Daily Archives: October 13, 2012

Before heading to the airport in Cambodia, we made a quick run to check out the local market. Fruits and vegetables; your assortment of frogs, fish and crabs; meat of all kinds; 50 cent beer; and souvenirs for tourists were the order of the day. But, as we walked around, we chanced upon a curious place called Dr. Fish Massage. The good doctor promised to make one “happy and funny.” Lisa, being a connoisseur of massages, said, “no way!” I, being one who can’t resist goading Lisa on, told her that if I could get a Hanoi haircut, she could get a Cambodian fish massage. She took the bait (pun intended).

It’s quite simple — one puts their feet into a fish tank and the fish nibble on your feet. Not sure what they’re eating exactly. But, they seem to like it. Well, Lisa took off her shoes and socks and hesitantly lowered her feet into the tank. The fish, somehow expecting a delicious meal, attacked. Lisa shrieked. After about 15 seconds of giggling and squirming she said, “can I take them out now?” I said, “no.”

She lasted about three minutes.

I asked the woman how much for the effort and she looked me somewhat amused and said, “one dollar.” I think Lisa set the new Cambodian record for shortest massage.

We’re off to Saigon now. We’ll catch up to you there.

This morning we had a special session meditating and chanting with Cambodian monks. A group of four of them came to our hotel and took us through the steps of meditation and breathing. We all sat there meditating with them for almost a half-hour. As the time elapsed, you could hear each of us twitching and moving a little. A half-hour is a long time to be still! I peeked at the monks and they weren’t moving a muscle or restless at all. We were all a little relieved when they told us we could relax and quit meditating. They discussed the five tenets of Buddhism with us. They are:
1. Do not kill another living thing.
2. Do not take what is not yours.
3. Do not cheat on your spouse or loved one.
4. Do not lie.
5. Do not take intoxicants or drink alcohol. (Ooops!)

Well, I guess four out of five of the tenets isn’t too bad. ( Although, I will also admit to killing a mosquito or two that I have found in our hotel room.)

When we asked how long we should meditate each day, they said that five or ten minutes first thing in the morning and five-ten minutes before we went to bed would give us a happy, peaceful life. More food for thought!

As we leave Cambodia, we are struck with the differences with life here from life back home. The people are very friendly and polite but they have all been through so much and are continuing to have struggles. All of the people we met talked about the corruption in the country and the lack of education and health care. 75% of the people living in the country-side are illiterate and school is not mandatory. The country is young; 50% of the people are under 15. Young children surround you begging you to buy trinkets from them when you walk around the temples and it is hard to witness.

And, yet, when we visited the floating village the people all seemed so content. The kids were all playing in the water and running around their homes laughing and smiling. There were even two teenage boys showing off hot-rodding around with their boats proving that boys will always be boys no matter what culture they are in. It reminded me of the stories of the African Village People in the documentary, “Happy”. Happiness is truly relative to your situation. These people would be miserable if they were transplanted to the United State and we could never survive a day on the village without our technology and need to be constantly busy and challenged. Can you imagine Brad not being able to watch sports or get on twitter?

One other fact of life here that we haven’t mentioned is the heat in Cambodia. It is about 90 degrees here with 100% humidity. Add to the equation that you need to cover up because of the requirements of keeping your knees and shoulders covered and the fact that you want to protect yourself from mosquitoes and you get a feel for why the group always looks like we are glistening in all of the pictures!

We are leaving Cambodia soon and are heading to Saigon. We only have two more days on our trip which is hard to believe and is making us a little sad. We have made friends with a great group of people on our tour and it will be hard to say good-bye to everyone. Although Brad and I have never blogged before, we have enjoyed reviewing our day and putting our thoughts down into this blog. We are feeling a lot of responsibility now that everyone in our group here is following us and all of you have made so many great comments back to us! Chris told me that we would find the statistics from the blog to be interesting. We have had almost 1000 visits to our blog but most interesting is that we have quite a large contingent from Singapore following us as well as people from Laos, the UK, Switzerland, and Australia! Brad’s photos were even put into an on-line publication about Cambodia. I think that maybe I should talk Brad out of following his dream about opening a pet supply store and maybe we could become professional travel bloggers and photographers. Sure sounds a lot more fun than schlepping dog food!!

