Did I really just spend the entire day tubing down a river in a village surrounded by limestone karsts? Did I really stop at multiple tube-up bars and have a giant BeerLao at each, play volleyball in the mud, and jump from 10 meters into the middle of the river?? Did I really just take a six hour bus ride through the mountains to get here? Am I really in Vang Vieng, or is this just a really vivid dream as a result of my malaria pills??? I love it here. There is absolutely nothing to do except tube down the river, all day, every day, enjoy being in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in Laos, surrounded by limestone karsts that display the beauty of the world. Well, actually there is a lot more to do -- rock climbing, kayaking, visiting villages, and the like -- but I could really spend an entire week here tubing every single day. And I met a number of people today who have done just that. Every day they try to leave they end up staying a little bit longer.
Okay, so if you've read anything about Vang Vieng, you'll be well aware of the TV-bar Friends epidemic, and let me tell you, it is no exaggeration. I had a banana pancake and BeerLao for breakfast and we sat and watched Friends for maybe an hour. And the place across the street? The exact same thing. And down the other road? Yep, there too. At least there was one place showing Family Guy.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
"Make Good Money, $5 a Daaaaaaaay ...
... Made anymore I might move awaaaaaaaayyyy"
Yesterday in Siem Reap Quinn and I took a tour of the Floating Village on the Tonle Sap -- Khmer for "Fresh Lake." There is an entire village of Khmers, Vietnamese, and Muslims who all have houseboats, basically, that just float around this lake. Land is quite far away and I'm not sure how often most of them get to it. They have pigs in boat-cages, some have battery-powered TVs, there is a floating basketball court even, and the schools are built just within the riverbanks.
In the dry season the Tonle Sap gets quite dry -- our boat driver said the water depth was 3km and in two months it would be almost completely dry. In the rainy season the Mekong River floods into the Tonle Sap river where the two meet in Phnom Penh. The Tonle Sap river reverses its flow, and the lake near Siem Reap swells from nothing to an astonishing 10 to 18km deep.
Anyways, I talked with out boat driver quite a bit. He told me his life story and how he was orphaned as a child and lived with monks for 10 years. He said he is 24 -- meaning he was born in 1983 or 1984, and that his mother, father, and siblings were killed in the fields. (This I don't entirely understand, since I thought the killings ended when the Vietnamese came in in 1979.) Anyways, he learned English very well and is now paying US$12 a month for school to learn Chinese and Japanese. His salary as a boat driver is $15 per month. Anything more than the $3 left over is from tips. He doesn't have a home, and every night he sleeps in the boat he drives.
Cambodia is so much different than back home, more so than anywhere else I have visited thus far. It makes me appreciate all the opportunities I have back home so much more, and everything that I grew up with. Really, everything in my life has been basically handed to me. Kids in Cambodia work on the streets selling things, begging for money, trying to be cute so tourists will take their photo and give them a dollar. And so far I haven't seen any way for them to get out of poverty.
Yesterday in Siem Reap Quinn and I took a tour of the Floating Village on the Tonle Sap -- Khmer for "Fresh Lake." There is an entire village of Khmers, Vietnamese, and Muslims who all have houseboats, basically, that just float around this lake. Land is quite far away and I'm not sure how often most of them get to it. They have pigs in boat-cages, some have battery-powered TVs, there is a floating basketball court even, and the schools are built just within the riverbanks.
In the dry season the Tonle Sap gets quite dry -- our boat driver said the water depth was 3km and in two months it would be almost completely dry. In the rainy season the Mekong River floods into the Tonle Sap river where the two meet in Phnom Penh. The Tonle Sap river reverses its flow, and the lake near Siem Reap swells from nothing to an astonishing 10 to 18km deep.
Anyways, I talked with out boat driver quite a bit. He told me his life story and how he was orphaned as a child and lived with monks for 10 years. He said he is 24 -- meaning he was born in 1983 or 1984, and that his mother, father, and siblings were killed in the fields. (This I don't entirely understand, since I thought the killings ended when the Vietnamese came in in 1979.) Anyways, he learned English very well and is now paying US$12 a month for school to learn Chinese and Japanese. His salary as a boat driver is $15 per month. Anything more than the $3 left over is from tips. He doesn't have a home, and every night he sleeps in the boat he drives.
Cambodia is so much different than back home, more so than anywhere else I have visited thus far. It makes me appreciate all the opportunities I have back home so much more, and everything that I grew up with. Really, everything in my life has been basically handed to me. Kids in Cambodia work on the streets selling things, begging for money, trying to be cute so tourists will take their photo and give them a dollar. And so far I haven't seen any way for them to get out of poverty.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
More on Impressions of Cambodia
Cambodia, both the people and the landscape, really bring on a wealth of thoughts and emotions. It's difficult to generalize the people and the country because there is so much here. For one, the landscape is very different than anywhere else in Southeast Asia ... at least for what I have seen. I was expecting jungles, hills, mountains, maybe some fields, but in general a very green and lush landscape. So far I have seen none of that. Everything is dry dry dry!! The streets in the cities are paved but as soon as you get outside that, even in the back-streets of Siem Reap where our guesthouse is, the streets are all sand. Red sand, not even dirt, really. And palm trees dot the scenery as well, but a different sort than what you would picture at the beach. It seems everywhere I go the palm trees are a little bit different. Here they are tall and they are short, but the leaves all stem out from the trunk in a big spherical shape on top, like a tuft or something. So the trees are green and the ground is red. Or just brown from the dry grass. Cows can be seen all along the roads outside of the city, either munching on grass or just laying in the sun. These cows, however, are much different than the happy cows that come from Wisconsin. They may be happy, I'm not really sure, but they are skinny and all white. And just wandering, really.
