MONDAY April 20th – Third Day in SIEN REAP, CAMBODIA
Our day started with a big rush to get ready to meet our guide as we didn't get our wake up call. It is amazing how quickly we were able to pack, dress and get to breakfast in one half hour. Today, was by far the most interesting day of all in Cambodia which included a visit to the floating village about 45 minutes by car over the bumpiest road you can imagine in one section. We passed many single family homes that were no more than a one room house most on stilts to stay safe from the wild animals such as cobras and other snakes, crocodiles and tigers, though there are not many tigers left. We did see some primary schools and one secondary school and children dressed neatly in school uniforms. What a contrast this was to the homes where the younger children were running around naked. These people are poor beyond our comprehension. The homes along the road have electricity but no running water and the homes just off the road and beyond have no electricity. People are poorly dressed and most walk barefoot or in plastic flipflogs. The road ran parallel to a shallow muddy river which overflows during the monsoon season and some of the lower homes are actually picked up and relocated to higher ground by the government and then returned to the river area after the water has receded. There were many large roadside restaurants (none of which we would ever consider stopping at) along the road to accommodate the non local Cambodian fishermen who come after the monsoon season.
Our guide pointed out a huge farm of lotus flowers, stretching as far as we could see. In the middle of the field was a bamboo shed which was the home of the woman who rents these fields. He bought us one lotus flower and one lotus pod which contains the lotus fruit. I loved it and Lenny didn't care for it but agreed that it was very interesting.
We arrived at a dock with more than 50 motorized flat boats which take tourists to the floating village and unlike the floating market in Thailand which is for tourists, this is a real village made up of about 3000 houseboats accomodating over 15000 people – it is truly hard to believe even after seeing it that people live their lives in such squalor and none seemed unhappy. They make their living by fishing and shrimping and now also through tourism. To get to the village, we boarded one of the boats, just the two of us and our guide and of course, the boat driver, and headed down the river to Lake Tonle Sap which eventually empties into the Mekong Delta but we didn't go that far. Along the way, we saw fisherman standing in the water with nets. We then spent about one hour cruising through the village. We stopped to see a fish farm, saw floating grocery markets, schools, a basketball court, shrimp drying on nets and poverty beyond belief. Only 30 percent of the people have any literacy though the young people are doing better.. School is not mandatory throughout the country. Most of those who do go to school, remain in this village though a few do go on to study and live in the city. Most of the boats have tv antennas run solely on battery power and there are battery charging stations on land near the village.
On the way back, we saw liquor bottles in stands on the side of the road and were surprised to find out that they contained gasoline to power the motorcycles and the boats. Also along the road, we saw
homes that had decorative shrine like stands that were very brightly colored. Our guide told us that these people believed in spirits that would protect their house and family and that they purchased these for $60 US which is an enormous amount of money for these people.
We then went to pick up the ring that we had made yesterday and it turned out perfectly! Then our guide droppped us off at the Garden Restaurant which is a traditional Khmer Restaurant located near our hotel. We were the only people in the restaurant and the owner was clearly happy to see us. We ordered rice paper wrapped vegetarian rolls and a large beer to share. Len had an eggplant dish and I had a traditional Indonesian rice dish called Nasi Goring. Everything was delicious including the price which was $11. US.
We then returned to the hotel to check our luggage for two hours and sat in the bar to write our daily blog diary.
We are now flying Vietnam Air into Hanoi which is Flight 7.
HANOI
Hanoi is a huge city and looks much more modern than anywhere we have been so far but we are viewing it at night for the first time and it may be hard to tell. The airport is one hour from our hotel – HOTEL NIKKO HANOI – a Japanese Hotel. The highways and city roads are filled with motorcycles and cars. The traffic is total chaos with motorcycles cutting in front of our car several times and there seems to be no regard for who has the right of way. So this is our next adventure. Once again, we have a new currency: $1.00 US to 17,818 Viet Dong. Lenny cashed 2 million Dong which turned out to be
$120 US. Unlike Cambodia, which deals almost exclusively in US dollars, Vietnam deals completely in Dong. In addition, our guide told us that English is only spoken in the major tourist hotels and in tourist restaurants but once you leave the central downtown, English is not spoken readily. He advised us to eat no salad anywhere even in our upscale hotel, to drink only bottled water and to eat only at restaurants that he recommends. He said that a restaurant might look very good but might be very unsanitary and therefore dangerous for us to eat the food there. He described Vietnam as a developing country.
Our hotel will represent BED # 5 for our trip and a very nice bed it is, indeed!
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