Saturday, April 02, 2005
Cambodia, Part I
Cambodia's a rather poor country, I must say. Of course, the temples are just as spectacular as I imagined, but one cannot get away from the fact that this country has a ways to go before it even gets to Thailand/Malaysia level of development. On the other hand, it leads to some very amusing elements to visiting here.
Siem Reap is a dusty town, and everyone is constantly using their homemade wicker brooms to sweep, or running water, to get the dust off the sidewalk. It's a losing battle. But the people are friendly, the children (even the ones who aren't trying to sell you something) all scream, "Hulow, hulow," and giggle when you reply. Whole families, including the very young, all pile on motorbikes to get around, and I actually saw a 10 year old buy driving an oxcart this afternoon.
Along the side of the main roads, every 50-100 meters or so are racks of old booze and water bottles filled with a yellow liquid, lying on rusty metal racks. For whatever reason, Johnny Walker seems a rather popular carafe on these steel pushcarts. They are filled with fuel for your motorbike. Now there are regular filling stations, but they appear to be solely for the use of the fancy air-con buses used in the non-backpacker tourist industry. My motorbike driver today stopped on the side of the road, told the guy he wanted 2 liters, gave him $1.60, lifted his seat, and the guy pulled out a funnel and filled up his tank with a Johnny Walker Red bottle of petrol.
I'll post more on the temples after I'm done seeing them.
Siem Reap is a dusty town, and everyone is constantly using their homemade wicker brooms to sweep, or running water, to get the dust off the sidewalk. It's a losing battle. But the people are friendly, the children (even the ones who aren't trying to sell you something) all scream, "Hulow, hulow," and giggle when you reply. Whole families, including the very young, all pile on motorbikes to get around, and I actually saw a 10 year old buy driving an oxcart this afternoon.
Along the side of the main roads, every 50-100 meters or so are racks of old booze and water bottles filled with a yellow liquid, lying on rusty metal racks. For whatever reason, Johnny Walker seems a rather popular carafe on these steel pushcarts. They are filled with fuel for your motorbike. Now there are regular filling stations, but they appear to be solely for the use of the fancy air-con buses used in the non-backpacker tourist industry. My motorbike driver today stopped on the side of the road, told the guy he wanted 2 liters, gave him $1.60, lifted his seat, and the guy pulled out a funnel and filled up his tank with a Johnny Walker Red bottle of petrol.
I'll post more on the temples after I'm done seeing them.
