Three Cambodian Tragedies, Part 1: Siem Reap the Soulgrater

            I’m a big fan of bubbles. That’s why I like raincoats. No, that’s not a non sequitur. A raincoat is your own personal, physical bubble. It shuts out the outside world well enough for you to take a casual walk even when the world is throwing its worst at you. Walking in the rain in Kampot, I felt the bubble I live in strengthening again and my happiness returning. Kampot is a wonderfully sleepy town, far away from the harsh realities of Siem Reap. In the pouring rain, I had time to appreciate my raincoat, and by extension the bubble I live in, where I can ignore the reality of where my steak comes from, or where my Macbook comes from... etc.

When you travel, you put yourself in one giant, beautiful bubble. You see all the nice places, you eat all the good food, and most of the people around you, the restaurant and hotel staffs, are there to make your life more convenient and pleasant. In Thailand, our bubble had expanded to enormous proportions. Nothing had managed to pierce the enchantment of hanging out with elephants, lounging about the Mekong and the charm of Bangkok (special thanks there to a friend and my cousin and his daughter for making our stay more enjoyable). That changed almost as soon as we entered Cambodia. We crossed the border in Poipet, and my bubble took a hit almost immediately.

 The Theft of Fraternity and the Tourism Wasteland

By many accounts, Cambodians are some of the friendliest and most genuine people you can come across. Unfortunately, these are not the people who greet you in at the border in Poipet. We had been warned about scams at the border, so we knew how to avoid them. Still, as a first impression of Cambodia, this wasn’t a great start. Then came… the children. In Poipet we walked past a group of children monkeying around on the trellis over the sidewalk. They were having a great time and it was nice, so we smiled at them and said hello. Immediately they jumped down and brought their hands to their mouths while repeating “miam miam”. One of them even grabbed at our lunch. It’s better not to encourage child beggars, and these children looked well fed, so we kept going, having lost another skip in our step. Strike two for first impressions. After that came the “friendly guide”, whose guidance was unasked for and unneeded. He did nothing more than point us in the direction that the signs were already pointing to, talking to us throughout, and at the end he asked for a tip. Strike three. Whereas in Thailand we had felt like welcomed guests, in Cambodia we felt like fat sheep in a forest full of wolves. This feeling was exacerbated by the tuk tuks waiting for us at the bus station to drive us to downtown Siem Reap. They pushed and shouted to get our business, and they tried to overcharge us. Things got worse in Angkor.

There, kids wandered around despondently trying to sell various trinkets from morning to night. It’s hard enough to refuse an adult without feeling a pang of guilt, but the children’s wretched voices grate on your heart. The adults are often either hawking other goods or asking you to ride in their tuk tuk. Tuk tuk drivers in Siem Reap line the streets. They are everywhere and they are always idle. “Hello, tuk tuk?” becomes an unwavering litany. They might have just seen the guy in front of them be refused, but they will ask you anyway. In a certain respect you have to admire their determination and positive thinking. On the other hand, knowing how poor the country is, refusing them also weighs on the heart.

lines of tuk tuks on Pub Street

     Everything weighs on the heart. You start to shrink away from human contact. Every smile, every “hello” becomes suspicious. And that is the first tragedy: you’ve been robbed of your trust in people. Every human contact pokes and tears at your bubble, forcing you to confront the real, underlying tragedy. Cambodia is poor. While the country has made great progress in reducing poverty, many Cambodians remain poor or at risk of falling back into poverty. A pittance for a tourist is a day’s wage or more for a Cambodian, and that has a corrupting effect. Siem Reap is a tourism wasteland because people there see a lot of money in selling souvenirs or in pulling their kids out of school to sell postcards. The entire town has become centered on tourists, yet its people aren't any richer than those in most other towns on our trip through the country. If kids continue to get pulled out of school, it’s hard to see how that will change. There’s no raincoat against a feeling like that.

Reversal

            I don’t want to discourage anyone from going to Angkor, 

and I especially don’t want to discourage anyone from going to Cambodia. Poipet and Siem Reap were bad, but the rest of the places we visited (Battambang, Phnom Penh, Kampot, Kep) were much better. Even in Angkor, there are ways of making it better.

