. We are crazy.

 It was absolutely stunning. The way the sun comes up over the temples brings out all of the unique elements of the structure. Amazing.

For our post run/sunrise breakfast, we hunted down a noodle soup stand. Along the way, Katie, our exotic food connoisseur, found some grilled snake. And she ate it. Of course.

An exciting food adventure, just waiting to happen!

Mmmmm.... Chewy....

In case you are unaware, this was not Katie's first foray into exotic (and gross!) cuisine. She also ordered a huge plate of stir fried frog a night or two before.

Before

After!

In fact, Cambodia out-exoticed even Katie! Check out these foods...

Yep, those are roasted spiders. Next to a plate of frogs.

Turtles cooked in their own shells.

As much as we love temples, we couldn’t do them everyday. That much temple exploration leads to extreme temple burnout. So because we were lucky enough to have five days in Siem Reap, we went to the temples every other day, giving us two full days to explore the rest of the city.

On one of the days, we found a rehabilitation clinic for people with amputations, cerebral palsy, and polio. It was funded by a non profit organization called Handicap International. This program allows for all patients to get free treatment for one week, along with free prosthetics. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures because of patient confidentiality, but they did allow us to try out their rehabilitation equipment. Most of it challenged balance and used makeshift playground equipment, as well as rocks and sand.

Cambodia is actually a very poor country, with 90% of the population making less than $0.50/day, which is why organizations such as these are so important. We did our best to be sustainable tourists by supporting these programs and donating where we could. We went to a children’s hospital event one evening to watch a doctor perform on his cello. Dr. Beat Richner, originally from Switzerland, created a chain of these children’s hospitals to provide free health care to mothers and children who would not normally be able to afford it. Up to 95% of their support is from private donors. You can learn more about him and the program here.

 Of course, learning about Cambodia isn’t always so serious. Per usual, we took a cooking course. It was a little bit more touristy than our experience in Thailand, but we also got to meet cool people and drink beer while we cooked. It felt like a big cooking party!

We also needed to relax after all of our hard work. What better way than to stick your feet in a tub of fish?

For around $2 each, these tiny fish nibbled off our dead skin and calluses, leaving us with feet as soft as a baby’s bottom. Yes, it is just as weird as it sounds. The sensation of the fish nibbling your toes is the most ticklish feeling in the world! It took us a good 10 minutes to stop laughing. Which made the experience well worth it J.

And of course, we went out. For some reason, we didn’t take too many pictures, but the important things for you too know are:

1)      We danced (but, sadly, no pictures)!

2)      We won a t-shirt!

3)      We made more friends!

4)      We drank a beer tower!

5)      We had a blast!

 

Cambodia was a fascinating country and we are very glad we got to experience it. We are currently in Bali, enjoying our last four days abroad!  We can’t believe it’s almost over!

If we do not get a chance to blog before we get home… We will see you all soon!!!

Katie and Amanda Go Back to School (And, Consequently, Thailand)!!!

Hello once again! As previously mentioned, we are attempting to catch our blog up to real life time, so we thought now was as good a time as any to tell you all about Melissa's village!

For those who do not know, Melissa is our friend who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She works as a teacher in a rural village, Ban Kadad, located in the northeastern providence of Surin.

Say hello, Melissa!

Melissa is living with a family that consists of her Yaai Lee (grandma)

The sweetest woman you will ever meet.

and Melissa's "brother and sister", both teenagers. However, the whole community is so tight knit that they all consider Melissa part of their family. After living in Thailand for about a year, Melissa speaks fluent Thai, as well as some Khmer (a Cambodian dialect), and is well integrated into ebb and flow of the entire village. We are so proud of her!

We arrived in Ban Kadad late at night and had two full days to spend with Melissa. On our first day, she took us to one of the two schools at which she regularly teaches. As this part of the country is much more traditional, we wore conservative clothing to cover our legs and shoulders. Just like American schools, Thai school starts with morning announcements and a pledge of allegiance.

Despite the uniforms and the initial morning lineup, Thai schools are actually fairly casual, something that Melissa must battle on a regular basis. Very rarely do the teachers prepare lesson plans, and the students are not graded on their performance. There are days when a few of the teachers won't even bother to show up! The particular day that we visited was right before a community wide festival, so that school day was even more casual than normal! Some of the students skipped lessons to rehearse their dance performances for the following day.

There was also plenty of physical activity. Can you find Katie?

However, the students were fascinated to meet us and practice their English! Some even followed us into multiple classrooms. For most of them, Melissa is the only farang (westerner) that they get to interact with on a regular basis. We basically stood at the front of the room and let them interview us.

Thai Press Conference

A captive audience

 They asked hard hitting questions, such as "What is your nickname?" and "What is your favorite fruit?" We had a few faux pas while being interviewed. Katie told them red was her favorite color, which is a political color in Thailand. And Amanda, while trying to speak in Thai, told them her favorite Thai food was green poop soup (instead of green curry). The kids LOVED that and repeated it the rest of the morning.

Not pictured: Feces

Afterward, we went around to the students in small groups and spoke with them in English. It was helpful to have pictures to point to, as sometimes things were lost in translation. The students were very shy, as most of us tend to be while learning a new language, but we tried our best to encourage them, as speaking English is a huge advantage in these countries.

Just add "teacher" to our long list of credentials!

 In our last class of the day, the students performed an adorable song and dance for us in Thai. The lyrics are about grilling a dead chicken and it was just so much fun to watch. These kids were fantastic!

Spot the camera hams!

Amanda's mini doppelganger

That night, some of Melissa's coworkers at her other school invited us out to a big dinner celebration, complete with karaoke and dancing!

Lots of arroy (delicious) fish in this part of the country.

Law-aw (beautiful) ladies

The whole gang.

This woman would not let us sit down!

We had a blast! It was so much fun to experience a night out with young locals rather than the usual array of western backpackers. The best part is we were able to turn in at the very reasonable hour of 10pm. Don't judge us, we had to rest up for the next day!

Because, you see, we have the most amazing timing. Without planning it, we were in Melissa's village for a huge cultural celebration that only takes place once each year! Villages and communities from all around Surin come to perform cultural dances and sell their wares.

Famous Thai Silk

A loom for making the silk

Every single one of these things were made of plastic straws.

It's hard to tell, but we are eating crickets. Yum!

While wandering around the grounds, we found a station that demonstrated making kanome tian, one of our favorite coconut desserts, literally meaning "candle treat. The girls were nice enough to show us how to make them.

Pre-steaming

They found us trying to fold the treats just hilarious!

It is kind of surreal being a farang in this particular part of Thailand. You are constantly being stared at and everyone wants to take a picture with you. It is really like being a celebrity. However, it made us feel a lot more comfortable taking pictures of them as well.

It was a nice long day of being exposed to plenty of Thai culture. We learned many things that we were not privy to during our previous three weeks in Thailand. It was a nice way to close out our time in that amazing country. Thank you so much Melissa!

Thank you for reading! Soon we will be able to update you on our Cambodian adventures!