Back when I was planning this trip, I asked Steve, the owner of the Siem Reap Holiday Garden Villa (where we’re staying) if he could arrange for us to see some of the real Cambodia; off the tourist trail.
Today our tuk-tuk driver tuk us to a village that he knew several years ago; his father’s homeland where several relatives still live 30km away from Siem Reap where tourists never go and white (or lobster red) faced westerners are a real novelty!
Nothing could have prepared us for the experience. We spent several hour walking around their homes, talking broken English to the children (English is taught in the schools), walking through the rice fields.
It’s hard to describe the whole thing; sure it was very beautiful countryside; vibrant green rice and deep blue skies reflected in the irrigation ditches. The life was very, very basic. The reaction from the people was heart-warming; after a moment of expressions that said “who the hell are you?” they all broke into a grin of welcome.
...but more than that; these people are living right on the edge of existence, surviving hand to mouth. I’m walking round with a camera that cost more than any of them will ever earn. They’ve had their crops devastated by floods. But they just “get on with it” and are kind and welcoming, no fear or threat; I have never felt so safe in a strange land. They took us into their homes, let me photograph them, their kids, their houses; anything, even though some had clearly never seen a camera and flinched when it was pointed at them (they all had a laugh when I showed them the image on the LCD.)
Not sure what point I’m trying to make. It just feels like we think we have so much, but in reality these people, whom we would consider to have nothing materially, have so much more of the important things, the humanity that we, sadly, no longer consider to be of any value. I’m humbled to have spent a few hours with them.