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8.
Angkor
 3rd
May 2004
Sua s'di (hello)
That's about as good as my Khmer gets. Actually I also
learnt how to count to 29. The number system is great
because you only have to learn to five and then all other
numbers are based around that. Unfortunately the written
language is in Sanskrit so I cant actually read anything....
Had
a great little training trip through Cambodia. Really
enjoyed seeing everything I had read about in the Angkor
Wat temple complex. WOW just doesn't sum it up. The trip
spends three days hanging around Siem Reap the town closest
to the ruins and we still don't get to see all the temples,
that's how big the whole area is.
Of
course we see the major ones; Angkor Wat and the Tomb
Raider one. Night times are spent drinking Tomb Raider
cocktails at the Angelina Jolie inspired pub. Also have
to get up early and accompany the group on two sunrises
over the area, 4:45am starts, ouch! I'm not looking forward
to leading that too regularly!
Quick
flight to Phnom Penh (PP), the capital of Cambodia. Nice
little town, waterfront is being developed for tourists
so some nice places to sit and people watch. Such a poor
country, lots of NGOs setting up but a quick motorbike
trip around town and you see where the directors are living,
so I'm not sure if all the money is filtering down to
where it should be going.
Did
some trips around PP, very depressing looking at how the
Khmer Rouge really f*^$#ed up their own people and country.
Schools turned into prisons and torture rooms, mass graves,
killing fields, landmines. Really screwed up and then
to know that many of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge hold
government positions today.
The
local guides Intrepid uses in Cambodia are awesome. Rarn
the guide in PP gave us a great insight into Cambodian
life. Went and had dinner at his house. 43 people living
in the one house, all the extended family. Great stories
of corruption from Rarn.
He
had just had a pretty bad motorbike accident. He was taken
to hospital with his five year old daughter who was also
pretty hurt (bled from her ear for five days!). The doctors
wouldn't touch either of them until his wife arrived with
some money half an hour later. His bike was wrecked and
the police impounded it. It was the other drivers fault
so the police made him pay $100 to Rarn, $80 for him and
they would keep the other $20. When he went to pick up
his bike the police had drained out all the petrol, taken
out the battery and taken other parts as well. He had
to push the bike home. Daily life in Cambodia!
I
don't know how I feel about the country yet. Usually I
get a pretty good feel about a place but I think I am
still processing everything I saw, heard and experienced....
Marlo.
About
the Author
Marlo Perry is a Group Leader for Intrepid
Travel in South East Asia.
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