Welcoming 2014:
The Elms’ Tour Group took us to Siem Reap, Cambodia, for a New Year celebration.
Siem Reap, Cambodia - airport
We stayed at a lovely hotel – white stucco, lots of marble and polished teak. The staff is bowing and smiling. Our room is beautiful with a balcony overlooking the pool. The bathroom is large and all white shiny marble. The sink doesn’t drain properly and the toilet paper rolls are a third of what we are used to in the US. Pee Paw lets the desk know about the sink and manages to acquire an extra roll of tp. Since nobody shares a language, I can only imagine the pantomime he went through to get this from the maid. I didn’t ask. Maggie: don't ask my dad about the rooster. He just loved that thing. 😉
Maggie has made arrangements for all of us to attend the gala. The deck around the pool is extravagantly decorated with tables set up for dinner and a stage for the entertainment complete with a banner “Happy New Year 2014” in English. Maggie and Erin arrive looking like movie stars in their gorgeous new dresses. I have on my sequins. Our table is under the pagoda at the pool and we feel like royalty. The buffet is great and beer and wine flow freely.
The pagoda that is all lit up is where our table was. We stood out just a bit. Lol
And you ask why we stood out!
The entertainment begins – a Vegas-type lounge act. The star is a “Tom Jones” type dressed in a white suit a size too small, a white dress shirt trimmed in red, a silver sequined tie and white patent leather pointy-toed shoes at least seventeen inches long. He is accompanied by two attractive young-lady singers. Actually they are pretty good but all the songs are in Cambodian. About midway through the evening, young Cambodians in native costumes perform folk dances. They are beautiful.
About 11:30 we’ve eaten and drank more than we should and all the Cambodian songs are beginning to sound alike. Out of the blue a young girl approaches Erin and by gestures urges her to get all of us to dance because she doesn’t want to be alone. Of course we comply. We’re the only Americans. There’s a good sized group of Chinese who are circle dancing around a table of flowers. We join the group. The music cranks up – a sort of Cambodian hip hop. We improvise. Pretty soon everyone is imitating us. We act like we know what we’re doing. Before long everyone is on the stage and we’re being served flutes of champagne. The whole crowd is shouting “Happy New Year” in English. The Chinese resume dancing around the table. We’re ready for bed. Truly a gala to remember.
We took more selfies than the Thai's that is a feat in itself!
Antiquities:
The next day we head for the ancient cities – Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat to see the temples and palaces. These cities, the drive to reach them, the surrounding areas and the structures are breathtakingly beautiful and mind-boggling in scope. They are everything you’ve read about or seen on the discovery channel and more so. The boys enjoyed the challenge of the precarious climbs and Ryan kept himself busy watching out for Pee Paw and me. We had no falls. These sights will not be forgotten.
The approaches to the buildings are crowded with venders aggressively selling mementoes. Most of the sellers are children. Some six-or-so year olds have a naked baby with a bottle on their hips. We are told that families send these kids out because they can earn more than the adults and that they frequently are the substance for a whole family. These kids are not shy or dumb. They are persistent and haggle in English. Of course we buy and Erin would like to save all of them.
Pee Paw and I are the other antiquities. The Cambodians with whom we came in contact were fascinated by us. They wanted to touch us and invariably asked our age. When we told them 78 and 76, they were flabbergasted. We then were told stories of grandparents that were in their early sixties who couldn’t get around and who were bedridden. We are a tribute to good nutrition and good health care. We didn’t even mention Pee Paw’s replacement knee and my replacement hip. They probably would have thought we were magic. Old liberal that I am, who really wants to see our health care system more readily available, hopes that the US doesn’t “throw out the baby with the bath water.”
Angkor Wat
Climbing the "many" stairs
Trusty old Ryan always making sure Peeps and Meemaw were ok
Yep we saw a few of theseYep saw LOTS of these too! Smiling Buddha! Angkor Thom
Stone carvings on the walls dating back to 12th century
Saw these too.
