I woke up and crawled out of the mosquito net to an empty house. I climbed the steep ladder down to the ground and tip toed passed the baby cow sleeping in the yard. Entering the house next door, I found the mother cooking breakfast off the back room on a big black pot. "We will have porridge today," Sython announced as he sprung out of the bed in the one room home. He climbed up onto the table and sat Indian style waiting for our food to be served. Valentina came to join, she had finally used the bathroom as well.
Sython reviewed the plan at breakfast for the day. "Today, we will take a bike ride and tour the local village and markets." I looked down at my watered down rice with meat mixed in. I stirred my food around in the bowl, I just couldn't find a way to eat. Hopefully, I would find some food to buy in the market.
I looked out the window where the baby cow still lay quietly asleep. "I've never seen a cow sleep so peacefully." I said. Sython shook his head, "That cows not sleeping, he died in the middle of the night." I looked back to the yard for any indication movement and Sython was right, it wasn't moving. "Cow was sick, they will cut up today and sell."
This made me even less likely to finish my meal this morning. We cleared our dishes and I walked back to the house to get ready for the day. I passed a man by the stairs sharpening a knife over and over on a slab of wood. By the time I climbed back down the ladder, two men were skinning the cow with that knife. They had already chopped its legs off and were operating right at the bottom of our stairs. I watched as they sliced the stomach, pulled the intestine and liver out of the body and threw in a big silver saucer. I couldn't wait to get back to the main house in Phnom Penh. I definitely was not a Cambodian country girl.
Sython was waiting at the end of the driveway with three bikes. He waved for us to go, so I quickly slipped pass the butcher and peddled down the dirt road. Sython explained as we road down the deserted bumpy dirt road that no tourists come to Trapeng Venh village. He warned that people may stare at us today. They do not see white people often.
We pulled into a old shop and Sython motioned for me to ride up to the man by a machine. "We add air to your tires." I hopped off my bike and the man began to hook up my bike to the air compressor. Five little children stared at us from the table where they colored and worked on homework. They all said hello and seemed so intrigued, climbing around the table restlessly. Once all of our tires were pumped full of air, Sython guided us back to the road and I peddled quickly to catch up. Before reaching the end of the drive, I heard a loud pop and froze. I turned around and the man pointed to my tire. Sython rode back and explained that my tire was pumped with too much air. He spoke in Khmer to the man and Sython motioned for us to take a seat.
I sat down with the little kids as the man took a part my bike. Big smiles spread across their face as I joined them at their table. I looked at the little girls book and saw she was working on multiplication. I motioned for a piece of paper and the little boy passed one to me. She spoke in Khmer to the other boy as she pointed to the pen around his neck. He removed it and handed it to me. I wrote on the paper "4 X 4= " and pointed asking for the answer. She looked at the formula and then they all grabbed her book and read the different formula keys. She scribbled down on her paper, "16." I smiled and said "Yes!" as I drew a star next to her answer. I turned it up a level and wrote "12 X 6=" and pointed down at the paper for her response. All the kids looked at the book and then back at the paper as she wrote down the answer, "72." I smiled and told her she was correct then drew another star. They all smiled proudly and she pointed down at the paper for another. I scratched my head and gave her a good one. "162 X 4=" pointing down for the answer. They grew excited as she studied her book of formulas and focused on her math. It had been a while since I actually calculated multiplication on paper either, so I joined her. I hand wrote my answer and after we compared answers, she was correct. I drew another star and a proud smile spread across her face. I told her I was going to stump her, so wrote down a larger math problem, "2345 X 237=" Both of us now calculating this long equation. It's funny to find yourself in moments like this. I never thought I would be quizzing a little girl in Cambodia on multiplication and I even grew nervous that I wouldn't get the problem correct. I looked over as she excitedly displayed her answer. The numbers were different than mine. I raised a finger and rewrote the problem again and multiplied once more. I looked at the new number and compared with hers. They matched. "You were right!" I exclaimed as I drew a bigger star by her answer.
Sython came back over to the table and announced we were ready to go. I said goodbye to the kids and hopped on my bike and waved once more before reaching the road. I was glad my tire burst, the little girl was so smart and I had fun quizzing them.
We peddled down the dirt road and I could barely see with all the dust in the air. I closed my eyes half way as I followed Sython into the village. He parked his bike near a tree and announced that we would be going into the market. "Maybe Julie can find some food since she did not eat much at breakfast."
We entered the market and a wave of nauseating smells entered my nostrils. I held my breath as quickly as I could. Raw meat spread across the table with an endless swarm of flys. No ice lay to keep it cold, just cut up pieces of raw meat for sale. Baskets of snakes slithering to the edge of the basket to escape. Mounds of tiny shrimp in saucers, bloody raw meat just spread across tables. I felt a wet splash hit my leg and screamed. Sython laughed and said, "It's just the tiger fish," as he pointed to a basket of live fish. They flopped around without water, gasping for their last breath. We turned the corner, to find tables lined with rice, vegetables and fruit. Sython explained that each farmer specialized in something and sold or traded at the market.
As we walked through the aisles of the market, I could hear the women talking and staring at me as they spoke. I turned back around to see many gathered together and staring intently at me as they talked quickly and shook their heads.