Here are some final pictures of our experiences in Cambodia.

Tuk-Tuk Ride Through Siem Reap

Visit to a Silk Factory

Our fearless leader, Chris, enjoying some cocktails with the ladies!

Before Sunrise.

It was still dark when we rose this morning to visit Angkor Wat, the 12th-century temple touted as the largest Hindu temple in the world. One can only be awed by something that was viewed by people standing in the same spot nearly one thousand years ago. We left early to catch the splendor of viewing the structure at sunrise, and to beat both the heat and the crowds. Our guide, Soeun, is a master at getting us to the right place at the right time. He walks quite fast — likely a function of his knowledge of the perfect time to be at the perfect place to get the perfect photograph. Lighting on the temples makes all of the difference.

But, his pace could also have been influenced by his background. Cambodia, like all of the Southeast Asian countries, has a colorful and troubled past. But, Cambodia’s troubles have much more recency to them. The “Killing Fields” happened in our lifetime. For us, it was something we heard about in the news or saw in the movies. For Soeun and every other Cambodian, it was real life.

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The regime launched a reform policy that sought to eliminate all opposition. Famine, a lack of medical care, and mass executions killed over two million citizens during the period. Every family was — and still is — affected by the Killing Fields. Soeun was lucky — both his parents, who were farmers, survived. But, he had ten siblings, five of whom were “disappeared.” It makes sense that he should walk quickly.

We were told by another guide as we arrived in the country, that everyone over 45 has mental illness as a result of the stress they were under during the Khmer Rouge reign. Who wouldn’t be so deeply affected by such horror? There is an edge to the people that we didn’t feel in Vietnam or Laos. Still they are friendly, welcoming, and hopeful for a better future. But, better educational and medical systems will be needed for them to make good progress.

Lisa Removing her “troubles”in the happy room

The Oxcart and the Floating Village

We went back back to the hotel for breakfast then set off for another adventure. Tonle Sap lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and sits smack in the middle of Cambodia. It is unusual in that it shrinks and grows dramatically based on the season. During the rainy season the lake can quintuple in size eating up large swaths of land. We’re at the end of the rainy season so the lake is large and takes about 20 minutes to drive there from our hotel. In the dry season it will take over an hour to get to the much more distant lake shore.

On the way we came across a boy with an oxcart and two water buffalo. He was selling rides on the somewhat deserted road to the lake. We took him up on it. How often does one get to ride in an oxcart (water buffalo cart?)? After hooking up the buffalo, the boy motioned us into the cart. The ride was s-l-o-w. It is very hot and humid here so it wasn’t long before Lisa said, “Are we done yet?” Then, to make the trip even more exciting, a carful of our tour mates drove up beside us, pointed, laughed and began snapping pictures. Our very own paparazzi vehicle.

Well, after about ten minutes and two hundred yards, we exited the vehicle. One more item scratched off the bucket list.

Cambodian barber shop. Too bad I got that haircut in Vietnam.

Anyway, we drove out to a boat launch and got in a rather strange looking boat to take us to the floating village. The village is a fishing hamlet on home made Cambodian houseboats. Because the lake is so transient, the residents of the village need to stay mobile so they can move as the lake does. Since they are fishermen, it wouldn’t make sense to be far from the lake shore during the dry season.

After about 20 minutes we arrived in a different world. The homes — more like floating shacks — were assembled in a town that came from another era. They used car batteries for power. There was a shop that used a gas-powered generator to recharge the batteries. The houses floated on bamboo poles bound together and they mostly used palm fronds, grass, or wood for walls and ceilings. It gave Lisa and I an indescribable understanding of the conditions much of the world lives with. We felt simultaneously lucky and awed at the experience.

Yet, children played, dogs lounged, mothers cooked, babies swung in hammocks, people smiled and waved. Happiness truly is more than can be provided by material goods. This community, always on the move, is anchored by those things that bind us all — friendship, community, family.

A floating school

Our funny-looking boat.