Spring 2015 - Day 38 and 39: Cambodia
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument/temple in the world. Not only that but the Angkor Wat complex many different temples. There are so many temples that you can buy a one day, three day, or seven day pass to the complex. Apparently there is enough to see and do to fill an entire 7 days.
There is no paperwork or history found about any of the temples except for Angkor Wat itself. It took 35 years to build the temple. They used 385,000 workers, 6,000 of which were carvers, and they also used 40,000 elephants that ate 8 million tons of food a day.
In the morning we visited Bayon Temple, which was built by the king for his father. On the way to Bayon Temple we had to walk under a large gate. Hanging around the gate were a whole bunch on monkeys. A few of then climbed up into a tree and I was about 2 feet away from one when it decided to start peeing. I was so close to having a shower of monkey pee. Not a good way to start the morning.
Actually the worst way to start the morning was discovering that I had left my camera battery charging in my room. Luckily we were going back to the hotel for lunch so I only had to be without my camera for the morning. But that was a pretty bad way to start off.
The Bayon Temple was large and was of the same architecture that all of the temples were made with. Basically it was a huge pile of stone. The Bayon temple held 3 million tons of limestone. One brick was about 3 tons so… if I do some math… that comes out to about 1 million bricks. Psh, easy math.
The temples are complex structures with multiple rooms and levels. And they are all covered in intricate carvings.
After the Bayon Temple we drove past the elephant terrace, which didn't actually have elephants, and to the Ta Prohm Temple, also called the Tomb Raider Temple. It's called the Tomb Raider temple because the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed there. There is one specific tree that was featured in the movie.
That temple was built for the Kings mother and it was a lot cooler than the Bayon Temple. It was large and generally symmetrical. It had a lot of trees growing in and around it. A random guy showed Quinn and I a tree that looked like an elephant. He took a picture of us in front of it and that was when I learned that I can panorama vertically with my phone. That was a life changing revelation.
Visiting both of those temples took up the majority of the morning and then we went back to the hotel for lunch. We were all grateful because it was a very hot day and everyone was sweating bullets walking through the temples. After lunch we were given a bit of free time. Another girl and I walked to the market across the street but it was very expensive compared to some of the other ones.
After free time we visited the pink temple, which is only called that because it was made out of pink limestone. It wasn't actually pink, which was really disappointing. It also was completely in ruins and the intricate carvings all over it were mostly destroyed, which was a shame.
I did get a wonderful picture of a cat sleeping on one of the windows of the temple. It was precious.
It was after the pink temple that we finally made our way to Angkor Wat. Our plan was to be there for the sunset.
We got off the bus at an intersection pretty far away from the temple itself and walked. We had to go through the outer walls of the temple before we were able to see the temple itself. Even when we were inside the outer walls the temple was still pretty far away. It was a HUGE area.
From where we were standing, which was looking at it straight on, the temple looked like it had three towers. They stood for the three gods of hindu: Shiva, Vishnu, and Shakti. When you looked at it from other angles or from above, it had five towers, one in the middle and the four corner. Those represent Mount Meru, which is a sacred mountain with five peaks.
We moseyed our way towards the temple but veered off to the left and down some stairs about halfway to the temple. We were going to meet on the grass by a small lake to take a group photo. Also, the lake made for great photos because you could see the reflection of the temple in the water.
One of the lifelong learners with us had had a large sign made before the voyage even started. It said "Thanks For The World, Semester At Sea 2015"
We all took turns taking photos with it until a security officer came up to us and took it away. He just kept saying 'No' over and over again and didn't speak English. He crumpled it all up and spoke to someone over his walkie talkie before getting on the phone. Our guide had been with us but had walked over to the road for a minute to look for an older life long learner couple that had taken a Tuk Tuk instead of walking. He was on his way back at that moment so I met him half way and told him what was happening.
He ran back to the group to talk to the officer. Apparently you are not allowed to take pictures with large, professional banners because it looks like advertising. In order to do that you would have to ask permission on UNESCO because Angkor Wat is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We tired to explain to him that it wasn't an advertisement, it was for an educational program, but he didn't care.
We barely got the banner back. It was a very intense few minutes.
