So Now that I am back in Pursat, here is a quick summary of the end of my trip…
Kampong Cham- Mekong hotel, Right on the Mekong Riverside. The hotel was a little sketchy, but it had English TV… I have never watched so much fashion television in my life! The next day, I rented a bike and rode out to see Phnom Srey and Bros, the Killing Field monuments in between, and Wat Nokor. The Bike ride was hot and long- almost all uphill going there. The story of the two mountain temples is as follows:
Men, traditionally, must ask his girlfriends father to marry her. A group of men wanted to change this rule, and challenged their girlfriends to a competition to see who could build the tallest mountain temple before sunrise. The team that lost would from then on be responsible for asking their future spouses father for permission. The two teams began to build elaborate and tall temples, but the women were losing. In a last-ditch attempt to win, they set a bonfire on the horizon. Seeing the fire and mistaking it for the sun, the men thought the competition was over, stopped working, and went back to bed. The women completed the temple till the true sunrise, and won the competition.
Okay- after checking out the temples, I visited the killing field that the Khmer Rouge established between the mountains. A lot of Buddha statues, didn’t see any bones or anything (They are at the Wat Nokor.) On my way back to town, I visited Nokor, but it was so hot and I was so sun burnt I didn’t find the bones and went back to town to hide in the shade. I spent the next day walking around, being lazy, and caught a bus to Sen Monorom early the next morning. The Bus got stuck twice due to the heavy rain and dirty roads, so I had to complete the journey in the back of a pick-up. I arrived at Sen Monorom hungry, tired, and wet about 14 hours later.
Sen Monorom- It rained a lot, sketchy little room but I grew to love it and the town.
Woke up early the next morning, and talked to Jack Highwood about visiting the elephant project... spent the day out there and since it was so last minute, the elephants weren’t there to ride and play with! So I got a free meal, and spent 10 minutes with one of the unride-able elephants named Princess... she was abused by her old owners, and broke her leg in what they think was illegal logging. Very sad, but very sweet animals. Loved seeing the project and love what they stand for. Jack didn't make me pay the $50 because I didn’t do what the tour included... so I got a free meal and a nice day in the jungle. I have some great pictures of the jungle but only two of princess... she is a little camera shy.
The next day, I headed out to see Bousra Waterfalls with my tour guide Nat... A 23 yr old Khmer person who speaks English, French, Khmer, Tribal languages, Chinese, and a few other languages. It was incredible! The falls were beautiful. Unfortunately, I stubbed my toe against a rock and sliced my foot...but we continued via moto. Went to a small hamlet 5 km from the Vietnam Border and ate lunch. I had river fish (full fish.. eyes and everything.. they are about the size of a finger) with mango.... and "Wild Boar Insides" which I think were intestines... they looked like intestines.... and didn’t taste too bad either.. Once I got past the fact they were intestines. But with rice they were fine. Then we moto'd off the beaten track to Nat's secret waterfall which was beautiful... and he said I am the first person he has shown it to... and only a few others know about it. Then it started to rain so we were stuck. I am so clever and brought a mini first aid kit with me to nurse my toes, and then Nat threw a foreign looking plant bud at me, but didn’t realize it had fuzzy looking thorns that were the thickness of a sewing needle, but a 3rd of an inch long... making it impossible to pull out... so I had to scratch them off because it hurt a lot. Then I got a bit of a rash, but I asked around and took pictures of the plant and everyone said that the rash is from scratching them off, not from the plant itself and that the plant is harmless and I won’t die. Anyways, the rain was so heavy that it turned the paths into thick thick mud, and the moto couldn’t drive through it... So Nat had to push the bike up the hill while I tried very pathetically to claw through the mud, and broke both my sandals and became a mess. At this point, Nat was getting sweet on me and was trying to convince me to let him carry me, which of course I refused. Then we stopped at a lone house to wash up, and they all thought I was his wife... which i illustrated was not true by beating Nat up... which a Khmer wife would never do. They got the picture and I think Nat did too. He still called me wife and darling where I would reply with old man and cigarette addict. Then we went back to SM where I grabbed a bite to eat and snuck back into my room without Nat spotting me... I wanted to eat alone because I like the solitude. Then he called me and we drank tea on the patio. Then he asked me to stay in Sen Monorom and be his wife. Which of course I said no and that I had to go to bed and gave him my email so he would leave me alone and went to bed... and turned off my phone.
