Souly Positive

Love Cambodia! The temples were truly amazing and the people humble and kind! I was picked up at the airport by Mao. Little did I know at that moment that Mao and I would spend lots of time together in the next few days. He became my driver to all the temples. My first full day in Cambodia began by viewing Angkor Wat at sunrise. What an incredible experience. Picked up by Mao at 5:00 in the morning, we sped through the streets of Cambodia via his tuk tuk. We were not alone, there were many people traveling in the dark of night to witness Angkor Wat at sunrise. Mao dropped me off at the entrance and by the flashlight on my iphone I followed the masses…not having a clue where I was going or really exactly what I’d see but I must say, it was kind of exciting. The next thing I knew someone else’s guide said, “okay we go here.” So several others, not in his group, followed…me included. As one woman put it, “I guess we’re going rogue:)” We climbed through an ancient building and sat on one of the ledges and waited for sunrise. It truly was a spectacular site. I’m not really a history person, but these temples built in the 12th century are amazing. Miles and miles of ruins. So many, they sell a 3 day or 1 day pass and I decided on the three day…that said, by day 3, I was pretty ruined out:)

Day 2 and day 3 of temple viewing I convinced Mao to eat lunch with me. Most of the time the drivers just hang out in their tuk tuk’s and wait for their passengers to finish eating. Some even have hammocks that they take naps in. I asked Mao if he had one and he said no because his job was to be alert and look for his customers. He explained that some tourist would stand there waiting because they didn’t want to wake their driver up. I asked him what he did while waiting because sometimes it could be a couple of hours and he told me he reads an English dictionary. We ate lunch together and shared some beer. He told me I was friendly, that most tourist just want to know the names of the temples. Mao was quiet, sweet and shy. I’m constantly amazed that people around the world are embarrassed of their English speaking skills. Most speak two, three or more languages and act as if I will judge them for not speaking perfectly. I only speak English (barely:) and some really bad Spanish. I’m so impressed with their efforts.

I also got my hair colored in Cambodia…It was looking pretty bad so I had to take the plunge….scary:)They didn’t speak any English and I showed them the ever expanding line of gray on top of my head and she showed me on a calculator that it would be $40. Bravely, I nodded yes, not sure if she really understood what I was after or even how it would turn out if she did. The first thing they did was wash my hair. I was worried, I’ve never had color put on wet hair before. Then they dried it, put some color on the roots and left it for a few minutes (didn’t seem long enough to me) and then washed and dried my hair again. I looked and the gray was gone and I thought it looked okay. Then they start putting more goop all over my hair. I had thought I was done. Hmmm, maybe conditioner I thought, but it was color…then wash and dry for the third time. I never had less then two and sometimes three women working on my hair except for washing. At the end they gave me a blow out with curls in the back. My hair looked so good I didn’t wash it for several days because I knew I would go back to being frizzy big hair girl again:)

The only issue I had in Cambodia was while walking down the sidewalk. There was what I thought was a conversation going on behind me. I jus kept walking. I finally looked back and it was an 11 or 12 year old boy on a bike trying to get passed me. I moved out of his way and he was livid. He looked at me and spit on the ground several times and then kept riding his bike and then as he turned a corned was furiously pointing his finger at me…I’m pretty sure he was giving me the death curse:) Yikes! I guess he had been asking me to let him pass but I didn’t know:( Anyway, that one kid in Cambodia hates me…but all the other people were wonderful. There is a lot of poverty in Cambodia but the people seem happy. They are humble and kind. Even the relentless vendors at the ruins just smile at you after you’re fifth, “no thank you.”
Everything in Cambodia is covered in a layer of fine red dust. The first thing I did upon returning to the hotel each day was wash my feet. I was also asked several times about my iphone 6 (it’s also my camera) and was always asked how much it was…when I told them, their mouths would always drop open. Talking to Mao I learned that he rents his tuk tuk for $30 a month and has to also pay the hotel $2 a day for the tourist that come from there. He told me that to buy his own tuk tuk would cost around $800, which it didn’t sound like he would ever be able to afford. No wonder their mouths fell open at the cost of my phone…man, do I ever feel like the bourgeois ass sometimes:(

Due to my lack of planning skills:) I was in Cambodia for a relatively short time (Sorry I’m in Vietnam playing tourist and have fallen behind on my blog…more on that next time). I had planned to go to Rabbit Island but realized it was in the opposite direction of where I was headed and that I should have gone there first so I decided to go to Hanoi instead. I wish I had seen more of Cambodia and it’s people….maybe another time:) The only reason someone goes to Siem Reap is really for the temples…but my overall impression of the Cambodia I saw was favorable.

Cambodia… a land of ancient magical ruins and wonderful, kind people…oh yeah, and one angry little boy:)!