When we finally arrived the train pulled in and we were packed into dusty train cars with open windows. No air conditioning. There were no signs as as the train pulled away; Steve went from person to person to ask if they knew where we were going. One man pointed at his ticket and shouted "No no no! You get off NOW!". Steve tried the next person. They nodded. We rode the whole six hours to the border with butterflies. We wouldn't fully know if the train was right until we got there-- or didn't
One thing I've learned about trains is that they are great for people watching. A young couple sat across from us, but they hardly noticed when we said hello. They gazed at eachother and smiled. He cradled her in his arms so she could sleep, even though he looked hot and uncomfortable.
Two seats up, a group women hawkers plunked down. Dark, crinkled faces cracked smiles at one another as they laughed loudly and teased each other. They sat oblivious to the strange looks from the poised city people with quiet smiles and good manners. In Asian culture it is seen as impolite to disrupt or bring attention to oneself.
A third of the way to our stop, Steve pulled out a bag of chips to share. We didn't have time to have breakfast and our stomachs were complaining loudly. As we ate, the man who yelled at Steve came sauntering up and crouched beside Steve. Speaking in Thai, he breathed soft words and put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't understand." Steve said. The man knelt down and folded his hands and bowed to Steve, ducking his head up and down. Uncomfortable, Steve patted him and tried to help him up. The man grabbed Steve's hand and kissed it, and went and joined the couple sitting across from us. Steve and I exchanged puzzled looks. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. What the heck was that all about? Maybe he felt bad for yelling? We shrugged and carried on eating until the man grunted again, and pointed to our chips. I guess he had made up and figured we were friends. Time to share! We reluctantly gave the man our breakfast, and he sat eating happily, licking his fingers and chewing loudly.
When we finally arrived at the border town in Thailand (high fives for the right train!) it was game on. Land crossing is more difficult than air because there are way more opportunities for scams. When we got off the train we had to hire a tuk tuk to take us to the boarder; a ten minute drive. We negotiated our price and hopped in. We drove a ways until the driver pulled into the parking lot of a Thai consulate. An official met us at the tuk tuk, and with perfect English he said " Hello! Welcome. My name is ___ and I'm here to help you get your visa for Cambodia. Just follow me and this will be quick." "No thanks." I said firmly. " we have our visa already." (Which was a lie). The man's smile turned into a scowl. He spoke in Thai to the driver who loaded us back into the tuk tuk. "Can you take us to the boarder?" Steve asked. " No. You walk from here" the driver said when got back to the road. We got out and walked. Fake visa processing is a huge scam in Thialand. The drivers will take you to a fake office where you pay triple the cost of a Cambodian visa that won't work. We had researched ahead of time and luckily we weren't fooled. But many others were.
We walked across the boarder and finally got our visas on arrival, in time to dodge the next scheme. In Cambodia, there is a huge mafia control on tourist transportation. At the arrival gates there is free shuttle service to the bus station that is mafia controlled. The police will stand there trying to intimidate tourists to take the bus. If you try to take a taxi, the police and the mafia will try to force you to use their drivers, and will take two thirds of the fare, so the price is again triple the rate. We wanted to try and avoid this, so we decided to walk out of the shuttle zone, get far away from the mafia zone , then flag down our own taxi. That was a crazy idea. From the moment we started walking away we had people hassling us. "Where you go?" " we're having lunch and then staying here in Poipet with a Friend" I lied. " ahhhh.. Good luck" said one of the men. He knew something we didn't.
We walked for about ten minutes when a car drove up. "Where you go?" Asked the driver. We looked around. The coast looked clear. "Siem Reap. How much?" The magic words. More men appeared; we had been followed. " 30 dollars" he said. We told him maybe. We would go price out a bus and come back if we wanted him. We started to walk away, but one of the men followed. "The bus is very expensive. You take this taxi." He said. He seemed friendly enough. " We will decide what we are going to do later. For now we will go find some food." Steve replies. But the man kept walking. After a few long minutes Steve asked " Why are you walking with us?" The man mumbled a few things but didn't reply. We looked behind us and saw the taxi following a block away. we look back at the man. We asked him to go away; he was making us feel uncomfortable. We would not take his friend's taxi. He lagged behind and we turned off the road. The taxi came up again and we told him what we told our stalker. "That man is a bad man. He just wants me to pay him if I drive you, but it's ok. I will just pay him a little." Just as I started to reply I saw the mafia man apper again. He looked angry and we got anxious. I told the driver to wait there and we would come back in half an hour (my attempt to get away). We were close to the bus stop. He agreed and we walked quickly to the station. We tried to price things out but the same lies. "No busses to Siem Reap. Take my friend's taxi." Just when I thought we were going to have a whole army of people trailing us, a young man in a car spotted us and pulled up. "Come with me. 25 dollars and straight to Siem Reap". He was alone and he was our only hope. We jumped in. He drove away with a bunch of angry people shouting after us and the other taxi driver sped toward us, yelling at our driver. He was very calm though, he just smiled and made a few turns until we were alone again. His name was Panait. We stopped to fill up with gas and he was very good at making us feel comfortable, explaining where he was going, how long filling up would take, and getting Steve to accompany him when he had to open the trunk with our bags inside to fuel up. He turned out to be a great guy and we hired him for the next few days to be our driver. We felt really lucky to have him show up because we could tell he truly cared about our safety, and he wanted to be our friend. A big thanks to the big guy for sending him to rescue us!
The next morning we got up bright and early, ready to explore the amazing ruines of Angkor. Angkor Wat is the most famous, but there are several ancient temples in the area, too many to see in one day. The weather was a balmy plus 38, so we opted for a one day tour and tried to fit as many in as we could. We started with Angkor Wat and were speechless. It is considered to be the mother of all the temples, and the most holy. Thought to be dedicated to the god Vishnu, there are over 3,000 carvings in the stone and it is surrounded by an enormous moat, hand dug. Visitors are allowed to walk through the narrow hallways and it was amazing. The temple is very well preserved, and the symmetry an detail was inspiring. The only downside was the crowd. When we finished we went to Angkor Thom, a fortified ancient city capital. It has large peaks with faces carved in, watching over the city; 216 in total. The last temple we visited was Ta Prohm, which was our favorite. It is no surprise that Tomb Raider was filmed there. It is a peaceful place that showcases the force of nature; overgrown trees invade the stones, wrapping themselves around them and sending out roots. The trees there have been growing wild for 400 years. Built in 1186, it is a maze of crumbling stones.
Our visit to the temples took most of the day with a quick stop for lunch. We invited Panait to join us and he taught us how to say a few words in Khmer, which we promptly forgot. Being a Khmer ( the Cambodian name for Cambodians ), he is an expert on local food, and showed us what to order. We ate a type of seaweed soup, which is believed to help cool the body on hot days. I tried my best to be polite, and gulped down several spoonfuls of seaweed. Panait was not fooled by my glass face though and laughed at me. He could tell it would take this farang some getting used to. As we ate Panait told us a bit about himself. He had wanted to become a monk, but as the second eldest of ten kids he had to work to help his family. He grew up helping on relatives rice farms, and with some of the money he saved up to put himself through school and learn English. He has had every type of job in Cambodia- construction, farmer, butcher, waiter, tour guide etc. his goal is to pay off his car and start his own tour guide business, free from the black market. When we hired him to be our driver for two days he was over the moon. He loves to work, and has a three year old son to support.
On the second day we were all set to visit the floating village on the outskirts of town, when we decided against it. The lake is mostly dried up this time of year and sadly the market has become one big scam-- costing 40 dollars US to hire a boat that tries to get you to visit schools an orphanages in order for you to stop at the local store to buy gifts. The supplies are all marked up, and after you visit the school the adults take the gifts away and resell them back to the store to get money. We'd had enough of the mafia so when we looked into it a little better we decided not to.
We went to a Landmine museum instead founded by a Cambodian man who had been a child soldier with the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian revolution army responsible for the large genocide in the 70's. He had been a soldier in charge of placing land mines in the fields. Kids would be given as much as they could carry, and if any were left over at the end of the day one of the kids would be executed. After the Vietnam invaded he was caught and became a soldier with the Vietnamese, and eventually a soldier with the Cambodian Forces after Vietnam turned the country back over to the Cambodian government. It was then he began clearing landlines to make Cambodia a safer place and as a sort of penance for the harm he had caused. Up until a few years ago, landmines were responsible for 250,000 deaths and injuries a year. Now the number is 150. There is estimated to be 3 million active landmines left in Cambodia.
We finished up a sobering morning with a lighthearted visit to a silk farm. We got to see how the worms are fed mulberry leaves and grown into caterpillars that make cocoons. The cocoons are boiled and spun into silk. The farm does every step of the silk process in-house, and employs the local village at fair wages and is certified as a sustainable, economically and ethically friendly tourist spot, which is a bonus.
Cambodia is a beautiful country, flat, and hot, with dusty red roads and fields. With such beauty is always the looming dark side, but there is alot of hope here. Every developing nation faces strife that make us westerners feel sympathetic. But here specifically I can't help meeting someone like Panait and imagining all of the tragedies he has seen in his lifetime, after decades of war and death and corruption. I want to put the naked kids I see running around as a commodity for passing tourists in my pocket. It is a heavy and humbling feeling, to know that here I am a student who is very ignorant and has a lot to learn. Arriving at the Place of Rescue is the perfect place to start.
More details on that adventure to come!
The ladies on the train:
Angkor Wat:
Disproportionate bike ride:
Angkor Thom:
Ta Prohm: (there is a Steve hidden in one of these pictures)
Prasat Kravan:
Landmine museum:
Very much alive pig:
Siem Reap:
