Paul – Phnom Penh
Amanda – Siem Reap
Caitlin -Siem Reap
Georgie – Siem Reap
Ashlea – Siem Reap
Michael – Siem Reap

Favourite Food:-

Paul – Khmer curry at Anjali, Phnom Penh
Amanda – Quesadillas in Siem Reap
Caitlin – Enchiladas in Siem Reap
Georgie – Khmer curry at the Khmer Kitchen, Siem Reap
Ashlea – Tacos in Siem Reap
Michael – Chicken wraps in Siem Reap

Favourite thing we did:-

Paul – Visiting the city dump community in Phnom Penh.
Amanda – Driving through the countryside near Siem Reap by tuk tuk.
Caitlin – The market at Siem Reap.
Georgie – Driving through the countryside.
Ashlea – Swimming in the hotel pool.
Michael – Shopping at the Siem Reap market.

Thing disliked most:-

Paul – Evidence of corruption everywhere.
Amanda – The palace walls  symbolise Phnom Penh to me – manicured gardens andwealth on one side but poverty & filth on the other.
Caitlin – Palace.
Georgie - The royal palace.
Ashlea – The palace.
Michael – Girl selling water outside the palace who wanted to practice her Aussie on us by saying – G’day Mate; Aussie! Aussie Aussie! and our personal favourite – A dingotook my baby! over & over & over..

The very first day we entered Cambodia – after coming from touristy Thailand – I thought to myself “Why?  Why is it like this?  Why is one side of the border relatively clean and the road repaired and the other side looks like a warzone?”  When we came from Cambodia into Vietnam, once again, it’s like progressing 20 years – just by crossing an unseen line on the map.

We were shocked by the conditions in Siem Reap, being our first stop in Cambodia,  but when we bussed into Phnom Penh, I think we realised that Siem Reap is indeed a touristy town and even by Cambodian standards is pretty tame.  PP on the other hand shocks the hell out of you from the first second just with the traffic and the volume of rubbish on the streets.   After you’ve recovered from that, and start to look beyond, you see the people – mainly walking, some on bicycles or cyclos, some on motorbikes and quite a few driving shiny black Lexus 4WD’s.  Hang on!  Double take!  Lexus 4WD?  How can they afford that?  They must be driven by expats…  No – looks like Cambodians driving them.  Hmmm…  I put that away in the back of my mind.

After we had been here for a few days, I really felt the need to try to understand what had happened to this country – why was it this way?  I knew about the Khmer Rouge, but wasn’t that 30+ years ago?   I have by no means read widely, but what little I did find out from books and also from chatting to people, both expats and Cambodian, helped answer some of my questions – but also left a lot unanswered, which I think is a problem for a lot of visitors to Phnom Penh. 

It seems Cambodia has been used and abused by a number of other countries over the years, including the Thais, Vietnamese, French, USA and of course betrayed by their own countrymen – in the name of greed.  The country was decimated by the Khmer Rounge (it’s estimated that over 2 million people were killed during the 4 years Pol Pot was in power), but the fallout from that continues today.

We spoke to the owner of our guesthouse – he was 5 when the Khmer Rouge took power.  He said that people continued to live only for today; they could not and would not plan for the future as it has become a culture to think there probably won’t be atomorrow.  Unfortunately, it has also become common to think only about oneself – survival of the fittest – anyone not able to look after themself usually suffers alone.

Today, corruption is a massive problem, throughout all levels of society – hence the Lexus domination.  I was cynically told by an expat that those vehicles were my Aussie tax dollars at work, due to the millions of dollars in aid funding from Western countries – it apparently doesn’t filter very far from the top.

It seems the people don’t expect anything to change anytime soon – again to the detriment of long term thinking.  It’s quite depressing from the outside in, as you can see just how much needs to be done but really can’t see that it will ever be done, even on a minor scale.

On a positive note though, there are many non-government organisations doing the best they can for the people.  As Mother Teresa said- “If you can’t feed100 people, just feed one”.

 On our second last night here, we were handed a pamphlet at a restaurant,:-   …Please come with us, to help the children at the City Dump.   Join us on our working trips to help feed hungry children that live at the city dump. You buy the food with us, we recommend $15 upwards, we buy 3 meals for $1, you give them the food you buy.  Warning: You may find what you see distressing, please prepare yourself, they need your help desperately.” 

 The next morning I went to the bar named Rick’s Place in search of the man running this operation.  I met Rick, an Englishmen in his sixties, who came out here six years ago, and has never left.  He has identified a real need, that still exists today. 

Previously, children scaveneged at the dump for food and recyclables to make money for their families.  The dump was closed last year and a new dump was opened  that is more modern and not open to scavengers. Even though the dump was closed, there are still families living on the perimeter – some with no water or electricity and very little if any sanitation.

Rick first went to the dump 6 years ago to help the children and still goes now to provide food and sometimes medical assistance, whenever he can.

After talking with Rick, he advised me that he usually likes to raise at least $45 per group, before they head off to the market to buy food etc.

So far today, no one else had come to visit him, so he said to me, “If you can afford to put in the $45, I will take your family & we can go & feed about 150 people!”

So I rushed back to the hotel, got the troops organised, and we met back at Rick’s Place an hour later, ready to go. We all piled into a tuk tuk and headed off to the market about 10 mins away. Our first stop, a roadside bakery. Rick had called ahead, so by the time we got there, the lady had 3 large bags full of fresh baguttes, about 200 in all, waiting for us. This cost about $13.

The local market, was down a long alley way, we followed closely behind Rick, definately not a place, that we would have ended up on our own.

Rick bartered on our behalf, and we ended up with about 80 kg of mangos (3 large bags) & 50 pineapples (2 large bags) and a large bag of red fruit that we couldn’t identify.  Including the bread, this cost us a grand total of $50 - to feed 150 people.

So with the Tuk Tuk now almost overflowing with 7 people, and a lot of food, we headed off to the City Dump, about a 10 minute ride away.

When we arrived we were immediately surrounded by hungry  people and they all formed 2 orderly lines on either side of the tuk tuk. Over the last few years, Rick has trained them to line up – any pushing or shoving and he will remove them from the line.  They learned very quickly to behave!  He said the first time he took food there, it was like a mob that swarmed all over the truck he had loaded up, with little kids getting pushed out the way and most of the times the girls got nothing.  Now he will not tolerate pushing in and even the smallest child lines up for a piece of fruit.

 There are children of all ages and mothers-to-be and mothers and fathers.  All lined up quickly and quietly – some with bags at the ready and we helped dispense the fruit and bread – the pineapples specifically for the mothers with babies or pregnant women.

The housing is basically what a lot of people in Australia would house their chickens in – wooden plank walls with iron roof, built on stilts over the top of the rubbish which has been compacted over the years.  As in most rural homes in Cambodia, chickens run in and out under the the house and a cat and a puppy were running around.  Unlike, most of the other villages we had seen though – the rubbish and muck under these houses was just gross – it was just slop.

Their situation leaves you feeling quite helpless and drained and you do wonder what is the best way to help these people.  We asked Rick the same question and he admitted that he didn’t know the answer long term – but providing food was helping and he would keep doing that as long as he could.

Please look at our photos on Flickr and if you are interested in learning more about the dump community contact Rick at free26844spirit@yahoo.co.uk and if you’re ever coming to PP – please contact him and go on a visit.  The more people who know about the dump community, perhaps something more long term can be done for them. 

A lot of people have asked me what is Angkor Wat?  It seems it’s not well known so I will fill you in.  Turns out that about 1000 years ago, the Khmers were leading a vast empire which covered a fair bit of Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and of course Cambodia, almost through to Burma.  They were
extremely successful and the capital of the empire was based at Angkor just outside of Siem Reap.  The kings of course had to show how great and successful they were and built huge and grand temples and cities to demonstrate it. 

Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world and was built around 900 years ago.  It stands on an island surrounded by a massive moat.  The halls and exterior are covered in carvings of religious significance (hindu & buddhist) and also demonstrate everyday life of
that time as well as illustrations of the great military victories for the empire.

