This is Asia!

Sunday 6/21/2015

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. My omelet with Kampot pepper, ham, cheese and mushrooms was just what I needed to replenish my energy. I was low on cash, but luckily with the omelet, juice and large water my total came to $6.25. It was pouring rain again so our beach plans were squashed. As we started walking into town our tuk-tuk driver from yesterday pulled over to ask us for our plans. The nine of us decided, per his suggestion, to rent a van for $80 to take us up and around the sights of the national park. Before our driver picked us up we purchased brightly colored ponchos for $0.50 a piece.

The ride from Kampot town to the park entrance took around thirty minutes. The road curved around leading up the mountain. It was raining when we began, but as we drove the fog took over obstructing much of our view. We stopped first at an old abandoned Catholic Church. The rain and fog made the beat up and graffitied building even more erie. Bright green moss covered one of the walls. 

Our second stop was either an old palace or an old casino, depending on who you ask. It was obviously once very opulent. It had been raining all morning so the inside was wet with puddles that stood up to a few inches deep. The reflections of the light from the windows on the puddles were beautiful. Surprisingly, there were families sitting on the ground in there having lunch. I explored the many floors alone apart from the group. I was on the top floor looking out when I noticed several of them in their Easter egg colored ponchos making their way to the car. I tried unsuccessfully several paths to make my way out. When I arrived last at the van they were already discussing who would go in to find me. 

Our next stop was a "waterfall." There was a large building with people inside eating at picnic tables. We found out later they didn't serve food there, so all of those people had brought their own elaborate dishes in styrofoam containers. You could hear the rushing water from the path. When I saw how wide the river was I was excited to see the falls. Sadly, the path stopped at the top of the falls so you really couldn't see anything. I'm still shocked they had built such a large building to have at this site and that so many people were gathered there. 

We got back in the van and it was still raining. We asked the driver what else there was to see around the area. Having heard about a damn, he got on the phone with his friend to figure out where it was. He timidly drove the roads leading to the damn, obviously not really knowing where he was going. This may have been the creepiest of our morning destinations. There were more of the swan boats siting on the water, neglected. It was foggy over the body of water, it was hard to tell how large it was. 

We raced back to the van as not to get the seat that was falling apart on the long ride back to the city. I wouldn't say it was a morning wasted, but it is not how we thought we would be spending the day. I think I got some good pictures and we definitely had some laughs.

By the time we arrived back in Kampot it was almost three and we were starving. We sat down for lunch at The Rusty Keyhole. The sign said "best ribs in Kampot" and it came highly recommended by some other volunteers. Out front they were basting and grilling large hunks of meat. It smelled delicious. Jen and I split a "toasty" (a grilled ham and pineapple sandwich) and the ribs. I ordered a large water and she had a beer. The food was amazing and there was a lot of it, the total between us was $9.50. I highly recommend it!

We had time to kill so we walked around town in the rain. I had seen a sign at the restaurant advertising a sustainably and responsibility made clothing store, so when we passed it I made everyone go in. I got a $10 t shirt with a graphic of one of the prayer boxes printed on the front. It was more expensive than items sold in any of the markets, but I appreciate their mission. We strolled through town a it before having dessert. I had a banana cream pie and small coconut cookie for $2.25. Both had great flavor, although the cookie was a little dry. As we were walking back to the Mad Monkey to catch a ride home the fishing boats were headed out for the day. The colorful boats travelled in a pack under the Kampot bridge and past town. 

We hoped in the van for home. After only a few minutes, the driver stopped in the middle of an intersection. He hopped out and two young men jumped in. As the first driver waved his goodbyes, I couldn't help but think "what the hell is happening?" I worried we were involved in a scam or worse. We drove about ten minutes in the correct direction and my nerves calmed a bit. As soon as I was feeling more confident, we pulled over again. Our already full van was picking up what seemed to be a hitchhiker. He settled in comfortably in the front seat with the young man who I hope he already knew. They were in for a long ride sharing a bucket seat. I was still concerned, but considering the language barrier all I said to the driver was "Phnom Penh?" At first his expression said no, but then he nodded yes. I looked to my travel companion, Rannva to see if she and I shared these thoughts. She responded to my worried look with an enthusiastic "This is Asia!!"  We drove anther thirty minutes and dropped one of the front passengers off. The other guy took a brief stop to grab a snack at a food stand selling a variety of fried insects. We drove another hour before stoping on the side of the road again, this time for two bottles of water and a pack of gum. As soon as we arrived in Phnom Penh, we had another dilemma, did these guys know where we were going? The answer soon became obvious. At this point I was no longer nervous about being kidnapped but rather only about how to give directions to someone with this language a barrier. We handed them a card with the information of the star house. The talked back and forth with one another before making a phone call. We soon arrived in a familiar area. These guys obviously didn't know where we were going because they pulled over to ask directions. When they did I took matters into my own hands and propped myself on the bench between them. I gave directions by pointing with my arm, left, right or straight until we were firmly home in front of the star house. These poor guys had to listen to us freak out a bit at every stop and to us singing to music until our speaker ran out of juice. Afterward they blared music of their own. I didn't much like most of it, but the Cambodian rap song that came on toward the end of the ride was catchy. I'm sure they will be telling stories about us about as long or longer than we will be telling stories about that ride.

