Hello fellow blog readers! David and I have decided to collaborate on our blogs making the writing collective and cohesive (ok it saves computer time too!) So if you get emailed from here on out from both David and myself you only need to read one blog! Please feel free to continue to peruse our equally fantastic photos though!
Ok so last I wrote we were a bit templed out and tired of the overbearing tourist scene (and tired of feeling like walking wallets). We decided to take a boat ride over to the "french colonial" town of Battembang. There is very little "colonial" feel left here but we will come to that in a moment. Now about that boat ride...
The day started out well enough - bus was supposed to pick us up at 6 a.m. - didn't leave until 6:45 a.m. I spent the 45 minute wait in the lobby of the guesthouse by swatting mosquitos with our awesome mosiquto zapper tennis racket (how's about that Dad?). We were jammed onto the overfilled minibus with about 20 Barang (Westerners) inside, I was sitting on a engine lump as David nestled onto a 2 year old's plastic chair. We drove through a narrow pennisula with some of the most hideous living conditions we'd seen as of yet. The ground was covered in layers of garbage (they don't believe in trashcans) and the roads were unpaved and pot holed. We were brought to the pier and were pleasantly surprised when we saw the boat we were to board; a giant luxury cruiser. Once we disembarked and retrieved our backpacks from the van our hopes vanished as we were guided not to the luxury cruiser but to a small bench seated longboat that seemed to be already filled with passengers. Yet as to Cambodian custom, we boarded the boat and watched as the boat was overloaded with people both inside the cabin and on top of the roof. So filled was our boat that we bottomed out in the mud and it took the straining of a small army of Cambodians to push us out of dock.
Cruising at a speed of about 3 knots an hour the boat consistently scraped bottom due to low water levels. The three hour journey ended up taking 8½ miserable, hot, cramped hours. We passed many floating villages during our cruise and saw wonderful sights such as a young schoolgirl hanging hiney off the school boat to have a pee in the water and naked people bathing in that same water. We were able to stretch our legs for a bit as we floated up to a houseboat/shop. The masses exited the boat and overwhelmed the bouyancy of the floating shack. The toilet, a simple hole cut into the wooden floor to the water below, inundated the innocent travelers occupants, covering them in the returned human effluent. We quickly made a purchase of pineapple and cookies and reboarded the boat before we lost our seating.
The journey was long and hot but at times very interesting to see the way people live in these floating villages, complete with caged pig farms adrift and satallite tv dishes on the shack boats. We finally made our way to a steep metal staircase leading up to safety of Battambang.
Battambang, known for its French Colonial architechure, is the gateway to the most heavily landmined areas in Cambodia. Unfortunately the USA is responsible for the aquistion of most of these over 2 million mines and hospitals still see several victims daily with loss of limb due to these mines. The history of the country is written on the faces of the people and dispair has replaced hope in the eyes of most. Jobs are scarce at best and tourism is the most lucrative occupation, though this town sees a low volume of toursits. The gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is cavernous, and it is rare to see Cambodians that "have." One poor case we saw was of a feverish young girl with a very sick baby whose only sustainance was suckling a dirty bottle of sugar water. We saw another similar case but the woman was missing both of her legs.
The repute of the architechure of the town did little to charm this sad and oppressed experience of life. The genocide of the 70's remains evident in the fact that all the profesionals including doctors and even Buddhist monks were executed during the "social cleansing" carried out by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Visiting a Buddhist temple in town, we had a short tour and a long conversation with a very friendly 26 year old monk who was remarking that he had no master under whom to train, making the practice very difficult. Cambodia is in many ways a country of children trying to find a way to live. Throughout Cambodia there is a heavy air of both pollution and suffering. Pharmacies are more prevailant than restaurants given the constant need for medicine, though most cannot afford the few dollars that these lifesaving medicines would cost. We did however find a wonderful coffee shop that became a needed daily refuge from the poverty of the town.
We left Cambodia feeling a helpless compassion for the country and its inhabitants. Though glad to have journeyed through this land (we will miss the baggettes) our return to Thailand was a literal and figurative breath of fresh air. The juxtaposition of Thailand and Cambodia makes Thailand seem an immaculately clean and well ordered society.
We are currently in the small provencial city of Buriram and will be making our way north to the country of Laos. We hope to get deeper into the natural environment as the journey unfolds and know that Laos has many opportunities for trekking and is reputed to be quite beautiful. Thailand has doubled its entrance fees for its National Parks, making many visits to these prevalant sights a no-no for we budget travelers. This is very saddening for people like us who love to frolic in nature's playground.
If you have made it this far, thanks for coming along on our journeys! Will be writing again soon!
Always,
Leslie and David
