Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Dolphins and Temples
I'm back in Phnom Penh now after a 4 day long weekend in Kratie and Kompong Cham provinces. Kratie is a quiet town on the Mekong River about 7 hours by bus from the Capital where you can see the rare fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. We really wanted to go there or back by boat and asked anyone we could about the possibility but the response was always as if it was the most absurd request they've ever heard or that we were only asking as a joke... it was strange! Apparently the boats between Phnom Penh and Kratie only stopped running quite recently since the road has now been upgraded and the boat was slower and more expensive they just no longer had enough travellers - pity. We're definitely going to get the boat down the river to the Mekong delta in Vietnam! The bus trip was long... especially with the mandatory stops for breakfast and lunch. I could have tasted deep fried spiders at the breakfast stop but declined.
On our first night in Kratie we had dinner with a very international crowd who we met on the bus. They were from USA, NZ, Holland, Israel, Mexico and France. It was good talking to so many solo travellers and I am definitely feeling inspired. They all spoke pretty good English but when Jono said he worked at a training school for judges and prosecutors in Phnom Penh, there was a bit of a misunderstanding. There was some surprise that such a school existed. Yes, we said, it is unusual, we don't have such schools in Australia or USA etc, it's modelled on a French school in Bordeaux. Ohhhhh, they said. A short time later, it was revealed that a couple of the group had understood that Jono worked at 'a training school for prostitutes'! I don't think I need to elaborate on the joke potential following that one...
On Saturday, we had an early start to go and see the dolphins which are about 15kms by moto from the town. Jono decided to hire a moto for the day but wasn't confident to have me on the back so I had a driver/guide and Jono followed on his own bike. It worked out really well and we had a great day. The dolphins were really cute we saw quite a few fairly close to the boat but of course always missed the perfect photo! They are a bit smaller than the 'ocean' dolphins and have a round head and small dorsal fin. It was just so strange to see dolphins in a river.
It was quite expensive (for Cambodia) to see the dolphins - US$5 per person which was $3 boat hire (to go about 200m into the middle of the river) and $2 'entrance fee' for dolphin conservation (which we later heard is partly to pay locals not to fish...). There were 6 of us on the boat so in a country were a public servant earns $20 per month, somebody made a bit of money from our 1.5 hour boat trip. Anyway, our boat driver starts saying 'I have lived all my life in this area and know a lot about the dolphins but my family is very poor and I only get paid 2000 riel a day to drive the boat, so if you give me 2000 riel (50cents), I will tell you about the dolphins.' We all decided we had paid enough already and would instead email the dolphin conservation society and tell them that the boat drivers should be paid more to educate and be part of the conservation aims. After we didn't pay him the boat driver was very pissed off and uncooperative and used the motor even though he was not supposed to because it scares the dolphins away. Apart from all that... the dolphins were wonderful!
We then continued a further 21kms along the Mekong on our motos down a picturesque but potholed and bumpy country road to a large temple where we chatted with the caretakers (I don't think they were monks because they weren't wearing orange), who were old smiling men with the worst teeth I have even seen. They showed me an illustrated book in Khmer and English on the life of the Budda, so know I understand the meaning a couple of the images we see in temples. We then had a nice lunch in a tiny village restaurant with no menu where I learnt that the Khmer word for eat can also be used for drink. I got very confused with the women asked me in Khmer if I wanted to eat a coke! Jono's Khmer is really good now - he can have conversations. I'll still too shy and have been more slack with my study.
In the afternoon we went to another temple on a 'mountain'. Well really a very small hill - but it felt like a mountain by the time we got to the top of the stairs. We got back to town exhausted and watched a beautiful sunset over the Mekong from our hotel balcony. I will try to post some photos of Kratie soon.
That was Kratie basically 'done' and we had a day to spare as Monday was another public holiday - the King's mother's birthday. We stopped in Kompong Cham, another town on the Mekong on the way back to Phnom Penh. We had a recommendation for a guide from another traveller. He was great but has not stopped calling Jono since we got back but that's another story... So we found a room, had some noodles for lunch from a market stall then set off on another temple expedition. Jono was too tired to hire a bike again so we each had a driver this time. The road to the furthest temple was even more bumpy than the day before so he made the right decision. I really enjoyed the moto ride through the villages along the Mekong. Everywhere you looked there was something small but interesting to see, people cooking on the side of the road, baby buffalo being walked along, motos carrying anything and everything from TVs to pigs.
The second temple we saw was my first glimpse of Angkor period architecture (I think this temple was from the 11th century). It was an amazing site - a 'modern' temple (about 1911) had been built in the middle of the maze of Angkor era ruins. Then following the damage done during the Khmer Rouge time, some of the temple was rebuilt in the 1980's. So there was the contrast of today's flouro paint loving super kitch buddism alongside 1000 year old brickwork and sculpture. This temple has probably been my favourite site in Cambodia so far - but of course I haven't seen Angkor Wat yet, but as our guide pointed out - the site was free. At this temple there were more toothless old men and one of them told me and Jono (albeit through my driver who I don't think would count interpreting as one of his main skills) that we both looked Cambodian because 'foreigners have blue eyes and we have black eyes' and we are short.... well maybe we are closer to Cambodian height than some foreigners but last time I checked we both still have blue eyes....
