Click to Listen

Podcast: Download

Podcast #18

“Cambodian Christmas”

We spent Christmas in Cambodia.
It was a short trip to see the famous ruins at Angkor Wat.

We took an early morning bus from Bangkok and arrived at the border by 10am. By 12 noon we were in Cambodia. We caught a taxi for the 2 hour ride to Siem Reap.

The differences between Thailand and Cambodia are easy to notice. Basically, compared to Cambodia, Thailand is a very rich country.

The road from the border to Siem Reap was only finished in November of 2009. Now the ride is smooth and comfortable; before… it was a long and bumpy adventure.

Siem Reap is the small town closest to the ruins of Angkor Wat. There are so many cafes, restaurants, shops, galleries and expensive hotels… It’s nothing like the rest of the country. Siem Reap is a major tourist attraction.

The ancient temple is amazing for sure. But it was difficult to enjoy the experience. We were surrounded by large groups of Chinese and Russian tourists. It was too crowded.

And it’s not cheap. A one day pass is 20USD and you have to pay for transportation. So it costs my family about 100USD for the short time we spent there. I wondered with so many tourists, paying so much money, where does the money go?

Our Tuk Tuk driver was born in a village just next to Angkor Wat. He’s a local. I asked him if the local villages benefit from the millions of dollars paid by tourists.

He told us, “No! We get nothing. All we can do is try to sell souvenirs. And local people can operate small food stalls, but that’s all. We make very little money.”

I asked, “So someone is getting rich, but it’s NOT the local people of Angkor?”

He answered, “That’s right. My village was poor before Angkor was famous. And it’s still poor after Angkor is famous. That’s Cambodia.”

WORD HELP
We spent 僕らは過ごした, famous ruins 有名な遺跡, arrived at the border 国境に着いた, easy to notice すぐ分かる, compared to Cambodia カンボジアと比べると , smooth and comfortable スムーズで快適, long and bumpy 長くてでこぼこの多い , It’s nothing like ～とは大違いだ , for sure 確かに, surrounded by large groups of ～の団体に囲まれて,  I wondered 疑問に思った, benefit from ～から恩恵を受ける, paid by tourists 旅行者から支払われる, try to sell souvenirs おみやげ品を売ろうとする, operate small food stalls 小さな屋台を営む