So we weren't able to take our group picture with the banner but we did take a group picture. Then we went and walked through the temple. Its huge, so we didn't get very far. We weaved our way through the inside hallways and rooms until we found the inside courtyard. They had just closed the stairs that go up to the top level, that was a bummer. The entire complex closed at 5:30 so we didn't have much time there. We could have walked around there for a few hours so we all wished we had gone there sooner.
It was very cloudy so the sunset was a bust and we all piled back onto the bus wanting more.
That evening we went to a dinner and a show that was just two doors down from our hotel. It was buffet style and they had pizza. We completely cleaned them out of pizza. There was constantly a small group of SASers waiting for them to bring out more pizza and eventually the guy had to come and tell us that there was absolutely no more left.
The show was weird. It was traditional Cambodian ballet. They danced very slowly. There were men and women and they seemed to tell a story but it was hard to interpret. The most noticeable thing was that the woman had absolutely no emotion. Some of the men would chant or let out an exclamation and smile every once in a while, but the women were completely stone faced. They looked miserable. We couldn't tell if that was the style of dance, that they were supposed to be emotionless or is they absolutely hated having to do it.
At the end of the performance a lot of people bum rushed the stage. Apparently you could go up and take pictures with them and a lot of people already knew that.
The women still didn't smile. They didn't pose or even react to the people taking pictures with them. They stood perfectly still and looked like they were about to cry. It was heartbreaking. We still had no idea if they were supposed to be that way or not but it didn't feel right. It looked like they were forced to be there and perform for all of the tourists and that they hated it. None of us took pictures with them, it didn't feel right. I felt so bad for them. Thinking about it now, I want to cry. Dancing should be joyful and beautiful, you should want to do it. But again, maybe that was the style.
Everyone was going out that night but I just went to bed. The buffet food was not digesting well. I could tell from the first bite that it wasn't going to go well. The food wasn't completely hot and that is just one of the warning signs. I didn't get too sick but I didn't feel very good.
I did go to the small grocery store across from the hotel with Samantha and a few other girls. One of them bought a bottle of wine. It was 14 dollars. The girl handed the cashier a 20 US dollar bill. The girl counted back change in both US dollars and Cambodian dollars so fast it was amazing. They take US money all over Cambodia but because they don't have any of the coins they use Cambodians money to give change. The exchange rate is high, about 4000 Cambodians dollars = 1 USD. So they will give 1000 dollar bills as 25 cents. Its a good system but its amazing to count in two currencies so quickly.
The next day we met at 8 and got on the bus to go to a village. We were going to visit a floating village but first our tour guide was going to take us on a walk through a regular village to see how they live. We drove for a little while and then got off the bus and walked through this run down and poverty stricken village. The houses were made very crudely. We were taken to one specific house.
There was one bed and in the area right next to the bed there was a man sitting amongst a huge pile of fish. He was cutting the heads off all the fish with a large knife and then putting the body and head in different piles. This was happening right on the floor.
We were lead past that man and up some stairs. At the top of the stairs was a brick pit that we hadn't noticed the walls of behind the man. Inside the pit was a whole bunch of baby crocodiles. Then we walked past a woman who was laying fish meat out on a mat to dry in the sun. We walked on boards that were propped over these huge pits made out of brick walls.
People in front of me in line were gasping and chattering. I thought that was weird until I saw what was in the large pit at the back. It was filled with 40 or 50 huge, fully grown crocodiles. There was a pond of water in the middle but most of them were outside the water and were not moving. They looked very dried out and possibly dead but our guide said they were definitely alive.
It was crazy. These people were living amongst crocodiles. Huge, deadly crocodiles. They bred them because they can get up to 6,000 dollars for one crocodile. That sounded like a lot but I found out that it takes about 10 years for them to get that big and with all the food they feed them they only make about a 500 dollar profit on each animal. 500 dollars in 10 years. That sucks.
We then walked down the street to the local market. This was way different from the tourist markets we had been visiting. The market was broken into sections based on what the person was selling. There was a vegetable section as well as fish, pork, beef, chicken, and cooked food. All of the meat was raw. There were whole chickens, pig heads and pig feet, most of the fish were just flopping around. When someone wanted to purchase one they would kill it right there. It was loud, crowded, and smelly. Although the fish overpowered all of the other raw meat.
