sorry to my loyal readers (i hope you're still out there?) for making you wait 4 months to read my next blog! hehe but better late than never, right? I'm going to try and be better about writing these for my last few months in Japan so cross your fingers I'm able to keep motivated! (sorry if some parts don't make sense or if there are typo's. I can't be bothered to look at it for one more second)
here it goes...
I knew while I was traveling that upon returning to Japan and sitting down to write this blog that there would be no way I could possibly put into words the things I experienced-walking around 1,000 year old temples engulfed by the jungle, learning a few words of Khmer in order to communicate with the children we taught, to the memories I made with my fellow volunteers. But here I am..3 months behind schedule, and I'm going to try to briefly relay to you all a handful of the experiences I had volunteering in Cambodia and then after wards traveling throughout Vietnam.
National Geographic was right in naming the PEPY trip to Cambodia, one of their "trips of a lifetime." We spent a total of 10 days in Cambodia, the first of which were part of a pre-extension trip in the capital Phnom Penh. Our group consisted of 7 teachers from Japan, a med school student from Boston, a consultant from Washington, D.C., a Japanese woman in her 60's, an American woman who had adopted 2 Cambodian children thirty years ago and had always wanted to see their native country, a British professor from Tokyo, and a young Australian couple looking for a unique travel experience. Our guides were both around my age, and work for the NGO, PEPY in Cambodia.
The pre-extension trip was an opportunity for people to see Phnom Penh and the many sights in and around it. We were busy for the entire 4 days--we visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, S21 Museum and the Killing Fields. I had no idea what a tumultuous past Cambodia has had...yet the smiles on the Cambodian people's faces are bigger than ever. Our hotel was on the river front, so we could easily explore the main markets and shops along the river, and don't forget $10 full body massages after a long day of walking around! For dinners we ate at restaurants run by ex-street children, women who were victims of domestic violence, etc..It was great knowing the places we were patronizing were actually helping people, and the food was unbeatable! We also visited an orphanage one night, funded by a Hollywood movie producer, and had the chance to see a performance on their brand new stage - what amazing kids.
We also visited Resource Development International Cambodia (RDIC), a fascinating place that is staffed with incredible people who are dedicated to serving the people of Cambodia. How? RDI has implemented various projects designed to provide clean water to rural villagers of Cambodia. It's hard to believe that 74% of all deaths in Cambodia comes from water borne diseases related to the high levels of arsenic in the ground. A big part of the work at RDI is providing education to Cambodian people, and finding ways to reach everyone due to the high illiteracy levels.
I also got to feed an elephant in Phnom Penh! She stays with her trainer near a Wat (temple) in the center of the city and waits to take people on rides around town. I don't support riding the elephants because they are usually drugged, chained, etc..but this girl seemed to be doing OK (she's 45 years old!) so I decided to pay his trainer $1 and feed him a bunch of about 20 bananas. As I approached the elephant, I asked my friends 'Do I break one banana off and give it to her? or give her the whole bunch? Where do I put it? In her trunk? or right into her mouth?' After she saw the bananas she took a step towards me with her huge feet and reached down and grabbed the entire bunch of bananas and raised them up into her mouth!! No more questions about the feeding process! After wards I stood there petting her trunk and legs..I've never touched an elephant before and the hairs on her skin were so prickly and rough! But she was very sweet and in the end I'm glad I fed her the bananas.
Phnom Penh was a beautiful city, but much more poor than I expected it to be. I thought it would be similar to Bangkok, Thailand but boy was I wrong. We visited a slum where hundreds of people live, and it's located right next to the King's Palace. Kids don't go to school in that area because they can't afford it (you have to pay the teachers under the table so that they show up to work). They have to spend their days picking through trash at landfills to find plastics and cans to sell to recycling centers. It was heartbreaking..but I had to keep in mind that I was there doing something good -however the time and money I donated would not be able to reach everyone.
