Khmer of Cambodia

Sometimes a bad event is a good thing and here is mine. My last hastily published blog posts about our adventures in China were done with a limited amount of sleep, no we were not celebrating Lunar New Year but the rest of SE Asia appeared to be enjoying the festivities. For my travelblog I wanted to write about what we saw and did in either a region or a city but as we were leaving Saigon my netbook gave up the ghost and became a 3 pound brick that I got to carry around the remaining two weeks of my trip. The good part was that this kept me from writing about Saigon and the Vietnamese cities along the Mekong before experiencing the Khmer culture of Cambodia and Thailand thus providing me with contrasts and comparisons.

Depending on your views of either the Vietnam war or the aftermath of the war Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) is a city to be explored and one that has both a view to the past and one to the future. We did not include a visit to north Vietnam this time so can't comment on what daily life is like in that area nor do I know what Saigon was like during the period while the French and then the Americans were occupying South Vietnam. But more about Saigon in another post but until then just know that a Dragon dance practice at 6 am is not the best way to be woken up after not having much sleep the night before.

The topic of this blog post is Cambodia and its people. The country really impressed me as people with resilience as you look at the cities and countryside.  This country is a third world country and appears to be poorer than India at many levels. Cambodia has been ravaged by civil war, considered an unsafe tourist destination until ten or so years ago, subjected to cruelty by the neighboring countries, genocide by the Khmer Rouge (their own kin), but they have bounced back and everyone appears to have a positive view of a better future Cambodia.  One of the most popular touristic destination is the Angkor archaeological site. Tourism provides income to more than the locals but also includes farmers who come to earn a living during the dry season then return to their primary source of income during the wet season - agriculture. The closest city to the Angkor complex is Siem Reap (Fall of Siam) and here it is focused on the tourism trade. Another touristic site is Phnom Penh, a city where the recent past is on display both  events very different but related. By this I mean the death of King Norodom Sihanouk- the Father King and the genocide memorials.  New factory sites were popping up all over the Cambodian countryside. Most were still being constructed but it was not clear how many locals would be employed once the construction phase was completed nor the type of manufacturing would be done. It did appear many would be warehouses but other looked like they would become garment factories. As with most silver linings there is a dark cloud of history and future environmental payments behind it.

Typical village along the Mekong in Cambodia

Our cruise up the Mekong on the RV AMALOTUS started outside of Saigon where we boarded our riverboat.

The ship's crew consisted both Vietnamese and Cambodians with the passengers on our cruise being mostly Swiss Germans, a few French, a German couple, other Europeans, two couples from Australia and two American couples. With the exception of a few most were middle aged and fairly fit. The Swiss German group had their own tour guide as well as Swiss German speaking local guides. The English speaking group (the German couple went with the English speakers as they didn't understand Swiss German) had local guides for Vietnam and Cambodia but not a tour guide. I don't think that either of our local guides were affiliated with a political party or were government minders as there were several political comments made by both. However they did seem to tow the party line regarding current administrations.

The first part of the cruise was in the Vietnam portion of the Mekong with daily excursion to a local village, fish farm, factory, or market to see daily life and this was repeated in Cambodia. Those who have been on cruises before know about shore excursions and how packs of tourists scurry from one site to another like coveys of quails. This was the oft repeated scene when our groups marched through tiny villages, markets, farm and farmer's houses, small factories, and fish farms. In both Vietnam and Cambodia the children came running out to wave and say hello to us as we passed by in the villages and along the river.

While in Vietnam these excursions seemed more like "Look how well we are doing! We are able to farm and sell our goods and make a living. Our government helps its citizens." But once we entered Cambodia these visits were not to villages or farms that were overly prosperous.  I was torn between feelings of  'I have or possess too much and these people have nothing" to "What can be done about this poverty!" I felt very conflicted about the excursions. The zoo-like aspect of it was unsettling, but I also felt that skipping it would have meant taking a stance that basically said, “We love visiting your beautiful country, but we’d rather not see the human impact of your formerly oppressive government’s policies.”

Cambodia needs the tourism but as I mentioned earlier there much missing in Cambodia which dates back to the genocide by the Khmer Rouge and the following civil war. There are very few people over the age of 60 in Cambodia with a majority of the population between the ages of 15-54 (58%, median age 23). The GDP spent on education is around 2% and schools are not very well equipped. Often it was not possible to tell if any children attended school as it appeared that they were out trying to sell something to a tourist. So one of the easiest ways to make money is tourism and its associated ancillary businesses. But who will manage these enterprises? In Phnom Penh the Choeung Ek (Killing Fields) memorial is managed by JC Royal Company - a Japanese owned business.

... JC Royal Co., is expected to "increase revenue for the state and develop and renovate the beauty of Choeung Ek killing fields." JC Royal is to pay the municipality of Phnom Penh $15,000 a year. In return, it will be allowed to jack up entrance fees, charging foreign visitors up to $3 instead of the current 50 cents.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1047552,00.html#ixzz2Nf4sa2sm

Our group visited Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng on the same day, both very impressive and depressing at the same time. The difference between the way the two sites are managed is significant. Granted Choeung Ek is outside of Phnom Penh but it seems more quiet and respectful of the atrocities committed there than the poorly presented Tuol Sleng. 

The Angkor Archaeological Park ticket sales is another location where a private business is in control. The temples and their restoration are not managed by this group but only a small fraction of the monies generated from the ticket sales  is returned to the site. You can't see the temples without a ticket as the ticket concession has ticket examiners in front of each major site and can ask at random to see your ticket. So the locals make money by selling trinkets or at the restaurants in front of Angkor Wat. This area has been cleared of landmines but they suggest you not go into the jungle. More about the landmines later.

One of our last excursions along the Mekong included an ox cart ride back to the ship. Again as we were trundling down the dirt road I felt like I was on display with all of the children chasing after us. The children at first tired to "give" a small item like drawing or folded flower to us for a small amount of money or candy but they were mostly curious and friendly trying out their limited English.

My driver it turns out spoke English and had gone to school for a while but now was a farmer and wanted to proudly point out all of the local points of interest. One of a building that looked like it had seen better days was the local maternity ward and the dirt road we were bumping down had just been finished - washed out from the previous monsoon season. A number of villagers had electricity - at least one fluorescent lightbulb and TV (flat panel) were seen in the houses with electricity.  There isn't a centralized trash pick up so plastic bags were either blowing around or found along side of the road with non recyclable trash.

There is very little waste of natural resources - like using rice straw as fuel (the burning of rice straw is one of the major contributors to the air pollution problem in SE Asia second only to automobiles and the hordes of scooters). Floating along we had noticed that in the Cambodian portion of the Mekong was the use of aerosol cans as floats for the fishing nets. As we passed through Kampong Tralach I saw where a local was taking the plastic caps off the spray cans (Raid) and attaching them to fishing nets. I can only imagine that someone thought this was a form of recycling but didn't either think or was aware of the residual pesticide in each can or the future pollution problem once these cans rusted through. This form of being resourceful is what I meant by the darkside. More tourists means more trash that can be repurposed to generate more income......

More later about the "party line" but check the other tabs for pictures. Not all have been posted here on this blog yet.