Cambodian Rhapsody

Who knew? The two countries I most feared going to -- Cambodia and Laos -- have turned out to be my favorites. I had decided (with the help of U.S. State Department reports) that they were dangerous and therefore scheduled little time in each. Yet, in both countries, the people were gentle, genuinely friendly, warm, and beautiful. I want more time in both places!

In Cambodia, several things worked in my favor. First of all, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance in the Bangkok airport of two Aussie women, one of whom had previous knowledge of Siem Reap because of a photography assignment there. I approached them asking if they knew where they would be staying once they got to Siem Reap. Not only did they know, Helen, the photgrapher, had stayed at the Red Piano before. So I horned in on a ride from the airport in the car of the helicopter company that was to take Helen up for her shots. And I was fortunate enough to be adopted from then on by Helen, Robin, and Jeff, the pilot.

That afternoon we drove out to a floating fishing village, Phnom Krom, on the shores of an incredibly large lake called Tonle' Sap. The drive was an eye-opener -- my first experience seeing considerable poverty and the very simple ways in which so many people in Asia live. As my trip went on, I got used to the comparatively spartan manner in which Asians live, but I understood that the poverty I saw in Cambodia probably exceeded that which I witnessed anywhere else.

The Tonle' Sap is larger than your eye can take in, especially when it is the rainy season, as it was. And from it you can ride a boat all the way to Phnom Phenh. The shoreline changes with the season as do the location of the impermanent, land-based houses. These homes had the barest of amenities, yet, through the doorways of some of these tiny, raised, thatched huts was the undisputed white glow of a TV set.

At the end of the road we engaged a boat to take us through the floating fishing village. Everything is floating -- the school house, the police station, and the pen to hold the pigs (these pictures are among those lost in the great Digital Camera Wipeout). The village is populated by Vietnamese who have created fish farms in addition to using their boats. All the children, very small children, can pilot a boat. And they love to go swimming, although frankly, I wouldn't swim there, because even without an Environmental Health degree, I understand where the families' waste is going.

Siem Reap looks like a frontier town since many of the roads are unpaved. Yet, there is an enormous amount of tourist-related building going on. The marketplace is the center of activity as it is in most Asian towns. (I had managed to upload this picture before the sad Wipeout occurred.) Bargaining here was very different than bargaining in Bangkok. Because of the people's gentle nature, it was inappropriate to push too hard and besides, who needed that 50 cents more? This town is where I experienced my first monsoon-like rain, much welcomed due to the intensive heat of each day. The rain also helped to keep the dust from the roads down.

Another thing that worked in my favor was the delightful man, Thaep, who was my driver for three days. He took me all round Angkor Wat, knew much of the history, knew which places I should see but didn't know that I wanted to see, and understood that I was also interested in learning about the economy and lifestyle of the local villages. And he took me seriously when I asked him not to drive like a crazy man -- it was my first motorbike ride in Asia. His English was reasonably good although we had a couple of moments of hilarity when neither of us understood the other until a pantomine or elaborate description led to the misunderstood word. The countryside that Thaep took me through was beautiful in its simplicity -- little more than flat ricefields. But the color of Cambodian ricefields is an intense yellowish green I failed to see in other places (and which shall only remain in my mind due to the abovementioned Wipeout!).

The U.S. dollar is the preferred currency, many things are priced in dollars. And for travel in Southeast Asia, things are relatively expensive. My $14 room was small but clean and had air-conditioning, hot water, TV, and a toilet that flushes. (And yes, that's expensive for the budget traveler!) As I mentioned in the previous story, children are very much aware of what you can do for them. I overheard one child mutter "U.S. dollars!" upon hearing that I was American. There are a shocking number of beggars, many without limbs, some with deformed bodies, some holding sick babies. The work of the land mines that riddle the countryside and the results of Agent Orange are apparent. This is the one place I most want to help.

And help I may be able to do. My friend Chantale had been to Siem Reap and surrounding areas on a work-related trip for the Asian Development Bank. In this capacity she met Prince Sisowath Pheanuroth, a member of the royal family who is directing a rural development project there. She gave me his e-mail and suggested I try to meet with him. To my surprise, I contacted him and to my further surprise, he was very gracious in return. We had one brief meeting where we excitedly chatted about many common interests and resolved to meet again. He invited me to his family's home for dinner in two days time.

I dressed in a culturally-appropriate outfit I had purchased in Thailand, bought a house gift, and awaited his arrival. When he came to the guesthouse to fetch me, he told me there was a change in plans. His wife and child were still out of town and he really should be at a dinner being hosted that night by the Governor of Siem Reap Province, would I mind terribly going to that dinner instead?! Blessing the sense that told me to wear a long sarong and modest top, I readily agreed. And thus I had the occassion to meet the Governor and Cambodia's Ambassador to Japan (members of the the Japanese royal family were in town that day), and to sit next to the Executive Director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy and have a dream discussion, tapping into all of my professional training and interests: grassroots democracy, voting policy and procedure (imagine me explaining our recent election farce!), rural economic and community development, and public policy.

The dinner I was attending was to honor the workers of a project to teach people in small towns about -- as they put it -- the rule of law. You must understand that democracy is very new to this country and the very educated people with whom I was dining knew that it was vital to start at the grassroots level to teach people about voting. Once they learned that I knew not only about these topics, but about how to raise money, I became very popular. We agreed that when I get back to the states I will help them with this project. I also hope to help the nonprofit organization in Siem Reap that teaches victims of land mines income-producing skills. While I don't miss working at all, I do miss feeling as if I am "contributing" and this is one place where my contribution can be enormous.

Cambodia is a country to which I will gladly return.