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Hoping to invest our sacred
tourist dollars in some form of goodwill towards a gentle
limbless population upon whom the US rained bombs down during
the Vietnam war we flew into Siem Reap airport in Cambodia.
Every year hundreds of people, mostly children playing with
their newly found brightly colored metallic toy ball found
in the dirt (read: cluster bomblet), are killed and countless
more are maimed by the gift from America that keeps on giving.
We had been warned of the sheer number of limbless beggars
but were not prepared for some of the maimed souls we met.
Prior to landing we devised a simple guideline for handouts
to beggars to prevent from giving all our money away. It was
decided. People missing legs or feet were placed at the top
of the list to get our donations and other beggars would have
to take no for an answer. Could we stick to our resolution?
Read on……
Arriving in Siem Reap, the town nearest
the Angkor Ruins, amidst the searing midday heat we collected
our packs from baggage claim and found a taxi or more accurately,
he found us. As we pulled away from the airport and made our
way to towards the city we were surprised to see children,
hundreds of them, sitting by the side of the road waving flags.
Some held the Singapore flag, others the Cambodian flag. Our
visit coincided with the arrival of the Prime Minister of
Singapore to promote tourism in Cambodia. We drove for miles
and more and more children appeared as we drew closer to the
city. Smiling faces waving flags, apparently let out of school
early to help welcome the PM of Singapore. They weren’t
fooled into believing that we were worthy of attention as
we sped along in our rattle-trap taxi.
As we entered the city we were over-whelmed
by the number of motorbikes. It was moped mayhem. Where there
was a vacant slab of roadway, more often than not a smooth
patch of packed dirt, a vehicle would move into to occupy
it like water seeking a low point. Never mind that it was
in the path of oncoming traffic. At times we would be faced
with a wall of mopeds driving straight at us only to yield
to our taxi at the very last moment. How they could afford
mopeds baffled us.
We blindly chose a family owned guest house
and settled into our small room on the second floor with a
western toilet, a sink, a mirror and a hose on the wall for
showering as our host family sat downstairs watching soap
operas. No need for hot water here with the midday temperatures
peaking in the high 90's. Unfortunately it didn't cool down
much at night and our first night in Cambodia turned into
a sweaty restless sleep. The next day we disappointed our
host family by telling them we were moving on. We found a
mini-hotel further down the street and negotiated a four-night
stay for $12 a night. We were treated to significant luxury
of a television and air-conditioning.
So on our first day we changed our
home base, got oriented in the city, acquired a three-day
pass to the ruins, located a motorbike and fed ourselves.
It may not sound like a lot but in the searing Cambodian heat
accomplishing this was quite an accomplishment. It is the
simple things that escape you when you plan for a trip. The
“getting-settled-and-locating-basic-needs-on-the-first-day”
exercise that can eat up more time than you ever imagined
and it is the time when we are most prone to frustration and
getting ripped off so the guard is up and that in itself can
be exhausting.
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