Kratie
Kratie is a fairly quite town. Like Kampong Cham there are very few tourists. I was only in Kratie for three days, so I did not get to see much of the town. We were there with some local and foreign physicans who were educating some of the local healthcare professionals on diabetes. The biggest attraction in Kratie is the Irrawaddy Dolphin. There are only 80 of these dolphins left in the world and they are only found here in Kratie. They are a fresh water dolphin. We were able to go out on a boat were actually able to see a few of the dolphins. There were many horse drawn carriages here. This young boy and his father were on their way to the hospital, pictured below.
Mongkul Borey
Paragraph. Click here to.Mongkul Borey is 115 km from Siem Reap. The car ride consisted of two and a half hours of jostling on bumpy roads between the provinces of Siem Reap and Bantey Meanchey. The roads are actually better than a few years ago. Two years ago it took five to six hoursto get to Mongkul Borey from Siem Reap. The roads are mostly dirt, so when it rains they get pretty bad. We passed by many cows, multiple horse drawn carts and TONS of rice paddies. Upon our arrival to the hosptial there were many people who greeted us, many of them nurses. It was a bit funny, every patient and staff member were starring at us and our huge pieces of luggage. We stayed at the hospital in a room for visiting students. There were tons of miniature ants that crawled over everything. Our room had air conditioning, a "normal" toliet, and a shower so we were pretty pumped. edit.Mongkul Borey is 115 km from Siem Reap. The car ride consisted of two and a half hours of jostling on bumpy roads between the provinces of Siem Reap and Bantey Meanchey. The roads are actually better than a few years ago. Two years ago it took five to six hoursto get to Mongkul Borey from Siem Reap. The roads are mostly dirt, so when it rains they get pretty bad. We passed by many cows, multiple horse drawn carts and TONS of rice paddies. Upon our arrival to the hosptial there were many people who greeted us, many of them nurses. It was a bit funny, every patient and staff member were starring at us and our huge pieces of luggage. We stayed at the hospital in a room for visiting students. There were tons of miniature ants that crawled over everything. Our room had air conditioning, a "normal" toliet, and a shower so we were pretty pumped.
Mongkol Borei is not a tourist district in the least bit. Rosie and I were the only tourists outside of one woman from a NGO. Many of the locals are farmers. We checked out the market and it was interesting as many people were smiling and a few were trying to speak to us and laughing. They kept saying "Barang" which means friend. The term is often used for foreigners. Needless to say, we were like an exhit. It was super odd to stick out like a sore thumb. In Siem Reap there are tourists everywhere, so we didn't stand out as much. The market had tons of tiny shops and stands, one right next to the other, selling very similiar, if not the exact same things. There were a few specialty stands that sell meat, vegetables, and rice.
The following is an excerpt from my not so frequent journaling: "We walked around town, the market area today. It was cooler today, so it was the perfect time. The Mongkol Borei river runs through the town. There are houses that are right off the water. There were children playing and a mother bathing her child. On our walk we saw a horse drawn cart. It is interesting to see the mix of technology here as well as we did in Siem Reap. The main mode of transportation is a motorbike, as in Siem Reap. Again, you will see 2-4 people on a motorbike. Some of the houses that are in the market area have a shop in the front and then the people live in the back. Although this town is significantly smaller than Siem Reap, it has similar shops, phone shops, bicycle shops and many hair salons. The market sold items more for the locals as there are no tourists in Mongkol Borei, except for Rosie and me. We walked around a local neighborhood. It was amazing to see these little one and two room houses that still had a television in it. Along with little houses were bigger houses that had gates guarding the entrances. There are the familiar stray dogs, cats, as there were in Siem Reap. We saw many chickens and roosters. Many of the locals would say hi in English, or smile, or acknowledge us in some way. We passed a brick making factory and many children swimming. Many of the children were smiling and laughing at us. There were people with children who were excited to see us, to show us their children. I doubt many foreigners come by they houses very often. Many of the houses, even the smaller, more modest houses had ornate offering stands. I don’t know the technical name, but often there is fruit or incense burning on these stands. There is not as big of a gap regarding the extremes of things, such as the houses or perhaps I am not noticing the differences as much as I did when I first came to Cambodia. This town is definitely not as “wealthy” as Siem Reap, obviously."
P'Chum Ben
The following part of a journal that I was trying to faithfully write in. Usually I wrote in it when I remembered to, honestly. "Today we went to the Pagoda for P’Chum Ben. P’Chum Ben lasts for 15 days. During P’Chum Ben, devotees go to pagodas to offer food to the spirits of their deceased relatives. “Devout Buddhists believe that if they do not bring food for their ancestors to seven pagodas during P’Chum Ben, they will be cursed with bad luck. Celebrations culminate on September 28th, 29th, and 30th” (Shelton, from the Phnom Penh Post, Monday, September 15, 2008). We went to the local pagoda. We first went inside and sat on some mats and people prayed. Then we went outside and we were given a giant bowl of rice. Then we scooped some rice from our bowl into approximately 13 bigger bowls. After everyone put rice into the 13 bowls, the bowls were distributed to the 20 or so monks in the pagoda. Then the people prayed for a while and then the monks ate, then we got to eat. We had rice, noodles, soup, and vegetables."