When it was time to go to Siem Reap we boarded a small van and drove 6 hours over some extremely bumpy roads that were in terrible condition. Through the windows we got to see our first glimpses of the Cambodian countryside, complete with cow traffic jams! We checked into our hotel in Siem Reap and the following day got up early to make the 2 hour trek to the PEPY Ride School where we would volunteer. We were greeted by hundreds of smiling students at the school gate, anxiously awaiting our arrival. I immediately noticed how much better their English was than the Japanese elementary school students I teach. To the Cambodian children, learning English is a matter of succeeding/having a job in tourism or having a low paying job working on a farm. It was a joy teaching them because they actually wanted to learn and tried hard (not to say that 90% of my students don't try hard, it's that 10% that are difficult!). We spent the entire day at the school, helping the students paint the school fence and gate, handing out new uniforms (you should've seen the condition of the old ones), cleaning the library, gardening, putting up a volleyball net, and volunteer teaching. At the end of the day everyone was exhausted!!
The best day was our visit to the famous Angkor Wat temple complex. We toured the massive temples that make up Angkor Wat with our 4th grade buddies and played traditional Cambodian games with them on the lawns outside. The day was a great experience for everyone, and for most of the kids, it was their first time into 'the city' to see their national monument.
Spent a lot of time exploring the city, more temples, and visited the landmine museum.
Since for some reason I have developed into an incredibly lazy person...I've decided to use some excerpts from a fellow JET/PEPY participants blog (hope you dont mind Leilani, your blog is so great!) since we were on the same trip and hung out a lot together..
On Cambodian roads..."We spent a lot of time traveling around on the roads, mostly in tuk-tuks (a covered cabin pulled by a moto) and buses. Tuk-tuks are the way most foreigner groups of people travel around in Cambodia. There are a lot of them and are pretty cheap. I think the record number we fit into one was 7 people. Boy are we cheap! Anyways, they were fun to ride in for the first 5 or so minutes, then as I felt the gritty dirt in my mouth and on my face, it became less fun. To go to the school and between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap we used buses on the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. We saw many interesting things as we drove through the cities and small villages in Cambodia. Here are some of the memorable moments: cow traffic jams, water buffalo chilling in peoples front yards, families riding on motos, lots of dirt, potholes, playing chicken with oncoming vehicles, no sense of which side of the road Cambodians actually drive on, kids peeing in the open fields, tons of Dorian fruit for sale, and finally, pigs and chickens drugged and hanging off the backs of motos going to market. The roads in the city of Phnom Penh were busy, and I think I saw only one traffic light in the whole city, but it was like organized chaos. The cars, motos, tuk-tuks, bikes, and people moved fluidly around each other. We saw a few accidents, but luckily we were never involved in one!"
On visiting a famous local musician in the slums: "Then we went to visit a blind Khmer musician and his son, and listened to them play music and sing. As they played, some people from the community gathered around, so I snapped some pictures of them too. I was struck by many things here. First of all, the artist is very well known in Phnom Penh, yet the area he lived in is probably the poorest place I have ever been in. I do not mean to make fun of him or be disrespectful of the people, but I was really surprised at the level of poverty. The streets were surrounded on each side by heaps of garbage and the houses were simple tin roofs held up by a few pieces of plywood. As in the rest of Cambodia, the baby boys go bottomless, and the baby girls go topless. As we watched the men's performance, a woman who was holding her young son, turned him so that he faced away from her just as a small stream spouted out of him. I saw the ease of no pants. The music was very beautiful. The man's voice soulful. As I thought countless times on this trip, I felt so lucky to be there, doing things like listening to this private concert. I never imagined myself traveling like this and that it could be so rewarding."
I'm not going to try and write anymore,..but rather let the pictures and captions do the talking. Enjoy!
It's been a busy past 3 months, lots of traveling within Japan to different festivals, etc...Lily and I just returned from India on a whirlwind 2 week trip all over North/Central India!! I have lots to write about after that trip...and am going to need a lot of coffee to get that blog done :)
Hope you are all enjoying spring!
4 more months until I come home!!! :)
Love,
Kate
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