Now for the people. The Khmers are a very proud people, and they should be. One thousand years ago they built a massive set of temples, terraces, and other structures in the Angkor region, most notably Angkor Wat. This is the Khmer symbol of national pride and will continue to be so for years and years and years to come. They are also survivors: just thirty years ago they went through a decade or so of tremendous torture, death, and destruction. First the Vietnam War, when the United States executed a massive bombing campaign and dropped more bombs in a single campaign than in the entire World War II combined. The effects of this can still be felt today. I think 700 people still die from UXO (unexploded ordnance) accidents every year, and people, mostly children, will continue to die from this for several years to come. Nobody knows for sure how many landmines are still out there and where they are. (Travel tip: if ever you visit Cambodia, don't dare stray from the path.) So much of the country lives in poverty, and even conditions in the cities aren't great. Garbage is everywhere, and I mean everywhere, especially in the streets of Phnom Penh. Garbage cans are few and far between, and instead everyone just throws their garbage onto the street, or ontop of the monstrous pile on a sidestreet. It doesn't make the city look very clean, or smell very clean either. And not only in Phnom Penh, but Siem Reap and Angkor as well, children are put to work by their parents by selling things on the street. Kids as young as 4 or 5 years old, coming up to you selling 10 braclets for a dollar or a knock-off edition of Lonely Planet or this and that other books, jewlery, and postcards. A little girl followed me today around Angkor, sat next to me while I ate, and said if I didn't buy a water from her I would make her cry. And there are so many disabled and disfigured landmine victims that beg on the streets, especially around the Tuol Sleng museum.
On the other hand, the Khmer seem to be a very happy bunch and are always laughing and making jokes, both at each other and at all the funny visitors they see in their country. Walking through the streets of Phnom Penh a group of men who were eating lunch all burst out in laughter as we photographed nothing more than the streets and the buildings in town. Tuk-tuk drivers laugh and horse fight while waiting for their customers to come back. Teenagers play a form of hacky sack in the parks all day and all evening with not a care in the world. Even the workers at the guest house laugh and make jokes all night long.
Visiting Cambodia makes one realize how dark humanity can be from time to time, but also how strong it is and how it can recover from those dark times. It's heartbreaking to think about how one dollar can mean so much to a person here, yet back home a dollar can't hardly get you a candy bar or soda any more. With so many millionaires in this world it's unfair that there are so many living in poverty. But what can be done about such things? Closing the gap seems an impossible task, and no matter how many dollars I have to give to the people on the streets it's not going to change anything. All that I know I can do is spend time volunteering in these underdeveloped countries, maybe lending some knowledge of engineering to develop any villages that need it or maybe even just teaching English somewhere. Even volunteering for a few months, or a year or two, won't do much to close the gap, but if it helps out a few people or maybe even an entire village then the work is well worth it.
Now for the people. The Khmers are a very proud people, and they should be. One thousand years ago they built a massive set of temples, terraces, and other structures in the Angkor region, most notably Angkor Wat. This is the Khmer symbol of national pride and will continue to be so for years and years and years to come. They are also survivors: just thirty years ago they went through a decade or so of tremendous torture, death, and destruction. First the Vietnam War, when the United States executed a massive bombing campaign and dropped more bombs in a single campaign than in the entire World War II combined. The effects of this can still be felt today. I think 700 people still die from UXO (unexploded ordnance) accidents every year, and people, mostly children, will continue to die from this for several years to come. Nobody knows for sure how many landmines are still out there and where they are. (Travel tip: if ever you visit Cambodia, don't dare stray from the path.) So much of the country lives in poverty, and even conditions in the cities aren't great. Garbage is everywhere, and I mean everywhere, especially in the streets of Phnom Penh. Garbage cans are few and far between, and instead everyone just throws their garbage onto the street, or ontop of the monstrous pile on a sidestreet. It doesn't make the city look very clean, or smell very clean either. And not only in Phnom Penh, but Siem Reap and Angkor as well, children are put to work by their parents by selling things on the street. Kids as young as 4 or 5 years old, coming up to you selling 10 braclets for a dollar or a knock-off edition of Lonely Planet or this and that other books, jewlery, and postcards. A little girl followed me today around Angkor, sat next to me while I ate, and said if I didn't buy a water from her I would make her cry. And there are so many disabled and disfigured landmine victims that beg on the streets, especially around the Tuol Sleng museum.
On the other hand, the Khmer seem to be a very happy bunch and are always laughing and making jokes, both at each other and at all the funny visitors they see in their country. Walking through the streets of Phnom Penh a group of men who were eating lunch all burst out in laughter as we photographed nothing more than the streets and the buildings in town. Tuk-tuk drivers laugh and horse fight while waiting for their customers to come back. Teenagers play a form of hacky sack in the parks all day and all evening with not a care in the world. Even the workers at the guest house laugh and make jokes all night long.
Visiting Cambodia makes one realize how dark humanity can be from time to time, but also how strong it is and how it can recover from those dark times. It's heartbreaking to think about how one dollar can mean so much to a person here, yet back home a dollar can't hardly get you a candy bar or soda any more. With so many millionaires in this world it's unfair that there are so many living in poverty. But what can be done about such things? Closing the gap seems an impossible task, and no matter how many dollars I have to give to the people on the streets it's not going to change anything. All that I know I can do is spend time volunteering in these underdeveloped countries, maybe lending some knowledge of engineering to develop any villages that need it or maybe even just teaching English somewhere. Even volunteering for a few months, or a year or two, won't do much to close the gap, but if it helps out a few people or maybe even an entire village then the work is well worth it.
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