Siem Reap - 3/4/1999
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Today we're walking around the markets in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We told our guide David (who has been absolutely wonderful) that we wanted to spend a few hours just walking around town rather than seeing the temples today. I'll tell you a little more about what we've been doing the last few days ... this is the first I'm having time to go into any detail.
I'm typing this on a Win95 PC at the business of a guy named Dominique, who had the first (and maybe still only, I don't know) internet connection in Siem Reap. He has a few PC's connected to a UPS and an e-mail server, and he uploads e-mail to Phnom Penh six times per day. While Doug typed this e-mail, Mom showed off pictures of her grandchildren to a group of Cambodian women, including Dominique's wife.
We've seen most of the major temples, and it's all awesome. Angkor Wat was huge and impressive, of course, but the ones that have most surprised me were Banteay Srei (about 40KM to the north) and Banteay Samre (just east of the eastern Baray). They're very ornately carved, and Banteay Samre was the least crowded of any temple we've visited (perhaps because it was at noon in the mid-day sun).
Yesterday we took a boat tour of the Vietnamese fishing village on Tonle Sap ("great lake") a few miles south of here. We saw so many cool things there ... a guy herding hundreds of tame ducks (we asked why they don't fly away, but the answer wasn't very clear – clipped wings?) ... a fish farm with a feeding frenzy of big fish ... two monkeys at a little tourist shop out on the lake, one of whom was drinking a Coke and the other was eating a cigarette ... two big Burmese pythons and the little girl who would take them out and show them to us (I told her about the big Burmese pythons I used to have) ... kids rowing around in strange little boats, sun setting over the bamboo fish traps, etc, etc, etc.
We took a very tiny boat, just us and our guide (David) and the driver. The boat was a little shaky (I almost turned it over getting in, but later got my sea legs back), but we blew right past the larger safer tourist boats that were stuck in the mud trying to get out of the little canal where they pick up the tourists – our driver simply waded in front, pulling the boat past all the shallow stuff, and we were out on the lake before any of the other tourists and we started back in when they all caught up with us out on the lake.
Tuesday I misunderstood a lunch bill and – thinking it was $17 instead of $7 – I gave the kid a $20 and said "keep the change." He literally skipped away, he was so happy, and word must have got around ... now I have guys bringing me Cokes and waiting for big tips, and we've decided we can't go back to that area any more. Other than that, things are going good. Mom has a slight cold and I pulled a muscle in my leg when I temporarily forgot that I'm in lousy shape and tried something I shouldn't have, but life is good.
We'll next be in touch from Kathmandu ... we go there tomorrow (Friday), then Saturday morning to the animal sacrifices at Dakshinkali.
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When I set up the tripod to take the photo above, a few teenage boys were watching closely from nearby. I was concerned about my new Nikon N90s SLR film camera sitting on the tripod – it was the most expensive camera I had ever owned at that time, and I was sure every one of those boys could easily outrun me. So I glared and swaggered and tried my best to look like a guy not to be trifled with, and when I sat down for the photo I forgot to wipe the glare off my face.
Mom exploring the temples of Angkor.
Mom's knee joints were in bad shape on this trip, but she pushed on through and never complained. When she got both knees replaced a few years later, she said she felt she shouldn't have waited so long to get them done. I learned from Mom's example that everyone gets to choose: you can sit at home complaining about your ailments and longing for a pain-free existence, or you can get out and experience the world no matter how much it hurts.
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