Around Siem Reap, Where the Mud just Keeps on Flying

I didn't really expect to be back on the blog for a few days, but our room is being cleaned now and the internet is free.  Who am I to say no? 

For a while today I thought I had finally gotten used to the heat (whoever said it takes two weeks was so full of crap), but it turns out it was just surprisingly cool this morning.  By the time the sun came out in the afternoon, I was again dripping in sweat.  So it turns out we are not, in fact, used to the heat.  Or the bugs crawling on us all the time (red ants really sting when they walk on you.)  Though on the bright side we are totally used to the giant geckos climbing on the walls, so that's something.

Having finished off our three day pass to the temples yesterday with another non-sunset (what is with the clouds?) at ruins atop a large hill (Phnom Krom, right on the enormous brown, murky lake called Tonle Sap), today we decided to branch out a bit.  We woke up early for a change and spent the morning driving ATV's (actually one ATV, and only one of us drove) through the countryside.  Since it poured for most of the night, the country side was extra muddy, special just for us.  We were warned by the French expat owner that we may get a little dirty, but I think he underestimated just how puddle happy I tend to be.  Adina said I had to stop saying "oops" when I drove through a mini lake of mud when I took deliberate aim and sped up right through it.  It's ok, they happily hosed us off once we got back.  By the end of the morning we were completely coated in multicolor mud and were laughed at by most villagers we passed, though I'm sure they were laughing with us, not at us.  Before we left the manager explained we didn't have to worry about other moto drivers or bikers, since the basic rule of the roads in Cambodia is to always yield to anything bigger than you.  Which explains why the dogs all scurried out of our way but the cows were more likely to stay put and stare us down.  We did have a couple of good runs of cow slalom out there, which was new for me. 

On the trip we visited the orphanage school partially funded by the company's manager where we were warmly greeted in chorus by each class.  "OH HELLO!  GOOD MORNING, VISITORS.  HOW ARE YOU TODAY?"  They sort of didn't know what to do with it when I said "Fine, thank you.  How are you today?"  I got a lot of mumbling and looking at their shoes from the younger classes(which was nice and familiar to me), but the older kids were able to keep up the show a bit longer.  Then they taught us how to say "How are you today?" in Japanese, which we have since forgotten. I was shown more respect and appreciation in 25 minutes there than an entire month back home.  I made sure to tell them to listen to their teacher before we left.  One English class told us they were learning about General Hospital, which I'm pretty sure meant medical English vocabulary.  Word like doctor, operation, please stop the bleeding, etc.  Our guide told us that at most schools here students had to bribe the teacher each day to be able to come into class, the type of thing I could really get used to.  On the way back we drove through several little villages and were enthusiastically waved at by dozens of little kids, most in various stages of naked.  One was in a very specific stage of squatting.

There's something drastically different about the attitude towards life here as compared with Laos.  There things and people were very laid back, which we loved.  Here there is such a drive towards development and success, though it is funded entirely by foriegn donors and NGO's, not the Cambodian government.  Perhaps this is why it is much more common for people in this region to know English than it was in Laos.  We've heard a lot of people in our generation say their parents (or other caretakers) instilled a strong sense of duty to advance in the world, especially to overcome everything that was lost to the Khmer Rouge starting in the 70's.  To me it felt a lot like what I know of our grandparents and great grandparents- both the generation of survivors from the Holocaust and the children of turn of the century immigrants. 

Back in town we took a short cooking class.  Since we were the only people working with the cook, we tailored it to exactly what we needed.  We didn't know how to explain that we ate no fish except for some kinds (and I'm not sure how to say fins and scales in Cambodian), so we stuck to only vegan.  We'll adapt it to actual food when we get back.  This stuff was similar in style but featured totally different flavors from what we learned in Thailand.  It was nice to learn some new things and we'll try to adapt them to what we can find in America, but I did like the Thai food much better. 

The plan is still to head to Phnom Phen tomorrow for Shabbat, then make our way the the Thai islands in the beginning of next week.  We get to fly again, which was especially fun the other day because we had some one waiting for us with my name on a sign for the first time in my life.  I wouldn't say it was a limo that we climbed into, but the cushions of the tuk tuk were soft enough to absorb the shocks of the dirt road, which is about all you can hope for.  We'll let those of you in NY figure out who gets to be there waiting for us at JFK when we get back.  Just let us know and we'll send you our flight details.

Four weeks down, three (plus two) to go!