First, donate to charities. Don’t encourage child vendors or child guides. It gives extra incentive for them to stay out of the free schools that can give them a better future. While it’s unlikely that the charities you pick will help that specific child you turned down, they will do a lot more good for your buck. It’ll never be easy to turn down a needy child, but it will be easier if you know you’re doing something else to help. While you’re at it, donate to charities that work worldwide. There are people in every country that need help, so make that one child engaging you the benefactor of others in need worldwide.
- Cambodia Children’s Fund seems highly rated by everyone.

- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation not only seeks to reduce extreme poverty, it also works in America and provides otherwise hard to come by innovation to the field.

- This video is just to say maybe we should cut charities some slack.               If you can, volunteer. In Battambang we met two German dentist students who had just spent 6 weeks offering their services to locals. They had had an amazing time, and loved every minute of their summer in Cambodia. They also had pretty gruesome stories about dental health in the country; apparently the kids here are tough as nails.

            Second, don’t get angry at touts or tuk tuk drivers. They’re not doing this because they believe you are a fat sheep; they are doing this because they have to. If you need to refuse, smile and do so politely. You’ll often see their faces light up when you smile. Not only does that take the sting out of the refusal for everyone, that little bit of shared respect will also give you enough sustenance to face the next encounter. You won’t feel as guilty or helpless, and they won’t be made to feel bad for trying to work.
           

            Finally, get to know the true nature of Cambodians. Strike up conversations with your driver, your hotel manager, anyone. I’m not always very good at being a human, but most people can manage. From what I read on other blogs, and the few times I did manage, Cambodians are worth getting to know.

            It’s not a perfect solution, but it beats wearing a raincoat. 

Our Rooms in Thailand

Stays in Thailand: August 25th 2015 to September 6th 2015

#1 GLUR Hotel Bangkok, 1 night 550 baht, double bed in dorm                                   

#2 DIVA Guesthouse Chiang Mai, 2 nights 300 & 360 baht, private room, fan, bathroom     

#3 ONG, Chiang Khan, 2 nights at 200 baht, fan, shared bathroom      

#4 KING Hotel Loei, 1 night, 450 baht, aircon, private bathroom

#5 The CUBE Hotel Bangkok, 1 night, 630 baht, aircon, double bed in dorm
#6 NETT Hotel Lopburi, 1 night, 250 baht, fan, private bathroom

#7 HAPPY Guesthouse Sukhothai, 1 night, 200 baht, fan, shared bathroom
#8 BAN NANA Hostel Chiang Mai, 1 night, 200 baht, fan, shared bathroom

#9 SABUYDEE Guesthouse Bangkok, 1 night 550 baht, fan, bathroom

#1 GLUR Hotel Bangkok

Glur deserves the top spot mainly for two reasons. First, their staff was incredibly friendly. You’d think that after preparing a trip around the world for two years that we’d be ready on day 1, but we weren’t. We were tired so we slept in, and our packs weren’t packed properly. We needed time to get sorted, even after checking out. The Glur staff allowed us to stay well past check out in their common area to pack our bags properly. They came to check on us once, but never made us feel we were overstaying our welcome even though we clearly were. Second, the Glur Hotel has paid great attention to details in making life convenient for its guests. They provide a bin for guests to pass on items they don’t need anymore to other travelers who might want them. We took an almost empty bottle of mosquito repellant, and a bit of shampoo. They’ve also got you covered in case you went shopping crazy and are wondering if your bag is over the weight limit. There’s a scale guests can use, along with a kit to help you pack (scissors, shoe cleaner…). They have eco-friendly messages in the stairwells. Their AC is on a timer to save power, but they can turn it on whenever you ask. Combine these special aspects of Glur with clean, comfortable rooms, facilities that are new and plentiful, and an unlimited all day self-serve breakfast of cereal and soymilk, and they well deserve the top spot on this list. As an added bonus, the street food around Glur is fantastic. Try the Pad Thai stall right in front of the hotel. I lost my camera during my trip, so we only have an outside shot of Glur. Sorry!

#2 DIVA Guesthouse

Diva’s staff was also very friendly and helpful. They helped us pick a different elephant sanctuary tour that better fit our needs, and they made sure we were happy with our stay. But the best part was that they offered a free hour of massage if you booked two activities through them. Booking through them is still the same price as if you’d booked by yourself, but you get a free massage out of it! Their rooms were spacious and clean, and reasonably priced. Our stay there was very enjoyable.

