7-9/1/2011
7/1/2011
This weekend is a long weekend with Friday being Victory Day. This is the day that the Khmer Rouge were overthrown. There were no special celebrations to my knowledge, just a day off although everything but the banks were open. Having been overcome the night before by loneliness and calling home Mum convinced me not to let fear stop me from seeing all that I could and so I planned to go to the National Museum and the Royal Palace. I called home again that morning and ran down my phone balance meaning that I had to run to the corner store for a top up before lunch. After eating I called my moto driver who came and took me to the National Museum. It is a beautiful Khmer building that houses Hindu and Buddhist statues from the ages of the Khmer Empire. While the statues were beautiful seeing endless amounts of Shiva's and Buddha's became a bit tedious, although the air-con was divine. A definite downside was that I could not take photos inside. From there I walked next door to the Royal Palace where I queued at the ticket booth for an eternity as every tourist on the planet was also there. The buildings were gorgeous as were their interiors and whatever lived inside but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos indoors here either. I did make up for it with the number I took outside though, and even tried to do the whole camera turning thing in an effort to get myself in some of the shots. Not ideal but as I don't really trust the locals or other unknown travellers at least I can prove I was here. Having finished seeing all of the compound open to the public I walked 2km to the Sorya Shopping Centre. While 2km may seem small to us it fell very long when you spend the entire trip shaking your head and saying "taa ah kun" (no thank you) to what feels like every moto and tuk tuk driver in creation. I also managed to thwart a scam which made me very proud. The trick is that tuk tuk drivers will offer to show tourists orphanages, then they will either demand money for the orphanage before taking you back or will just scam you entirely. When I reached where this man was standing I was greeted with the usual "Hey, pretty girl" (great confidence boost) and then asked where I was from and how long I had been here. He finally asked if he could show me an orphanage, see the real Cambodia, to which I told him "No, I work in an orphanage". At this he was highly annoyed and disappointed and immediately ignored me and walked away. Ha ha! When I reached the mall I treated myself to an ice cream sundae and ice chocolate at Swenson's the nicest ice cream palour ever as the day had been so hot. I also went to the supermarket before heading nextdoor into the Central Market. I bought a shoulder bag (which are very popular amoung the tourist here) and a stuffed silk elephant that I have had my eye on since Sunday. While waiting for my moto driver to pick me up I saw an American tourist eating a tarantula. Apparently they are crispy and salty, not that I will be trying one! Upon getting home I asked Dad for some help on getting to the Zoo and so I will now visit on Saturday.
8/1/2011
I got up at 5.15 in order to call Mum and have a decent chat before getting ready and catching my tuk tuk to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Reserve at 7.30. It took around 1 and a 1/2 hours to get to the zoo which was totally unlike any western zoo. It appeared that any money the organisation had went to the animals (which is good) as it was mainly just enclosures placed randomly in a bush type area. Two young Cambodian men were nice enough to show me around and tell me about the animals, the majority of which have been taken from traffickers and poachers and are being housed here until they can return to the wild. They also helped me get some amazing photos from behind the fences and photos of me feeding the wild pigs and holding a gibbons hand. Without their help I wouldn't have had a very good or successful time and I think they knew this as they demanded $20 each for the hour they showed me around. Being rather taken aback and unsure of what to do in the situation I just gave them $25 total (which is still about 5x what the situation called for) and refused to give them any more. They continued to push for awhile but when I continued to refuse they gave in and merely wished me luck and gave me a cheerful farewell. While annoyed that I had been scammed (especially after my previous success) the ride back was quite horrible, not to mention bumpy as hell (I think I have bruises on my butt!). To make things even worse my ticket (which I wanted to keep and put in a scrapbook) blew out of my bag and flew away :-( After lunch at home I went to the stationary store nearby and a small computer store. At the computer store I bought a USB stick which I hope to be able to put at least some of my photos on (I currently have 498). The stationary store was heaven. There was air-con and the prices were incredible, for $14 I was able to get: 1 500 pack of paper, 1 highlighter, 2 whiteboard markers, 1 whiteboard eraser, 1 pair of scissors, 2 packets of felt pens (one with 36, the other with 12), 1 pencil case and 40 balloons. SCORE! After dinner tonight Piseth is going to show me where the laundry is near our house and then take me to meditation!
9/1/2011
Ok, first off meditation was postponed until this morning as Piseth thought it would give me more time to prepare. This was good as I had to read a 60page instruction booklet! Needless to say I skim read it, although it was quite interesting in its ideology. If anyone is interested it is called Vispassana (I think) meditation. So around 8 after breakfast and a call home Piseth moto'd us to his work which is around the corner from the Wat. The temple was incredible (I did not take any photos though so as not to disturb anyone) with bright murals on the walls and ceiling and a giant buddha at the front of the room. Piseth meditated for about a half hour (I tried but am reasonably sure I failed) and then we walked back to the moto via the Independence Monument. From there we went to Piseth's favourite cafe for ice coffee and to meet a couple of his friends. Both the friends were really nice but it was rather awkward just sitting there while the three of them spoke in Khmer. Finally Piseth dropped me off at the Russian Markets to do some shopping. I bought a few things (not too many! must save money for the rest of the trip) but by far the best was a traditional Khmer puppet. I'm pretty sure I was overcharged for everything but what the hell, I'm on holiday! Having finished shopping I moto'd home and even managed to direct my driver the last couple of streets (which no-one knows!) in only Khmer. Go my awesome language skills!
After lunch I decided that I would go back to Wat Phnom and see the whole thing followed by a trip to the photocopy store and e-cafe. The first thing I did at Wat Phnom after getting off the moto was ride the elephant! It was an amazing experience although not the most comfortable mode of transport. The elephants name was Sambo and he is 51 years old. I hope he is treated well, at least I saw a street vendor sneak him a piece of sugarcane on the way past. I then walked up to the Wat and took a million photos as it was beautiful. I also took another million or so photos of the monkeys... Anywho the time I spent up there and on the elephant was great but I couldn't help thinking 'I wish I had someone here to share this with'. Alas I don't so I will have to show you all the millions of photo's when I get back.
At the photocopy store my connect the dot attempts came out well, although I'm sure the staff think I'm crazy for photocopying pictures of dots judging by the looks they gave me. So now the remainder of my weekend (all 5 or so hours) will be spent preparing for school tomorrow and perhaps watching a movie.
Overall a pretty awesome three days.
