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We continued down the river to Kampong Tralach. There is a monastery here we walked to. The walking element of this trip is really nice (although not all agree – why did you sign up for a walking tour if you don’t want to walk anywhere). You get much ‘closer’ to the people and have time to see things you’d miss if you were driving by. Not to mention a little exercise. Granted it’s hot as hell but we’re hardy. We started off in town by the community center, a Buddhist style building. There were a group of school age children lined up for something (we never did quite figure out what but they were there all morning). We passed by the market area which is always interesting. All the little children smiling and waving. We think they’re being friendly and not just laughing at us as we walk through the hot sun 😊. We left the town proper and walked along country roads. There were some nice houses (as well as some not so nice ones) along the way. There were some kids playing volleyball (in fact we’ve seen a number of nets set up in various towns). There’s a school here run by an NGO that is teaching English.
As we’re walking down the road up ahead we see a group of 5 or 6 children running towards us. Bros warns us they are coming to sell us stuff. It was various items woven out of palm fronds – rings, bracelets and flowers. Road Scholar really doesn’t want us to buy these and encourage them. They hand out books and pencils and the like in the places we go instead, which his nice. But the children are relentless.
The entrance to the monastery has a row of ‘guard’ statues. There’s a series of pools and a few buildings. We got a talk on how the monasteries work. It’s supported by the locals, which is a win/win because in return for the support, the monastery provides education and some social services like a place to sleep for travelers or food/shelter for the homeless. The monks will share with anyone. It’s not clear how they get people to move on and not become a soup kitchen. But if they have a good trick we could use it in Portland. Marion spotted a creature in the pool. She was convinced it was a snake (and probably was) but I didn’t get a good enough look at it to be sure. Through the whole time Bros was talking the children incessantly tried to foist rings/flowers on us to no avail. They don’t take no for an answer though. And they’re so darn cute.
We took a tour of the temple. There was a monk seated inside by the altar (or whatever they call it). There were faded/decaying but very pretty murals along the walls. One of the girls put a ring on my listening device when I wasn’t looking. I tried to give it back but she ran away. I chased her briefly but that was clearly a losing cause. She didn’t ask for any money though. So we got a souvenir after all. I got a great shot of two of them to boot.
I got bored and went outside before the crowd did so I could put my shoes on in peace (no shoes allowed in the temple). But then the guide chatted with the priest a bit and he wanted to bless everyone. So he gave an overall blessing and then individually everyone got a bracelet and an individual prayer and sprayed with water (which is a thing they do for reasons we did not learn). So we missed that. But we still feel pretty blessed.
We got an oxcart ride back to the boat. Anna gets told she is riding by oxcart and says ‘Is there any other way back’? I said “you can walk”. I’m not sure she heard me but I felt better. I hope she did. In general, she looks at me as if I ran over her dog anyway. One of the few people in the world I would actively say something mean to. I still can’t figure out why she’s here. She seems to hate all of it.
A very nice older lady drove our cart. She didn’t speak English but had a nice smile. The ride is not that comfortable but it’s fun. We made quite a parade through town. About 8 oxcarts in a row filled with old people. Americans on parade.
We headed down river some more and arrived in Phnom Penh. The boat went to where the four (really 3) rivers meet — the Upper Mekong, Lower Mekong (really the same river), the one we came down and one other. Mekong, by the way, means Mother River (Me = mother, Kong= river). It’s interesting to see how built up one side of the river is versus the other. It wasn’t clear why that was so.
We docked and had a quick rest. Then a lecture on the boat by a French journalist on Cambodian history. What a great accent. She sounded like Monty Python knights (why do you think I have this *outrageous* French accent…). Not particularly new information but still interesting. She had come to Cambodia on what she thought would be a relatively brief trip and ended up loving it and staying.
After the lecture we took a tuk-tuk tour of Phnom Pehn. Our driver is Bo. He speaks pretty decent English. We say ‘just show us around the places you like and maybe where the regular people go’. We didn’t really know what to see. So off we went. It’s a big city. Especially after we’ve been out in rural areas. Lots of cars and motorbikes going every which way. They’re in any open space. No traffic control. No right of way essentially. It’s every man for himself. But it seems to work.
It’s not a particularly pretty city. But there are a few nice buildings (French architecture). The prime minister’s building is what I called “Asian Nazi” – cement, big, heavy, strong looking architecture. Parliament is more like a Buddhist temple. Much more gentle looking. There are some interesting monuments. There’s a carnival/amusement park area that looked like fun. And a big hotel/casino with guards. The markets looked good. They were big with lots of stuff for sale. There was a motor bike street where every shop was selling motorbikes. I always find it strange when similar businesses flock together but I guess it makes sense. You got to one place and everything you might want is right there. You can ride a motorbike at any age if the engine is under 125 cc’s. The driving age is 16 for cars and larger bikes.
Before dinner we had an Apsara dance performance – a group of 12-15 year-old dancers performed traditional dances in amazing costumes with xylophone and drum accompaniment. There was the blessing dance (3 girls in yellow/red and gold dresses), the monkey king and mermaid dance, the coconut dance and the fish dance. It was very sweet and the kids seemed to appreciate our applause. At the end they handed out braided bracelets to everyone but they ran out when they got to me. It was no big deal but a few minutes later one of the girls came running up with an extra for me. It was very important to them that everyone got one. And I’m glad because I really like it.
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