There are a series of other temples in a massive complex (you have to drive around them – some are an hour by tuk tuk), as well as the remains of the capital city – Angkor Thom.

It is pretty impressive and it is what keeps the town of Siem Reap ticking over and it is now crawling with tourists.

So we got ourselves into the minibus at 5am to be in position for sunrise over Angkor Wat at 6am.  When we got to Angkor, obviously it was pitch black and you have to walk over the moat on a causeway, through the main gate house and along another sort of flagstone boulevarde to get to the reflection pond where the best views are to be had.  Luckily I have a torch permanently attached to my bag as there were no lights at all and there were plenty of holes and sunken stones to walk into or trip over. 

Could you imagine such a situation in the west – somebody would’ve sued by now!!  When we retraced our steps on the way out in the light of day, it was quite scary to think of the number of people who had walked over that moat in the dark.  There were masses of people there.

We had made sure to school the kids (and ourselves) the day before on all things Angkor so that it wouldn’t just be a pile of rocks.  The highlight of the morning was still the group of monkeys hanging around the grounds at Angkor Wat.  To their credit though, they were pretty interested in how well the carvings had stood up to the test of time and could this all really be that old?

After lunch, we returned to Ta Prohm, which is the temple that was in the movie Tomb Raider.  Whilst a lot of Angkor Wat has been restored, Ta Prohm is still pretty much in the condition it was found in about 100 years ago ie the jungle moved in and tree roots have destroyed a lot of the stone walls etc.  Ta Prohm is now being restored – I think mainly because it’s almost collapsed, even though it seems most of its tourist appeal is the wild, undiscovered Indiana Jones look about it.

By this stage of the day, it was pretty hot and the kids had definately had enough of what they were now referring to as the piles of rocks lying around!  We saw probably less than 1% of the total complex but we were all satisfied.  Once again, the highlight of the afternoon was a group of monkeys – this time with babies.

When we had returned to the hotel for breakfast earlier; Paul and the kids had surprised me with a birthday cake as it was my 39th birthday.  Paul had asked the hotel staff if they would make a cake and the manager had insisted that he would take care of it and that it would be complimentary.  So we had all the restaurant staff there and the general manager and the hotel manager and all these other guys in suits came out and wished me a happy birthday and asked if I liked the cake etc etc.  It was quite an event!

We could only eat half of the huge cake, so I suggested that we should take it down the alley way next to the hotel and give the rest to the kids who lived in the shanty house.  We had seen about 5 or 6 of them playing there.  They were all very shy when we got there and I’m not sure that they understood what we were doing but one of the women took the cake and smiled, so
hopefully they got some fun out of it.

As usual, the toilets caused a bit of a giggle (we have spent quite a lot of time discussing toilets over the last month!) mainly because there was a squat toilet and a western toilet – using a squat on a moving train is extremely interesting!

We went back to our old favourite – The Ramada Hotel – they will give us 2 rooms incl a massive buffet breakfast and free wifi in a 4 star hotel for abt $90 AUD – an absolute bargain for Bangkok.

We were going out to eat and I had to go back to get something.  When I got down to the lobby, I couldn’t get out of the elevator hall because it was blocked by a group of Indian tourists who were all milling around.  I pushed my way through until I could finally see what all the fuss was about and realised they were all standing around laughing, pointing and having their photos taken with my children!  This was not the first time we’ve been
stopped to have photos taken but usually it was by Thais.  This was a whole new level of paparazzi!  I took some photos to show you that it really isn’t much fun to be a tourist attraction!

So, the border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia is splashed all over the web and throught travel books as one where you have to know what you’re doing and where you’re going so that you don’t get ripped off, left on the side of the road, pay too much for your visa etc etc. 

We started with a 4 hour bus ride to the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, where we loaded into 2 tuk tuks for the 5 minute trip to the border.  The tuk tuk drivers are renowned for driving you off down some side street to get you to pay for a hugely inflated Cambodian visa or other such scams — so we were ready for them when they tried to turn right when the sign said “BORDER straight ahead”. 

Actually we were surprised at how easy the whole thing was.  We had been warned about beggar children who distract you and then run off with your bags or pick your pockets – I think we saw maybe 2 small children but we just ignored them and kept on walking.

