Nywoman

Arriving in Cambodia and acquiring a new son.

We depart from the floating hotel around 9 am to cross the border into Cambodia, it is a fairly short boat ride and the boat docks on a mud bank.
Time to move the luggage once again, there are young boys who will do it for you and then say “money” as if you weren’t going to tip anyway. The guide has all of our passports and the $22 fee which is $2 more than the actual cost. The whole trip was arranged through Delta Adventures.

We wait around and after awhile take a walk in this border town, if we hadn’t seen and encountered poverty and squalor before, here it was spread out for us to see in all its misery. After an hour we are getting antsy, the guide returns with our passports but a Frenchman whose passport has yellowed, is being questioned exhaustively, finally he is permitted to enter. We change boats and interestingly enough once we have crossed the border the landscape changes.
Cambodia is actually prettier with rice field along the banks of the river.

Then it is time once again to schlep luggage off the boat onto a bus, where we get a non-stop patter and spiel about the various guesthouses to stay in. If the boat and bus were any indication of the quality of the guesthouses we vowed to stay clear of them. We arrive finally in Phnom Penh and are surrounded by Tuk-Tuks. Somehow we manage to break free and thanks to my gallant companions my luggage is taken care of. We end up at the Spring Guesthouse, where I go for broke and pay $14 with A/C, without it is $9. We all meet 30 minutes later and eat at Mama’s which is just up the street and apparently a popular place. The food was good the owner very amiable and his children totally adorable.

Since it was already quite late we all decide to explore the nightlife, or at least go for drinks. The Green Vespa is a recommended place, 5 of us take a Tuk-Tuk
Across the river and arrive to a totally empty bar. Drinks were very cheap but the bartender was really obnoxious and unpleasant, a total blacklist for me.

The next day I went to the Genocide museum, and made it in time for the documentary movie. The movie is very well made, there are some scenes where an artist who had been incarcerated shows one of the guards some of his paintings and asks the guard if they are realistic. The guard also talks about his experiences. As I walk around I come to a room where there are photographs and stories of people who were Khmer Rouge. There is also some text that talks about the therapy, and research that has been given to the victims, but none to the perpetrators. By now I have seen enough and have no desire to go to the killing fields.

I hail a Tuk-Tuk to take me shopping. I had read about a jeweler whose rubies were very reasonable. My daughter wanted jewelry, so I thought good idea let’s check this out. Well the author’s concept of reasonable and mine were not quite in accordance. At least it gave me an opportunity to walk around, since I was very close to Independence Monument and an interesting temple decided to explore. First things first, time for lunch, there was a lovely restaurant with an outdoor area. I ordered the spicy Thai Salad with shrimps, this was S P I C Y my mouth was on fire and the Lassi I had ordered did nothing to put it out. Now I knew if it says spicy on the menu they mean it.

I wandered off into the temple area where obviously a party had taken place the night before, there were people sleeping all over the floor, dishes were being washed and chairs were still covered with silk coverings. Am not sure if there had been a Buddhist festival or a funeral, sometimes it is hard to distinguish the two.
It was time to go to the Royal Palace, walking down Norodom Boulevard you pass many of the embassies. This part of town is very scenic with large boulevards, grassy plots and lovely plantings. It is hard to imagine that you are in a very poor country. The palace is quite magnificent, as are the grounds. It was rebuilt in 1866 and there are several buildings including the Pavilion of Napoleon III. As I wander around I meet quite a few monks in their saffron robes I take their pictures as they whip out their digital cameras to take mine, they all seem to speak English and are very approachable.

As I enter the Silver Pagoda, so called because of the sterling silver floor tiles, it is also called the Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha. There were so many golden buddahs encrusted with diamonds and precious stones that I was flabbergasted.
As I was walking around I encountered yet another monk and we struck up a conversation. He told me that none of the diamonds were real, they had been replaced many years ago. We then got into a conversation on Buddhism, of which I am very ignorant, he explained that in Asia there are several different kinds of Buddhism, in Cambodia they practice Theravada. We then spent several hours walking around the grounds, having recently read “Eat, Pray and Love” I wanted to know if he had problems meditating at times, it seemed not. We also discussed my reluctance to go to the killing fields, and he asked me what my inner fears were, which of course I knew what they were.

