Kep: southern Cambodia

***ASIA PHOTOS ARE ADDED TO MY YAHOO PHOTO ALBUM! So check them out using the link to the right marked "photo album". Yay!***

So this is what Cambodia looks like for all those who have no clue. I entered on the Mekong River into Stung Streng and stayed in Banlung for 4 nights... that's where I visited the hill tribes. From there we taxied it to Kratie and then I arrived into Phnom Penh on the 14th. We left the next day for Kep and spent 3 nights.

The night before Kep in Phnom Penh, I met a bunch of teachers from various countries and we chilled out at Guesthouse #9 - the original one on Lake Side. The mosquitoes were out in full force and I woke up the next morning with about 20 bites on my left foot and about 5 or so on my right. Hopefully I didn't catch malaria. :-) Anyways, the teachers are very cool people, down to earth, we had some rally interesting conversations... especially with this middle-aged flamboyantly gay dude from California named Salim. I will tell about him upon my return.

Kep

So Kep. The Khmer Rouge was in very heavey force there while the regime was still in power. Many rich Khmers had houses there, the King had a palace, all overlooking the beauitful - but of course very dirty - ocean. It used to be quite a booming city not too long ago until the mid 1970s (just after the civil war) when the Khmer Rouge slaughtered everyone and their babies. Terrible and bloody history. The homes are in ruins, the lands are being clear cut and sold off at ridiculous prices. In some cases there are trees growing out through the walls and the ceilings. It makes for an eery feeling when you drive the streets and see - in the rare cases where the family can afford a cop to patrol their area - families living in poverty in the brokedown homes. What a juxtaposition of imagery and reality. We drove around on motos - we had met up with my new and beautiful friend Roath (ro-wat) and her fiancé Marcel (a middle-aged dutch dude)... this is a whole other story - through the mountain and jungle, breathtaking view of the vietnamese and cambodian islands. We didn't go for a dip though since we saw the sewage pipes spewing into the ocean... haha All in all, it was a very interesting and educational experience... one that I will learn more about after having visited the museum here in Phnom Penh.

life changing trip...

We left for Phnom Penh again on the 18th, then hopped on yet another annoying karaoke-playing-full-blast-the-entire-way bus to Siem Reap on the 19th. It changed my life. It changed my outlook once again. It made me actually motivated to DO something and it gave me the confidence in knowing that I actually CAN do something.

Siem Reap

We were meeting up with a contact Carly knew through a close friend of her's to help her NGO test some water for a floating village. Her name is Leigh and her NGO is called Future Cambodia Fund (check it out cuz you'll be hearing lots more about it!) which is a project her and a friend began a year ago to help the street kids of Siem Reap. It is an amazing endeavor and I was fortunate enough to be present and see what it is they do, how they network, how they communicate with the children and the people of this floating village.

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I will write more on this next time because time has run out here, but do your homework and check that site out please! This is something I will be getting more envolved with in the near future, something important to me, and something I would like everyone to get a grasp on.

can you see me NOW?

Doing a bit of bouldering, as they say in the climbing world... heehee It's when you climb upside-down, very difficult and I was (still am) VERY out of shape. Not to mention the fact that I had never been rock climbing in my life!

The slow boat DAY 2 on the Mekong River heading to Luang Prabang, Laos. We had this whole boat to ourselves: Carly, Perdy, Abbey, Jetta, Neils, little Elkin, the american family of 4, and myself. Big difference from the 110 people of the day before, eh? Awesome. I'm rockin out to some great tunes and enjoying the beautiful sun...

These are just a couple, but be sure I'll upload the rest of my asia photos to my yahoo photo album real soon. Yay! And Kep, ya, tomorrow when I get back to Phnom Penh I promise! heehee Internet is expensivé in Siem Reap! Maybe I'll go to the Angkor Wat this evening, at sunset, when it's free after 5pm instead of the $20 US they charge. There have been many changes in my life since my last post... so strange that life can take such unexpected turns.

A la prochaine!

who said: don't go into the jungle??

