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| A few miles south of Siem Reap, Cambodia — click any picture to enlarge -- |
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| country girl - peace Mister |
Dear friends and family -
Tomorrow morning I will be on the Mekong Express bus to Phnom Penh. Even with all the garbage, poverty and begging I will surely miss Siem Reap. My three days became six and I am already missing this town, and planning my return in late summer or early fall. The Cambodian people have a different nature than the Thai’s--they seem overall to be happier and less serious. Whereas I haven’t been able to connect with the children in Thailand, its easy here--they are so precious. I can now understand why, after filming The Tomb Raider at Angkor Wat, Angelina Jolie adopted one.
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| Kong Savin - master tuk-tuk driver |
I took this picture a few miles out of town. The little girl was standing outside of a shack, living in extreme poverty. She was so excited when I gave her what I realized later was a twenty-five cent bill. She lived near the place where I took one of my favorite pictures--the scene on the top of this page.
I was fortunate to find a wonderful driver during my stay here. This man drives ten miles to the city every day of the week, to support his wife and three children--driving a tuk-tuk. The competition is fierce. We adopted each other for five days--which cost around $60 total for my own private driver. Both his father and grandfather were killed in the Pol Pot Khmer Rough genocide in 1975.
I sent out an album of 100 picture of my first day at the Angkor temples. I went again today and took 150 more. The first day driver was an eighteen year old kid who in retrospect didn’t know the temples as well as Kong Savin. I took a whole new series of wonderful photos, which I will one day put into a second Angkor Wat photo album.
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| Guarding the Terrace of the Elephants |
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| Pub Alley - old town Siem Reap |
I now have a whole bunch of Cambodian children stories--like this one: I was sitting at a cafe in Pub Alley, pictured here at my seat, and a very cute ten year old boy came to my table with a bunch of post cards. He silently began flashing them in front of my face. “I don’t want any postcards.” He ignored me and showed me some more. “I really don’t want to buy postcards.” He continued ignoring me. “Do you understand English? I don’t want.” He looked at me in all seriousness. “I don’t know how to speak English. I only speak Cambodian.” I leaned back. “Humm, I see. So do you understand--get lost?” “How can I understand get lost? I told you that I only speak Cambodian.” Perfect English. I wish I would have taken his picture before I told him to beat it.
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| Flower girl - seven years old |
This little girl wanted to sell me a 25 cent Cambodia bracelet for $2. I told her that I didn’t want a bracelet, but she went through her basket looking for the right one for me. I found out that she was seven years old and was earning money to learn English. I asked if she had learned the alphabet. She went from A to Z. So cute! I ended up giving her the $2. She was surprised, and after just a brief hesitation, she gave me a rose.
The children are out in the street selling as soon as they can learn enough English to get by. They all have different scams. This one eight year old at the temple counted from one to ten in English. “That’s good,” I said, “How about Spanish?” She continued on counting from one to ten in perfect Spanish, German, French, Japanese--ten different languages in all. That was her thing. I didn’t need another bracelet.
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| Monk by Angkor Wat moat — click to enlarge -- |
I like this picture of the monk by the moat. The 2.2 mile long, 500 feet wide moat is man-made, by the way. A thousand years ago a bunch of slaves dug it out by hand. There are boats in it with people collecting algae so it doesn’t pile up. They also fish for baby clams which people sell on flat carts all over town.
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| temple boy |
One the way I stopped to take pictures of one of the huge carved faces at a gate. This boy was hanging around and I asked if I could take his picture. “Five dollars,” he said. “You have to be out of your mind,” I answered. “How about twenty five cents?” He thought about it for a few seconds, “OK--one dollar.” . . . my one dollar picture . . .
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| Carved images - this is not a spliced picture |
I found this place where they had carved hundreds of images. It’s always good to find where the art hasn’t been removed. All those severed statue heads is a shame. I have many pictures of different images like this one in the upcoming Album #2.
All around the temple complex are venders selling all sorts of touristy things. It was very hot today and it is now the off season, which means sales are down. This one gal walked a hundred yards to, in and around and back out of a temple with me--the whole time trying to sell me a $5 scarf. Her persistence and good humor paid off. At another temple this cute girl said to me, “Hey Mister, do you have a wife?” I answered, “No, I don’t have a wife.” To which she offered, “I will be your wife.” I stopped and looked at her, “How old are you?” “I am twenty.” I laughed, “Sorry, you’re too young.” She accepted that and left me alone.
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| Lily farm |
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| Siem Reap stilt home |
I have so many good pictures I am anxious to share. Outside of Siem Reap are large lily farms. There are also houses built on twenty foot high rough wood piling stilts. Right now there is mostly no water on the ground, but last August the flood water came up over twenty feet. The road this picture was taken from and most of the houses were flooded. I have many great pictures of Siem Reap and the countryside in my next album, which I will put together as soon as I can.
I have no idea what to expect next in Phnom Pehn. I was about to buy a flight from Siem Reap directly to Hanoi, Vietnam for $205. But my inner voice said “No, go to Phnom Pehn.” So I bought my $11 First Class ticket leaving at 9:45 and arriving mid-afternoon. I suppose I will have a whole batch of pictures from there before I go to Vietnam. Stay tuned.
I'll end this blog with some cute Japanese girls. Why not?
Much love always,
David Dakan Allison
btw — if you didn't get a chance to watch my Angkor Wat temple slide show, check it out here. On the right click on full screen, and on the left you might want to click "fast." Click below link for slide show:
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| — Japanese girls -- Most of the tourists here are Korean or European. English is the accepted tourist language and the US dollar the official currency |
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