it's just so damn cheap here i can't resist.
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after the long hours of travel from ko tao to siem reap, alex and i decided it might be best to take a day to relax before hitting the temples. they're something we don't want to rush and don't want to half-ass. so far the plan is to wake up before th crack of dawn tomorrow to get to them early enough to watch the sunrise together, a popular feat for ankgor thom.
how romantic. and the irony-- it'll be valentine's day.
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so what did we do today? we woke up to a delicious breakfast, then did some shopping. our first store was one of the outlets for the disabled artisans of cambodia. everything was made by hand and profits directly benefit the people who made them. they are all handicapped in some way, not being able to get jobs of any other type in this country. we watched as the clerk wrote down the id numbers from our specific items and left, happy with our purchases, but wanting to buy more to help.
next we hit the market. it was overwhelming-- filled with color, it was full of scarves, bags, jewelry, shoes, fruit, clothes, paintings, and, of course, silk. we did some bargaining but still some damage to our wallets.
i like to think they need the money more than we do.
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after the market, we went to get some lunch at the nearby butterfly garden restaurant.
here, they do breeding and research, and the profits from lunch go to the organization.
there are a lot of non-profit organizations in cambodia because there is next to no government funding to help people-- no social security, no disabiliy, and nothing remotely like these things. people here can not receive money from the government to survive on. we ate a lovely lunch in the garden and took lots of pictures.
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after lunch, we decided to relax with massages-- khmer, this time. these were much the different than thai. they took us to the tables, but i ran to the bathroom first. when i came back out, alex was covering herself with nothing but a towel. i was slightly surprised because cambodians, again, are offended by nudity, or even clothes that don't cover the shoulder. however, it is a massage, so i figure no big deal, and they just said "strip." but all the tables were in one room and there was a couple near us, only separated by a see-through cloth. wonderful.
but whatever.
anyway, thai massages were a lot like a typical american massage you'd expect, except they did a lot of strange stretching too. but the khmer massage was nothing like this. in fact, it was hardly relaxing. they kneeded the same spots, probably pressure points that i didn't know existed, and basically pounded away at my body. but i gotta hand it to them. in the end, my muscles were definately ready to run a marathon.
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but dinnnner...
we sat outside of a corner restaurant, drawn to its huge wicker chairs filled with cushions and silk pillows. they were big enough for alex and i to lay on, and after our long previous day, we were ready to relax and catch up on some reading to prepare us for phnom phen (i'll explain this in a later post). the chairs were so comfortable i could have slept there. we ordered wine and dinner, and relaxed.
but all over the streets, there are kids. they sell you whatever they have-- bracelets and postcards, all "tehn foh one doll-ah...". i know that it's general practice not to give to the homeless or beggers, but we've actually been told it's okay to give a little. because there is no government support for these children-- homeless, poor, disabled, sick-- whatever the case may be, it is appearent that they truly beg to survive and help their families. and with their eyes so sad, it's difficult to resist. unfortunately, alex and i are not atms and can't do it all.
then there was heng.
after dinner, a young boy came up to us and wanted to sell us books, but he had the 2 we were already reading. after talking to us for a few minutes, he looked at us.
"will you buy me food?"
i have no idea where the money he makes goes. but i know where the food would go.
as soon as he asked, i said sit down and called the waitress over. alex got him water and i let him order what he wanted from the menu. we talked to him for a long time, asking him why he sells books, how long he's been doing it, what his days are like, and probably all the same questions any other tourist might ask him. he said he didn't have a mother, that his days typically consist of school and selling, and that he doesn't have free time to do much else. but he'd rather sell than be at home.
we talked much longer than this, but alex and i often had trouble understanding him and piecing his words together. sometimes what he said didn't make sense, and we're not sure how much of his story is rehearsed. but we have to give him the benefit of the doubt with the language barrier, and either way, we wanted to make sure he got plenty to eat that night.
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out of nowhere, an older guy came up to us and with really broken drunk, but not slured, english, asked if he could join. since we're always up for meeting someone and exchanging english as a first language, we figured no harm. he begins by staring at a stem with flowers in his hand, telling us how beautiful it was and that he loved orinthology. bird watching, in case we were too stupid to remember what that was.
we just nodded politely. heng was still with us, high-fiving the stranger, but being as open with him as he was with us. but then the new guy started dropping profanities left and right, and with heng being able to speak english and understand waht he was saying, we asked him to stop and changed the subject. i asked where he was from, and with the same strong british accent he had the entire time he replied, "LA."
then gave us the texas longhorn sign.
we both laughed and said "doesn't sound like it"
he rolled over this and simply asked where we were from, and to keep generality throughout the trip, alex and i always reply philly until someone is more familiar with the states (we're usually lucky if they know where philly is). he confusidly nodded his head and we asked if he knew where it was. he said of course, and we replied, "where? how far from la?"
well, drunk asshole didn't like this very much. "who do you think you are? do you think you can just assume everyone is lying? like you're better than me? why don't you beleive me, do you think..."
then i just heard a lot of blah, blah, blah, and f*** philly bout fifty times. he was shouting at us, and made a huge scene. luckily, some nearby people spoke english, and looked just as confused as we did. i thought he was going to punch alex.
but, somehow, we escaped the crazy person alive. again.
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Y rae. racho. d.
