Kampot and caving

A tuk tuk so bumpy and into the town
Whilst pictures of poverty all and around
It’s shocking how disparate “having” can be
A story and testament for us to see

KAMPOT, CAMBODIA

June 7, 2008

The CIHers left in Kep this weekend (the girls and JC a.k.a. Banana) decided to take a day trip to nearby Kampot and the Kampot limestone caves. We took a tuk tuk to Kampot (a gruesome 40 minute ride over bumpy unsealed roads), late in the morning, unfortunately, because people were SLOW. Checking out the market there was great – and I finally was able to get my hands on some local Cambodian fruit: greenges (that’s a made up name...they’re green oranges), rambutan, dragon fruit, and mangosteen.

(Ate the fruit over the next few days; while the dragon fruit was sort of okay and the mangosteen was good, neither the rambutan, which is really just a poor imitation of litchi, nor the greenges were any good. In fact, the greenges were awful. They’re kind of dry, not sweet and super difficult to peel. And I still have two sitting in my room. I suppose I’ll have to eat them at some point.)

Also bought a pair of flip flops for a dollar because our floor in our room is nasty. And my pretty little toes like to keep (a semblance of) clean.

Walking out of the market, I was blown away by the architecture in Kampot. It’s really quite strange, but there’s been an integration of French colonial architecture with Cambodian. So the second floors of buildings are all French and pretty while the ground floors are all...developing country-like. It’s a strange marriage; kind of like a weird plate of fusion food that you’re not really sure works all that well, but is definitely interesting and worth trying.

Lunch was at Epic Arts cafe, and this was a great experience. EA is an NGO which helps children and gives people jobs, so the majority of the serving staff was either deaf or mute. They’ve even developed their own sign language – and the sign for milk (horns over the head and then pumping action over one’s bosom) was to-die-for-hilarious. Anyways, it was such a good cause, and the staff were so friendly. Plus the food was great and I had the best shake of my life: a banana shake with cinnamon (forever known now as the Jake Shake in honour of our resident Banana).

The tuk tuks brought us out to the Kampot caves next. I was looking forward to this. I had heard about the limestone caves in the area and thought it would be pretty cool to walk around in them. It’d be nice, too to get some repose from the heat of the day by walking around in limestone, too. Sounds like a relaxing afternoon, and I was psyched.

Only...I was tricked, TRICKED, I say! We got driven into the sort of front yard to the caves and met up with local kids, who act as tour guides. They walked us across the fields near their homes, over to the side of the mountain and pointed to the first cave. There were nice stone steps inside, leading into the darkness, and inside was a 7^th century temple which has been well preserved against the elements, and so looks much younger.

And then the mayhem began.

The nimble-footed monkey children then led us back up the stairs and into the real cave, tricking us into it and we struggled hard to climb down to the bottom of the cave. It was really fun, just like rock climbing, only, without the safety harnesses, proper training, and soft soft mats at the bottom in case you fell. It was more craggly than that, and all I could think of was “oh my goodness, my insurance is so not going to cover this if I fall.”

It was so ridiculously fun though, and almost all the more so because it was unexpected. You might even call it an adventure.

Sarah: 1, Cambodian mountain: 0. That’s a win for me. Although the monkey children thought we climbed pretty slowly.

I actually got to talk to a few of the kids while I was there, snap some pictures and just observe. It’s amazing, really, how people live in those conditions, such abject poverty, and yet they’re just as normal (arguably more normal and more grounded, even) as you or I. One of the kids I met, who I named Captain Monkey because I couldn’t pronounce his name, had the best English of anyone I’ve yet met in Cambodia. He’s 14, just like Kev, only he stands about a foot shorter than me (whereas Kev now towers over me).

And it’s probably because he’s malnourished.

You should see these houses – they’re unreal. It kills me that there’s so much poverty here, sitting right up alongside the Lexus SUVs that go whizzing down the same dirt roads. The economic disparities are infuriating, and there’s so little that can be done for these people.

But what grounds me in this, what keeps me from feeling helpless (or hopeless) is that the people are so friendly. As you’re walking down the road, people will stop their motos and offer you a ride to wherever you’re going. As you’re riding through the villages in a tuk tuk the children will run after you, waving and yelling “hello, hello!” They’re so happy and oblivious of what we have available (and take for granted) at home.

And that’s why I love developing countries so much. It’s the kids.

And what this all brings to mind are the whole concepts of food security and the right to basic needs and skills. And this could be a whole other post, which I unfortunately don't have time to do right now (hopefully when I get back...or on a slow day). But, I would like to quickly mention a great NGO that I've recently interacted with while on this trip: Bridges Across Borders who do some great work in developing countries, helping poor people to take control of their lives through training in trades, education, health initiatives, motivation and whole load of other things. So if you're the type that's interested in global development, I'd check these guys out.