Nosh Posh

Hola blogosphere. Got this from my best bud Stef and thought the world should read it. Not nosh or posh in any way except to highlight that everyone deserves to nosh posh- and by that I mean live well as opposed to surviving and eat well as opposed to begging and scraping by. Rynn

Stef writes::

Sawasee khaa, everyone! Gin kow reu yang?

I hope this finds you all well. I’m back in BKK after a week in Cambodia , and whew, am I glad to be “home”! Cambodia is a trip of a lifetime and everyone should probably visit once before they die. That being said, I was glad to leave it. If Thailand is the beautiful woman with an ironic smile that stole my breath away, Burma a hunched grandmother with broken teeth and tired eyes, and Loas a wild child with dirty knees and crooked grin, then Cambodia is a broken man with upturned hands and down cast eyes whose very existence shamed me. It is truly a third world country full of scarred people and an economy going nowhere fast. If Laos was poor, Cambodia was poorer. I went wearing all my best emotional armor and still felt stabbed in the gut. I thought bearing witness to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and paying respects at the killings fields would be the worst (and most important) part of my trip, but the poverty and desperation in the capitol city, Phnom Phen was worse. The govt is the worst in the region next to that of the Myannmar junt with many of the officials rumored to have ties to the former Khmer Rouge govt. whose former soldiers by the way are still alive and well in the country, often living side by side with the family members of those they killed and getting veterans retirement kickbacks to shut up and stay out of trouble. The govt seems to care little for the people and there are not enough social programs to provide for the poor. Make no mistake about this, the killing fields are not gone, the Cambodian people are still dying because of their government, but the deaths are slower and more indirect. They have no dignity in the system and no other options available. All the money in the country’s economy is focused in Siem Reap/ Angkor Wat and in Phnom Phen where virtual palaces (for corrupt govt officials and tourists) are being built up next to tent cities housing the people upon whose backs the country rests. The govt has forcibly evicted people from the shacks they owned into slums outside the city to build on their land because it is so valuable. Yet for a city in the midst of institutionalized “beautification” it is the dirtiest and ugliest I’ve ever seen. Uncollected trash piles up on the same sidewalks where street children sleep and workers eat from food stalls lined up on the opposite side of filthy streets. There is no public health system to speak of, education is hit and miss, and begging is so common place that you learn to ignore the one-legged men and crying children. Scamming and theft is common there, and was by far the place I have felt the most threatened in SE Asia . Comparitively, BKK feels as safe as SLO. It was a relief to get on a 6 hour bus ride to Siem Reap, a synthetic town based on tourism near the Ankor Wat heritage site. Because of tourist police, the worst that will happen to you there is being hassled at every corner by Tuk Tuk and moto taxi drivers trying to make a living. Angkor wat is the seat of national pride, gracing every bill of money and every sign, brochure, and company slogan. It is perhaps the only thing that the country has to be proud of right now. It costs a whopping $20/day to visit (And it is very heavily toured by visitors from all over the world) but the amount of work being done to preserve it is minimal (my what could the govt be doing with the money?) and if it is not better protected soon, there might be one less wonder of the world to visit because the wats are fading fast. The murals are decaying and already all of the Buddhas have been stolen or had their heads removed by looters. My advice to you all, see it soon if you are going to. That being said, the grounds are gorgeous and the temples are awe-inspiring. There is no shortage of wonder to be found at every turn and the history of it is truly impressive. It IS worth it, and I am glad I went.

After 5 days in Cambodia I made the treacherous 10 hr trip by land back to BKK. Mind you the only reason the roads are as bad as they are is because the govt has neglected to have them paved due to pressure from certain airlines who would like tourists to continue flying out of Phnom Phen at inflated prices and with a $25 exit fee for leaving the country. My friend paid $150 to leave Cambodia by plane. I paid $12 but suffered for it. I’m glad I did, Damn the Man!

All in all it was the trip of a lifetime and I will probably never return in this life.

Now, back in BKK, I’ve settled down into an apartment where I’ll stay for the next month or so to work on a Burmese community education project doing secondary research and compiling data for an NGO newsletter. I will be getting summer school credit for it and working on my senior project at the same time so I’m basically still in school here even though my classes finished 2 weeks ago. My travels are winding down and the work is starting so I beg you to forgive me if emails become infrequent. I will of course keep people updated if anything exciting occurs and pics will be made available for those who want them.

I hope you are all well and happy and I’m keeping my circle of family and friends in my prayers consistently. Please drop ME an email if you get a chance to let me know how you are and keep me abreast of the gossip in the Central Coast .

Lah Gorn khaa,

Stef::

::end Stef

God I love her!