The road from Bangkok to Siem Reap is excruciatingly bumpy. The rumor is that some unnamed airline is paying some unnamed government official a large sum of money to slow and practically halt all road improvements. It wasn't enough to stop Sylvan and I from taking a bus across the border. Well, we thought we were taking a bus. It turned out ot be a van to the border and then a taxi once in Cambodia. Negotiating travel plans has proven to be slightly more difficult than anticipated. A private car, or taxi, was actually a good idea as it shortened the bumpy ride from the border to Siem Reap.
Sylvan, who could sleep through anything, managed to catch some Z's on the bumpy road while I watched oncoming traffic and feared for my life. I was sitting in the front, on the left side of the car. The driver was on the right and we were driving on the right side of the road. I haven't quite figured out the driving laws in Cambodia. In fact, I'm pretty sure there aren't any. Bikes pass pedestrians, motorcycles pass bikes, tuk tuks pass motorcycles, trucks pass tuk tuks, and cars and busses often cross over into oncoming traffic to pass all of the above. 
Sometimes there are lane-lines painted onto the pavement but no one seems to notice or care. Seat belts and helmets are a thing of the past, or rather, a thing of the future as they have not made it into Thailand or Cambodia. In our time here I have only been witness to one accident. No one was killed, but it was extremely sobering. Many families own motorcycles and it is not uncommon to see a family of four or five on one motorcycle. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, and babies. Yes, babies on motor-bikes. Toddlers ride between the mother and father or if there are two small children, one rides between the driver and the steering wheel. Infants are held by driver or passenger. Most of these children are not wearing helmets and I cringe when I think of any kind of collision.mingling with locals in Siem Reap
It's hard to get off the tourist track, but Sylvan and I have been trying to experience the local scene as much as we can. We walk around local markets and buy from local vendors. The market in Siem Reap was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Two city blocks full of fresh food, beautiful silk garments, and hand-made trinkets. Although the crafts were fairly interesting, what really caught my attention was the food.
To get into heart of the market, where the sell fresh fish and fresh vegetables, you have to walk past the "fresh" meat markets. I'm no expert on freshly slaughtered anything, but something certainly smelled a little "fresh" to me. Once inside the tin roofed market, there are women sitting and standing in the middle of large wooden tables, surrounded by mounds of fresh fruits and vegetables... some of which I'd never laid eyes on before. It was chaotic, beautiful and amazing. Mixed between the tables of fresh greens were small kitchens and food stands, and a few tables of fresh fish and chicken. I wouldn't be surprised if a few fish guts splattered my way as local vendors cut and ripped the fresh fish apart before my eyes."Hey mista you buy from me? Hello lady? Sir you want? One dolla." We thought we got away from crafty salesmen when we left Bangkok, but the children of Siem Reap are vicious. They're so cute and relentless! They also speak surprisingly good English. The first words I learned how to say in Khmer (native Cambodian) were no (tay) and thank you (aw coon). After telling a little boy selling postcards "tay aw coon" he laughed and said "tay aw coon, tay lee hi." He explained that "lee hi" is Khmer for goodbye. He was friendly and a little less intense than some of the other children that we had encountered so we decided to share some of our snacks with him. We gave him a Fruit-a-boo. It's like a fruit roll.
He said thank you and immediately asked for a another one for his little sister. Sylvan and I packed four fruit rolls, specifically to give to children at Angkor Wat. Another little girl ran over and we gave her one. Then the boys little sister came over. She was probably two years old and didn't say anything but just reached out her little hand. One more girl came over and grabbed our last fruit roll. Luckilly, there were no other children in sight. The kids looked at the package for a minute then quickly tore the wrapper. We told the boy not to eat the paper and he explained to the other kids. The littlest girl couldn't open the rapper on her own. She saw the other kids digging into their tasty snacks and held up the package to me and whined. I opened it for her and tore off a piece of the fruit roll so she wouldn't eat the paper. We asked the boy if we could take their picture. ---Mom, thanks for buying me a million fruit rolls from Costco. I knew they would come in handy... look, you can see the packages in the kids' hands. Thanks for helping me feed Cambodian children.---After feeding Cambodian kids, Sylvan and I decided to have lunch. The restaurant we went to was operated and owned by a local family and was more like a food stand with tables and chares a mere 100ft from the tiny shack where they lived.
The little girl that roped us in spoke English very well and explained that she goes to school at night to learn English so she can help her family with the restaurant. The food was amazing. Some kind of ginger soup served in a large coconut and the most amazing fried pinapple with rice. While we waited, we watched the girl's mother quickly, delicately, and artfully cut pineapples for other tourists. When the mother was busy cooking our lunch, the little girl grabbed the big knife and proceded to slowly, delicately, and artfully cut a pineapple for the girl at the table next to us. A whole pineapple, which took the mother 30 seconds to cut and the girl about 2 minutes, cost fifty cents. 
I decided I wanted one but didn't want the little girl to have to cut it. It looked like it was difficult for her. Sylvan jokingly volunteered to cut it for me, but we both decided it would be a good idea. The girl agreed to let Sylvan try it but watched him carefully. Her father also came over to supervise. The father laughed as Sylvan put the same care and thoughtfulness into cutting the pineapple as the little girl did. Our tuk tuk driver got a kick out of it as well. It took Sylvan about five minutes to cut the pineapple. The little girl was very surprised out how well Sylvan had done and he explained that he learned from watching her. Through a proud, wide smile, she explained that she had learned from watching her mother.elections
Many of the local people have tried to explain the ongoing conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia and between Cambodia and Vietnam. The history of Cambodia and the Khmer people is tragic and worth learning about. Their civil war started in 1970 and ended not long ago. Many innocent people were killed by the Khmer Rouge (brutal regime 1975-1979) in genocides and many more were victims of land mines. A visit to the Landmine Museum in Siem Reap and the Killing Fields site in Phnom Penh (pronounced: p-nom pen) were sad and sobering. A man that served the Khmer Rouge as a boy and became and expert on landmines has spent the last 18 years of his life de-mining rural areas of Cambodia and making his country safer for his people. When he started deactivating mines, he used a shovel to find mines in the mud, then took them apart and deactivated them by hand. He trained village people to do the same. His story gained attention and a Canadian journalist helped him start the Landmine Museum. Someone in hollywood caught wind of his story and decided to make a movie about him. "Year Zero" hits theaters in 2009. If you've got a minute, check out: http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/home.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields
There are still many scars left on the people of Cambodia and most everyone we encountered was eager to tell us how they felt about the upcoming election (July 27th). Sylvan and I caught part of a political rally before heading out of Siem Reap. The upcoming election could mean great change for this developing country.
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