Really Japan was only for a layover. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know anything in Vietnamese, Camai, or Japanese. I'd like to be able to communicate at least a little in the local language even to just say hello, please, and thank you.
Other than some of the real outlying places in Cambodia, everyone knew some English. Some better than others, but everyone knew enough to be able to communicate reasonably well.
Almost everywhere signs are in two languages - the local language and English. Not just at airports, but everywhere. Even Siem Reap which is a growing town, all the road signs are in English and the Camai alphabet. The Tokyo airport has Japanese script and English. Most menus I saw were included English. The official currency of Cambodia is the Riel, but it's only used for small amounts. Most all transactions are in US dollars. They don't have US change, so anything smaller than $1 is a Riel, otherwise you can just pay in dollars. The ATMs dispense US dollars.
I guess I would have expected some signs to be in French (the international language of diplomacy) or not even to have a second language at all, but everything does.
I'm really amazed at how easy it is to get around and communicate. The world is really becoming a smaller place, or at least really easy for Americans, Brits, and Aussies to get around.
It's not the most up-to-date stuff, but you hear it. Some of it sounds like it might be straight from Muzak (which services music for elevators). A lot of it is straight from the 70s and 80s, stuff you haven't heard in years! At our hotel in Da Nang, there was a singing group from the Philippines - two women singing with a man playing a keyboard. They were singing in English and lots of stuff from the 80s and early 90s. Some popular stuff, but some stuff that even I haven't heard. They tried covering Eric Clapton's Cocaine - yikes!
At 5'10" I believe I'm officially slightly taller than the average American male, or at least somewhere in the ballpark. Somehow it usually feels like I'm standing around with those that seem taller.
Here in Asia, I'm tall though. I can walk down a walkway full of Asians and easily see over the heads of most. It was that way in Vietnam and here in Tokyo. The men in Cambodia seemed a little taller, but not much.
The all look healthy as well. I've seen very, very few Asians who are overweight, much less obese. By contrast, when I see Americans, most seem huge in comparison to the Asians and stand out quite a bit. I wonder what I look like at times. On my flights from Tokyo to Saigon I believe I was either the only or one of a very few Caucasians on the plane. I wonder if I stand out - I'm sure I do, but I don't notice much.
We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Siem Reap owned and operated by an American who has been there five years. While he is quite intelligent and quite knowledgeable, I sometimes wondered if what he was saying was truth or exaggeration or opinion.
According to our host, five years ago there were only a few hotels in Siem Reap and it had a population of 10,000. There are now dozen of hotels and quite a few really nice ones and the population is at 80,000. The main streets look recently paved, but are already full of traffic.
The tourists are mostly Koreans and Japanese, next are Australians and Americans.
The people in Cambodia are very friendly and most speak some English. At times it's almost embarrassing how much English there is everywhere. The war seems behind them and they seem happy. There were a number of Cambodians working at our bed and breakfast and all were very helpful and kind.
The temples are amazing! The size and scale and history is so interesting and they are all different. It's amazing what they built in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th century.
There is clearly money coming in, especially looking at the hotels and all the tourists. It's hard to tell if it's going to everyone or just a few people. There are more cars in Siem Reap than in Vietnam and more nice homes, but you still have a traditional home built from the land and with anything next to the really nice homes. It's quite an odd juxtaposition. Our host said there's quite a bit of corruption and bribery and based upon what I saw I would tend to mostly believe him.
If you are coming to Asia I would definitely say to extend your trip several days and at least visit Siem Reap, though I don't know about the rest of the country. In another couple years, Siem Reap will be another city and tourist area altogether. I don't know if I would make a trip just for Cambodia itself, but it can easily be combined with another areas in Asia.
Two mornings we sat on one of the corner towers of the Angkor Wat Buddhist temple and watching the sunrise. We were perhaps 80 feet high overlooking the surrounding jungle. From there we could hear the forest wake up. All kinds of tropical birds with their various sounds and calls. Monkey calls in the distance. Crickets silencing after a long night of calls.
Three evenings we watched the sunset from Pre Rup, another temple around Siem Reap. We were 60 feet up and overlooking the area. Some jungle, but not as dense, but plenty of rice paddies. There was a group of homes nearby and each evening around 5:00 the cows with their cowbells would be driven home by youngsters. Again we heard various birds and lots of crickets.
The bed and breakfast we were staying at was somewhat in the middle of a neighborhood with its own oasis of sorts. From the neighborhood we could hear kids playing, babies crying, dogs barking and a wedding that seemed to be constantly happening. Inside the oasis we could hear frogs, crickets, and all kinds of bugs. What a cacophony of sound!
We visited a half dozen temples, a few major tourist areas and a few way off the beaten track. Each has a wonder of sounds.