So here I am in a lovely town called Kep which is situated right on the ocean-front, right in the jungle, right where I want to be. It is quite laidback and the townspeople are very friendly and beautiful. We bused it here from Phnom Penh on Sunday and will be going back tomorrow morning early. We were going to take a boat over to Rabbit Island (kind of funny, eh Sahana?) but it poored all night long and into the morning, the clouds are still here. Strange weather since it is Asia's dry season. Anyhoot, we're moto-ing it around the area, up the mountains, maybe go for a dip in the ocean later. Who knows?

Arriving into Phnom Penh was interesting, as travel always is in these countries I've been noticing. We left from Kratie (home of some of the only remaining fresh water dolphins in the world...which we did not see due to time constraints) and bused it, stopping in a couple little towns along the way. When you arrive from anywhere to these little towns, you are immediately swarmed with women and children trying to sell you some goodies for the road. I've seen some interesting "goodies", ie. entire chicks and small chickens roasted over a fire on a stick, the innards of pigs and chickens roasted and on a stick, to name a couple. Grosse. Anyhow, so the way it usually happens is that I come off the bus or the local bus and the children -after trying to sell me something- start spouting out the only english they know and comment on my hair and piercings... they really get a kick out of my tongue ring! haha Sometimes Carly and I will start playing hacky sack (I'm getting much better at it too!) and they just love that. They learn so quick, some are like naturals at it! We've played with small kids and folks our age too and it's so awesome to see them smile and have fun together beyond language.

We arrived into Phnom Penh early afternoon and had to ask the driver to pull over so we could get off at a short walking distance from Lake Side, the area that Carly has lived in and knows people. We immediately swarmed with dudes asking us for moto drives - nobody walks in Asia so they find it strange that we do. We got there, dropped our stuff off at the guesthouse of Carly's Khmer friend Rowat's mother runs (sweet sweet woman) and booked it for the THE best iced coffee I'd ever tried. We read the Cambodian Daily: probably the most reliable source for international news I have ever encountred. I even read about Canadian politics and how f-ed up it is even on the homefront, just not as in-your-face as it is here in Cambodia.

***Speaking of which, I won't be able to vote for the non-confidence election that's up and coming very soon as our vote wouldn't make it in time. All I can say is: DAMN YOU HARPER AND EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR***

Well... more soon... I am back in Phnom Penh but I still have to tell you about Kep! haha I hope this isn't too confusing for folks... oopsies! I guess I still can't manage my time properly. Ah well.

2 different countries... 2 very different feels...

Sabay Dii!

This folks is the view from one of the 4 thousand islands of Laos, Don Det. We stayed here for 2 nights on our way to the Cambodian border...

I rented a bicycle and rode around the island, across the bridge to the larger island of Don Kong, caught a glimpse of what village life is like. Simple. The people seem very laid back and happy, for the most part. A smile is always shown for those who show their own. However, this island did something to me I think... it affected me in such a way that my façon de penser is different, altered.

The women of the island have this strange, far-out look in their eyes... they don't smile as often... and they do EVERYTHING from the cooking to the cleaning, from the serving to the money handling, from the child rearing to the arts & crafts. The men? They fish, they drink, they talk, and sometimes they build something. But this look in their eyes... I mean, I can't say I know what it is or what it stems from looking through my white western feminist lenses, but it is definitly something I would like to research possibly... obtain a better understanding, well, an understanding PERIOD. It's so weird...

And another thing Carly and I got to thinking about is the country's politics. We befriended a man named Mr. Boon; 27 years old, engaged to the Chief's daughter, educated in the hotel/restaurant industry, runs a bar and a trekking outfit. Very busy young man. Big heart. Has a complete imbecile named Martin running the trekking office; brittish, almost 40, alcoholic, big dreams, immature, unreliable, a bit of a story-teller if you know what I mean. Ya. Carly was supposed to help him take a group climbing - she's experienced so he'd have given her 1/2 price to help him out - but she showed up to meet him in the morning (8am) and he didn't pull up on a boat from the mainland til 9:30am or so, still drunk, cancelled the climbing. Mr. Boon is shafted, the climbers are too. He almost kept Carly's deposit to boot. Great dude eh? So we told Mr. Boon our thoughts on Martin... Mr. Boon told us a bit about how business works out there. It's very interesting being in a place where tourism is still so new. These people - in the more remote areas - want to make money cuz they are told this is what is good; but the guesthouses are the people's homes, opened up to the outsiders. The tourists come and expect to be served, expect to be cleaned up after, expect good service where ever they go. The locals aren't slaves, they go at their own pace. It's the tourists who don't understand, not the locals. So anyhow, Carly and I did what we could, in the short time we spent there, by bringing our dirty plates up ourselves, running food when it was busy, cleaning up after ourselves and spreading our smiles and talking with them. It was a very unique experience.

