The Mighty Mekong

So we took a long, long drive back up to the northern part of the country to stop in Kratie (pronounced kra-CHEH, with a slightly rolled 'r'). The town is located right along the Mekong River, but otherwise it's... not particularly impressive. We arrived as it was getting dark and I thought the town seemed totally sketchy. It improves in daylight, but anyway, that is not the point of Kratie. There isn't a ton to do in the town, and all of the tourists are there primarily for the same experience--to try to spot the dwindling population of Irrawaddy dolphins. They're little and gray with flat noses and I was really anxious to see them, since I knew only 70-90 live in the Mekong and spotting them would be completely up to chance. Our hotel set us up with an excellent tuktuk driver, Soda, who happened to also be an English and French teacher at a local school. And between the hotel owner and Soda, we knew what time and where would give us the best chance for successful dolphin-spotting.

We ran into a French couple who didn't really have any luck. Us? We saw one within a minute of getting on the boat. There were a good 5 or 6 active dolphins all over the place, chasing jumping fish and coming up for air a bunch. No jumping out of the water, but we saw plenty of tops of heads and fins and backs. It turns out taking pictures of dolphins from a middle distance is kinda tricky? But we enjoyed seeing them with our eyes and had a fun time on a boat and driving through the nearby villages. Sorry I can't fully share the experience with photographs.

The view from our boat, and the little ripple in the background is a dolphin dipping back into the water.

O HAI! I didn't take this picture, but I wanted to give you an idea. Dolphins without foreheads look like happy aliens, don't they?

Soda! A little action-shot from our tuktuk ride. The hut on the right is a restaurant, I believe.

Then we returned to our hotel, grabbed our stuff, and got on another boat! This time it was a short trip across the water to a small island where there are no cars. We stayed at a cool resort with private mini-villas on stilts, but even there, the only electricity supply was from a generator they turned on at 6pm. Scott told me he'd heard that the island in a lot of ways gives you an idea of what most of Cambodia must have looked like before it really developed, and that was pretty believable.

Our hut is on the far left.

We went on a short tuktuk ride around some narrow dirt roads. Most people move around on small minibikes or on wagons pulled by mini-horses or cows, so whenever they hear the sound of a motor, the children often line up by the road to see what and who is coming. They stare shyly or curiously, or they smile and wave, and depending on where they live and what the education is like, a lot of them will say "hello" or "bye-bye." They also call us French, because Khmer doesn't really use a different word for foreigner.

We jumped off at a nice spot to watch the sunset, but we soon became fidgety and Scott was frustrated with me for suggesting that he might be misunderstood if he jumps up and tries to join a man loading his wagon with bamboo branches, so we abandoned the original plan and started to walk back early. We passed a pagoda and its outbuildings, fully open and run by some young monks. The resort owner had told us we could have a look around, but we didn't want to barge in and stare at monks going about their lives, but a very young monk waved us inside the gate as we walked by, and walked us up to the pagoda, silently showed us to remove our shoes, and the three of us rolled out a mat and knelt before a giant Buddha together. Then he and his other young friend eagerly pointed out a big flock of birds flying by, which struck me, that out here in this incredibly peaceful and quiet location, a mass of birds would be a fascination for a 10 year old boy. We've seen a lot of small villages on this trip, and a lot of farmland and fishing villages (about 80% of people here are farmers), but this island is a whole other kind of place. You can feel your heart rate slowing here. At night it's so quiet you feel like you're alone. Well, except for the loud American cycling tour that was also staying at our resort.

My new friends. They don't hate me, we just had to be careful not to touch.

Also, for the record, I should mention that somewhere in the Kampot days I slowly started developing a cold of sorts. It was a throat tickle that developed into some runny nose + sneezing. On the trek up to Kratie, it turned into some sinus pressure so I ached in my face and behind my eyes. Nothing detrimental to plans, but there's a certain sort of evil in pairing the discomfort of pounding sun and constant layers of sticky sunscreen with a head cold. That's just too cruel.

Kampot Day Trip

After a relaxing Christmas, we couldn't resist taking a little trip to explore the area. We were staying right next to Bokor National Park, so we got a guy to give us the tour. Well, sorta. He didn't speak a word of English, so the tour was driving and charades. We climbed Bokor Mountain, visited a very cool abandoned French hotel, and saw a giant statue. Then we took a trek out to a pepper plantation. Kampot is known for its green, white, red, and black pepper, so we've been having some pretty peppery meals. We bought some red and white pepper for some future cooking adventures, and wandered around a bit. They also grew mangos and durian, and we made friends and chased some geese and chickens before I was attacked by some kind of speed-crawling ant colony. No harm done, but yeah, bugs are a thing here. As are chickens, pigs, dogs, and geckos, all of which wander about freely and make for smarter pedestrians than most people.

