Local village tour, Austrian surprise
After 2 days in and around Siem Reap, Sal and I were ready to get out of town and try and see some of the real Cambodia. We signed up for a local village tour with Sambouen, because he was such a sick tuk tuk driver.
I was a bit worried that it was going to be a bit of a zoo. Like ‘Okay now we go see the school, care to buy some books? Okay now we go see the basket weaving, care to buy some baskets? Okay now we go see…’ etc etc. Like visiting one of the floating villages that are touristified like crazy. Instead it was much, much more laid back, which was a nice surprise. It was basically Sambouen taking us around HIS local village, and it was a great experience.
First up we visited the NGO run school that Sam’s brother had set up. As we walked in we were immediately swamped with unbelievably adorable pre-schoolers, all shouting ‘HELLO!’ and wanting a high five. Oh my god so cute, can we adopt them all Sal?! It’s the human equivalent to having a box full of gold retriever puppies dumped on you. Good start.
We walked around the school checking it out, and then got a tour of the village, seeing the local market (including all the delicious looking unrefrigerated meat and fish), the local min-shops, and the local basket weaving collective. Holy crap could these people make amazing baskets. So cheap as well, you could buy a gigantic can laundry hamper for a couple of dollars. Good luck getting it back on the plane though.
Sal and I also go treated to an oxcart ride which was kind of fun and kind of weird. Mainly because I felt like we were on display like a couple of idiots as we meandered through the village. ‘haw haw look at the stupid whities riding the oxcart! What the hell!‘. Hey it’s novel for us guys.
We ended up hanging around Sambouens house while one of his sisters made us an amazing local lunch. Sal and I also had a really good chat with his older brother, who had set up and runs the NGO school. It was really, really interesting talking with a local who was born as one of the first kids of the first post-Khmer Rouge generations. He had such a passion for trying to help educate his local community, and they were basically starting from scratch after the Khmer Roughe dismantled the education system and slaughtered all the educated classes. I hope they burn in the deepest, darkest, level of hell for the shit that they inflicted on their own country men.
The local kids go to school for 4 hours a day at the local public school, but the facilities aren’t very good, and they come to the NGO school for 1 hour a day to learn English and another subject of their choosing, from dancing to drawing to sport. 1 hour a day to try and learn English. Because of the population boom after the war there’s 1000(!!) students enrolled in the NGO school. So many that they have to run all the classes in one hour chunks from 7am to 8pm just to fit all the kids in. Just unreal conditions and you really got to feel for them. Everyone, from the kids, to Sam’s brother with his NGO, is trying to do the best they can with not very much at all. It’s heart breaking.
I was also surprised to hear how slow progress as been development wise. The village, which is a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, only got electricity 2 years ago. 2 years!!! They still don’t have running water, they can either boil shit from a well or buy in purified drums of it. Just unreal shit, it’s like stepping back in time. The upside is that things ARE improving but god it’s like night and day when you cross the border into Thailand.
Anyway the whole day was really interesting and eye opening, and it was nice to be able to hang out and ask questions with locals. Well worth the trip!
The surprise for the day though was heading out for dinner to the local Austrian restaurant. One of the best schnitzels I have ever had, and we’ve BEEN to Austria (only a few weeks ago as well). Why does such a place exist in Siem Reap? I don’t know, but I’m glad that it did. Sal and I capped the day off with one more walk around town. I’m really going to miss Siem Reap, it’s a great little town with a wonderful vibe. We’ll definitely be back!