jaurinata journal

Day 2, Saturday, Sept 9, 2006 – Serious sun burn from Ton Le Sap Lake!
Wake up .. wake up…it’s 5 o’clock! Man, my body was all too tired and really want to be just in bed! But, no, I told myself to get up and get ready. The boat to catch is going to leave at 6 am. Besides we had to make the most of that 5 DAYS ONLY TRIP. Brushing our teeth and getting the comfiest dress and rushed to the port (or what Cambodian called “kampong”)

Mr Pheng (god morning Mr. Pheng! He is sooo NICE and perhaps a bit terrified with our LOUD voice) was already prepared to take us. As we got to the port, we paid USD 25 for the boat tickets and got into the dock that had a very strong kerosene odor. We decided to sit outside, lay lazy and enjoy the sun – let us burn baby!, HAH! (No, at the end we regretted that idea a bit since we had bad burns)
The five hour ride by boat to Siem Reap with our stomachs rumbles playing the salsa every other minute. The trip was again filled with chat. The foreigners (not us… the others) were bugged by our giggles and laughs and non-stop medley chat like chirping birds. Gossip, gossip, gossip (yeah, ngobrol tanpa gossip bagaikan agar agar tanpa garam, masak sayur tanpa panci....nah lo.. gak bakal seru! So go gossip!) it was a constructive gossip!

Through the biggest lake in South East Asia (katanya..) called the Ton Le Sap lake, we enjoyed the sights along the lake sides. First it was local fisherman, just like in Belawan, then nothing else, just fresh water, but as we entered Siem Reap, we were just touched by the poor lives of the fishermen. Even the marine police station or post was so sad.

Khmer? Khmer? (read: khmey, khmey) Thai Thai? Most of the tuk tuk drivers and taxi drivers were asking what we wanted to ride (foreign lady.. you have to choose, or we wil follow you and ask you all de tttiiimmeee!!!)( Whaaaa??)
Khmer was for Esti, with her ‘cat eyes’ and yellowish – not yet burned – skin..and Thai was for me (I really don’t think I look Thai though). We spotted Sareung, our hotel guy and we immediately hop onto the tuk tuk leading to the hotel. No need to pay the port-hotel transport fee, it was included just like a limo pick up in a five star hotel. It was a good drive!

Entering Siem Reap was another experience. I like this place much better. It was began with fisherman village (to tell you the truth I can really smell the fish, reminded me of Asterix comic book, the fish seller hee hee). The architecture was very much like Malay houses in Tanjung Pura area down to Pangkalan Susu. Raised by columns, similar roof type and carved hand rails. Similar window forms.. well, just like every other traditional Asian houses in coastal areas. The town itself is pretty small. Pshar Cas was the local mrket with many goods, but Siem Reap was all about the great Angkor!

We checked in the hotel and met with Suti and Sareung. Suti spoke Thai a bit, just like me! So I could easily tried my Thai and asked situations around. Sareung was our tuk tuk driver. He is a nice guy! These 3 pairs of eyes, plus 2 more belong to 2 Cambodian girls were just staring at us!!! We, as Indonesian, were seemed to be not common to their eyes. No Indonesian in Siem Reap? They claimed that only Americans, Europeans, Japanese and Korean would have trip to Siem Reap, not Indonesian. But then this had made them to like us more and gave us better trip trick in Siem Reap, to do it cheap and fast and cover the most of important spots.

I bluntly said,” Hey, you and I are Asian,.. let’s help us out here.. we don’t have much money! No money!.. can you tell us what to do that does not need money here??? Hee hee” and it’s that smiles we gave to them that made them surrender! Ah hah! Got ya!.. Cool!