Laos overall is a wonderful country ---- in transition. I hope it doesn't end up like Mexico... I loved my time in this country and have every intention of coming back within the year and after that as well.

Border crossing fun...

Just so you know: it IS possible to get a Cambodian visa at the south border crossing - this is contrary what the travel agents will have you believe; not to mention the fact that you'll pay the proper price of $20 rather than the $35-$40 the agents will require for "service fees". You can even get visa photos taken there. Apparently the borders have been cleaned up after the numerous complaints of folks trying to get into Cambodia, especially through Thailand. See what can be achieved when people speak up about something??

I could just picture army dudes hiding in the thick jungles on either side of us, guns cocked and ready to fire, fear and determination in their eyes. The road was terrible. The feeling and energy was worse... especially in that "no man's land" between Laos and Cambodia. So many people have fought and died in these countries, more bombs were dropped on Laos than any other country, more landmines in Cambodia that still haven't all been uncovered - let alone found. People use the old american bombs as heanging bells! It's so strange... But we got through no problem and we made it to Ban Long AOK, albeit the most inertesting ride of my life. Picture this: a taxi with the driver, myself and Carly in the front, 3 women, 5 children, and1 infant in the back, for 3 hours from the border to Ban Long. The way it works is that tourists pay the whole cost of getting where they need to go and the driver goes and finds as many locals as he can to pile in the car with you... they ride for free. And the road we took to Ban Long is the same road that will take you to the Viet Nam border and this is the worst road of all time, I kid you not. We have footage, I will show you when I mean.

We spent 4 nights altogether here, one of which was at an eco lodge in the jungle mountains, near the hill tribes. Awesome place. Everything's organic, hand made by the tribe people, fair trade. Great place to stay and enjoy the nature... and not as dusty as the town!! We took a hike through the jungle with a guide who is from one of the hill tribes and so knows the language and the history and just that way of life. It was so interesting and informative! We learned about the different trees, the different uses for the leaves and the roots, the different fruits that grow from them, the cash crops, the rice harvesting... we visited a chicken farm! haha No avion flu here, no worries. ;-) (Getting into the US is going to be interesting...) We saw a 15 year old woman - married for 2 years, had a small child, pregnant with another - hunched over and hand weaving a wall hanging that would easily go for $200 back home that she is selling for $10. Crazy. We tried some homemade rice wine and sipped some crazy strong moonshine! Smoked real tobacco - straight from the tree - rolled up in a leaf to boot! Such beautiful people... We loved it. But I wouldn't recommend coming here if you're not a fan of extremely hot climates, dry, and a hit load of dust.

And now I'm in Kratie, got here by taxi this time filled with 4 grown men, 1 old lady, a driver, and of course Carly and I. haha Awesome. We'll probably stay here tonight and tomorrow night and head for Phnom Penh Sunday morning early. I will be volunteering there with the same organization Carly has been volunteering with: Rain Water Cambodia. I am looking forward to this very much as it's been far too long since I have done anything to help any community.

Until then, take care and keep reading me... I appreciate all your comments and I apologise if I don't respond to them. They really warm my heart though, truly. (Sahana, I responded to your comments from 3 posts ago, I believe.)

Even though the thought of Cambodia is a negative one, equipped with not-so-nice connotations and illustrations, but it's much different actually BEING here. Sketchy and dodgy, YES, but not all the time and not much different from back home. I'm being smart and I have a woman with me who's quite in tune with her intuition and is teaching me to tune into my own a little better. Please don't worry about me. I promise I'll be writing much more often now that I'm out of the remote jungles and islands.

I love you all.