One of the nice things about being an ATL team was that we had to travel. During these expeditions we were able to get a good picture of what Cambodia was like.
Our local transportation was what they call a tuk-tuk. These little carts are powered by a
motorcycle and range in size from squished to roomy. The drivers try to entice you to ride with them by bypassing the question (do you want a ride) to proclaim the answer they are hopingyou will give them. O.K. TUK-TUK!!!! – we decided that their dream is a tourist who will ask to go somewhere and then immediately change his mind and wan to go back, whereupon he will discover that he indeed wants to return out, only to change his mind again…and so on.
The real interesting thing is the long distance travel- for us this was by bus. Our bus mates were a mixture of tourists and Cambodians. This meant that the characters we saw were interesting and varied to say the least. I saw people getting carsick (I think riding in large vehicles may be an acquired taste) Ladies inexplicably hauling banana tees. Little children. Old women with beetle nut stained teeth who would hold your hand lingeringly as you walk by, grinning with a thousand wrinkles.
I saw vendors at bus stops (who sometimes peddled their wares right down the bus isles), selling bread or fruit, banana chips, roasted eggs in their shells, Oreo’s, and various insects in heaps.
I saw houses on tall stilts with lacy blue trim, and green porch railings.
Cows grazing with their caves,
water buffalo wallowing in ditches,
water hyacinths blooming,
chicks flocking around their mothers.
Men fishing on endless shallow lakes.
Farmers harvesting rice by hand.
Sugar palms embraced by spindly bamboo ladders,
vendors selling dried freshwater calms. Women collecting snails,
Children begging on the streets, selling bracelets,
or sniffing glue.
Endless advertisement signs for Anchor Beer
(We soon learned to associate these with food).
And factory workers who would beam back at you for a smile! Or turn a strike into a spontaneous dance party.
I love Cambodia.
