So we've left Cambodia and have now arrived in Bangkok. It's like we've gotten two trips in one. So to catch up to speed. The cashew fruit...not so good. It has a very aromatic, sweet fragrance but it is rather tough although juicy. It has a plain to sweet initial taste then a "cat tongue-y", alum like finish. Mmmmmm.
The last day in Cambodia we went around a few other temples as well as a Buddhist monastery and school. From there, we saw Artesians d'Angkor. A French group has organized teaching Cambodians traditional skills. Some things taught include gathering silk from silk worms, processing it from the cocoons, making thread, weaving textiles and creating final products. There are also stone works with intricate carvings as well as wood carving. Lacquering is also taught. The foundation has is now privately held by the students and money from sales are put back into the school. Some of the artisans are deaf and "mute" and so they are able to work whereas they would have not had a means of supporting themselves otherwise.
I must be honest. I was feeling a twinge of frustration because I was anxious to get to the market, whereas our guide kept showing us things around town. After I arrived, I then knew why. It had to be one of the more (most) primitive markets I've seen. It exceed Lima, Peru. While it did not have a dirt floor, it did have a very low ceiling that served to concentrate any and all aromas that would waft up and along the walk ways. To be more specific, food aromas. Once again I found myself seeing something for sale and immediately thinking, "NO WAY!!" It was precipitated when I saw the bag of red ants and the bucket of red ant eggs for sale. I'm not quite sure how they would have been used in the food preparation process, but they were available. It was nice to have our guide around to point out different foods of interest and to give a glimpse of how different items were prepared. Did I mention the flys.....lots of flys.
After the market, we went to the airport. We had our larger luggage scanned while we carried through our day packs. We then collected our larger luggage, went to a much larger room to queue to get our tickets (during that time we could have transferred dangerous items from the big luggage to the carry-on) and then off to waiting for our flight.
We saw a woman, who had been staying at our hotel, take the flight before us. When we finally arrived the driver started boisterously saying, "Why you not call when you have different ticket" "Why you not call!!!!" Well, it seems that they issued us a 8:40 PM ticket (later flight) but our itinerary said that we should have arrived in Bangkok at 8:40 PM (earlier flight). The woman we saw had been waiting in the airport all that time (having taken the earlier flight). I basically got rather emphatic myself and showed him the ticket that the tour agency (his agency) had issued us from the very beginning. They had then printed out an incorrect itinerary (a copy of which and from which he had been working). Upon realizing it was something his company had caused, thus losing considerable face, he became much more placid.
We made it to the hotel surrounded by high ceilings and lots of decorative marble. Very nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment