Weekend Adventures!

Life has been excellent.  I have frolicked in new and fun places around Phnom Penh, and I have learned some important life lessons relating to cows.

Saturday Adventure:  ZOO

MONKEY!

On Saturday Sienna (my roommate), JP (her friend from McGill – also a law student), Borai (Sienna’s friend from work) and Kunthea (my friend and lifeline at work) decided to head out of Phnom Penh.  Borai and Sienna took Borai’s moto, whereas JP, Kunthea and I took Vanna’s tuktuk.

Vanna is the tuk driver that Sienna and I typically use here.  He’s the driver of the people whose house we’re subletting, so we try to give him as much business as we can so as not to create a financial gap for him over 3 months.  On any given day we find him parked outside our house, chilling in his tuk, occasionally sending us text messages: “Alice/Sienna, you want to go somewhere today?”  Vanna’s also speaks incredible English, which makes it generally more fun to go with him, especially on day trips.

Our plan was to go to a temple, Wat Phnom Tamao, and then have lunch by the river and go swimming.  Driving out of Phnom Penh was bumpy and dusty.  We were often passed by factory trucks, which sent big black clouds of exhaust our way and Kunthea and I spent a lot of time with our kramas pulled over our noses, trying to keep the dust out.  Luckily, the rainy season is not yet in full swing, otherwise these dirt roads would be practically impossible to traverse.  Despite the dust and the bumps, the 40 minute trip out of the city was fun.  I love being on a motorbike, but I have to admit that it was nice to just chill in the tuk and talk instead of having to focus on potholes.

JP. Being French.

Kunthea and I: protective road gear in the form of silly plastic sunglasses and kramas

When we got to the temple Borai revealed the great surprise (or maybe this was revealed before, when I wasn’t listening):  there was more than just a pagoActually, you wouldn’t call it a zoo exactly.  Phnom Tamao is in fact a wildlife sanctuary.  Animla trafficking is a problem in Cambodia.  Cambodia happens to be home to a number of dwindling animal populations.  Some of the trafficking occurs for commercial ventures.  For instance, Safari World in Koh Kong is now on the hook for illegally importing orangutans from Thailand and using them to put on the kinds of animal shows that are illegal in most countries (i.e. boxing matches).

Aside from the demand coming from the entertainment and tourism sectors, the trouble is that often these animals figure prominently in traditional medicines.  This isn’t just traditional Khmer medicine.  There is a strong market for the same kinds of flora and fauna in China (and there is evidence that much of Khmer traditional medicine came from China and was adapted to local customs and belief systems).* As well, the Chinese living in Cambodia are the second largest ethnic minority after the Vietnamese, so there is a strong market for wild plants and animals both for local use and (though the numbers on this are uncertain) for export to China.

As a result endangered species can fetch a hefty price on the black market (Sun Bear bile, for instance, costs about 1000 USD/kg in shops around Psar Orussey in Phnom Penh and is used to treat fevers).  In principle it is illegal to capture, possess, transport or export endangered species.  Those who are caught are supposed to be fined three times the commercial value of the animal/product and the animal/product is supposed to be confiscated.  The trouble, as usual in Cambodia, is that the application of the law is left to each provincial office of the Forestry Administration.  Low salaries combined with poor training mean that at times the people who are responsible for applying the law don’t even know which species are endangered.  It also results in unofficial fines that simply become the price of doing business for those involved.  However,  Occasionally traffickers are caught by police and the animals confiscated.  Some are released back into the wild.  Some, however, are severely injured by their captors and are no longer capable of functioning in their former habitats.  It is these animals that end up at Phnom Tamao.

After you turn off the main road, there is a dirt road 2 km long leading to the entrance of the sanctuary.  Because this is also a temple reasonably popular with Khmer families, beggars line both sides of the road.  As we drove they threw water on the ground in front of us from bowls that they held on their heads, “to take away the dust from the road,” Vanna explained.   At the entrance to the sanctuary we were surrounded by little girls selling bunches of beautifully woven little baskets filled with sticky rice, 1000 riel (25 cents) for a bunch.

these baskets aren't easy to make and none of us wanted to tear them apart in order to get to the rice

Sienna and JP trying to get into their sticky rice

The ticket into the sanctuary cost $5 each for the foreigners and only about a dollar for Kunthea and Borai.  That’s the case with most things here, from admission prices to moto rides and food prices at the market.  It makes a lot of sense considering the difference in income between even the poorest backpacker or intern and the average Cambodian.  Though, as Sienna and I have discovered, as soon as you start speaking Khmer, prices start to drop for you.  When you invest in the country by learning the language people are a lot less likely to just see you as a source of income.  People have been asking us why we are putting in so much effort into learning Khmer if we’re only going to be here for three months, but it makes such a difference to how people interact with you that it’s worth it (especially since Khmer is a comically easy language to learn in comparison to, say, Korean).

In front of the sanctuary we purchased a whole bag of bananas and numerous bunches of sugar cane on sticks.

picking food for the animals

sugarcane!

There were several boys  around the entrance who volunteered to carry our bananas for us and be our guides.  Aside from the boys, we also attracted the immediate attention of some deer looking to score some sugarcane.

Sienna makes a friend

Most of the animals at the sanctuary were in fenced off areas (mainly for safety) with the exception of deer and long-tailed macaques which ran rampant all over the camp.  To our total delight, the monkeys followed us throughout the entire (huge) sanctuary, taking pieces of banana straight from our hands.  They weren’t afraid and so they would eat them sitting right in front of us on the ground or on the fence, giving us a chance to observe their incredible dexterity.

We saw a lot of really awesome animals, including Siamese Crocodiles and Malayan Sun Bears.  We also saw a lot of injured animals.  There was one stork missing a wing, and a limping bear with a broken paw that healed crookedly.   Overall though, the animals seemed healthy and the conditions were far better than you’d usually find in a zoo in this area of the world (though,  I suppose that’s not saying much).