#3 ONG’s Chiang Khan Guesthouse

This was my personal favorite, but mostly because of circumstances. This guesthouse overlooks the Mekong river separating Thailand and Laos. We had a room with a view directly on the river, and there was a covered balcony also overlooking the river where we could read, write and have a beer while watching the sunset. Having the mystical Mekong wash away my thoughts brought me great pleasure. I was never more relaxed in Thailand than I was in Chiang Khan, sitting on that balcony.

The room was incredibly cheap, only one fifth of most other rooms with that view in Chiang Khan. And that’s why I hesitate to put it higher on the list. Although for me it was fantastic, some people might disdain the room’s cleanliness. There were cracks in the wallboards through which insects and geckoes crawled in.

There were spider webs in the corners. I didn’t mind, certainly not at the price we paid, but it does temper my recommendation.It is located opposite of Soi 20.

 




All of the other hotels, guesthouses and hostels we stayed in were nice for various reasons. We were lucky in that we never had a bad experience in Thailand, so I can say that none deserve to be avoided. At the same time, only the top 3 are worth going out of your way. Nett Hotel in Lopburi deserves perhaps an honourable mention because the monkeys seemed to enjoy hanging out around the hotel, but who knows if that is always true.

Lopburi

Quick Hits

Access: 28 Baht per person, 3rd class train from Hua Lamphong.
Stay: 250 Baht, NETT Hotel
Pluto & Squid Spent: One night, 888 Baht. 

Planet of the Monkeys

            I was hoping for a post-apocalyptic atmosphere in Lopburi where ruins rub shoulders with modern buildings, and monkeys rule over both. Unfortunatey we spent too much time in the museum, and didn’t get to visit the ruins where the monkeys are most clustered. There you enter at the peril of losing any loose items.  The monkeys are usually docile, but we walked by one hoarding 4 pieces of sliced bread and he eyed us suspiciously as we stopped to take a picture. Before we could do so, he charged at us to protect his precious stash. I’m pretty sure I could have taken him, but my bros held me back. As it was, we courageously turned tail and walked away, like Brave Sir Robin taught us.

Le renard et le corbeau

              We did get to see many monkeys and even their predilection for thieving, as this reenactment of a certain Lafontaine fable shows: The monkey is cast in the role of the crow, holding a bag of stolen bracelets (playing the part of the cheese) in its mouth. Meanwhile the cart owner is playing the fox, trying to get the bracelets. Can you guess who wins in the end? As a side note, that monkey isn’t going to be signed by the Yankees any time soon, total butterfingers.    

A History Lesson, or How Clams Built Paris

     But in the museum we got to learn about the various cultures of Thailand throughout history. In prehistoric times, trade already extended to faraway lands, and people worked giant clam shells into various forms of jewelry which were highly prized by local and distant peoples. This trade gave rise to the first historical civilization in Thailand, the Dvaravati, which emerged in the 7^th century. The Dvaravati culture was heavily influenced by the Brahmanism and Buddhism of its main trading partner, and its society was structured according to the same caste system present in India today. Their trade network also extended to China and as far as Persia by sea, but their cultural influences came from even further: Greece and even Rome (via Alexander’s lasting influence in India). It’s astounding to think that the ruler of a small kingdom in Macedonia made waves big enough to reach the shores of the Gulf of Thailand centuries after his death. Although the Dvaravati Mon polity declined as a local power in the 11^th century as the Khmer Empire grew, the region’s prosperity, gained from its strategic location between China and India, continued and would later lead to the emergence of the kingdom that rested power from the Khmers, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya. Many Europeans described Ayutthaya as the Paris of the East, and it was the most populous city in the world in the 15^th century at over 1 million inhabitants. Now belonging to the kingdom of Ayutthaya, Lopburi saw a resurgence in the 17^th century when King Narai made Lopburi his secondary residence. The ruins you see in most of our pictures are from his fortress complex. He’s a pretty swell guy this Narai. In his ruined throne room I found 10 baht! His kingdom may have been sacked and destroyed, his home may be a mess, but it hasn’t blunted his generosity. Thanks to you, long-dead person!