Cambodia

When I last left off, I was on my way to Cambodia. The family and I left Phnom Penh and travelled by bus and ferry and fortunately the bus was air conditioned and comfortable. Our first glimpse into Cambodia included a huge casino and there are many in Cambodia even though Cambodians are not allowed to gamble. The Thais and other Asians travel here to do so. Hot and exhausted we arrived and found our Tuk Tuks waiting for us. Another new experience. Tuk Tuks are motorbike driven carriages which hold anywhere from 1 to 6 people depending on how tightly everyone wants to squeeze in. I was to ride them many times in Cambodia as it is the only way to travel other than motorbike. Now I was to hear everywhere, "Tuk Tuk, Madame."

Language Corps rents a villa for its students - not as fancy as it sounds but quite large with six bedrooms with just about all having a private bath. Kitchen facilities are available but nobody really cooks - it is just as cheap and maybe cheaper to eat out. Other than making coffee in the morning with my one cup dripper, I did no cooking at all. My bedroom was very large, air conditioned and bright. We actually had our first evening's dinner at a downtown mall which had a food court. There were hamburgers and pizza, fried chicken and french fries along with many Asian fast food stalls. Pnomh Penh (PP) is one of those cities with great anomalies; air conditioned malls around the corner with tropical, steaming local markets two streets over. Most restaurants do not have air conditioning and those that do charge quite a bit more for the pleasure; most have ceiling fans.

PP is much smaller than Vietnam, just as hot, but has some truly beautiful buildings with both French and Indian influence. It has its areas of lovely homes but every house, big and small, is gated with high fences topped with spikes and barbed wire. Talk about your gated communities. The same was true in many areas of Ho Chi Minh City. There was an incredible amount of new housing developments in HCMH and in PP there are some major commercial projects going up downtown and in the river area.

Our language instruction was pretty intensive and we had lots of work to do every night both during the TESOL and Khmer language training. I must admit after all that I still do not know very much Khmer but have a pretty good basic book. We were taught phonetics more than anything as the Khmer language is similar to a sanskrit so there is absolutely no similariity to English whereas the Vietnamese language shares the same alphabet. But I am finding it interesting that one can really teach without knowing the native language.

Although there is a "democracy" in Cambodia, there is a King who is very popular and revered and who does have a lot of influence in the Country. The Royal Palace preserves a treasure of art and artifacts and is full of Buddhas and figures of the Buddhist tradition. The Palace grounds, where the King actually lives, are covered with buildings that display Wats, Stupas, royal rooms and gardens. One Buddha is covered with diamonds and gold and one Stupa is made of silver, naturally called the Silver Stupa. Wat Pnomh is the City's centerpiece for pilgrims and devotees who continually visit the Buddha, make offerings, and pray. This temple is on a city hilltop in the midst of PP and houses a park for recreation for all. ELephant rides are a source of entertainment for kids and tourists, although I felt sorry for the elephant, and wild monkeys add another delight for the kids as they are pretty tame and and fearless and are happy to get treats all day long. Their favorite treats are the lotus seeds - we all liked them, too. The City itself has all the old marks of what once was considered one of the most beautiful in Asia but has suffered with all the setbacks that had taken place in the 70's. Many still talk about the "killing times" and almost everyone lost someone to the savage genocide of the Pol Pot regime.

It is amazing to me that in 1975, Pol Pot announced that everyone had to vacate the City of Phnom Penh as the United States was going to attack any time with bombs and, therefore, all should be moved to the country for safety. The safety for many meant imprisonment, torture, and death. Millions were killed in what was designated as the "killing fields." One can now visit a couple of these places which are all around the country and whose graves are still being excavated. I visited one just outside PP and was so stunned to see the stupa made of human skulls as a tribute to those who died. Huge depressions in the area indicated places where bodies had been found and dirt mounds were piled up in areas where excavating was still going on. There is also a museum where prisoners were kept before being killed with pictures of many who had been incarcerated and tortured there and then brought out to be killed in the surrounding countryside. It is really an agonizing and horrifiying site. Visitors to both the fields and museums were so incredibly silent and respectful and awestruck at the photos of horrors. Those who had been in charge were very careful to document everyone and just about everything. During the Pol Pot regime, only 50,000 people remained in PP, all military and supporters of the dictator. Although he has died, there are still a few, very aged men awaiting trials - the process of which has gone for a long time and they may all die before completion.

