Cambodia Part 3

It was right after lunch that we figured out about the rope. You see there was a really long rope lying on the ground at some point between the vendors and the ruins. This rope seemed to be a stopping point for the children & women that were trying to sell us things. It was amazing…as soon as we hit that rope they would stop, turn around, and find another tourist to sell their stuff to.

I think that the next set of ruins were my favorite. When we first got there, there was this enormous tree…I don’t think I have ever seen a tree this large!

The ruins were in total disrepair, but it felt like you were exploring it for the first time & that you were able to discover new things.

Not to mention the fact that there were trees growing out of most of the ruins!

As we were walking back, we came across a small band that was playing music. Most of the members were missing limbs and they had a sign in front of them that said they were victims of mines. It took me a little while to realize that they were not the victims of coal mines (or silver mines or any other type of mine that we have back home) but were victims of LAND mines. They were really good & were selling their cd for $10, but that was way too expensive for a Peace Corps budget. (We saw quite a few similar bands during our time in Cambodia).

We went to one more temple and then the tuk-tuk brought us back to the guesthouse. It had been a long day, so we relaxed for a while then set out for the old market area for dinner.

Old market was amazing! They had all of these wonderful restaurants & bars. They were all so neat & fun…I really wish that someone would do something like that in Chaing Mai!

We liked Old Market so much that we decided to go back the next day. It wasn’t that far from our guesthouse, so we decided to walk. On our way, we came across a “7/Twenty.” Now they have 7/11’s in Thailand, but let me tell you why the 7/Twenty was so much better than what you find in Thailand…they had Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Skittles! I miss Skittles!

We spent the day shopping as there were a whole bunch of souvenir stands, and then headed back to the guesthouse to relax & shower before dinner. Again, we headed out to Old Market for dinner & it was excellent! We walked around and stopped at a few bars for drinks. At about 11:30, Kerry and I got tired so we decided to head back to the guesthouse & Melanie and Maria decided to stay and watch the football (soccer) game that was playing at the bar we had stopped out. Kerry and I took a tuk-tuk back and I was just about asleep when Maria walks in the room and tells us that Melanie just got robbed. Apparently they were walking back from the bar and a guy on a motorcycle drove by and ripped her purse out of her hands. They called Peace Corps Thailand and were told that they would have to go to the Embassy the next day to get a passport…well, the Embassy is in the capital…5 hours away.

We ended up splitting up & Kerry and I headed back to Thailand & Maria and Melanie went the other way to work on getting a passport. By the time that Mel & Maria got to the capital, the police in Siam Reap had recovered her purse…so they had another 5 hour ride back. Melanie got her passport, id’s, credit cards (although she had already cancelled them), house keys, and purse back…she did not get back her money, camera (with ALL of her Peace Corps photos), phone, or glasses.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip…it was just tainted at the end. I know I learned a lesson on safe travel that I will remember for a long time to come!

Cambodia Part 2

Have you seen “Tomb Raider?” You know the movie with Angelina Jolie where she goes to the hidden temple and the statue with 4 different faces (one on each side) attacks her? Well, that’s where we went next.

The tuk-tuk dropped us off at a bridge and the driver told us that he would wait for us on the other side. There were two rows of statues on either side of the bridge…

There was a gate at the end of the bridge that we crossed under & then we got into the tuk-tuk and continued on to the temple. The driver told us that we would actually visit a few temples at this stop as they were within walking distance. But the first one was the “Tomb Raider” temple.

There were giant stone faces everywhere…


We then walked to the next ruin. Some of them were palaces and some were temples, but they were all amazing!

(They are in the process of restoring the temples so the scaffolding that you see is work in progress.)

We then got back on the tuk-tuk and made him stop for a restroom break. Normally, a restroom wouldn’t be exciting, but this is Cambodia after all. The restroom had a Western toilet, and there was a sign behind the toilet that I found very amusing. (Sorry it’s so blurry).

Then we were off to the next set of ruins. Now, we had quickly come to realize that from the place the tuk-tuk dropped us off to the entrance to the temple we were “fair game” to the vendors and kids selling souvenirs. During this brief walk we were harassed by little 7-year-old kids “You buy postcard? Only $1. 10 for $1.” The sad thing was was that they were all selling the same thing so if you did buy a postcard (or a flute or book) at the first stop, you would still get harassed by others trying to sell you the same exact thing!

This temple was not my favorite. It was one of those temples with REALLY steep steps & the top was really high up. Some of you may know of my fear of heights…I got about half-way up the stairs before I had to go back down (and going down was MUCH harder than going up).

It was noon by the time we had finished at that temple (yes, we had been doing this for 7 hours already). So we had our driver take us on to the next set of ruins & we had lunch there.

End Part 2

Cambodia Part 1

(This is going to be a long one & will probably take a few posts to cover it all)

One of the other volunteers and I started talking about making a trip to Cambodia way back during training. We knew that it would be in October because that is when the schools go on midterm break. At the time, it felt like October was a lifetime away & it is so hard to believe that I just returned from the trip that we were planning.

I left my site Sunday evening…taking a 7:30 pm bus into Bangkok. The night bus is not that bad (usually extremely cold though). I took a VIP bus so that meant that I sat by myself & slept the entire way. We arrived in Bangkok at 5:00 and I met Kerry (a volunteer from down South). We got on the 6:00 bus to Aranyapratet (the border town). On the way, the bus stopped at the site where we had our training & we picked up Melanie & Maria (they had stopped to visit their host families).

We arrived at the border around 12:00 and had to take a songtao from the bus station to the border. We first had to purchase a visa then we were ready to cross into Cambodia. It was a little confusing because there weren’t a lot of signs to direct you but we eventually found the “departure” building where we had to go through customs. After we “left” Thailand, we were again a little confused as to where to go. There was a huge gate that you crossed under to enter Cambodia

& then there were a bunch of casinos…so we thought that we were actually in Cambodia. We even stopped at one of the casinos to ask how to get to Siam Reap (the city by Angkor Wat). We eventually realized that we had to officially “arrive” in Cambodia which meant standing in another line & going through Cambodian customs. Once finished, a bus took us to a little taxi shop & we hired a taxi to take us to Siam Reap.

Now I had heard stories about the road from the border to Siam Reap, but I didn’t really believe them until I was actually on the road. You see, the entire 4 hour trip is on a dirt road…one continuous pot-hole! And then it rained…

At one point there was a complete road block…huge trucks were parked any which way on the road. I don’t know what happened, but you could tell that those trucks would not be moving for quite some time. So we took a detour. I only wish that I could have gotten some pictures of this road. We were seriously off-roading in a taxi! There were mud slicks that I didn’t think we would make it through…and did I mention that it was one lane? That meant that we had to take turns with oncoming traffic. We did get to see some interesting sights

(there are actually pigs in that tube!)

(I THINK this pig was dead but I'm not sure because it was foaming at the mouth)


and at one time we had to cross a “toll bridge.” There were a whole bunch of guys surrounding this small wood bridge (back home I would be scared to WALK across the bridge) and some of them were standing in the middle of the road at the end of the bridge. As we crossed, the driver rolled down his window a few inches and threw out some money so the guys would let us cross.

We finally got back onto the main road & I don’t think our driver let off the horn once for the rest of the drive! Four hours of constant bumps and unending honking is bound to get on one’s nerves. When we got to Siam Reap, the driver dropped us off at a tuk-tuk stop (a tuk-tuk is basically a little cart that is pulled by a motorcycle…it usually seats about 2 people but we have crammed 6 people in one before…they’re pretty comfortable & a lot of fun) and we took tuk-tuks to our guest house. The drivers were very nice and we ended up hiring them to take us on a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat the next morning. We checked in and then walked down the street to a gas station to get money. Now usually a stop at a gas station would not be exciting enough to write about, but they had food that I have not seen in 10 months…salt & vinegar chips, Pepperidge Farm cookies, Aquafina water…it almost made me cry! We ate a quick dinner at a little restaurant near our guesthouse (I had a pizza) and then we went to bed (we had to meet the tuk-tuk at 5:00 am after all).

We woke up bright and early the next morning (4:00 am to be exact) and met the tuk-tuks in front of the guesthouse. I came to a realization on the ride from the guesthouse to the temple…Thai drivers are not that bad compared to Cambodian drivers. I don’t think that our tuk-tuk driver stopped for one red light (and there were plenty of them let me tell you). We stopped at one point to purchase our ticket to get into the temple ($20) and then we were off again. The tuk-tuk stopped at a little clearing and we had to cross a bridge and make a little trek to get to a good viewing spot (and all in the dark).

(this pic was actually taken on the way back to the tuk-tuk)

There were a whole bunch of tourists doing the same thing we were & it was so hard being patient waiting for the sun to rise. I kept taking pictures that turned out completely black because there was not enough light. But eventually…

When it was finally light enough, we decided to explore the temple. It was really cool because you could actually go inside it and do some exploring.

The murals on the walls were amazing. I can only imagine what they looked like thousands of years ago!

When we finally finished exploring the Wat, we decided it was time for breakfast. We saw some vendors along the side of a walk-way so we ventured over to see if they had anything to eat. As we were walking over, we noticed some monkeys in a tree.

As soon as we got near the vendors, we were accosted by little kids trying to sell us postcards for $1 (I should explain that Cambodians mainly use the US dollar but do not use the coins…instead they use the reol…so you could had someone $5 to pay for something that was $1.50 and you would get $3.00 plus about 2000 reol…makes things pretty confusing). They spoke EXCELLENT English! One little boy asked us where we cam from & when we told him America, he told us that he capital was Washington DC. He then asked us what State we were from and Maria told him Washington. He mispronounced the word “Olympia” but came pretty close. Then Kerry asked him what the capital of Massachusetts was and he told her “that he didn’t know but that he never told her that he DID know and that he wasn’t talking to her anyway!” It was so great to be around kids that aren’t afraid to talk to you!

When we finished with breakfast, we went back to the tuk-tuk to head to another temple.

(End Part 1)

Let's Go See A Man About A Tattoo!

Have you ever had your day pretty much planned out and then it turns out that you end up doing something you never in a million years ever thought you would be doing?!?

I am planning on going to Cambodia next week; which will be a very nice break from site, but also involves a lot of planning beforehand. In order to go to Cambodia, we have to get a visa to get into the country and also get a re-entry visa to get back into Thailand. Peace Corps actually provides the re-entry visa, we just have to get the visa to get into Cambodia…which we can get at the border, but we have to get photos taken before we get there. On Monday, I asked my counterpart where I could go to get a picture taken (you know those tiny ones that they use for passports). She told me that the Nayoke would take me into Nan on Tuesday (he is the mayor of the villages in our area and had a meeting in town).

So I show up for on Tuesday expecting to go into town with the Nayoke. They tell me that the Nayoke can take me into town, but then I would have to find a ride back on my own…or I could go into town with Pee Aroon (“Pee” is an honorific that you use to address someone when they are older than you). I decided to go with Pee Aroon.

A couple of other people also came with us…Pee Yap, and Pee Aae. They took me to get my photo taken (and it is amusing to hear what they tell complete strangers about me…they were telling the guy at the photo shop that I couldn’t ride a motorcycle. That Peace Corps won’t let us & that I had to ride a bike & wear a helmet) then they had a few other errands to do. We stopped at a car dealership as Pee Aae is in the process of buying a new truck. Then we stopped for lunch. Then we dropped Pee Aae off at her old car and she left us…so that left me with Pee Aroon & Pee Yap. They told me that we had a couple of more stops to make & then we went to an insurance company so that Pee Aroon could renew his car insurance then we had to go to the police station so that he could renew his registration.

When we finished at the police station, Pee Aroon told me that we had one more stop & then he said something that I didn’t understand. They can tell when I don’t understand something (I think I’ve perfected the “I have no idea what you just said look”) so he started with the charades…and he started jabbing himself in the breastplate. It only took me a few seconds to figure out that he was talking about getting a tattoo (I would kick ass at charades now).

You see, the “traditional” tattoo is spiritual here. They are supposed to be a blessing & kind-of act as a good luck charm (they explained to me that it will protect them from guns& getting hurt). A lot of men have tattoos right in the middle of their chest…where Pee Aroon was jabbing himself. So after I told them the English word for what they were doing they told me that they wanted to see the “tattoo doctor” (their words not mine).

I was expecting a tattoo parlor, but we showed up at this guy’s house. The men all went inside, but I didn’t know if I was allowed to watch so I waited outside, but they soon came and got me (I think part of them wanting to get one done was to show off to the farang). As we were obviously not at a tattoo parlor, I was still expecting a semi-professional room where a guy does tattoos out of his home. What I found was a mess! There was a shrine of Buddha on one side of the room and the rest of the room was filled with clutter (and I am completely serious). The most interesting part was in the corner where he (the “tattoo doctor”) had a little stand of these really long sticks…which I soon realized were the needles (in the pic on the left side). He handed two of them to one of the guys who then proceeded to stick them in boiling water for two seconds to sterilize them (I don’t know why they bothered as the “tattoo doctor” blew on the needles right after they sterilized them).

And then they were ready to go…

It was really neat to watch. The “tattoo doctor” props the needle on one hand then with the other makes these really fast jabbing motions (pushing the needle into the skin).
They both got them done...

They kept asking me if I wanted to get one, but I think they were joking. I’m not sure, but I think that these types of tattoos are only for the men. Which is fine with me because everything was a little too dirty for me (he dipped the needle in the same ink for both guy’s tattoos for one, he kept blowing on the needle and the new tattoo for another). But they have been doing this for hundreds of years…and it was really neat…maybe next time…(just joking Mom).

Longboat Races

The first thing I did when I found out the location of my site (way back during training) was to look it up in one of the travel guides that one of the other volunteers had with them. There were only a couple of pages about Nan, but it did mention the longboat races they have every September/October. It seemed like such a long ways away at the time, but the longboat races just started this last weekend.

You may be asking yourself…”What exactly is a longboat?” A longboat is just what the name implies…a really long boat. They remind me a bit of the crew boats back in the States, but they cram a lot more people in the boats (about 30).

So on Saturday I took the songtao into Nan to meet up with Sarah & Tara (the volunteers also in Nan) and Tara’s counterpart. We met up at 1ish and went to an Italian restaurant…yes, I was pretty surprised that they had an Italian restaurant in Nan but I’m not going to complain. So the three of us shared plates of Caesar salad, spaghetti with beef sauce (it has been so long since I have had beef), and pizza…and it was all delicious!

We then headed over to the river to watch the races. It was absolutely crazy! They had set up vender booths along the street and all along the river. And there were people everywhere. We went to watch up on the bridge (excellent aerial view).

We then spent some time walking through all the booths…it really reminded me of the fair back home. I even saw someone making cotton candy!

I took the 6:00pm songtao back home (it was the last one for the day). Now I had gotten to the songtao stop a bit early (I had just missed the 5:00 songtao). So when the songtao showed up at 5:45 I piled all my stuff into the back and decided to just wait there (I had already walked through the market that is just across the street). Now I wasn’t too surprised when the driver got in the back with me…Thais love to talk to foreigners and I have had many an awkward conversation with complete strangers while I have been here. What did surprise me though was the fact that he had some food in one hand and a can of beer in the other!

I find myself saying this a lot here…but this would never have flown in the States! I would have been out of that vehicle in a second and that driver would have been fired right after my phone call to his employers. But I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not in the States. So what do I do? This is the last songtao of the day so if I stay in Nan I would have to pay for a hotel room, food, and I would have to call Peace Corps to let them know what happened. On the other hand it was only a can of beer and he was eating food as well.

This sort of “reasoning” makes me think that I have been in Thailand too long. You see, it is normal here for a group of four guys to drink an entire bottle of whisky and then all get on their motorcycles and drive back home. I have been to events here where we drove from house to house and everyone had to drink at least one shot of whiskey at each house before we went on to another house and we did that all day long. I have seen guys trying to drive a motorcycle but they are so drunk that they can’t even make it up the hill because they keep tipping over (luckily they weren’t going that fast). Drinking and driving is completely normal here…in fact they are shocked when you tell them that it is illegal in the States. So running through my head when I saw the can of beer was “at least it’s not a bottle of whisky.”