$5.25 Omelet with Kampot pepper and water
$9 $80 van split for the day to the mountains of Kampot
$4.75 Lunch at The Rusty Keyhole Toasty, Ribs and large water $9.50 split 2 ways
$2.25 slice of banana cream pie and a cookie
$10 $90 van back to Phnom Penh split 9 ways
Today's Total: $31.25

Spicy

Saturday 6/20/2015

Kampot and Kep

Today I woke up in Kampot. Having not seen the city last night we weren't sure quite how far we were from the city center. We grabed a tuk-tuk outside the hostel and made our way to town. The cost was $2 split five ways. I ened up spending the equivalent of $0.50. We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant by the water with obvious French influence, Veronica's Kitchen. I ate a breakfast of a French crepe with lime juice and honey and a bowl of locally grown fruit. It was a large breakfast and cost $5.25.

We debated back and fourth about renting a motor bike to travel the area. While still debating on the tuk-tuk ride from breakfast (another $0.50) our driver piped in and offered his services for the day. Five of us opted for the tuk-tuk tour while the other four rented bikes.

The first stop was the salt fields. For some reason I thought all salt came from the large rocks like the pink ones sold in specialty cooking shops. I was so wrong. The salt fields were large wet indented squares in the ground. Apparently, during the dry season the water dries up leaving the white crystalline salt. We were the only tourists there, eagerly snapping photos. We peered into a small building that housed mounds of salt. Salt is very cheep here.

The second stop our driver called a fishing village. It was only a small row of huts and boats along the river. I would have driven right past it had I not known it was there, or rather in this case not had a driver tp point it out. I was drawn to the bright colors of the simple wooden fishing boats. One fisherman sat on his dock fixing his net, he didn't seem to care about us tourists.

We drove through the country side dotted with farms growing rice and sugar cane. There were many white malnourished looking cows, fat oversized pigs and skinny balding chickens. At the entrance to the cave we were greeted by a shirtless man. He was happy to pick up a crab and show us it's many babies hiding underneath it's belly.

We paid a one dollar entrance fee and made our way up the two hundred and three steps leading to the cave's entrance. The cave was tall but not deep. It housed a small temple. We could hear the bats but I only saw one dart across from one cave surface to another.

The next stop is called secret lake, although it's really not a secret. The view was pretty, but I was distracted by a very tacky large bright white boat shaped like a swan that you can apparently rent in town. I asked our driver, they don't even have swans in Cambodia!

We stopped at the Starling Farm.  There they grow the pepper for which Kampot is famous. I again was surprised as to where a spice came from.  I did not expect the rows and rows of brick towers with pepper plants growing up them. I had seen peppercorn before, so I did know to look for the round peppercorns on the plant.  Our tuk-tuk driver picked a stream of peppercorn off the plant.  The round balls of pepper where green and red.  He told us it was free to taste and gave us each one of the green peppers. I bit into the peppercorn without hesitation.  It was spicier than I expected and my mouth was on fire. He laughed and said "see why it is free to taste, no one eats much!" He explained that the red colored corns made both the red and white pepper, depending on if the red shell is or is not left on. I tasted the red and it was sweeter and less spicy than the green whose spice was still lingering in my mouth. We went to the shop inside where I stocked up on gifts for my family and friends at home who love to cook.