We did see one awful cage, with a bunch of pythons.  The pythons are fed live chickens, which would not be so horrible except the chickens are just kept in the cage with the snakes.  So you see a whole bunch of pythons sleeping, and around 5 chickens huddled at the furthest edge of the cage where they have to wait until the snakes decide they get hungry.  Yikes.  Would it really be so hard to keep them elsewhere and then let them in when it’s time to feed the pythons?

The sanctuary was far bigger than I expected and after walking around for 3 hours in the sun, we were in no mood to climb up the mountain to the temple.  We decided to skip the temple and head straight to Tonle Bati for lunch.  On the way we passed some street-food stalls and had to stop because I wanted to know what it was.  It turned out that it was skinned frogs stuffed with lemongrass and grilled over charcoal.  Obviously had to try it.  It was one of the more delicious things I’ve tasted in Southeast Asia.   Maybe soon I will graduate to eating crickets and grilled spiders like Kunthea.  I’m working on it anyway.

Tonle Bati is a really small lake around 10 km from where were were.  It’s not a place where you would go if you were in Cambodia for a week, but if you’re living in Phnom Penh it’s a worthwhile day trip.  All around the shore there are small wooden houses standing on stilts in the water.  You can rent one for the afternoon and spend your time lounging, chilling in the hammock or swimming.  The first thing we did to cool off from the heat was jump in the water.

Of course, seeing as this is Cambodia and having no desire to piss off the other tourists, Sienna and I jumped in with shorts and T-shirts over our swimsuits.  Most Cambodian women go swimming fully clothed and unless you’re in a hotel pool in Phnom Penh, it’s worthwhile not stripping down to your bikini unless you want to make people really uncomfortable.

We swam and hung out until our food came.   There were 6 of us including Vanna, so we ordered a chicken, which they fried up and brought to us with rice and vegetables.  Boats kept floating up to our picnic spot to sell things so we also bought some mangoes and a watermelon.  We must have spent 2 hours there, drinking beer, eating, napping and generally chilling out.  It was awesome.

Around 4 we finally got off our butts and made our way over to Ta Prohm, a small, Ankor era temple by the lake (not to be confused with Ta Prohm near Siem Reap, of Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider fame).  The temple was nice but underwhelming if you’ve been to Angkor.  Kunthea introduced us to sugarcane juice (freshly squeezed at the sugarcane juice stall), which was incredibly delicious.  Sienna and I hung out and sipped our juice out of little plastic bags while Borai and JP took pictures of the temple walls.

After Ta Prohm we headed home, once again Sienna and Borai on his bike, and the rest of us on Vanna’s tuk.   All in all, an excellent Saturday.

Adventure 2: Running with the Phnom Penh Hash House Harriers

My boss Undraa introduced me to the Hashers, who are basically a running club that drinks a lot.  They map out a route each Sunday in the countryside, anywhere form 6-12  km, and run it.  It seemed like it would be a fun break from the city runs Sienna and I have been doing because it just gets so damn boring running to the riverside and around Independence Monument.

The crowd there was pretty interesting. It was mostly composed of men in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are long-term expats here in Cambodia.  Many of them have been here for more than 5 years and were married to Khmer women (who also came out but walked instead of running).  We met at the Phnom Penh train station as usual.  $5 covered transportation to the running site, water and beer.  We were going to be running through a village about 20 minutes out of Phnom Penh.

The run was not as challenging as I expected.  The pace was really light and even though it was midafternoon (2:30 to be exact) the weather was extremely mild since it was about to rain.  As well, the dirt roads were far more forgiving on the knees than asphalt.

As we ran, whole families came out of their homes to look at us, and we heard exasperated and amused sighs about “barang” (foreigners).  At times though we just ran past fields with nobody around.

Because I have a hard time running without a beat, I had brought my Ipod.  All was going well until at one point I noticed motion out of the corner of my eye.    I looked up to see a cow, a field away from me, galloping towards me at a surprising speed.  Not particularly alarmed I shrugged it off and kept running for about 5 seconds until, through the sound of Lady Gaga in my ears,  I heard yells.  I turned around and finally noticed that I was the only one still running, and that everyone else was standing there yelling at me to stop (which I promptly did).  At this point the cow was the length of two tuk-tuks away from me.

It turns out, as my boss explained to me after, that Cambodian cows are not like your average cow at home.  Nope.  These cows get freaked out when anyone is running and their best response is to chase the offending individual and try to gore him or her.  Good thing I stopped in time, those things are skinny but really tall and probably stronger than me.

Don’t mess with Cambodian cows, you will lose.   Lesson learned.

Halfway  through our run it started to rain which turned the dirt roads into muddy goo.  We finished the run regardless.  When we got back there was a pool waiting for us, and an entire cooler of beer.  It was election time for the club, which meant a small resort with a pool, as well as a free dinner.  We hung out in the pool (fully clothed as usual) for a couple of hours (being a virgin Hasher, they made me and the other law student who had also never done a Hash run chug a lot of beer.  It was like being back at frosh week at McGill), had dinner and then went home.  Undraa and her husband gave me a ride.  I’m not entirely sure if I’ll go back – I liked the running and the company but I actually didn’t like the drinking afterwards so if the drinking is mandatory I might reconsider it.  But it is a really nice change of pace to run in the countryside and you do get to see parts of the country that you never would get to see otherwise.

All in all, kind of an awesome Sunday in Cambodia.

Next weekend:  Kampot or Kep with GRACE HUTTON!

*See TRAFFIC’s  report on the use and trade of plants and animals in traditional medicine systems in Cambodia, definitely a worthwhile read.

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