sunset

Cambodia – Part 3 – Siem Reap

Posted on by Ginny

Archaeology is not what you find, it’s what you find out.” ~ David Hurst Thomas (Archaeologist)

 

You’ve seen the films, the exotic shots of ancient civilisations, the anticipation as the intrepid hero is on the trail for fortune and glory. In his path ancient evil is not far behind. Traversing temples, eating monkey brains and beetles and rituals and sacrifices are all just part of the plot. When I first studied archeology I was led by this fictional story, only to find that archeology was more about collecting data than the stories. It didn’t take long to realise that my imagination couldn’t cope with the day to day drudgery. However I appreciated the work. I loved reading about past archeologists and looking at images of before and after a dig. It’s a pity that it took me 35 years to find my hobby. I first remember my love of ancient sites. The moon and the sun pyramids of the Aztecs. I thought to myself how come I didn’t know about this. I was fascinated, although it would be 10 years later before I took a couple of units of archeology and anthropology to appreciate the past at Uni. Since then I have become a passive lover of ancients sites and have had the opportunity to visit some of the worlds most amazing sites, which doesn’t include Egypt, yet. So it was a no brainer that I would visit Siem Reap. I deliberately didn’t read much information, I wanted to go with a clear mind. I had no idea what I was in for and as it would turn out, it wasn’t just the visit to the many sites in this region that made the 4 days of discovery an amazing experience.

BACKGROUND FIRST

Before I set out to decide the areas I would like to explore, I spent a few hours doing my due diligence by going to the Museum. My knowledge of the Khmer empire began in Thailand at Sukhothai. I also visited the royal palace in Phnom Penh where I came across some interesting reliefs and murals that told the story of this once mighty empire. The Museum gave my head a full work out and as much as I could try I knew I needed to read more. I think in retrospect I should’ve understood the physical geography a little better. So after learning about textiles, the technical aspects of art and carvings I was ready to choose the sites, so I spent the day lying by the pool and learning about the appropriate sites to visit. Very nice indeed, that’s the way to study.  Then with my notebook in hand the next challenge was that I needed to work out how the hell I was going to get to them all. This is the thing about just turning up at a place and not really knowing what to expect. On the positive the excitement of something new on the negative trying to work out how not to get ripped of. The hostel I was staying at was for the under 25s and they weren’t to interested in 4 days of getting up at 5am and returning at 7pm. The Chinese tourists were either paying for a private car or tour buses that shuttle you around like cattle. I did have many tuk-tuk drivers who promised me the world but most couldn’t speak English, only knew what the travel brochures told them and they wanted to take me to as many sites they could fit in one day. To me it was quality and also my ability at the time to traverse the many sites with my healing broken foot.  I am not going to explain every site I visited here as the video does show you and really you need to come and see for yourself.  But lets just say, the expanse of this empire was indeed mighty and their show of power intimidating, magnificent in detail and size.

YOUR ONLY AS STRONG AS YOUR WEAKEST LINK

It’s funny, that most good stories always include a back story, sort of like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor players to the big gig.  This wasn’t any different, as it was the Tuk Tuk drivers that added to my discovery about the history of the Khmers, including my tuk-tuk driver Rus.  When I first met Rus my intuition kicked in and I knew he wouldn’t let me down. We worked out the best routes and what I was to expect. Well to the best of my knowledge anyway. I felt really comfortable talking to him and he was honest with me.  So we worked out a price and set the ball rolling. For the many tuk tuk drivers it is pay day, the money they can earn helps with the basics of life.  The other businesses that profit from Siem Reap’s archeology enable the people to prosper in many ways. However like all touristic places there are also the normal pitfalls, culture clashes, lack of infrastructure, alienation.  I have already commented on a previous posts about this and Rus was quite aware of many of the issues.  He didn’t enjoy the loss of community and the building of mega size hotels with casinos that bring in thousands each week.  They fly in spend two days, give all their money to Chinese owners and nothing left for the locals.  Rus also knew, rather than just being a driver and be stuck in a revolving door, he needed to aim higher he needed to go back to school and learn about the history of his ancestors and also his own local history.  He also realised that being able to communicate also required many hours learning other languages.  When I met him he was still learning and happy to.  He was aiming to save money for his young children who would need more than just a basic education.  He also was the bread winner for his mother and father who were subsistent farmers and his younger brother was a cowboy, his role was to look after the farm animals because he did not have an education.  Rus did not want this for himself or his family.  So Rus started small and over the past few years has been able to earn more.  He needs extra cash for repairs on his Tuk Tuk and is also hoping to buy an environmentally cleaner, faster and stronger Tuk Tuk like some of his friends have.  With many people going on organised tours to the main sites he needs to take people to places a little of the beaten track. A point of difference from the major travel companies.  He says he is learning every day new understandings of the past and proud and honoured to be a spokesperson. Similarly with his friends I met who were also Tuk Tuk drivers.  Over time I got to know the other drivers and if Rus didn’t know an answer to my question there was always someone who did.  Like community education.  They also worked in teams using their mobiles to warn other drivers when buses or when the Lexus cars would be arriving.  They would know the bus route and they made sure I and other tourist using Tuk tuks could visit various sites without hoards of people.  Of course this did not always work out but you know that when its Chinese New Year you really only have yourself to blame.  Of course the Chinese like any other group of people should also have the ability to visit this area.  Its just a little sad that the mystery of the place has now been lost to an over saturation of tourists. I wish I went 20-15 years ago when this incredible area was only a paragraph in the lonely planet. Yet without tourism I wonder what Rus would be doing.  Like he says “in Cambodia you have to make the most of the opportunities because you never know when you will end up with nothing to show for it.” The history of the Khmer and their ruins are evident of that.