We stopped in Kep around two thirty. We paid the driver six dollars per person for our morning together. It was raining a bit when we sat down to eat at The Crab Kitchen. We had a table on the edge of the restaurant right by the ocean. Jen and I decide to spilt the Kampot pepper crab. (We planned to meet the others at six for dinner) not long after we had started eating it began to pour! They quickly rolled down the rain cover to separate us from the outside. Soon water came in like a waterfall from the ceiling. We hunkered down and ordered another beer. The crab was amazing, definitely worth the work I was doing and the mess I was creating trying to eat it. Toward the end of our meal we were joined by an Italian man who had moved to Cambodia two years prior.  He bought a bottle of wine and told us about his time in Asia.

We decided to walk down to another place for more beer.  There was little chance of us seeing much if any of Kep today. We played the game heads-up.  I felt like I could be anywhere in the world, playing games and drinking beer.  This experience was not unique and it felt strange doing something so ordinary. It was still pouring down rain and we became worried about the others joining us.  Kep is about a twenty-five minute ride from the Mad Monkey in Kampot and they were on motorbikes.  We finally got ahold of them when on wi-fi via facebook messenger, most of us don't have call service here in Cambodia. They opted not to join us, and I for one was disappointed but thankful for their safety.  It was the right decision.  Having heard from the Italian earlier that the place we had lunch was one of the best in Kep, we went back for dinner. I ordered crab again, it had been so good, but this time I opted for crab curry.  It was just as delicious and an even bigger mess.  The owner of the restaurant also had some affiliation with a tour company.  She called us a cab and gave us a discount on the ride back for eating at her place. We decided to stay another night at the Mad Monkey to avoid spending time looking for another place, not because we were impressed with them.  They moved us to a three person room for the night. 

If ever in the area, I highly recommend hiring a tuk-tuk for the day to take you around the sights and eating at The Crab Kitchen.  I wish you better luck with the weather. 

$0.50 $2 tuk-tuk split to breakfast

$5.25 breakfast at Veronica's Kitchen

$0.50 $2  tuk-tuk split back to Mad Monkey

$1 entrance to cave

$29 gifts of pepper

$6 $30 tuk-tuk tour for the day split

$5.75 Kampot crab split and two beers

$8.50 curry crab and two beers

$5 $20 taxi spit back to Kampot

$8 night at the Mad Monkey

Today's Total:$69.50

I'm too old for this

Friday 6/19/2015

Today we had lesson planning in the morning and teaching in the afternoon. We went to the Russian Market to purchase some school supplies for our lesson then sat down at a coffee shop to plan. On Fridays fifth graders and sixth graders compete in soccer. We taught one hour only and then the boys went to play. We were left with the girls and thought at first we were going to teach them a lesson, but no. During this time we were supposed to play games. We played hangman and searched for words on the board. It started storming and the wind and rain came into the classroom. The storm stopped just in time for us to go out to watch the girls soccer match. They weren't very good, and our sixth graders lost the game. But it looked like they were having fun. We talked to their teacher Sreymom a bit and found out she was twenty five. She too looks young for her age.

On the way home we had two strange experiences. First we were stopped at a corner in traffic. We saw a pan that held the heads of dogs cooking. You could easily make out their jaw line and their teeth looked even whiter next to their charred cheeks.

Second, our driver stopped at a shop on the side of the road, he told us to wait one minute. I guess he saw a pair of shoes he liked, because he took off his shoes and tried on a pair of black rubber ones. I don't know if the price was wrong or if they didn't fit, but he got back in and we were on our way again. Can you imagine if a taxi driver stopped to go shopping? Things are definitely slower paced and not quite on a schedule here. 

After dinner we got in a hired van to take us to Kampot for the weekend. Since we had to leave after work we were going to be home too late to take the last bus there. It worked out to be the same price since there were nine of us. The ride was about three hours. We couldn't see much of what we passed along the way because it was already dark. When we arrived at the Mad Monkey around nine we were tired but ready to check it out. This hostel is obviously geared to young party travelers. I couldn't help but think, I'm too old for this! They showed us to our shared bunk space. There where things on one of the beds to which we were supposed to be assigned. I was honestly relieved when they moved two of the three of us to a private room. We went down to the bar where I got hit on by a young British guy before returning to the comfort of my group. At least he didn't think I looked too old to be here. 

$3 tuk-tuk ride each way split

$3 pair of scissors and two notebooks

$1.25 two packs of construction paper

$2.50 mixed juice

$1.25 cookies

$10 $90 van ride split nine ways

$5 night at the Mad Monkey 

$3 cubre libre 

Today's Total: $29.00