Siem Reap is Cambodia’s Frontier

Friday, October 31st, 2008 (continued). Bob and his brother-in-law Mr. Tan drove us from the airport to our hotel, gave us a few minutes to get situated, and then drove us through Siem Reap to visit a floating village. This village is composed of various boats and rafts, and inhabited by fishermen. The people of the village migrate with Lake Tonle Sap as it grows and shrinks with each season. Most of the photos we took speak for themselves.

Floating homes and farms, stores, and even a gas station were all a part of the floating village.

This looked to be a floating convenience store – note the bags of potato chips above the driver’s head.

It’s hard to imagine life like this, but these kids still find a way to smile and wave.

It was interesting speaking with our unofficial guide “Bob.” He told us about Cambodian history (and how awful the Khmer Rouge were), as well as his points of view on Cambodian politics, economics, and his personal prospects and ambitions. A young man (perhaps 25), Bob had a wife, kids, and a large extended family that relied upon him for support. For example, Bob loaned his car to his brother-in-law so he could be our driver and earn some money. Bob also owns a roofing company where he employs his in-laws, his siblings, parents, and some extended family. Bob was an amazing young man, and we were glad to have met him.

Bob seemed to be much more educated than he let on (perhaps he had a well-founded fear of persecution from his experience living under Pol Pot). While he claimed nothing more than a grade-school education, Bob was eloquent, an excellent English speaker, and he had a firm grasp on the world around him. His perspective on politics was enlightening – he told us about the Cambodian government’s extreme corruption, that the police and teachers (both corrupt) can not be trusted, and he shared his personal distaste for the Vietnamese.

Listen to Bob describe the floating village.

Bob had a problem with Vietnamese people because many were illegal residents of Cambodia. Bob talked about how after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1998 to remove the Khmer Roughe (which he begrudgingly admitted was a good thing), many Vietnamese soldiers married Cambodian women (stated with a clear level of disgust) and stayed behind “taking work” from the Cambodian people. Sara and I could only marvel at the echo of a debate in our own country as well the absurdity of some of Bob’s beliefs. Perhaps it’s easy for me, a wealthy Westerner, to say this, but here goes: Cambodians shouldn’t care about illegal Vietnamese immigrants. Everyone is dirt poor, so what’s the difference? I can’t imagine that Vietnamese immigrants are willing to work for less than local Cambodians, so how it’s possible that they’re taking jobs is beyond me. Perhaps I don’t understand (I don’t understand the argument against illegal aliens in my own country either), but it’s hard to see how market forces have conspired to keep Cambodians down in their own country.

Bob also went on to tell us his opinions of different tourists, sorted by nationality. Here’s what Bob said:

• Koreans are very arrogant and very cheap, and that they only wanted to visit Cambodia to save money. They built Korean restaurants that served Korean food, and they stayed amongst their own people when they visited. Bob asked, (and I concur if his statements are true), “Why visit if you want it to be just like home?“

• Chinese people are very loud. Bob says there’s lots of “ping pong” in Chinese speech, which was hilarious to me. To my ears, all Asian languages sound very similar. Bob is clearly a bit of a xenophobe. Bob also said that Chinese tourists are quite rude (true).

• Europeans are also arrogant and rude (funny).

• Australian tourists are very nice.

• Americans are “good.” Bob wouldn’t tell us what he really thought. My guess is that he was disgusted by our relative wealth (based on other conversations we had). It might be worth noting that the American dollar is the currency of choice in Cambodia. Thai baht can be used, but the exchange rate is poor. I would guess that any patriotic Cambodian (and Bob was most assuredly patriotic) would be offended by the fact Cambodia’s currency was from another nation.

Bob talked quite a bit about tourism – in addition to sharing blanket generalizations about different nationalities (funny to us, but not really a good thing), Bob also discussed how recent tensions with Thailand (including a border skirmish in the last few weeks) would be resolved. Bob said that the “Cambodian people are tired of war, but if Thailand wants war we will give it to them. We’re good at war – we’ve been doing it for a long time.” Bob was a firm believer that Cambodia would prevail in combat against Thailand, perhaps unaware that Thailand’s U.S. trained and equipped military (they fly F16′s and shoot M16′s) would easily over-run whatever force Cambodia could raise – if for no other reason than a lack of supply and equipment.

Bob was a hell of a guy, but his narrow-mindedness was a lesson to me. “Knowing” things without actually knowing them can be a dangerous thing.