The market was exhilarating. There was money and goods exchanged left and right among a dusty, crowded, and loud setting. What we were witnessing was what these people did every day. For most of them this was their job, the way they supported their family, for others it was how they fed their family, by coming and bartering for food.
Leaving the market we walked down more of the village streets, along a sandy brown river. We eventually turned left into a monastery where many in the village go to practice their religion and where young boys are trained as monks. When boys in the village turn 12 they can choose to become a monk. After that they have a few options to opt out and return to normal life: one month, three months, one year, or three years.
Theirs lives as monks are very strict. They can not eat from sun up to sun down. They are not permitted to smile or look farther than 7 meters in front of them and they must shave their heads and eyebrows. If a woman were to see their smile, their eyes, or their hair then they might fall in love and a monk is not allowed to have relationships.
Within the monastery I saw little boys trying to fly a kite they had made out of plastic. There were some other young boys being pushed in a wheelbarrow by an older boy wearing the traditional monk robe. I saw the sickest dog I have ever seen in my entire like, and I saw many of the monks-in-training praying inside one of the buildings.
We got back on the bus after walking through the monastery. We were all tired and dripping sweat. It was hot out, but also humid. The weather was very similar to Florida's so while I didn't mind it others were not having a good time.
We took the bus to a small dock about 30 minutes away from the village. While our guide got our tickets we explored the gift shop which had a wide selection of snake wine. Basically its a bottle of gold liquid with a snake or scorpion, or both floating in it. Its made by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. It was originally used in traditional Chinese medicine. Now it is just a traditional drink, one that I did not try.
Once we had our tickets we followed our tour guide down a long flight of stairs where many boats were docked. They were all long, with thin roofs, and many benches organized on the inside. Every side was open. We piled in and filed into the benches. We pulled out from among all the other boats and started to make our way down the river.
The water was absolutely disgusting. It was the color of coffee with milk and had a lot of garbage floating in it. It was not water I ever wanted to end up in.
As we had boarded I had noticed that each boat was accompanied by two young boys. Once we were on our way down the river the boys started to massage each of us in turn.
I was sitting towards the back of the boat and so was one of the first. I had not expected it to happen and so was very taken aback when he started snapping his knuckles on my back. It was not a good massage and I didn't particularly want him to touch me. I turned and told him no thank you but he ignored me and continued on. The other girl on the other side of the boat was also trying in vain to get him to stop.
I know that if I had let him carry on he would want money from me but even as I told him that I didn't have any money to give him, he carried on.
It was the most uncomfortable I had been the entire trip and it took much pleading and me standing up for him to finally stop. Many of us retreated to the very back of the boat, where our backs would be right up against the rail, in order to escape the massages.
It wasn't until later, when I was back on the ship and discussing my experiences in post-port reflection, that I realized that those little boys were not doing that to make a few bucks. That was their job. Every day they worked on those boats, reeling in the motor when told, bailing them out if necessary, and giving tourists massages to earn money to support their families. They weren't doing it for fun, they were doing it because they had it.
It made me look on the experience differently. Even though I had been made very uncomfortable, I should have given them a dollar. I have plenty of dollars to spare and these little kids spent their days working instead of playing.
The boat took us down to the floating village. The village is on the largest lake in Asia. Over 2 million people live on the lake, the largest village of its kind. Every single person who lives on the lake works as a fisherman. The fish from the lake feeds most of Cambodia and even part of Vietnam. They can make up to 5,000 to 6,000 USD a month from fishing. Most don't make that much and most of the money they do make gets funneled back into their fishing through supplies and upkeep on the boats.
Our boat ride to the village was about 15 minutes. We saw people fishing on the way there but we saw even more of the same kind of boat we were in, all of them carrying tourists.
The village was like nothing I had ever seen. It wasn't like a bunch of house boats floating together. It was an actual village build on water. There were houses, churches, schools, and a market. They were all built on huge rafts that floated above the water. About 50,000 people lived in the area we were visiting. We got off the boat on the market raft. It was three different platforms pushed together and each was three stories. They sold a lot of the things we had found on the land based tourist markets but they also had taxidermied crocodiles.
I was standing looking at the crocodiles when my feet started to be wet. I looked down and the part of the platform that I was standing on was starting to flood with water. There were too many people standing on the platform and it was starting to sink.
I ran like I was on fire. I was not about to die from a building on the floating village sinking.
Everyone standing in that area dispersed and the platform rose back up to its intended height. But after the incident I was ready to leave the floating village.
We only spent about 15 minutes at the floating market before we got back on the boat and made our way back down the river.
It was after visiting these two villages that I started to feel emotional. When we got back onto the bus I just kept tearing up. Cambodia felt extremely similar to Ghana, a place I had visited once before, so the culture shock did not hit me as hard when we first got there. They live in small huts made of scrap metal and other random materials that they could get their hands on. Many had roofs made of palm fronds. They used car batteries for electricity and drank the disgusting river water that certainly would have made us sick.
And yet, they were happy. Or at least appeared happy. This was all they knew and it was the life they had built for themselves. I saw people talking and laughing, I saw kids running and playing with a homemade kite. I saw a little girl in a party dress getting her hair done by her mom. She was probably two and looked like she had enough of standing there. I saw a little boy angry with his sister and get ready to smack her.
They're just people. I felt this way on my last voyage and the notion has still stuck with me. Even though we speak different languages and use different currency; though we live under different governments and have different horrors in our histories, we are all still people. We strive to make money and provide for our families. We run to the grocery store or market on our way home from work or getting our kids from school. We are late. We are tired. We are lazy and don't feel like getting out of bed. We celebrate birthdays and the new year. We do what we can to thrive in the environment that we have.
So, should I feel bad that I complain when the wifi on my phone won't connect? Do I have a right to be angry when I get a flat tire on my way home from work and have to stop to change it? I am blessed to even have a phone, a car, and a job. Yes, it is all relative. In the scope of the environment I live in those are things to be frustrated and angry about. But is it? It isn't just about me. Yes, I shouldn't feel bad about myself for being born in America and growing up with privilege. Those are two things that I didn't control and are grateful to have.
But I can feel bad for complaining about that privilege. We take for granted the things that we have. On one of our bathroom stops during our trip we discovered that the bathroom didn't have any toilet paper. "But I need toilet paper," complained a girl next to me.
No, you don't need toilet paper. Toilet paper is not a basic human need. It is not necessary to have for us to live. We want toilet paper because it makes us feel cleaner and more comfortable. When I was little and I would say that I needed something to my dad he would always reply, "No people in hell need water, you want that." And it always pissed me off, but he was right.
I should feel bad for complaining about my wifi not connecting. I will survive if I can't get on Instagram to post a photo right at that moment. I should feel bad for complaining that the grocery store doesn't carry my favorite juice or chips. The fact that I have a grocery store to go to and spend money at is a blessing.
I don't think we all need to start ditching our privilege and living off the land but I encourage everyone to check in every once in a while and catch the things they are complaining about.
Yes, getting summoned for jury duty sucks. But that means that we have a judicial system that allows us to go to trial instead of being executed in a firing squad just because someone doesn't like us.
It's really annoying to have to go get things notarized when we apply for legal, government documents but that means we have a government that allows us to carry identification and vote. The government of Cambodia doesn't allow their citizens to have ID cards because if you have an ID card then you are allowed to vote and the government doesn't want citizens voting because they know they will vote against them.
We are lucky to have been born in a place that grants us our basic rights and freedoms and we shouldn't take that for granted. We don't all have to change the
world, but we at least need to appreciate the world we are living in.
Our flight back to the in the evening was only 45 minutes. It was the shortest flight I had ever been on. Once we had reached cruising altitude Quinn and only written two postcards before they had announced we were getting ready to land. Getting through customs was easy on both ends and our bus ride back to the ship was almost as long as our flight had been.
Even on the bus I was still feeling heavy. Katie used the bus ride for reflection and invited us to share stories from our trip. Every talked about the poverty and the quality of life, it seemed like almost everyone on our trip was feeling similarly to the way I was. Even Annie said that after she had heard our tour guide talk about not knowing where his family was that she felt guilty to have such a wonderful family when others don't. I think Cambodia affected us all in similar ways.
Getting back on the ship everyone was planning their nights out and what they were going to do. To me, it felt so inappropriate to go out and drink after what I had just seen and experienced. I just wanted to reflect and think about the trip. I tried to make plans with Quinn for the next day but she just told me to call her sometime in the morning to find out what was going on.
So I went back to my room alone, threw my stuff down, read some more Harry Potter, and went to bed.
