Hello again.
I want to start this message with a few comments and stories on the topic of massage. They're wierd...in a lot of respects...particularly in different countries. I've just had 3 different experiences with massage...one funny, one gross, one irritating, but I've told myself to let them do their thing (so long as they don't push the limits too much) and I'll experience it for what it is.
The first was a massage in Cambodia, after a tough day riding our electric bikes (haha), I thought it'd be good to have a rub-down. Julia wasn't in the mood...so I went alone. Later, I read that MOST places in Cambodia are the 'nasty' kind of massage...not altogether legit. This one seemed normal, many mats on a floor where multiple people of both sex were getting rubbed. However...I think I had the opportunity for 'long-time' love that night as my young masseuse did a typical (I think!) maneuver in thai massage which finds the masseuse on top of their customer, but proceeded to call me handsome, find out my age, and if I had a wife or not. Of course, I wasn't receptive to any potential beyond the massage, but thanked her for the flaterry and told her I'd set her up (as she told me she was single) with my friend from our hotel (as Julia wrote about).
The second was a massage I had in Saigon, Vietnam. It was at a blind institute, and the business of massage is important to their well-being. I figured I was sacrificing my hour and body for THEM!! Even at 2$/hour, however, it was a rip-off!! First, I had some skinny twirp of a boy bang my back like it was his personal drum set...did very little massaging except to focus hard rubs on my freshly sun-burnt back (using no lubrication too). Then, he hopped up to sit on my bum...beat my bum like a drum for a while...then leaned over until his little you know what was resting DANGEROUSLY close to my crack!! I clenched, and he must have known (with his enhanced remaining senses) that I wasn't enjoying his advances hahaha. Anyway...he soon hoped off, saying that he had to go and massage another man (I wonder if he was a young boy whore??) while some equally useless female masseuse came to finish the job. Well...she rubbed one calf, then answered her cell phone and talked for 10 minutes, then rubbed my opposite gluteus maximus (already beaten to death by the young perv), picked her nails for 10 minutes (I could watch her do it as she's blind and didn't see me watching her)...then finished abruptly. VERY STRANGE.
Third...tonight...after Julia and I BOTH had useless massages (for already too much $), and nearly had our necks broken by amateur nit-wits...me being complimented (again) on my handsome looks (right in front of Julia), and Julia being complemented on her lovely rack...they finished by demanding more tip that we were willing to leave. We left 60 cents more each (I know...it's not much...but leaving a 2$ tip for people who earn 50$/month is a LOT and irritating) in a bit of a huff and the feeling of being used!! The Vietnamese, I've found, are often selfish...and after hundreds of thousands of them have harrassed us 'rich' whities with the "memememememememememeeeeeeeeeeeeee' attitude...it gets tiring! ANyway...massage is strange. I think we'll limit ourselves to NONE until we get back to thailand, the only place they've been worthwhile!
So...I believe Julia finished off with most of Anchor Wat. Anyway...enjoying the electric bikes so much, we decided to rent them for a second day to help us tour Anchor with energy to spare. It truly is an impressive place to be...the more you're there, the more you realize it, and I REALLY think it's worth 2-3 days visit...not just one. Don't forget, there's more to visit that just the ruins. The grounds (which cover THOUSANDS of acres) are filled with wonder...the noises of the surrounding jungle, the MANY minor ruins that often get overlooked by most toursits, the thousands of residents who still live and work the sacred lands, the thousands of buddhist monks, which, if you didn't know, we learned they are really glorified beggars. Of course they do a lot of praying...but essentially Buddhist monks do nothing to sustain themselves...they wander from house to house, morning and night, to beg for food and money. It's bad luck or 'karma' if you don't give to them too, and yet...being men of little...you often see them with sunglasses, nice shoes, smoking cigarettes, etc. Funny. At one point, we entered a ruin and were immediately let around by a CUTE little boy (name sounded like Cheese) who spoke quite respectable english. We knew we'd have to pay him something...but the little shit demanded a dollar at the end of his largely innacurate tour (after reading up on the book...he answered my few questions with LIES) that lasted a measly 5 minutes. I told him no, paid him 1500riel instead of 1000 (4000 riel in a US dollar)...and decided to give him a little lesson on life and economics. Most people would simply pay him the dollar...but that truly causes a big problem when a little kid comes home from 'work' with more money than his parents. Not inspiring for his parents to then send him away to school (except to learn more foreigner languages I suppose...and he could speak at least 4!) then...and it ends up having negative effects on their morale and much more than that as well. Anyway, I explained that 1 dollar, for his 5 minutes of work would get him a wage of about 12$/hour...which even by our standards is a DECENT wage!! No WAY was I going to pay him that, especially when his people make about 20-30$/month. He weeped a little, but nothing like what he weeped when I charged him 500 riel for the lesson hahahahaha. Kidding. Anyway...despite the grueling heat (40 degrees) and the pesky merchants, we loved our time at Anchor. We got a few commenmorative oil paintings before we left.
