After 3 weeks in Nepal, I was ready for the familiar caucasian faces of Ricky and Michelle who had been teaching English in Bangkok up until the day we arrived. While I am fairly comfortable with the colour of my skin and general appearance, I did become relatively self conscious after either: “but people in South Africa are black”; or “you need to buy a ticket” as streams of locals cruised in past security, yet we were identified as the type that would need to pay in order to see the site. After numerous encounters of this nature, the standard exchange became:
Security guard of sort: “You need ticket”
Me (with a look of surprise as ‘locals’ walk in hassle-free): “Is it because I am white?”
Security guard of sort: “You need ticket… buy over there”
Me (still faking the look of surprise): “I see these other people don’t seem to need tickets”
Security guard of sort: “Ticket over there”
Success of these exchanges: fruitless. While I understand that rife poverty in Nepal necessitates the distinction between ‘tourist’ and ‘local’ in one of their largest income producing industries, I am offended by the manner in which the distinction is made, based purely on looks. A battle with which I am not going to engage on my holiday; so moving on then.
As Ricky and Michelle had been based in Thailand and only had a few precious days for exploring left before heading back to South Africa, they were keen to head swiftly on to Cambodia which they had yet to visit. Kara and I were keen for this agenda as this meant finishing up in Thailand and hopefully some time out on some amazing islands there. And Cambodia did not disappoint.
Due to time constraints we planned two main stop offs in this country with a soon to be discovered wonderful vibe: Siem Riep and Phnom Penh. My expectations of both were unfounded and limited, based on some pictures I’d seen of Angkor on the web and some my brothers had taken. But nothing could quite prepare me for the incredible ancient temples in their various states of ruin and restoration up close. Siem Riep is also an incredible town-base from which to explore the area. Phnom Penh threw some city buzz and astounding history at us which saturated me with a wide range of emotions: distressed; ecstatic; vanquished; vivacious; and more.
The pictures selected err on the experiences associated with the awesome rather than the tragic:
Exploring the incredible pagodas and temples in Bangkok
The electric chaos of the streets in Bangkok
Temples of Angkor were incredible
The caucasians
Temples of Angkor
Ta Prohm is overrun by the trees and flora in general
Angkor Wat at sunrise
Angkor Wat
Jay taking us to the Killing Fields on a tuk tuk
Travelling allows you to meet some great people and Jay is one of them
Bracelets left in memorial/condolence at the Killing Fields
The temple filled to the roof with the skulls of some of the thousands killed
No comments:
Post a Comment