Once through Thai immigration, you have to walk through a no man’s land to get to the Cambodian border and their immigration.  It was disgustingly hot and dusty and our bags were not light, so by the time we stood in the line to get our passports stamped, we were looking forward to a very cold drink.  Just to give you an idea – this is not an airconditioned modern building like
in an air terminal – This is a corrugated iron building which is open at 2 ends, one where you line up and the other where you go out.  The immigration officers sit in a little (air conditioned) room with their computers hooked up to Logitech webcams that they point at you to see if you match your passport photo. I did see some evidence of the corruption that everyone keeps talking about here – every now and then another officer would bring in a bunch of passports to be processed before those of us in line and they
were all stuffed with money.  Not quite sure how you got into that line though.

THe kids held up remarkably well and even though they were all melting, the complaining was minimal.  However,we still had to get a bus from the border to the town of Poipet and then a taxi to Siem Reap before we could relax.  We had met some girls from Sydney on the bus from Bangkok and so Paul shared a taxi with them and I went with the kids in another.  That was also quite
straight forward and contrary to other reports we had read – there really isn’t any other options so you just have to pay the $12US each and get in a Camry bound for Siem Reap.

Crossing the border I found really quite bizarre.  I think it’s amazing how a line on a map makes such a difference.  Border towns are generally pretty gross and Aranyaprathet is no different – it’s dusty and dirty and full of rip off tuk tuk drivers.  However, once you get into Cambodia, the whole thing changes again – it’s about 10 times worse.  Cambodians look completely different to Thais and the language I think is very different as well.  The first buildings we saw in Poipet look like they’ve been blown up or are under construction – we were’nt sure which.  It’s obvious immediately that the people are much poorer – hence the modes of transport that I was about to witness on the road to Siem Reap!

The kids immediately fell asleep and I was in the front which was quite interesting!  In Cambodia they drive on the right and so the car was left hand drive.  I actually took a couple of photos because it’s a bit like being on a thrill ride – you kind of  want to shut your eyes but still keep looking and hope for the best.  A – you’re on the opposite side of the road to what you’re used to and B – they drive all over the road; into the path of oncoming vehicles, going around cows, bikes and even horses and carts (or bullock carts!)

I have seen a lot of things on the back of motor bikes in the last few weeks but this time I really had to do a double take and unfortunately didn’t have my camera ready.  Keep in mind the motor bikes are little ones – like 100cc maybe and in Thailand there were lots of mopeds.  Here it’s mainly small bikes and also lots of push bikes.  This guy was riding along and he had
a full grown pig strapped to the back of his bike!  Not a small pig either – a big, pink pig like we’re used to.  It wasn’t alive (if it was, it’s extremely well trained!!) because it was upside down with it’s feet in the air, head hanging on one side of the bike with strapping all round it’s middle.  The pig was really bigger than the man riding the bike. Absolutely classic!

The Camry trip was uneventful until we got to Siem Reap and we were dumped on the side of the road and told we had to take a tuk tuk the rest of the way to our hotel.  This was another of the scams we’d read about and we had been assured that we would be taken straight to our chosen hotel but there wasn’t much we could do about it and the 2 tuk tuks we got drove us free to our hotel without any bother other than to try and book us immediately for the temples first thing the next morning but we wouldn’t be pressured into that until we knew all our options. 

Siem Reap is completely nutty on the street – with bikes and markets and the level of rubbish on the streets going up another notch.  Our hotel, which was another of our last minute cheap internet finds, was rediculously posh.  It’s the newest and tallest hotel in Siem Reap and they welcomed us in, took our bags, gave us a welcome drink while we sat in leather chairs and immediately upgraded us to a 2 room junior suite.  Oh yes, we were really mixing it with the “real Cambodians”.  We could see them below from our balcony -
3 shanty houses complete with chickens, roosters and the obligatory dogs.  I think we felt a bit fraudulent staying in a place like that but the staff who worked there were all Khmer and the most friendly people I have ever met.

Check out the photos on Flickr for pix of the hotel and our lovely neighbours.