This is what it's like driving around in Cambodia. Minivans crammed with 20 people and luggage and the trunk open with people hanging out of it. An pair of cows pulling a wagon of hay stacked ten feet above the top of the wagon, with a man perched on top. Tons of motorbikes. Honking as a basic and constant form of communication. And plenty of what's pictured above.

Gho-gho-gho-ghosts!

The top of the mountain.

This mountain is guarded by a giant.

This is what a pepper plant looks like. They don't even grind up the peppercorns here. I ate one right off the plant and the rest of the day everything tasted thoroughly seasoned.

Pepper plants

The rest of the pepper plantation, including tons of other plants.

Scott once again trying to set me up with a date.

I should also mention that I have a horrible habit of bringing loads of entertainment with me on vacations and then never ever using it. We just don't plan for a lot of down time on vacation. This time, however, we had a little bit of relaxing, guilt-free free time in Kampot, and I took advantage of it. Scott wants to go for a swim in the sun? Cool, I will hide in the shade with my book. My beach read was A Storm of Swords and while it is a brick of a book I was so glad to have it with me. Also, every time I had to wander around in the heat and the sand I thought about what a cranky Danerys I would have made.

Camping in Kampot

Happy Holidays, everybody!

We drove down to the southern coast to Kampot to the secluded Nataya Resort. We had to drive well off the beaten path to find it, and the turn off the main road took us on a narrow dirt path past small huts and chicken coops and cows standing in the middle of the road. It's a beautiful surprise hidden away in a secluded spot by the sea. Normally I don't go for the whole beach vacation vibe (redheads and sunbathing simply don't mix well), but this spot has no sandy beach area for tanning, and some beautiful forested mountains serve as the backdrop. Also it's December, so yeah, these are the right tropical paradise conditions for me. It's been a few days of swimming, reading, massages at the spa, eating, fresh fruit smoothies, and enjoying our little private space.

We stayed in this little hut:

We ate a lot of fruit and drank fruity drinks:

We found a Christmas tree!

And we soaked in the beautiful view:

Oh, did we mention there are little lizards everywhere? They make a lot of noise!

Phnom Penh Day 2

Today we got up early and headed to the main attraction of downtown Phnom Penh--the royal palace. This is where the king of Cambodia lives the majority of the time. It's a huge complex of beautiful, colorful buildings and monuments enclosed by a large surrounding gate. The building with living quarters were closed for touring because the royal family is there right now. The whole city is currently still in mourning for their king, who died about a month ago. At night, crowds crowd out on picnic blankets in front of a large portrait of the king hanging in front of the palace, one of many, many portraits of the king displayed around the city. They pray and light candles and incense and pile flowers in front of his picture. Our tour guide informed us that in traditional Cambodian culture, each day has a specific color associated with it. She was currently wearing white, though, which is the color of mourning, and she will continue to wear it every day for at least another month. Here is the royal palace gate, with a few monks taking a break from the heat.

The royal grounds also include the Silver Pagoda, a building with floor tiles made entirely of engraved silver. It was a bit aged and protected by rugs, but you could easily imagine what an incredible sight that would have been. The pagoda also displays a lot of the royal treasures, including gifts and several amazing buddhas including the emerald buddha on a tall pedestal, and a tall standing buddha adorned with over 2,000 diamonds. Very pretty, but no photos allowed.

I waited forever for someone to move out of the way of this shot, so I am posting it.

We also walked around the corner to head back to the National Museum to see the statues, scrolls, and histories. Many of the figures displayed were items looted from the beautiful wats we had toured the previous day that had been recovered, so it was fun to be able to place some of the statues and engravings with their proper wat just by recognizing the different styles. No pictures allowed, but I did sneak one.

Shiva!

After that we went over to the Friends restaurant, which is a teaching restaurant and part of a program to support work for former street children. So our conscience felt as good as our tummies, and the money directly supports the people of Cambodia. We took an afternoon rest in the afternoon to escape the heat, then felt the urge to go out and see the bustling Central Market and Russian Market. It was a seemingly endless maze of tiny shops exploding with hanging shirts and pants, jewelry, accessories, and around the outside were flower shops and fresh produce.

This is a shot from our tuktuk getting into the market area, to give you a sense of how congested it gets with a mix of scooters, tuktuks, bicyclists, pedestrians, and the occasional car. Messy!

Walking around the produce market outside, I snapped this quick shot of a fish stand. Large catfish (I think?), so freshly cut that the fins on their severed heads were still waving.

Phnomenal.

The view from a roadside restaurant/rest area.

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel and then hopped in a car to Phnom Penh. Not Heng this time, we had to say goodbye to him and Son. We stopped for lunch at a pretty waterside rest area restaurant and arrived in Phnom Penh somehow at the wrong hotel. It's not a hotel chain exactly, but there are different hotels of the same name, if that makes sense. Turned out to be a great mistake though because it is a slightly fancier and newer hotel and they upgraded us to a nice big suite. Also it came with Davuth, our buddy at the concierge desk who was our primary helper setting up dinner reservations and planning our stay in Phnom Penh. I knew he was a keeper when we asked for a restaurant recommendation and he said the one restaurant I had already had in mind. Hotel score!

