Ginger Exchange: Defeat of the Thai

Siem Reap means ‘defeat of the Thai’. Many years ago, in a land far far away (9^th/10^th century AD Cambodia) the Thai military had a dispute over the Thai/Cambodian border. The Thai military overtook the Siem Reap province as their territory expanded into the Angkor Wat region. The Khmers (different to the Khmer Rouge, more the ‘Khmer people’) at that time decided, in proper warfare fashion, to take it vigorously back. Hence, defeat of the time. Holla.

Only 25% of the people in Siem Reap are employers/employees – the remaining 75% are farmers. We passed several rice patty fields – often at dusk, with our hair flowing, children waving and farmers slowly lifting their heads to see who’s passing by. But so far – malaria free. Cambodia is quite a hot spot, and all my friends were grilling me about getting shots or taking malaria tablets, as they were all suddenly experts on travelling to Asia. However so far, so good. We’ll see. We’ve been pretty vigilant with insect repellent, and most of the other travellers we’ve spoken too haven’t bothered with them. But knowing me, famous last words.

The houses in the outer Siem Reap province are on stilts; for the floods that often occur in the rainy season. The locals sell fish, fruit, bottled water and gasoline in glass bottles on the side of the road…fresh eggs sit in the sun at 50 cents each, and women walk the long dusty roads making attempts to sell silk scarves. According to the BBC on third of the population live on under $1 a day. Kids sell magnets and postcards for $1, and kids are my weakness. Most of them seem to be in school, but chatting to locals revealed that they work ‘shifts’ – for example school in the morning, and then take over selling in the afternoon, and vice versa. Under $1 a day? Safe to say CG bought a fair few postcards that afternoon. Bless them.

Corruption is deep rooted in Cambodian society and the poverty is far greater than I imagined. I’ve been exposed to it before, but I’ve not met a traveller who wasn’t even the slightest bit affected or found it confronting. Day after day, it’s a little heavy. The amount of people you see still living with the consequences of landmines is horrific. More about that later, maybe.

I suppose it’s my own laziness and the general overwhelming feeling associated with the temples of Siem Reap – does it make me horribly ignorant that I can’t quite accurately put names to each photo?

Undoubtedly, yes. I’m sorry. I feel shocking, and I could have gone and Googled all the names and typed them in and written a little into about them like a Lonely Planet writer, and pretended to be someone I’m not. But I’d be living a lie. I’m too lazy, I’ve forgotten and currently the nightlife of Siem Reap awaits us. I’m no LP writer.

Sorry kids, hopefully the photos blow your intelligent minds and you forget all about it.

CG out~