So this is it the last blog -just wanted to talk about Kampuchea and the Khmer people. My views are certainly influenced by our stay in a tourist town but we did have some time out in the countryside. The people seem to be at least as friendly as the vietnamese where the spectre of totalatarianism is quite noticeable from the sentries guarding Ho Chi Minh's tomb to the red and gold flags (including hammer and sickle) everywhere. We really didnt experience any metropolis in Kampuchea like Saigon or Hanoi. People seem to be constantly on the move in both countries. The population density of Kampuchea is far less than Vietnam. We noticed great expanses of land without dwellings in Kampuchea while this was not the case in Vietnam. In the rural areas , the Khmer people still seem to have a hamlet lifestyle which seems less so in Vietnam. Our guide told us that in rural areas of Kampuchea you can tell a families wealth by the type of roof they have in descending order: tile, tin, thatched and palm leaves. Most of the rural homes are built on stilts and are generally two room except for the well off. Many of the homes are without electricity utilizing a car battery for electrical needs mostly TV. There is no indoor plumbing (all these "necessities" were available to the average Vietnamese family)
In the country people depend on well water which is potable in the city as in Vietnam water is not potable and people boil it or use bottled.
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| boiling palm juice down to sugar |
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| The concentrated palm sugar is used to make candies by adding it to these molds |
One thing I didn't like was that every temple was turned into a tourist trap- you are descended on by a horde of venders at least two or three selling books, several selling clothing, children selling postcards and others selling drinks-never mean or angry but persistent and following you for at least 50 yds before reaching the entrance. However many of the children were adorable and most were polyglots conversing in english and french and knowing the capitals of several american states (Albany).
At many of the sites there were musicians all who had been victimized by mines with the loss of one or more limbs. Now some shots taken over the last two days
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| Rice is King! |
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| Green Papaya -present in most of the salads |
Thought it would be appropriate to talk about the food-definitely not in the same class as Vietnamese-some of the same items but generally without the spices and always with a half sphere of rice. However in the last two nights we found two superb restaurants using Trip Advisor-sort of a Zagat like source on the internet. Restaurants rated by patrons with their comments published. Last night we were taken by Tuk-Tuk (the major mode of transport in lieu of taxis (a cart for up to four people pulled by a motorscooter) to the Touich - a family run restaurant in the middle of nowhere where they played Edith Piaf and Norah Jones.
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| Tuk-Tuk | |
Anyway had fun writing this -sort of became my stimulus to organize what we saw each day. Hope you enjoyed it and gave you some insight into these countries. Now its time to