I was then invited to see his temple which was very close by, as we leave a street urchin with her brother on her hip, approaches me for money and as is my habit I said no, but I will feed you. So off we wandered to find some food, we came to a shack were the children bought rice and a hot dog with ketchup, while the rats ran around. As she sat down to eat, she got up very suddenly and said “Thank you” in such a gracious way, that I got teary eyed. We then proceeded on to the Temple where I was to see the holy water. An older man opened up the shrine and dipped what looked like twigs tied together into the water where a lotus flower was floating. He then sprinkled me in what almost looked like Catholic Benediction movements, while chanting something, at the end he poured water into my hands that I then patted my hair with. By now it was getting late and I had to get back. So I said my goodbyes, we exchanged cards, and that was when the surprise came, the monk was the executive director of the Temple. He had dispensed his monks out for the day to talk to tourists and see if they could get volunteers to come and teach at the school he has established. www.rspngo.org. It seems that Cambodia’s social system would not exist without the monks and their good works at least that is what the newspaper said.
I have since received e-mails from him and it turns out that he adopted me as his “Good mom” which is rather nice.

That night 5 of us went out for dinner to a Khmer Restaurant, then it was time to go clubbing. Remember I am with people in their 30’s. We started out at a club on a boat that was very quiet, don’t remember the name, we ended up at “Heart of Darkness” which was an experience in itself. I counted 45+ prostitutes one of the bouncers said there were 100+. The place was packed and the music rocked, I have not danced this much in years, my last two rounds of drinks were club sodas, and I couldn’t understand feeling that tired next morning, forgot that I sampled everybody else’s Mojitos, we finally called it a night around 3 am.

What a day in contrasts, I was really sorry to have to leave the next day for Siem Reap, we all agreed that it Phnom Penh is a city to linger in and it deserves more than a day or two. The others decided to stay on for an extra day and we would meet up later in the week.

Took a minibus to Siem Reap and am met by the driver as arranged and taken to Angkor Holiday my home for next few days. After I had settled in I wanted to go find Samot the fabled restaurant. Nobody had heard of the Alley, it was not marked on the hotel’s map and the Tuk Tuk driver did not know where it was. We proceed down to the area, me thinking I would find it but no such luck. I then ask for a Cambodian restaurant that is not touristy, he takes me to Borey Sovann Restaurant where all the tour groups eat. I have a less than mediocre Chicken Curry and return to my hotel. Am picked up at 8 am next morning by my guide and we go to Angkor Wat. Poor guy he didn’t get to do much guiding since I spent most of the morning in the bathroom, fortunately the attendant had some Imodium which really helped.

I had found the telephone number of Samat in the phone book and we tried to call them, only to be told that the service had been discontinued. So I figured the restaurant is closed and that was why I stopped looking for it.

That night I went to Foreign Correspondents Club and ended up sitting with another New Yorker who was stranded because of the airport shutdown in Bangkok. We are sitting next to the guitar player, who was German and had been drifting around the world for many, many years. He invited us to come to Dead Fish Tower the next night where he was playing. It seemed like an excellent idea so that’s where we met up again. It turned out it was a fund raiser for an orphanage that night, one of the volunteers, an Australian girl stood up and made a public plea for funds. You could literally hear her knees knocking from fright and she sat down as quickly as she could. I knew that she was not going to get any money this way, I borrowed Peter’s hat and did the rounds. We collected $175 which would buy a generator, but when I saw the list of what was needed I felt like crying. Such simple things that we take for granted, like warm blankets and clothing. Pens and note books, a dry toilet. The needs are endless.

To be continued