since we've been doing the tourist thing for the last week or so, i've made an effort to be aware of how we (both kyle and i and rich white tourists in general) interact with the local community. it's difficult to really understand, because most of the places we've visited are popular destinations, and so the tourist experience is somewhat inevitable, but we've had glimpses of something more, and it has been extremely rewarding.
hua-hin was a depressing place to start. the city is a hot spot for puffy, older white people to lounge under umbrellas at the beach and be waited on hand and foot. they sip pina coladas while brown hands massage their fleshy, sun-seared bodies. at night, the streets are overrun by a number of white-haired, pot-bellied men parading around with disturbingly mis-matched and likely under-aged "thai girlfriends." it was a good place for cheap internet, but the city catered so overwhelmingly to a different set of tourists, that we didn't end up having anything you could describe as a genuine interaction with a thai person. two days was more than enough.
koh tao, located off the eastern coast of the thai peninsula, caters to a different brand of traveller. don't get me wrong - this was still tourist central, as most of the island's economy seems to revolve around the scuba diving/snorkeling industry (again, rich tourists), but we didn't notice the same conscious and self-conscious divide between the haves and the have nots. i don't know if it was the attitude of the more adventurous, outdoorsey group of foreigners who ventured out to the island, or the idyllic atmosphere once you arrive, but something seemed to create a more peaceful and respectful coexistence. when the workers at our guest house tried to launch the refurbished iron boat they'd been working on all afternoon, several tourists who'd been relaxing on their beach mats didn't hesitate to jump up and help them push it down to the water for a test drive. all the thai people we met on the island seemed to be involved in the tourist industry in some capacity, but when they smiled at you, it didn't feel polite. that may have been the biggest difference.
after five days at koh tao, it was off to cambodia and the ancient temples of angkor wat. this was the one landmark in southeast asia that i absolutely insisted we visit, and so we braved the five-hour bus ride, visa scams at the border market, and a 2 hour taxi drive from the border to siem reap. as the home base for anyone who wants to visit the temples, siem reap is full of a variety of tourist accommodations, ranging from our $4 a night bamboo hut, complete with mattress, mosquito net, and shared bathroom, to the ultra-luxury spa resort. as soon as we exit our guest house in the morning, we are harangued by a chorus of idle taxi drivers. "hello! tuk tuk!" at the temples themselves, it is literally impossible to park your bike and enter the stone walls without multiple adorable children approaching you with offers of cool drinks, t shirts, and wooden flutes. when we decline, they try to wring promises and allegiance for any future purchases. "ok, maybe later," they say, "you come back, you buy from me - i remember you." most of the salespeople are under the age of ten, but this always ends up sounding vaguely threatening. it's a must-see sort of place, but for kyle and i this is like the 4th or 5th level of dante's tourist hell.
on our third day at the temples, kyle and i were trying to bide some time during the hot part of the afternoon. we took shelter under a tree and brought out the playing cards for a game of gin rummy. a young cambodian man approached and asked if we were playing a game. i stiffened involuntarily. this had already happened a few times - someone would approach and ask questions (mostly where are you from, followed by a recitation of state capitals and a shout-out to obama) as a pretext for the inevitable sales pitch. we gave a vague but polite answer, secretly hoping that he would leave us alone, but he stayed and observed with what we began to realize was genuine interest. he was joined shortly by a gaggle of young kids, mostly girls, ranging in age from maybe 5 to 12 years.
once we realized that we'd inspired some actual curiosity, i started to get excited. i gave a brief explanation of the rules, and almost everyone picked it up within a round. by the next hand, kyle and i had each earned a set of fans, who would help us by pointing to what they thought we should discard, and sit patiently with clasped hands while the opponent made his move, praying earnestly for that 5 of hearts, or whatever we needed to complete our final set of three.
back at our guest house, games seemed once again to be the medium of cross-cultural interaction. we were both sitting quietly and reading, when one of the other hotel guests approached us with an invitation to play volleyball. he had been challenged by the hotel manager to a game - cambodians vs tourists. it was on. we were screwed.
for the first game we were given an extra team-mate on our side and still managed to lose 15 to 4. the second round was more respectable, with our side breaking double digits with the help of some british guys from the neighboring hotel. the highlight of the afternoon took place when, during a beer break, a local decided to lead his cow through the volleyball court. everyone was laughing, until the animal caught sight of the red shirt on one of the british tourists, lowered its head, and started to charge. i'm pretty sure that if that dude could have harnessed the adrenaline he used running away from the angry bovine, we might have tied the cambodians.
i leave cambodia tomorrow with mixed emotions. on the whole, this is a pretty unpleasant place. it is unbelievably poor and war-ravaged. as a westerner, you can't walk around without feeling alternately bombarded and guilt-stricken. on the other hand, for the individuals who let down their barriers (and with whom i was able to cautiously remove my own), i will hold the fondest regard. if there is hope for real, healthy recovery from the internal wounds of recent history, it certainly lies in the optimism, intelligence, and resilience of the cambodian people.
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