Our suite.

The view of Phnom Penh from our hotel rooftop.

We went out to eat and had some delicious food, and we of course had to order the famous fried tarantulas. The girl at the table near us immediately burst into tears and freaked out, I'm assuming she was crying about the giant spiders at our table, and she and her boyfriend promptly got their check and left. Adventurers only! They were fine. They taste like anything fried, but there is a bit of a psychological challenge there, and not just because of the eye contact. They still have some rubbery give to them, so when you nudge them with a fork they bounce back, which was more than a little unnerving. Frying doesn't remove all of the tiny hairs completely, either. Just something to think about when you go to bed tonight.

Then after dinner we went out to a show our hotel recommended. It was around the corner from our hotel at the National Museum, and the show was Passage of Life, demonstrating the rituals of traditional Khmer culture from birth to maturity to marriage to sickness to death. Very interesting and entertaining, and much better bang for your buck than Smile of Angkor. The cast was from a local arts community formed in the wake of Khmer Rouge, a nonprofit organization supporting traditional arts and culture. The Khmer Rouge killed about 90% of Cambodian artists, so this is a cause with no little importance and urgency to them. They were selling souvenirs and while they were pricier than we could find on the street, we had to contribute to their efforts. We support the arts!

Waving a sword while singing is a pretty cool wedding ceremony ritual.

Siem Reap, Khmer-Style

We could have spent another day looking at temples, but instead we wanted to skip Tourist Siem Reap and see Cambodian Siem Reap. So we told Heng and Son to plan our day, and they came up with some great things. We drove out to a fishing village near Son's hometown. The houses are all built on stilts because in the wet season the road completely floods. We watched some of the villagers preparing small fish that they put on sticks in long long rows and let them dry out in the sun before they smoke them. Smoked or dried fish is a huge feature in a lot of classic Khmer dishes, and a big export for them. Then we hopped on a boat to tour the floating villages and the floating market. In the middle of the water there is a cluster of three or four boats. Two of them have various fish getting prepared, and you can buy food there. Then one in the middle had a woman selling various products to fishermen, and even a coffeeshop of sorts. And there are a couple of these along the way.

Rows and rows of fish drying in the sun.

Yes, I bought the loose pants all the tourists were wearing and look like a genie. In my defense, it was really hot!

Then we went to a local Khmer restaurant with Son and Heng and we ate some dried fish, fish soup, and fish with watermelon. The drink is hot tea that they poor over ice. I thought I was going to panic staring at the face of a whole fish, but it was fine. And I had to walk through the kitchen to reach the bathroom, which was fascinating. Two women and a fire pit over sandy tile. And a hammock in the corner to rest on. I think we all stared agape at each other with the same amount of open curiosity.

Next up was a trip to Beng Mealea, 65 km from Siem Reap, to an unrestored temple. It was completely in ruins, with large stone piles everywhere, and really gives an idea of how a lot of these temples looked before they were re"discovered" by the French over the hundred years or so. We did some rock climbing, which was a fun adventure. There were also small Cambodian children running all over the ruins, taking tourists by the hand and pulling them over and around rocks to give them a tour outside of the boring wooden paths. They knew the area backwards and forwards, and Scott and I completely adored following a woman and her daughter out of the site. The daughter was being led by a Cambodian girl her same size, who was taking the most attentive care of her despite a complete language barrier, guiding her slowly down rocks, and at one point there was a steep hill and the girl casually picked up the other girl in her arms and walked her down like it was nothing. Cutest friendship moment ever.

Scott is a climber, and half monkey.

Nagas!

Then we went back to the hotel and Scott got another massage. Son and Heng had recommended this massage place for him, took him there, and helped him get settled in just to ensure that everything was legit and that he was comfortable. Everyone buddies up with Scott! I can't really blame them. Then we were off to see a show recommended by our guides. Smile of Angkor was an experience. First there's a free dinner buffet, and I had a brief silly-American moment when I thought, "Oh! Why on earth would I assume the 'tourist' food would be Western?" I mentioned the massive Chinese tourism industry in Cambodia, right? Well this show is clearly a must on every Chinese guided tour. There was a cast of a bunch of dancers in all kinds of costumes dancing to the story of the history of Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. The narration was in a creative interpretation of English which we enjoyed, and then the production value was way over the top. An eye-blasting light show, a pond stretching across the stage that erupted into a crazy fountain shooting ceiling high? Crazy. And then all of the dancers lined up on the stage, many of them wearing examples of pieces of some of the temples, and the finale music started blasting. "Ode to Joy," because...? Scott and I were just looking at each other with no idea what was happening but completely loving the strange insanity of it. Farewell, Siem Reap!

Scott made me participate in this photo.