2 weeks to fall in Love with Cambodia
Contents – Open To Read
CAMBODIA IN TWO WEEKS
When I booked my ticket to Cambodia months ago, my plan was to stay just for 4 days, visit the Angkor Wat temples and go back to Thailand to get other 30 days visa. As soon as I landed in Phnom Phen, something happened: I fell madly in love with Cambodia, so much that I decided to prolong my stay for 14 days ?
WHY I FELL IN LOVE WITH CAMBODIA?
Cambodian Kids Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambodian_children.jpg
I kept asking myself the same question over and over for the first few days, but I didn’t have a clear answer.
I just felt it.
I felt the place, the people, the smiles, the landscapes. Everything moved me for some reason.When I finally arrived at Siem Reap, the “final destination”, I was so tired that i could barely walk. That trip was one of the hardest, yet most rewarding experiences since I started my adventure.
BANGKOK-SIEM REAP:
When I saw the real Cambodia.
We slept at the airport to catch an early flight to Phnom Phen, when we landed I was already destroyed for the lack of sleep.
Little did I know that the worst was yet to come : The bus to Siem Reap, 8 hours in hell! infinite bumpy streets in the middle of nowhere, damn hot, and only one stop on the way. No wonder that in a bus of 50 people only 3 were western I guess we are just not ready for this…
None the less, I found myself happy to be with the locals. I could finally have a real taste of what living in Cambodia looked like. And it’s damn hard.
During the journey I was looking outside the windows like a zombie, and maybe the extreme tiredness served me like a tool to receive everything on a deeper level.
What I saw was something I wasn’t entirely prepare to face. I knew that Cambodia was an extremely poor country, I’ve seen documentaries, read travel guides and blogs about the genocide and their difficult political past.
But if there is a thing this trip is teaching me is that to fully understand things (being them your own emotions, the culture or people’s behavior) you need to experience it first hand.
It’s been pretty shocking: kilometers of plain fields, with no vegetation whatsoever (dry season doesn’t help much I guess), and an infinite sequel of very poor houses made of old wood and palm tree leaves.
Cambodian Village. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Children searching for food in huge piles of trash, surrounded by stray dogs and chicken. No fresh water available apart for a big hole in front of each hut. It must have been filled with rainy water during the wet season but now it was reduced to a slough where pigs, chicken and dogs went to refresh themselves from the heat.
The same water that the locals use for their everyday needs.
The more I saw, the more I couldn’t believe how people could survive like that. Don’t they get ill instantly? What about children? I didn’t spot a single school for kilometers. Not a sign of what we call “civilization”.
What was even more astonishing to me was that people kept on smiling at us. Constantly. Despite their condition, despite the hunger and everything they’ve been trough. I found these people just amazing. They have such an inner elegance, kindness and calmness that is disarming.
Di Lukas Bergstrom (Kids) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], attraverso Wikimedia Commons
Children in particular, they come to you and smile. Everywhere I went, there were children smiling at me, or trying to play with me. One night I was having dinner at a local street food place (where the owner remembered that I am allergic to spicy foods, so nice) and this little kid came to me and asked for my sprite.
Of course I gave it to him. Feeling totally ashamed that the only contribution I could make was a silly sprite. On this first stay I couldn’t do any better than that, but I’d like to come back here to stay longer and try to really do something. Even if it’s a drop in the ocean.
My time here is coming to an end for now. Tomorrow we are catching an early bus to cross the Cambodian Border and enter Thailand once again for 2 more weeks. And I already feel sad that I’m leaving.
Not only for the beautiful Angkor Wat temples.
…or my fight with the monkey over a bottle of water (which I totally won by the way!)
Monkey at Angkor Wat. Picture by Clelia Mattana, all rights reserved.
or for being the unofficial photographer at a wedding in the temples….
Bride at Angkor Wat Temples. Picture by Clelia Mattana. All rights reserved.
What I’m going to miss the most is the people and their smiles. Which I’ll take with me for the rest of my journey, waiting to come back in this beautiful, controversial and difficult country. SEE YOU AGAIN ONE DAY CAMBODIA!
Related Articles: Are you a Real Traveler? How the trip can change your approach to people One year travel anniversary:Reflections and 3 lesson learned