PP evoked a much more sense of culture than I felt in HCMC. The people were very friendly and outgoing, interested in foreigners, industrious, and obviously steeped in Buddhism. The Museum of Art has a major sculpture collection of artifacts taken from Angkor Wat which we visited as part of our cultural education. Busy markets are everywhere, and the streets are full of shops, food stalls, which are all basically sidewalk businesses. The city is full of small businesses which spread out to the sidewalk so a lot of buying, selling, making is done outside or almost outside. The city boasts a lively riverside area patronized by tourists, Cambodians, and lots of ex pats. It is becoming very popular with British and Australians who are discovering and prefer its pace to HCMH or to Bangkok. The major problem is a lace of sanitation infrastructure and unfortunately a lot of stuff goes into the river. Although city streets are cleaned up every night and there is garbage pickup in the city every nights, there are still remnants of litter and garbage almost everywhere. So many apartment buildings have restaurants or shops on the bottom floor and I can tell you I would never live above one. There are, of course, sections where there is enough wealth to keep help for cleaning the streets and areas surrounding the houses swept and picked up, but most areas need some work. At night the streets are filled with trash in small plastic bags which are mostly picked up during the night, so early morning produces many cleaned up areas. But it all goes to naught by the time evening and the meals are served outside, the shopping is done, the repair work has left its litter, etc. The worst part is, of course, the smells around the markets and restaurants. Alleys entrances to many apartments are pretty messy. I have no doubt that all this will change within 20 years. There is just too much investment and interest and movement in what is now a reasonably cheap City and recognized as a growth area by developers from all over.

There were four students in my class and we really had a wonderful time. Brent, our family man and father of three with one on the way, was a pretty hilarious fellow who lightened up our class. We took our daily Tuk Tuks back and forth to Pannasastra University (panyasat is common pronounciation), and where I can most likely teach in October. We usually stopped for lunch in the downtown area. We sampled a lot of restaurants and most were very good and pretty cheap. Lots of noodles and rice along with whatever. There are supermarkets here as well where we bought stuff to take home, but anything again not local was expensive.

I must tell you that I am called Queen by our Director and by my classmates. At the beginning of our first class a "warmer" as it is called had us elicit nicknames for each other based on a very superficial and cursory introduction to one another. I got the title of Queen only because I was the only woman in the group. Aside from Brent, the dad, who is about 36, the other two men are in their 60s. One is changing a lifestyle and moving to Cambodia and the other wanted to renew his TESOL course - he has been teaching in various countries for over 25 years.

A major highlight of our stay there was a visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, the early capitol of Cambodia...... The site is more than impressive consisting of temples, water ways, small lakes, large bath areas. It covers a huge area in Angkor Thom and is a major historical site. One could spend a week there easily as there are so many temples both close to Angkor Wat the main one and many outliers. The beauty to the early visitor must have been startling. Four sided towers with the giant carved faces of The Buddha are really awesome and the historical carvings on the walls which depict history and myth truly fascinate. Rather than using stylistic images, one can really see the differences between the Chinese and Khmer armies doing battle so long ago. Lots of pictorials of daily life, religious ceremonies, and battles really intrigue, but best to bring a guide book or go with a guide. Monks still live in the main buildings and maintain the preserved Buddha statues and pilgrims brings offerings of all kinds.

We all visited another unrestored site several miles from Angkor and this was a treat. I was reminded of visiting uncovered sites in Mexico. It was quite a trick to climb the various stairs and fallen stone formations, but we managed. There was one place where stone fallings were tumbled all over the place and the guards decided to help me rather than let me go on my own. It was quite a site, with two guards holding one arm each in front of me and literally almost pulling me down over the jumbled array. I would have been better off on my own, but they would not let go. Especially nice about this area is that it is pretty untouched and unvisited so there is lots of time and room to explore.

Siem Reap itself is a lovely small city that has benefitted greatly from the tourism for Angkor. It is really clean, lots of restaurants and good markets. Construction has included a really wonderful new Museum housing a lot of the artifacts from Angkor - the statuary is really incredible. Lots of new apartment buildings and condos along with some pretty commercial areas. It would be a great place to live if it just were not so off the beaten path.