Our ride to Phenom Phen (the capital of Cambodia) was uneventful...our 'LUXURY' bus mind you wasn't so luxury...but we've come to expect that. We made our way to a nice guesthouse call the 'OKAY guesthouse'...right nextdoor to some F-ING amazing guesthouses (huge hotels we now only dream about)...and splurged to get A/C for the 2 nights. The first evening, we didn't do much but walk around a bit, eat some tasty food at our hotel, do a little e-mailing, and bask in our freezing cold room!! We hired the tuk-tuk guy (sunny) to take us to a few of the Khumer Rouge tourist sites the next day, TONS of FUN!!! Not...it was an expectedly depressing day. Cambodia has been free for less than 30 years now...after much of it's population was MASSACRED by the youngsters under Pol Pot's Khumer Rouge regime from 1975-79. We visited a school converted to a prison/torture camp that left us weak! More than 17000 people were tortured to death at that camp, by kids as young as 10 years old. The primary targets of torture and murder were ANY people who had the semblance of an education (meaning...if you wore glasses...logically they would be to read, which meant, you MUST be educated and therefore evil), anyone who worked for the previous government or knew someone who did...etc. They were ruthless, forcing false confessions from people, killing babies and women equally brutally, young or old. Every year...a new batch of 'soldiers' was trained and sent to kill the other soldiers, being told that they were becomming the enemy. Essentially, Pol Pot didn't want anyone to have enough time to catch on that his regime wasn't so sound...and wouldn't improve their lives. UNBELIEVABLE!!! We then went to the killing fields...essentially a field with a bunch of holes in it which were all old mass graves, and whose excavated skulls were all piled high in a monument they put up to make it more touristy! It is so fresh there...you can still see tatters of their old clothes, and even some various pieces of human bone lying around. Many graves are yet to be dug...but more than 3 million people died there. One display was a tree which they used to smash the babies on and therefore not waste a bullet! This lovely day, coupled with the existing poverty staring us in the face left us feeling weak and helpless. It sure makes you evaluate your life though...thank your lucky stars...and it refreshed my desire to make even a SMALL difference in someone's life. The thing is though...if you plan to make a difference, TRY to do it with more than just money. That's just a small fraction of their problem.
We finshed off that day visiting the King's palace...in need of some glitter to take away our dullness. It was just another Palace...not really worth the visit really, seeing lifesized gold statues and emerald buddhas when much of the country is uneducated, unemployed and stinking poor (literally)...it's too much!!
We walked the river for a while, and retired to our rooms...overwhelmed with the inequities of life that we felt relatively helpless to do anything about...at least now. I suppose this trip is about learning what the world has to offer, how it suffers, how we fit into the whole scheme of things...and we'll hopefully contribute more later in life. Although...from another perspective, all the money we're spending on this trip is a big infusion into their societies...even if we don't give to every beggar we come across.
We left Cambodia without emotion...satisfied with the experience, willing to go back, but sort of numb from it all.