I will miss the jungle sounds and am looking forward to the silence of my home in Boulder.
The locals were out early to play, do their stretching, bathe a little, and commute. I was enjoying the soft sand in my toes as the warm waves lapped the shore leaving what seemed like lines of art.
I've heard about it and even seen it in movies - it really exists!
I suppose the only thing that could make it even better would be to walk that with a beautiful woman as my partner.
Ahh - but the food here is amazing! Every bit of food here is amazing! Everything tastes different as well. Even basics like tomatoes and cucumbers taste different. Everything feels and tastes really healthy and local and fresh.
Last night I tried Eel with saffron - wow! so good! I also had my first Margarita, a passion fruit Margarita, a little too good :-) I've had some odd looking fruit that are great.
The hotel we are at is a more traditional American/European breakfast, but lots of everything and it's all really good. Almost every meal has been Vietnamese something and it's all good. Somehow our crew likes getting French Fries, though over here all the menus say French Fried. They are so different here. I think the potatoes are different. The oils are different that's for sure - very good and they feel very healthy. We've had morning glory and spinach with garlic fried up - yummm!
Anyway - lots of awesome food - I'm surprised and very glad!
I arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City and the smell was sweet, tangy, pungent, moist, fresh, mixed with the exhaust of 2-cycle engines.
Driving around you can smell different flowers. You can smell different spices and flavorings from restaurants and homes.
The ocean has a bit of a salt smell, but it's clean and refreshing. Even the sand has a small, but it's not dry.
The cabs have air conditioning so cool and mechanical.
Today was a lot of oil-based paint smell, but still so moist and pleasant in the area.
The foods have amazing smells and I'll write about foods later.
Last night we were along the river in Hoi On with a mix of sweet smelling food with grimy water smell, but still very natural and fresh.
Of course there's the occasionally wafts of body odor as we sweat it out here!
It's all so different from the normal city type smells I'm more used to.
Vietnam is another world - wow! I'll write more later. Off to breakfast and then to work.
In Da Nang and Hoi An where we are there aren't very many Caucasians and most are European or Australian, not American. The tourists in Cambodia are mostly Koreans and Japanese and then a few Australians and American. With all of that, we tend to stand out quite a bit.
It's surprising how much is in English. Most menus are Vietnamese or Cambodian and English, with a few in French. Most people can speak some English, or enough to get by with a minimal conversation. Today we went to My Son which is a UN cultural heritage site. The text there was in Vietnamese and English. The hotel we are at - Sandy Beach - seems to be very conversant in English though we are pretty sure the hotel is European-owned since the room guide is also in German besides English. Our Bed and Breakfast in Cambodia is owned by an American.
There is so much to describe of Vietnam and Cambodia, or at least the area we are in. Even the most remote parts of America don't feel this simple or old world. I begin to wonder how much one person or even a small group of people can make in a country like this. It’s not that they don’t need or even want help, but where to begin and how to help seems like a huge question.
You have to readjust what a standard of living means. In Hoi An, I’ve heard the average monthly salary is the equivalent of $60-$80 USD. That hardly seems like anything to an American, yet most people seem to have a home, food, transportation – and they seem happy. They don’t have the 2000 sq ft, air conditioned, two-car garage of the average American with two cars, but they don’t seem to need it either.
Siem Reap is similar. In talking with Brandon, our American host at the Bed and Breakfast, banking is a very new concept in Cambodia, ATMs only arrived 3 years ago. Mortgages and credit are expensive with interest rates over 25%. This certainly affects the economy and locals.
This isn’t to say there aren’t poor people (relatively speaking), or unhealthy or malnourished. It just means it’s harder to distinguish what the difference really is.
It’s clear from being in these areas that cultures and societies have to move forward together in their own time and their own way. How this happens is a mystery to me, but it does happen.
There are areas that could use improvement – fresh water. Water for consumption needs to be bottled because the quality or clarity of tap water isn’t that great. What if the water was better? What does that mean for infrastructure? How does that change life?
Another question – are they malnourished? Perhaps, perhaps not. They’ve been eating and surviving on the same diet or a long time – that is local foods. The environment provides what they need, otherwise they move on. What if they had different foods (potato chips), how would that change their world? Would they live longer? What would that mean?
All-in-all seeing two similar but different cultures puts a different spin on livelihood and standard of living. It makes you think about life a little more and appreciate what we do have in the US.
The orphanage is another example. At the orphanage we worked there were 25-30 kids ages 9-14, none of them up for adoption. They had beds; they had a roof, they were going to school, they seemed to have plenty of food. They had a couple of house parents who really looked after them, they had 25-30 brothers and sisters – they had love and a family. What were they really missing? Not much, all things considered. Will they have opportunities to change their life in the future – who knows.
Anyway – just a few thoughts on perspectives of the world.