Video of Siem Reap

 

Road to somewhere

Posted on by Ginny

The bus journey to Sangkhlaburi was nothing special but I wasn’t expecting a ride through the Himalayan mountains.  I did not read much about this area as I only chose to come his far because I made an error when booking my room in Thong Pha Phum and I had 3 days to kill.  In a way though the unexpected is the most enjoyable.  It’s like going to a movie without reading the reviews and being pleasantly surprised.  Thais visit Sangkhlaburi and the surrounding area for weekend trips and I met very few international visitors.  The hotel I stayed at was remarkable, not just because of the price but the location.  It is not often you stay in your own room for hostel prices right on the lakes edge.  The bonus, you could watch the sun set behind the hillside with a large Wat standing proudly on top.  It’s gold facade shinning brighter than street lights as the sun set behind.   The other unexpected bonus was that a group of photography enthusiasts from Bangkok had booked the weekend away with a photography instructor learning how to take photos at night.  I just happened to be setting up my gear when the instructor started chatting to me.  After a while he invited me to join their group.  At first I was a little hesitant because I am sure the group had paid handsomely for the weekend away, however they all seemed to want me to come along.  They of course had the most amazing camera equipment compared to my kit, however its not the size that matters, it how you handle your equipment.  At first I thought we were going to learn the basics about how to use aperture and shutter speeds at night, something I love to tinker with.  However as I soon found out this course was not just some ordinary photography course, the main aim was we were learning to create light painting, (photo trails) painted by fire using steel wool, sparklers, torchlight and glow sticks.  Sens-bloody-sational, I had always wanted to learn how to do this.  I know I had tried this activity with students once in the dark room with glow sticks and with limited success.  However this was on another level.  I actually think (looking at my photos) I was pretty successful.  I know a teacher who now has some of my technical notes, I just don’t recommend using steel wool in the dark room, but hey you can blame it on me!!

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Since Sangkhlaburi is so close to the Myanmar border there were many different groups of people who inhabit this part of the world.  There are many Burmese that live in the area, most escaping the regime, including Karen and Mon. These marginalised people lost their land when the government flooded the area over 30 years ago to build a dam. They lost their livelihood and their land; sound familiar.  Many of the people today live in houses on the lake.  One of the main attractions is the longest wooden bridge in Thailand that you have to cross to get to the other side. Of course there is a new bridge for transport which has now opened up the area for more mundane reasons, like logging and tourist shops selling traditional garments.  I spent a day roaming the streets and taking a boat ride around the lake.  There are Orphanages, mainly housing refugees (none were on their way to Australia) and I met a young girl who has returned for the 2nd time to work with the children.  She helped me learn about some of the issues that the kids face within and outside of the orphanages. There were also various NGO agencies trying to educate the Thais about the work that they do.  I believe that once they complete primary school many children have to leave and fend for themselves, without offical documents or an identity.  Some make their way to Bangkok hoping to earn money however unfortunately most end up with scrupulous men or get caught by police and sent back to Myanmar. Sadly, the Karen’s and Mon’s have become beggars for tourists, children sit on their own or with other children and beg to paint your face or perform.  There is a support network at least, with various community groups making a concerted effort to assist, although I think the government really just gives them lip service.  The weekend I was there like many weekends in Thailand the market area became a place to showcase music and dance and a place to speak about the issues with the Karen, Mon and the Burmese.  I started to feel a pang of guilt that maybe I should stay here and help out.  However after doing months of research back in Australia about volunteering unless you have specific skills, short term volunteering is often a hinderance rather than a cure, so I donated some money and bought plenty of food the kids had made.  I am sure when I feel I can really make a difference I will spend more than a couple of weeks to volunteer.  Teaching english is really not what they need, more a sense of belonging and that someone cares and I needed to get to Thong Pha Phum, in a sense my journey had just begun.