Then I Woke up sickly early, paid my $9 for the 3 nights... went for breakfast all before 7 AM... went to the Elephant Project cafe for coffee. Jack offered a seat in his taxi to Snoul where I could catch a bus to Kratie, saving me 5 bucks and a more comfortable ride.
Kratie- I did a whole lot of nothing here. There are endangered dolphins you can go find, but the boats are what are making them endangered so I decided to skip it. The hotel was great, $5 a night and internet and a restaurant. I visited a market or two, walked around, memorized the consonants of Cambodian Script. Nothing too Special.
Ban Lung- Lakeview Guesthouse ($5 for 2 Nights!) Dusty. In Kratie I met a man who was going to Ban Lung as well, and he was Canadian and we decided to go to the same hotel. The hotel only had one room left, so they were like, “Hey! Why don’t you share a room?” I really didn’t want to, but the guy (Jerry) was all over it because the rooms were big and it saved him money. The next day we biked up to Yok Lam Crater Lake. It was neat; it was like being dropping at any lakes in Canada. We walked around the lake in like 45 minutes and got to see bamboo that was so so big it bent, forming arches all over the place. Then we saw a snake and decided to head back. Besides that and watching “Doom” twice and Stardust, that was about it in Ban Lung. Met two Swedish Girls (Emmelie and Ellinor? I spell their names wrong always) who were also going to Siem Reap. Hopped on a bus that back tracked down towards Phnom Penh to Skoul, then turned around and headed to Siem Reap.
Siem Reap- Wowee. What a cool place. I got a triple room with the girls and we spent our first full day at the markets, laundry, internet etc. Then we got a guide for the next day, our first day at the temples. Wowee what a sight! We got up at 5 am to tuk-tuk to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and then continued afterwards to Angkor Thom to see the Bayon Temple and terrace of the Elephants. Then we went to Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed and saw the giant trees. After that, the guide and driver told us we were done the tour, because he made an executive decision that we would not like the other two temples. We weren’t happy. We told him we wanted to see the Temple with the one huge face... similar but different to the faces at Bayon. He said we would have to pay more money because it was out of the circuit. We said okay and went to Ta Sohm. We looked around, bought postcards, but there was no face. When we asked where the face was, he said it was moved to the national museum 6 months earlier. That was a bit of a tick off, but we said okay and went home.
The next day, we made a last minute decision to have another day at the temples to find the temple with the Lions, the perfect face at Bayon, see if the big face was somewhere else, and watch the sunset. We slept in, only wanting to do half a day to reduce the cost of a tuk-tuk driver, found one around 12:30 and headed out. We started at Ta Keo, which we thought was with the Lions, but it was one we took a picture of the day before without going inside. It was really cool- but the stairs were steep with skinny steps. Most people don’t go up because of them. Of course we did though- we are adventurous! Then we went back to the Bayon temple and goofed around. Kissed the faces, picked their noses, broke a few rules but we got out okay. That was great because it wasn’t as busy because most people go early in the morning and then break for lunch and avoid the heat, which is when we were there. Had a long dinner and around 5 headed to Phnom ___ to watch the sunset. We climbed a mountain for 20 minutes or so, and got there just before everyone else did. Turns out the temple on the mountain was the one with the lions. Yay! Since the sunset was taking so long, everyone started to take pictures of each other which is always fun. Then, when I thought the sun was just going down (There were clouds so we weren’t really sure) the staff of the park kicked us all out. How rude! Headed home to get another bite to eat, and went to bed. Next morning, the girls were bussing to Bangkok and I bussed to Battambang, and was going to see if I could go straight there to Pursat. Bus showed up 45 minutes early to pick me up so I had to rush to get ready, but was then able to get onto a bus straight away to Pursat.
Pursat- We have two new volunteers Laura and Maya, who are both still in high school, therefore are only here for two more weeks. Adi is leaving Thursday, Asahel April 3, Laura before April 17: I am going to be all alone! I am now teaching the adult class 3 hours a week, and have a student evening class to teach every night Monday to Friday. I am excited to be this busy- First class is tonight! Wish me luck!
Much Love!
Emily
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