You know that feeling when you're crammed in a tuk-tuk with a few Cambodians, a girl from Vietnam, a guy from Myanmar, and a six-year-old balanced in your lap? Same.
One of the Harpswell girls, called Pov* for this post, invited me to her home in Siem Reap for Chinese New Year. Pov is the youngest of five sisters and two brothers. Her family sells noodles in the market. Some of her older siblings attended a local university, but she's the only family member able to study in Phnom Penh. Many of her childhood friends sought work instead of continuing their education. One of her friends has already started her own family with two kids.
Despite the abundant tourism into the town, especially for the Angkor temples, poverty pervades. According to the World Bank, around 45% of the population lives on about 3,200 riel, or 75 cents, per day.
Pov also invited her co-workers from a local NGO to experience her home life. And so, representation from America, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia embarked on the six hour bus ride from Phnom Penh to Pov's province. The city faded into fields of palm trees and bony cattle, along with the ruling party's propaganda every few miles.
When I asked Pov how many people to expect in her home, she would only say, "my family is big." Besides a grandmother that watched Cambodian Idol for the three days we stayed there, keeping track of different family members proved a challenge. Brother after uncle after different brother filtered in and out of the home. The language barrier, on top of the frenzy of Chinese New Year celebrations, resulted in mostly smiles and waves in the place of any introductions. Knowing Khmer would have helped, and I had a heightened admiration for Pov's ability to translate. Bringing guests home is taxing enough in one language.
I slept on a mattress with Pov and her female coworker in an empty room upstairs. One morning, we woke up to a six-year-old in a Batman cape teaching us how to draw a bunny. I'm not sure this photo helps confirm that I wasn't dreaming:
Below are some more pictures of the celebration preparations. For Pov's family, Chinese New Year is centered around Cambodian food, and lots of it:
The Siem Reap page includes more pictures from sights like the Angkor temples, as well as floating villages along the Tonle Sap river.
We took trip along the floating villages along the Tonle Sap. Communities live in tall homes on stilts and survive on fishing.
From Pov's home to temple visits, my travel companions routinely reminded me how I stood out as a tourist. Take this conversation with a tuk-tuk driver:
"Aukun!" (Thank you!) - Vietnamese girl
"Oh, you could be Cambodian!" - Tuk-tuk driver
"Aukun!" - American ginger
"No. You're different." - Driver, shaking his head and laughing.
We arrived back in Phnom Penh before sunrise, and the slate-black sky reminded me that no stars peek through the city's air pollution. My time in Siem Reap may not have had toilet paper, but at least it had stars. The trip fully ended with me locked out of my room at Harpswell. A girl had gone into my room, searched through my things for my room key, and locked my door for my own benefit. Turns out my threshold for irony is dangerously low after a midnight bus journey.
Again, check out the Siem Reap page for pictures. Thanks for checking in!
*Name changed.