 

Your can do it, yes you can.

Posted on by Ginny

I love to go to a place that I often saw in documentaries when I was a young girl.  I loved watching very old episodes of Tarzan and hoping one day I could go to those places. Therefore it was a no brainer, that I would at some point have a journey into the mountains in Thailand.  I knew there were plenty of out of the way places up north, however at the time I wasn’t going to go that far. So when I read about Thong Pha Phum National Park, a park that also stretched well into Myanmar, I was won over. The bonus, the park had tree house accomodation.  This sounded cool, I did find a couple of You Tube videos and the images were amazing.  Another tick was apart from a few paragraphs in Lonely Planet I wanted to challenge myself and explore a few places often only Thais who have transport could visit.  Of course nobody seemed to know anything about the national park or how to get there.  Even the locals including the girl at the tourist office in Thong Pha Phum were bemused as to why I would want to stay there.  Without your own vehicle or the ability to ride a motorbike you are very limited.  I was so nervous about this trip to the national park that I nearly stopped myself from going.  However Bell the owner of the hotel where I stayed in Thong Pha Phum took me to the van stop and the lady who owned the food shop, where the van picked up passengers fed me and helped me with supplies which made me feel a little bit reasured that this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

The two hour journey to the National Park started slowly, I was a bit disappointed as the road seemed in good condition.  Maybe the comments I read about the dodgy road must be outdated as the ute was making good progress.  When we stopped for a toilet break I noticed that the driver started tying things down.  I don’t think I consciously knew at the time but in retrospect he knew what was coming.  It was only a few minutes after our stop when the ute slowed down, I peered through the gap between the cab and where I was sitting to see the road narrow from three cars wide to a car wide.  The ute was now laboring, women were using we what seemed to be smelling salts and some were huddling up to each other, it couldn’t be that bad could it?  I think I could have walked faster than the ute, which was also swaying side by side, switchback after switchback.  As the incline increased it also meant that we had to hold onto anything available, often squeezing my legs up under the seat and my hands gripping on for dear life.  At times all you could see when weaving around blind turns was the edge of the mountain, no road barriers and eroded edges that led to the bottom of the mountain. God help us if we met a car or truck coming the other way, but I had trust in the driver.  As we continued to climb the mist began to roll through the mountains.  The stillness of the environment with only miles and miles of lush jungle was awe inspiring.  It reminded me of the journey I took long ago through the African jungle and the Amazon, and I was thrilled that I could have another experience.  There is something about an unlogged environment that makes the hairs stand on end.  To think that there are very few places left on this earth.  A bonus with this trip was that we had the pleasure of enjoying the company of an older lady who was sat in the cab and was from the e-Thon, a closed border town with Myanmar. I am sure she made the driver stop at the scenic lookout or he didn’t have any other choice as she had the ability of talking without taking a breath.  (I think I saw a little of me in her) I also think the driver just needed a respite from the chatter. She was obviously well known through the community as she seemed to know every person getting on and off the van.  She even took me to the police check point when I arrived at the National Park.  Even with considerable language troubles we were still able to communicate.  There was no way anthing out of the ordinary was going to happen at this police check point anyway.  So with a hug and further chatter the ute drove around another bend out of sight.  I paid my money and was given a key and that was it. I was like, where do I go, but without google translator or any other way of asking I picked up my bag and walked past the check point into the unknown.  

I must have walked about 300 meters when I saw a sign, written in Thai but with an arrow and numbers, 400m.  Oh good I thought, not a problem I’m sure this must be where the tree house is.  I was really felling like was the first solo 54 year old out in the middle of nowhere and looking fwd to what would be a great place to stay.  That was until I walked around the corner.  I don’t know who designed the road, but I couldn’t see the top of it and suddenly 400 meters seemed like 10km’s.  Luckily I bought my walking sticks, so with no other choice I began the climb. I think I must have been at a 50 degree angle, I was looking down and my forehead was nearly was touching the ground when I heard an engine.  For a second I was like, hell now I have to try and not fall flat on my face and make a complete dick of myself.  I dropped my bag and turned around to see a Ute slowly moving up the road and in the back a group of army cadets.  As they drove past me, one of the cadets yelled out and the ute stopped. The next thing I know I was being carried and lifted into the back of the Ute. I clambered my way up to the front and held onto the bar with dear life. I sort of felt like a damsel in distress standing on the back with 1/2 dozen army cadets!  I started laughing nervously as they were all staring at me and speaking in a quizzical tone.  Then out of the blue someone says in english “you on your own, lady?”  I didn’t know if that was good or bad so I smiled and said “Ah yeah I am, why is that ok?”  I mean what the hell else was I going to say.  “No, my husband is waiting for me in Thom Pha Phum so you better leave me alone.”  They all turned and looked at each other in either horror or what the F, is she crazy kinda look.  I started feeling a little nervous, I mean, I am on my own, I not what you would call ready to defend myself in shape wise and I don’t speak a word of Thai, let alone there wasn’t any telephone connection.  However before I knew it the ute stopped, they grabbed my bag, picked me up and plonked me down in front of the tree house which faced the most amazing view I have seen in years.  All good in terror and war, I thought. 