One of the many Land Mine Bands that we listened to. These are men that have been injured or maimed by the many land mines still being found around Cambodia. They play traditional Khmer music for donations.
Cambodian Pub Crawl:
After a day of touring, we take a Tuk-Tuk (sort of a carriage pulled by a motor bike) to Pub Street for dinner. Of course we head for the Irish Pub for cocktails. Maggie doesn’t like the internet review of the food there so we go next door for dinner. Some of the group enjoys “the best burger and fries” they’ve had in Asia. Pee Paw and I have fish and chips after being assured by the owner (an expat from South Africa) that they are better than you get in London. They were pretty good.
After this we walk around Pub Street gawking at the strange sights and then stop to get a fish pedicure. We sat with our feet in tanks of water and let the fish nibble the dead skin off our feet. I don’t know what type of fish, just that they weren’t piranhas or barracudas. There was no blood involved. We started with the tank holding fish about six inches long and ended up with the tank holding fish about nine inches long. Very weird but highly recommended.
Fed and relaxed we cross the street to one of Siem Reap’s night market. You ask the price and then negotiate. As I walk through the market and see stuff I want to buy, I hand money to one of the kids and let them negotiate. Ryan, Erin and Jack are particularly good at this. Andrew is a bit too dignified to get aggressive. It’s the most fun you can have souvenir shopping. Lot’s of cool stuff to buy.
Ryan bought a snake satay (bar-b-que on a stick) from a street vender. He, Erin and Jack indulge. Yuck! We hail a Tuk-Tuk for the trip back to the hotel, our negotiators work out the fare; we climb on board and return for the night. Pee Paw tips the driver and thus ends up paying the original price. These people hardly make any money and we get service like you wouldn’t believe. They think we’re a little crazy.
Ryan, Erin and Jack all ate it. There is video proof.
The Rice Fields:
The next day we finish our touring of the sanctuaries and palaces and re-assemble for an ATV tour through the rice fields that Maggie has booked. The ATV rental place checks out the drivers, distributes helmets and dust masks and we’re off. The ride takes us through the rural area near the city. The farmers live in huts on stilts (because of the Monsoons) in small village-type groups scattered among the fields. There is not much electricity or running water even though we are minutes from a rather large city. The beauty of the fields at sunset is stunning.
The obvious poverty is disturbing. The children do look well-nourished and happy. They greet the ATV group with smiles and waves. It appears that they are used to this invasion of their quiet dirt roads. There are, however, kids no older than nine or so working at bringing in the cows for the evening or tending crops. There doesn’t seem to be a much better future in store for them. We did love this adventure. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
We again go to Pub Street for dinner. This time we eat at the Red Piano where Erin has a “Tomb Raider” cocktail named in honor of Angelina Jolie who had dinner here when she played Laura Croft. They do have a red piano and a full-sized red statue of a man (fully dressed) that is the base for a lamp. Never saw anything like that in House and Garden. After a fun evening, Pee Paw, Erin and I head back leaving the rest of the group to fish pedicures, foot massages and more haggling at the night market.
Walter getting a foot massage while texting some of his buddies in NJ. If they could have seen what he was doing while chatting with them. To funny!
Some Observations:
Our driver and guide, hired by Maggie, are friendly and gracious. Both speak English. The guide is very fluent and very knowledgeable. They are very solicitous of Bill and me – remember, we are rarities. The guide tells us that 60% of the people subside below the poverty level - $160 a month. He said 35% are considered wealthy and 5% are considered middle class.
Cambodia produces more clothing than any other country in the world. The day we leave our driver is very upset. Five garment workers have been shot by the police for participating in a protest of the current wage scale of $80 a month. The companies have offered a raise to $100 a month, but the workers will not accept this compromise and are protesting. The workers are asking for $160 a month.
This was truly an unforgettable trip.
Carol