Back to school for the final leg of the course and our practice teaching. I had a great time teaching English for a couple of weeks in the afternoon at an orphanage outside the main Phnom Penh. The kids were great and I was really enjoying teaching them. So well behaved and anxious to learn. The orphanage was really a great place and did a lot more than warehouse kids - it also has a lot of support from the varong (foreigners.) The students are taught painting and there are quite a few accomplished artists doing the traditional tourist painting; also silversmithing; beauty salon activities for hair and face care. During one of our lessons, the word doughnut was part of the dialogue and, of course, the students had never heard or seen a doughnut. So the next morning I went to the local bakery and bought a variety of doughnuts to bring to them. They absolutely loved the treat and kept saying that they never had these before. A little cultural exchange. Turned out this was also the last day before we were shipped off to Thailand.

I am continuing my language study of Thai in Pattaya. Pattaya is a pretty unique place and a destination for a lot of horny old men from around the world. I have never seen so many men of a "certain age" in one place at a time, all with beautifuly young Thai women hanging on their arms. Pattaya is pretty much a "sin free" zone and I can't for the life of me figure out why the school is here. One thing is for sure, I am absolutely safe here. The beach area is lovely but nobody swims because the water is not particularly as clean as it could be but there is lots of diving, parasailing, and water skiing going on so it cannot be too bad. I have yet to go swimming as I have been busy and need to go farther down the coast for cleaner, more pristine water. Because Pattaya is on the Bay of Thailand and set in its own bay, it catches a lot of waste from wherever. Lots of places in Asia use the seas and oceans as waste depositories. It is changing, but not fast enough.

I was really lucky and got to go visit my friend Tony Milton in Chiang Mai which is a really beautiful, liveable city. It is situated in the Northwest of Thailand. It was wonderful to see beautiful Wats, Buddhist Temple compounds throughout the City. Gleaming gold in the sunlight, covered with lots of filials and holding the stylized umbrella tower on top, they are an awesome sight. The temples inside are full of ancient artifacts and statuary and dazzle with the beautiful offerings and colorings so associated with Thailand.

I loved being there and could imagine living there for awhile. Tony's house is really a delight and for those of you who know Tony, of course, he is rehabbing it. He and Nuna, his girlfriend, took me around and one of our visits included going to the hot springs about an hour outside of the City. The countryside was just so green and lush and the springs were sedating.

Too soon I had to get back to Pattaya. Here I am also teaching in a church school. Again the students are truly anxious to learn English and they range from about 20 to 48. My Thai classes will go on for another week. And I am committed to teach until July 30 and then who knows? To break the worktime, our Director gets back Thursday and we are going on an excursion to an Island right near here where the beaches are touted to be very swimmable with lots of white sandy beaches, waterfalls, trails, birds, and good fun. I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday, I had to walk all around Pattaya and around the Beach Road and various shopping centers. I can see now how Pattay can grow on one despite the hedonistic nighttime activities. The food which is to be expected in Thailand is great no matter where you go and there are just so many street and sidwalk vendors that it is pretty cheap to taste an incredible variety of dishes. I have had a lot of chicken and rice, fruit, and wonderful noodle soups. Bread is not really a Thai food so there is not too much of that except that, of course, you can get a great variety of it in a supermarket. The supermarkets have just about everything but foreign food is again expensive. Lots of canned food if you have a desire, but pretty pricey. Beer and water is cheap as are local offerings.

Hope you are enjoying all of this. I may stay longer than expected. I have started to send my resumes to various places for teaching English. It might happen or might not, does not matter, but it would be great to be in one place for awhile and really be part of the community. And yes it is true, monks are everywhwere in their saffron robes and still go begging early in the morning. In Cambodia, they all carried umbrellas to protect from the sun which is why one sees so many souveniers and paintings carrying the umbrella covered monks.

Asia is such a contrast. Smack dab in the middle of one of Pattaya's main streets is an really beautiful Wat complex, a side building which houses many massage therapists and on checking it out, I saw what seemd to be 50 or so people on the floor getting their daily therapy. Thais get a lot of massages. I decided this was a bit too communal for me and found a really meditative type massage shop. I went in and had the greatest foot and shoulder massage of all times. The women who run the shop were delightful and my particular therapist was so strong. I literally was jelly afterwards. When finished, we all sat and had jasmine tea, chatted as much as we could, and for sure I am going back.

Keep in touch. I would love to hear about all of you and what is happening. Is it really as bad at home as the news makes it out to be?

Love,
Geraldine

Ignore any typos, please, seems so many keyboards are pretty sticky.