After roaming around the park for a couple of hours I decided have a bite to eat. Nothing like cold curry and rice, a few choclate biscuits and warm mango smoothie. What else did one need as I watched the sunlight slowly disappear from the mountains. As darkness took ahold I sat and listened to the night animals take over, sort of eery on your own.  So I decided that I would hit the sack, I sealed my food and hung it up on the hook.  I know from my experience in Tassie that you should never leave food around, but that is another story.  So I tucked mysef in with some background music for company.  I am not sure what time it was but I did wake at sometime and hear some noises, I tried not to freak myself out and went back to sleep. I am not sure how long I was asleep for when I was again woken to scratching sounds.  I froze quickly trying to think what the hell it was, then I suddenly realised, for some reason and I don’t know what I was thinking but stupid me did leave some some food in a bag on the floor next to my bed and I totally forgot. Yeap, you guessed it Mickey mouse and probably his family decided to befriend me during the night and decided to head into my bag.  It’s funny how during a moonless night, in the middle of a strange land, on your own, the million thoughts that go through your head.  There was no way now that I was going to sleep in my bed. So I grabbed the blanket, locked the door and sat on the balcony looking out at a moonless sky. It was when I had to go to the loo that paranoia really did creep in.  I decided that it was better to go down the stairs from the tree house and relieve myself on terra firma than using the pretty primitive loo in the tree house, plus I would have to go back through the bedroom. So as I climbed down with my trusty light, which I still didn’t know how to use properly yet, I noticed a car parked behind the tree house.  My initial thoughts were guards sleeping and protecting the area.  Of course I still don’t know what the guards were thinking when I got my lift.  So I flashed my bright light around and tippy toed around to find an out of view location.  Suddenly as I was relieving myself I heard the car doors open and shut.  Bloody hell, so with half my pants down, I quickly made myself back to the tree house.  Who were they, what do they want?  Suddenly Mickey became the least of my worries.  I listened and crept around the balcony to see who they were.  I heard the doors open and shut again however, after a few tense moments I composed myself and decided that the best course of action was to stay up and wade through the night.  At least if something did happen I had my camera for evidence, a headlamp, a bottle of water and food hanging from the hook.  So for the next 4-5 hours I made myself busy hoping no-one was going to climb the stairs.  I learnt a lot about using my video on my camera during a dark night and how to work my headlamp, whilst listening to a podcast I downloaded from the Record Doctor, the unhcharted hits from Madonna.  Nothing like listening to, “I F’ed up, I did it again, nobody does better than myself” to make you feel at home.  

When the sun started to rise I noticed that it wasn’t guards or even some crazed madman but two women sleeping for the night in their car.  I think they were scared also because when I made my way down and they saw I was just a little old lady, they started laughing hysterically.  For Mickey, he enjoyed my biscuits, thankfully he wasn’t anywhere to be found and he left no trace in my bag.  As the dawn became daybreak I realised I had to get transport back to Thong Pha Phum so I made my way back down to the police check point.  This time without a lift, but at least it was down hill.  So with my limited knowledge of Thai, and my horrible drawing skills I asked the police what time the van came, 7:30 the young man wrote, great I thought only a 15 minute wait.  What a joke, either they had no idea what I was asking or they really had no idea when the van came.  I spent the next two hours watching ants disect and carry a dead cricket away, what amazing little creatures they are. When the transport did arrive I was thrilled (for a minute anyway) to know I was going back until I realised that there wasn’t any room inside.  I spent the next 2 hours, going down the mountain hanging off the back of van with my backpack wanting to pull me down with it. The exhaust spewing carbon monoxide my way whilst the van weaved its way down the mountainside.  To say I was excited about returning to the bus stop was an understatement. Let’s just say I got a lifetime of carbon monoxide, until I returned to Bangkok.  After a 10 hour journey back to Bangkok, I suddenly realised what an achievement. Sure not everything went to plan, but having the opportunity to give it a go and to spend 10 days traveling to areas outside my comfort zone and without the use of a guide book was rewarding.  The moral of this journey was having a dream, ambition, hope and a goal. What would life be without it?