Sython bought a bag of pastries and bananas before we head back out to our bikes. "We go through the country roads to the temple now." We hopped on our bikes and peddled off the main road and into the country, passing rice fields and farm houses on stilts. It was much more peaceful out here and very beautiful. I was just glad to escape the smell of the market and get some fresh air.
Sython peddled up beside me and said, "Julie, people in Cambodia wish very much to be lighter. They think being white is beautiful and try very hard to save money and lighten their skin. They buy bleaching creams and rub all over their skin or if they save a lot if money they go to a place where they climb in a bath of bleaching water. The reason I tell you, is all the women back in the market we're talking about you. They say, "Why she not protecting her skin with more clothes?" They were talking about me?" I gasped. "No," he explained. "They were not talking bad, they were worried for you. "I overheard them saying they were worried for that white girl that she not covered, so she will turn brown like them."
I looked down at my jean shorts and tank top. It was so crazy to think that we always want what we don't have. I wanted to be tan and they were buying creams and wearing heavy clothing in the heat to stay as white as possible.
We arrived to a large Buddhist temple, removed our shoes and walked inside. I knelt down in front of the statue and closed my eyes. After we all prayed, we collected our shoes and biked to a large reservoir that Sython used to come to as a kid. Many families spread down the beach, swimming, picnicking and relaxing. It was very interesting to be in the local village, see where they trade their food and where they relax.
We biked back to the house and I found a large table in the yard with hundreds of pieces of dried meat cooking in the sun. I asked Sython if this was the baby cow and he nodded. "They will sell to the market tomorrow." Valentina walked up beside me and whispered, " I hope they are not feeding us veal for lunch, that cow died because it was ill." My stomach dropped again, I was never going to get to eat.
I followed Sython into the house and the mother sat in front of the fire on the back patio shirtless making waffles. She smiled as she cooked, scooping cups of the waffle mix from a big dirty bucket. She poured the mix onto a long metal bar with a waffle frame at the end. She held the stick in the fire, flipped and opened it once cooked. She flipped the waffle onto a tray and repeated.
Sython explained that she cooks those for the market when their rice field are flooded. Each waffle selling for 500 Riel. I asked how many waffles she can make in one batch and he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe one hundred. She will make about five dollars from all of that work."
Now clothed, she walked over to us sitting on the bed and handed us a plate of three waffles. I thanked her placing my hands in prayer to my chest and said "Arkuhn." She smiled and walked back to baking.
I went up to the other house to rest until lunch. I got no sleep last night, so attempted to get some rest. I woke up around noon and lunch was served again. My stomach turned at the thought of eating. Now, I grew worried they would try to serve the veal they just cut up that was sick. I sat Indian style on the table as the mother brought out the food and revealed the bowls of tiny shrimp with their little legs, head and eyes all still in tact. Soups with odd things floating around and a bowl of meat with strips of potato and pumpkin. I scooped up heaps of rice and a spoonful of potato. Valentina asked Sython, "What kind of meat is this?," pointing to the bowl. "Ah, I think pork." She exchanged an untrusting glance with me and I decided to stick to my rice and potato.
After lunch we waited for our taxi to arrive and it couldn't arrive fast enough. I just wanted to get to my broke down palace at the house in Phnom Penh. That room seemed so cozy, comfortable and free of spiders, geckos or flys. I could not wait to sleep on a mattress, be done with car rides or have to eat strange meat.
Our car was over an hour late as Valentina waited up in the house, pacing back and forth. We climbed into the old Lexus, rolling seven people deep again. The five hours down the bumpy road surprisingly flew by. I was getting used to the long travel but still could not wait to get back to the city.
Once we arrived, I skipped dinner and headed to my room. I had lost my appetite completely and knew what they were serving downstairs would not be appetizing. I would go in search for something tomorrow when I explored.
My roommates lay in their beds and greeted me as I walked in the room. "How was your trip?!" they asked with excitement. I told them all about the bus and the Corolla, the farm and the wooden bed. "Wow," they frowned. "That sounds awful." I asked how their weekend was in Siem Riep and Lily said, "Well, we laid by our pool at the hotel and then," I interjected, "You had a pool at your hotel?!" Lily and Brooke nodded and continued, and then we went to this really cool bar and oh, our bus the bed inside was so-" I cut them off again, "You had a bed on your bus?!" Lily nodded again, "Of course, it's an eight and a half hour ride to Siem Reap!" I shook my head. These girls had a totally different weekend then Valentina and I.
After catching up with the girls, we planned our getaway to the beach for next weekend. I made them promise I would not be sleeping on any floors and that our bus would be like their previous one. This would only be a five hour trip to the beach but as long as we would not be crammed in a Corolla, I was fine with it.
So back in the city, and could not be more thrilled. Maybe it was good for me to be stripped away from all necessities for a while. I couldn't be happier to have access to a broken toilet or running water.
I arrived to my room to wash up. My white soapy hands quickly turned to brown as I washed the dirt away from the past two days. I had not washed my hands once since I left Siem Reap and had not been able to brush my teeth. I crawled into my bed and it felt like a Tempurpedic mattress with five thousand count sheets. I closed my eyes and fell asleep in seconds.