Life in Cambodia

First a dead Ho Chi Minh, now a real life King

Just when I was beginning to think there was nothing cooler than an old waxy body of Ho Chi Minh, Maggie and I got to see the King of Cambodia (and yes, there really is such a thing!) His name eludes me at present, so I will henceforth refer to him as The King, because I am admittedly to lazy to look it up on the internet, but that doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact we were in the presence of royalty. A mere 75 feet separated us and The King, and while I spent most of the time staring at the back of his head, it was a quite stately, monarchical back of a head. There was the oh-so-infrequent (foreign) cultural event this past weekend that could not be missed. It was an American dance company performing in Cambodia, so that Americans and Cambodians could experience each others culture. For the most part though, the place was packed for foreigners hungry for anything familiar, with the odd Cambodian sprinkled here and there. It was my first foray into modern dance, and it was….um,..how to say….interesting. Afterward though, we dropped in on the swankiest hotel in town to see a Cuban band, who were really good. So you see, there is not suffering in Phnom Penh, watching dance, hanging out with The King, eating good Spanish tapas and watching Latin Americans getting down to a Cuban band. This to can be yours!

The rainy season is (or so I am told) puttering out, but you wouldn’t believe it. Its been raining hard, so much so that most of the neighboring province is underwater, and has been for sometime now. When we drive from Svay Rieng to Phnom Penh, what used to be miles and miles of rice paddies is just one very large lake, and I can only imagine what that does to people’s livelihoods out here. Once the rains stop, I think it is going to cool down, but its still pretty hot here. I want to go to a place where I do not sweat. When I wake up and look outside my door, only look mind you, I start to sweat, as if the heat had been patiently waiting for me to awake. At least it gave me that much. It is a thick, stifling heat that you cannot really escape, though admittedly sometimes it seems as if it has actually gotten a little cooler…only a little. Even sitting motionless in the shade, you cannot help but to sweat for no other reason then the fact that you’re in Cambodia, and that is what you do here. In Svay Rieng, there are two things you will do everyday….sweat and eat rice.

And while I have only been here a few months, I miss the winter that has not yet come. Perhaps I mourn something that I know I will miss; like knowing you will not see an old friend for a long time. You think of him often, of the times you had and of that day you shall meet again. How nice it will be to feel the chill in my bones, to see my breath, the falling leaves, snow, the air so crisp it crunches underfoot. When will that be? I do not know. But oh, how I love the changing seasons. Perhaps it is not yet cold there, but soon enough, with the coming of fall, the leaves will change, and there will be days of the falling snow, sitting near fires with your friends and talking of things past and things present. I, here, will sweat, as I did yesterday, and as I will do again tomorrow and the next. My experience here in Cambodia is that we have two seasons, hot and wet, and hot and dry. Such is life so near the equator, as they do not call it the tropics for nothing. I should be grateful though, that our house has fans, and our bedroom even has A/C, though there are times I cannot decide if that is a blessing or a curse. Is it a refuge from the beating sun or does it only serve to remind us of colder climates that seem now, to be but dreams? Regardless, it is nice, and if these fans and A/C force the heat to wait patiently outside my door for me to awake, than I am truly thankful.

Everyone should be happy to know that I have finally gotten paid at my job, and while it is but a drop in the bucket, at least now I can buy my own beer. Our little moped/motorcycle, “The Green Vegetable” continues to run, and I wait patiently for the day when one of two things will happen 1) it dies 2) I get run over by a Cambodian. The driving in Cambodia is awful, and I’ve seen my fair share of bad driving in this world. Even the short morning drive from our home to the office is like running a gauntlet. Sometimes I really think people here have a death wish. Maybe its Buddhism, karma, or something. You walk/play/stand/ in the roads, figuring if you get run over, its for sins in a past life or something. I don’t know, but I’ve come pretty close to sending a few folks over (not to mention any number of animals), and quite a few Cambodians have gotten close to finishing off yours truly as well. Perhaps it is karma (and the fact I am still alive shows what an exemplary life I lived in the past, perhaps I will achieve Enlightenment in this life or the next).

While I have your rapt attention, I wish to break into song/poem. Ahem,……

My Svay Rieng, oh my Svay Rieng, so peaceful and serene
My Svay Rieng, oh my Svay Rieng, ‘ner a foreigner to be seen

You have nice fruit and good vegetables too
But no milk and no cheese, oh boo-hoo, boo-hoo

We eat rice every day in the only restaurant
There is nothing we can’t have, except that which we want

The iced coffee is good, so sweet it hurts the teeth
Like a single coffee bean with a pound of sugar beneath

The beer is expensive and they drink it with ice
So for a man with no salary, an unattainable vice

I dream of college football and the Aggies on TV
But small boys kicking a ball is the only sport to see

The sun is so very hot, it beats me down
Once was so white, now so very brown

I sweat all day and into the night
And the mosquitoes are vicious, oh how they bite

Of big nasty spiders, oh our house was full
They had to die the slow death, Maggie calls me cruel

But with their big beady eyes watching from the wall
Ready to pounce no doubt, I couldn’t sleep at all

The ants raid the house and make it there own
And could carry off a small child if I left them alone

But with the ants, spiders and skeeters I do battle
And with the grasshoppers so big, they could no doubt wear a saddle

But along the rice paddies, our bikes we now ride
For in Svay Rieng, our time we must bide


Next time – the Temples of Angkor, as quoted by Matt Lucas, “one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.” Stay tuned!

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 7:42 AM