The other interesting thing we did in Kompong Cham was just walk through the markets. Because they are not as used to foreigners as they are in Phnom Penh, everyone stared at us. They seemed especially fascinated by my nose...hmmm... I know this because there was lots of smiling at me and pointing at their own comparitively smaller and flatter noses... We sat down to eat at the markets and I started to feel a bit like a zoo animal. It was an experience though!
On our first night in Kratie we had dinner with a very international crowd who we met on the bus. They were from USA, NZ, Holland, Israel, Mexico and France. It was good talking to so many solo travellers and I am definitely feeling inspired. They all spoke pretty good English but when Jono said he worked at a training school for judges and prosecutors in Phnom Penh, there was a bit of a misunderstanding. There was some surprise that such a school existed. Yes, we said, it is unusual, we don't have such schools in Australia or USA etc, it's modelled on a French school in Bordeaux. Ohhhhh, they said. A short time later, it was revealed that a couple of the group had understood that Jono worked at 'a training school for prostitutes'! I don't think I need to elaborate on the joke potential following that one...
On Saturday, we had an early start to go and see the dolphins which are about 15kms by moto from the town. Jono decided to hire a moto for the day but wasn't confident to have me on the back so I had a driver/guide and Jono followed on his own bike. It worked out really well and we had a great day. The dolphins were really cute we saw quite a few fairly close to the boat but of course always missed the perfect photo! They are a bit smaller than the 'ocean' dolphins and have a round head and small dorsal fin. It was just so strange to see dolphins in a river.
It was quite expensive (for Cambodia) to see the dolphins - US$5 per person which was $3 boat hire (to go about 200m into the middle of the river) and $2 'entrance fee' for dolphin conservation (which we later heard is partly to pay locals not to fish...). There were 6 of us on the boat so in a country were a public servant earns $20 per month, somebody made a bit of money from our 1.5 hour boat trip. Anyway, our boat driver starts saying 'I have lived all my life in this area and know a lot about the dolphins but my family is very poor and I only get paid 2000 riel a day to drive the boat, so if you give me 2000 riel (50cents), I will tell you about the dolphins.' We all decided we had paid enough already and would instead email the dolphin conservation society and tell them that the boat drivers should be paid more to educate and be part of the conservation aims. After we didn't pay him the boat driver was very pissed off and uncooperative and used the motor even though he was not supposed to because it scares the dolphins away. Apart from all that... the dolphins were wonderful!
We then continued a further 21kms along the Mekong on our motos down a picturesque but potholed and bumpy country road to a large temple where we chatted with the caretakers (I don't think they were monks because they weren't wearing orange), who were old smiling men with the worst teeth I have even seen. They showed me an illustrated book in Khmer and English on the life of the Budda, so know I understand the meaning a couple of the images we see in temples. We then had a nice lunch in a tiny village restaurant with no menu where I learnt that the Khmer word for eat can also be used for drink. I got very confused with the women asked me in Khmer if I wanted to eat a coke! Jono's Khmer is really good now - he can have conversations. I'll still too shy and have been more slack with my study.
In the afternoon we went to another temple on a 'mountain'. Well really a very small hill - but it felt like a mountain by the time we got to the top of the stairs. We got back to town exhausted and watched a beautiful sunset over the Mekong from our hotel balcony. I will try to post some photos of Kratie soon.
That was Kratie basically 'done' and we had a day to spare as Monday was another public holiday - the King's mother's birthday. We stopped in Kompong Cham, another town on the Mekong on the way back to Phnom Penh. We had a recommendation for a guide from another traveller. He was great but has not stopped calling Jono since we got back but that's another story... So we found a room, had some noodles for lunch from a market stall then set off on another temple expedition. Jono was too tired to hire a bike again so we each had a driver this time. The road to the furthest temple was even more bumpy than the day before so he made the right decision. I really enjoyed the moto ride through the villages along the Mekong. Everywhere you looked there was something small but interesting to see, people cooking on the side of the road, baby buffalo being walked along, motos carrying anything and everything from TVs to pigs.
The second temple we saw was my first glimpse of Angkor period architecture (I think this temple was from the 11th century). It was an amazing site - a 'modern' temple (about 1911) had been built in the middle of the maze of Angkor era ruins. Then following the damage done during the Khmer Rouge time, some of the temple was rebuilt in the 1980's. So there was the contrast of today's flouro paint loving super kitch buddism alongside 1000 year old brickwork and sculpture. This temple has probably been my favourite site in Cambodia so far - but of course I haven't seen Angkor Wat yet, but as our guide pointed out - the site was free. At this temple there were more toothless old men and one of them told me and Jono (albeit through my driver who I don't think would count interpreting as one of his main skills) that we both looked Cambodian because 'foreigners have blue eyes and we have black eyes' and we are short.... well maybe we are closer to Cambodian height than some foreigners but last time I checked we both still have blue eyes....
The other interesting thing we did in Kompong Cham was just walk through the markets. Because they are not as used to foreigners as they are in Phnom Penh, everyone stared at us. They seemed especially fascinated by my nose...hmmm... I know this because there was lots of smiling at me and pointing at their own comparitively smaller and flatter noses... We sat down to eat at the markets and I started to feel a bit like a zoo animal. It was an experience though!
