Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! The pestering!!! If I wanted a tuk tuk or a scarf or a small bag or a book or cold drink or bracelet I would ask for one!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to Cambodia...
So 2 days ago I arrived in Siam Riep in Cambodia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The guy from the bus company took us all to a guest house and then organised to take me the following day to the temples - they have their foot in everything here and of course they don't want to rip you off and they always know the cheapest and best places to eat - NOT!!!
Anyway, the guest house was ok but sometimes their service can be so bizarre - like they act really annoyed if you want to ask them for something and if you want to order food they're really reluctant to serve you...
Anyway, so the tuk tuk driver took me to the temples the following day - Ankor Wat, Ankor Thom and some other temples. It was surreal to be there after seeing all the pictures. My best temple was a temple that was being swallowed by the jungle - amazing! In Ankor Wat I got a guide (a guy that said he was brought up at this temple by the monks because he has no family - I never know whether to believe these stories or not!) and he started to tell me that they used seamen in the temple - so I said, seamen? And he says, yes, we used seamen. And then after a while I realised he was wanting to say "cement"!! So I said, "ohhh! CemenT!" and he responds, "yes, seamen". Funny...
Everywhere around the temples there are children following you trying to sell you knick knacks - one dollar! One dollar! And adults trying to sell you books also for one dollar!! One dollar! You want cold drink? Lady you want scarf? Then there are some children who attach themselves to you and become a bit of a tour guide even though you didn't ask them to and then want a tip afterwards. Also in some places where there is a Buddha in the temple, people will come to you and give you insense and tell you how to do the tradition and then they say - money for Buddha. If they're ever friendly they really want money which is really sad!!
The next day I asked the tuk tuk driver to take me to another temple which is being swallowed by the jungle. He said there was one 80kms away and then we could go to the floating villages. So I met a German girl the next morning - Christina and asked her to come with me. We ended up driving for just under 2 hrs in the tuk tuk to the temple!! I thought the temple was good but not as good as the one from the previous day.
Then he drove us to the boat to go to the floating villages and it turned out to be such a scam - they were trying to charge me at first US$60 for the boat and then I found out other people were paying US$15! In the end Christina didnt want to pay the $15 and they wouldn't let me share a boat with other people - "if you share a boat then another boat driver will lose out on job!) Also it had started to really rain so we just went back to our guest house! Then my tuk tuk driver was trying to get more money out of me then what I knew other people were paying - "but I take you to more temples and I be a guide!" - all not true I might add!!
So this is Cambodia... Lonely Planet says that the people really do not want to rip you off but maybe in the time that it was published to now things have really changed!!
So this morning I got the bus to Phnomn Phem - I was actually the only foreigner on the bus and the whole way (7 hrs) they played really bad movies on the TV and then karioke with sickening film clips - boy loves girl, girl pretends she doesn't love boy, boy feels this is a tragedy, then they get together - HOURS of this!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!! It was very distracting.
I wish I could have taken photos of all the things I see on the streets and on people's scooters - it's incredible!! People pack so much onto their scooters and out the backs of their cars - its crazy!
So when we arrived in Phnomn Penh this afternoon, it was hilerious. The traffic is crazy and there are just sooooooooooo many scooters on the road! I got on the back of a scooter with my backpack and the journey was really very funny - being on the road alongside hundreds of scooters, multiple people on each scooter, trying to get through the traffic.
Well I made it to the guest house where I am now - sitting in a VERY HOT room! Already I had a walk to the foreshore where again heaps of people are doing arobics or dancing or something!
Then I ate some Khemer food 'amok' which is fish that is steamed in a banana leaf with lemongrass :) I love the banana leaves! And all along the foreshore there are beggars - people with physical disability, young girls / women with babies attached, kids and adults trying to sell you photocopied books - sometimes they can be quite aggressive if you say no.
It's really awful because you learn that the only way is to completely ignore them - if you acknowledge them and say no thanks, they follow you and pester you for ages. And it's realy not me to completely dismiss someone!
I keep thinking and reminding myself that there are better ways to help street kids - through organisations that have programs established, like Friends International. Yesterday I bought some products made through this NGO which helps kids go to school. Thats the best stuff to buy.
Meanwhile, I did actually buy a book (which I later realised was a photocopy - of course!!) of some memoirs of children of the Killing Fields. Tomorrow I may go there - ahh prepare to be traumatised, and then maybe to the grand palace...
Until then,
xxx Orna
