Project Cambodia: Day Tour of Temples & Phuket

Tuesday 23^rd June, 2015 - (photo below)

         It was an early morning today.  Ephraim and I had set up with Mr Sokkol to go on a private tour with our own tour guide and driver and that was such a good idea, we were to meet our tour guide in the lobby at 8am, so that meant that we were going to breakfast at 7.30am – that also meant waking up and being ready to go by 7.30am so it was an early morning.

         Breakfast was alright there were large groups of Asian tourists, it was pretty cool that we would be going on a small tour – and we’d planned to meet up with Nic again that night.

         Our tour guide was this cool young guy and I can’t for the heck of me remember his name, what was awesome was that Mr Sokkol had booked him as our tour guide and that was awesome because we all got on really well and we were cracking jokes all over the place (once we got used to each other that is…) What I really liked about our tour guide is that he did everything differently to how it’s usually done, most people start with the biggest place ‘Angkor Wat’ and then do the smaller cities/towns, but we started with the smaller ones and left the bigger one for last – and that was really cool because there weren’t many people going around with us (tourists) which was really lucky for us as well, our guide was continually telling us about how lucky we were because sometimes there are 40 groups of 40 tourist going around and it was literally hard to move, but we were really fortunate because there weren’t many people there that day.

         It was stinking hot though – lucky that I’d taken my sports shoes, coz I was going to walk around in my jandals, last minute changed into my sports shoes coz it was MUCH better doing all of that walking in those shoes and not jandals.  I tell you though, it was so humid and we’d only walked a little bit and down poured the sweat – YUCK!  It was lucky that I didn’t take ANY make-up or anything coz I knew that it was just melt off my face within minutes of getting outside.  LoL!

         Seeing all of the temples were just really amazing!  These were built hundreds of years ago and touching them was like touching history, and hearing the history of Cambodia – the struggle of religion namely Hinduism & Buddhism, like one king would be all we are Hindu and would destroy all of the Buddha statues, then another king would come in and say we are Buddhist and destroy all of the Hindu symbols etc.  One even took the time to transition from one religion to another – anciently Siem Reap was the capital of Cambodia, for hundreds of years, then because at one weak point Thailand came and took over that part of Cambodia, so for that and other reasons the capital moved to Phnom Phen.

         So, Cambodia has such a turbulent history – I asked our guide, were there many times of peace?  He said ‘No’.  Especially when we think about the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to take over the country in the late 70’s early 80’s MAN – I mean, that’s in my lifetime!  So, the country is full of young people under 50’s because so many people died during that regime.  So sad!

         What was funny, though was that when people weren’t fighting they’d have the animals fighting – which also in itself isn’t that funny!  Then our guide talked to us about this tree that grows over other trees and kills that tree – man, if the people and the animals aren’t fighting the trees are also killing each other.  He talked to us about how a western discoverer (French, I think) guy followed the butterflies to Angkor Wat we go, did you eat them – then Ephraim goes ‘Did they fight too?’ crack up!

         At one point we got to this carved wall and these guys were half naked with ropes around their necks and Ephraim and I were like ‘Oh, they must be slaves’ then our guide goes ‘No, they’re soldiers and the rope was a holy rope that protected them, that was their fighting gear’ both Ephraim and I give a look at each other like ‘Huh?’ – then he goes on to say, that monks would bless the rope and was even said that it stopped bullets – again with the look at each other! LoL.. So, we get to Angkor Wat that was built AFTER that particular wall and I look straight at the soldiers and I go ‘Uh, I see that they have armor now, was this one built after that other temple?’ to which he replied ‘Yeah’, I said ‘I guess they found the rope ineffective then?’ and then Ephraim and I just start cracking up!  It was not a good time to be laughing, but man I just couldn’t stop – it took me a good couple of minutes to gather myself together again, I mean I could blame it on the heat and all of the walking but man it was funny!  I mean, I’m sure if you know me you can imagine that when I get started (or anyone for that matter) it’s hard to stop laughing.  What’s funnier is coz Ephraim goes ‘I’m sure he had more to tell us at that particular place, but decided against it after you started laughing!’ Oh well, now we’ll never know what he was going to tell us. J

         What was awesome though was after each temple or city (coz we went to 4 or 5) and we’d get back in the car there’d be a nice COLD facecloth and bottle of water – SO NICE!!

         Earlier in the day, coz Nic was doing the temples, as well we happened to bump into each other, which was cool!  We got a pic with each other and went on our merry ways.  We thought our guide was even more awesome after bumping into them two J J  I was really grateful for our guide too, his English was really good – there were a couple of times I had to take time to go back and think about what it was he was saying, but otherwise he was really good – what was funny was that Ephraim at one point goes ‘What did he say?’, I go ‘Hey aren’t you supposed to be able to understand Asian English better than me?’ he cracked up! 

         So, as you can tell the day was full of fun, walking and a lot of good kōrero – what was sad was all of the poor children, working to make money I wished that I had a $$$ for them all, but then I would have no money because there were so many of them!  I felt so aroha for them.

         Once we’d finished the day tour of the ‘small circuit’ because there was a ‘grand circuit tour’ too, we decided against being dropped off in town and went back to the motel – we went for a swim and then it POURED down with rain, it was SO nice swimming in the rain – because it had been so hot that day and it was just really nice to be relaxing in the water and having a good swim!  We had a bit of a rest and then messaged with Nic to meet him in town, man though having a nap wasn’t a good idea coz we woke up sore and tired – but we were also getting hungry so it was time to leave and catch a tuk tuk into town. 

         This time though our driver dropped us off in some random place in town and not where we were used to going, turns out he didn’t want to drive through a big puddle from the rain and so dropped us off at this dumb spot.  LoL!  So, I found the first white person to ask where ‘Pub Street’, turns out he was French and was on his way there too, although he too got lost a little walking around – anyway, we ended up having dinner together, then going to get some drinks together, Nic was messaging me and I found the locator and saw that he wasn’t too far from where we were, SO, since the boys both had a drink I said I’d go off and find Nic and come back and get them – so off I go down this scary little alley to find him in this tiny place it was successful!  So, he was with these two girls that he’d met earlier that day at the sunrise at Angkor Wat – they were really cool! So, I went back and got the boys and we had a real good time in this bar called YOLO – then out came the JENGA, the French dude goes the looser buys a round of drinks & I’m like NOOO coz I didn’t want to buy everyone a drink… LoL! Luckily I didn’t loose!

         Then Ephraim and I got another tuk tuk back to our accommodation.  Goodnight!

Me and my buddy Ephraim, on our private car and tour… such fun!

$20usd later and here is our pass, that I nearly lost like TWICE, we had to show them at every city to an official...

About to make the climb on this muggy day...

Touching history when I touched this flower…

After the climb and it was stinking hot!

Ancient writing on the wall of a temple..

This is so massive, considering they’re done by hand and soooo long ago!

The view from the Expedia Advert

This needed to be cleared because it grows really fast.

Wednesday 24^th June, 2015

         So, this morning was a bit of a late start – I just wanted to be at the market by 10am to get a couple hours shopping in before I flew to Bangkok and then on to Phuket – so, we had breakfast at about 9.30am and got on a tuk tuk to the market, we made sure not to get off our tuk tuk until we knew for sure where we were and that it was where we wanted to be for shopping purposes.  LoL!  Needless to say that my buddy Ephraim finished his shopping LONG before I’d finished – I said to him I wanted to try and keep my budget to $40usd I didn’t do too bad and only spent $90usd.. LoL!

         And then with the bargaining!  It was so much fun, although one had to feel a little bad because they were already selling them at a cheap price and then we were going in there hassling for a better price – I did win mostly, until I must’ve started getting tired because at one place I was going 2 things were $10 then I go 2 for $5 and then went back up to 2 for $10… she looked confused, then I was confused and looked at my buddy and go, am I ripping myself off?  He goes yeah – so eventually we struck a deal at 2 for $7… LoL!       I think we did well to stay within the given timeframe, we went back for the last time on the tuk tuk and packed our rooms up for the last time – it was really nice where we stayed and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone going to Cambodia, if I could remember the name off the top of my head.  Ephraim just stayed on at the hotel and I got a ride to the airport – Mr Sokkol took me and another guy from the hotel, we’ve added each other on facebook – he was really cool!

         So, I got to the aiport pretty early and got a little hungry so got something to eat, and then casually walked over to my gate when I noticed it was empty of people – LoL!  I had misread my flight times and was the second to last to board the plane, so I’m running to the plane coz it’s an outside walk to the plane and it starts pelting down with rain!  It was crazy as, well, I suppose it was also monsoon weather!  Then I get to my seat and because of the rain we had to wait 10-15minutes, I was thinking if I’d got to my seat earlier then we would’ve been able to take off before the rain pour, but then about three other people walked onto the plane after me, so I didn’t feel too bad.

         I also found that Aunty George and Uncle Orlo were still in Phuket and so we arranged to meet up the next day after my tour, Aunty George told me where to meet them and after I’d checked in I caught a tuk tuk to the meeting place.

         However, once I’d got out of the airport I found a cheap shuttle van company that took me right to my hotel, but half way there they made a stop at a travel agency, they asked us which hotel we were going to and tried to sell us different tours – I thought that was a stroke of genius because what happened was where I was staying didn’t do bookings like that – so it was lucky that I’d bought one at that stop and managed to get it for around $88nzd so that was all good.

       I was really happy with my accommodation and then went for an explore in town, got another massage and then made my way back for the night - ah, sweet relief.  Sleep before I get up for my early morning tour to the islands around Phuket.

Pōmarie

Parns

Project Cambodia: Siem Reap (22nd – 24th June, 2015)

Monday 22^nd June, 2015     

         I was really glad that Ephraim decided to come along with me to Cambodia, we seem pretty similar in our travelling ways and I felt that we would get on really well – and we did!  It was also awesome having Nic around coz we caught up every night I was there – yeah, the whole TWO nights that I was in Cambodia.

         So, early Monday morning I heard Nic moving around getting ready to leave, he was flying Thai airlines and was going to the main airport and Ephraim and I were leaving from the smaller airport – so, he left before us because his was further away.  We woke up at about 6.30am to leave the whare by 7am to catch a taxi to Don Muang airport – it was lucky the gate guy helped us hail a taxi – man, talk about traffic jam in Bangkok, I guess thinking about it now of course it was going to be busy, just because I’m on holiday it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is – LoL! So, it was crawling for about 15-20minutes before Ephraim said we should’ve checked in online – thank goodness for cheap internet here in Thailand coz I was able to check in on my phone while we were in the taxi – then Ephraim checked in too – good move!

         But, by the time we got on the motorway it was all good!  And we arrived at 8am as expected (or, as planned really). We got through customs relatively quickly and had time to get a quick kai before getting on the plane – some good old chicken and rice, wait Krispy Kremes in Thailand?? Yes please!  And off we were to our plane, you can bet as soon as I sat down I was sleeping. LoL!  And before I knew it the flight was over, my buddies sitting next to me put my customs forms in the pocket in front of my seat – and it was the cutest little airport ever – kind of reminds me of the Hilo, Hawaii airport – but bigger.  In any case, I was now rejuvenated and excited to explore Cambodia.  We get into the airport & I remembered that I had put the passport size photo’s you need for the Cambodian visa in my blimin luggage – Then I realized that you don’t collect your luggage until AFTER customs – well, I needed that blimin photo FOR customs brought all the way to Southeast Asia for this very purpose and on that VERY morning I put it in my luggage?? Wow, really clever!  So, I start getting nervous like ‘Are they going to let me in?’ and then Ephraim is like ‘Do you have USD?’ I be like, USD? I’m in Cambodia!  I was going to exchange currency from Baht to Riel IN duty free/customs – NO SUCH LUCK – it was the smallest customs, you literally only go through it, no duty free, no nothing – So funny!  But, at the time NOT funny – so I borrowed some doleros from Ephraim and hoped that they just charged me a little extra for them taking a photo – LUCKY they did! 

         Because I was having the MEKE sleep on the plane and didn’t fill in my forms I went to a “spare” table in customs, looked for a sign to see if I was or was not allowed to sit down, no sign – so I sat down, a moment later – “Lady, lady, what you want?”, I replied “Just filling forms”, I was told off for sitting there coz it was an official table and chair – LoL! Oh well… Well, there was that and the photo buzz, I was about ready to turn around and get back on the plane to Thailand – LoL!

         So, we get through customs & lo and behold there’s the currency exchange place so we get all of our remaining baht exchanged to riel and felt pretty happy about that, then off to get a Cambodian sim card – taking my phone out of the very protective case $5 from Kmart & what do you know SMASH right on the concrete floor!  Seriously, that’s why I have such a boofy blimin case so that it would be protected when it is dropped – as for Murphy and his dumb laws, of course it was one of the very FEW times I take it out that it smashed, the screen wouldn’t be in there if it wasn’t for the protective case – as it fell I was like, hmmm – it could be ok, then it was yay, new phone through insurance so, we’ll see – the day or so before Ephraim had booked the airport shuttle for us, but he didn’t hear back from them to confirm if it was a go or not – so we were pleasantly surprised when his name was on a paper outside the airport.

         We get to our place and it’s pretty decent aye, real happy with it – we didn’t even need to go to the reception coz Mr Sokkol came to us, helped us to a comfy seat in the lobby, had refreshing face towels for us and a cold juice and he went and did everything for us as we sat there, the bags were even taken care of… it was so lovely, then we insisted that we look at our tour options for the next day and Mr Sokkol says that we should have USD… I’m like HUH??? He said everywhere in Siem Reap it is better to have USD – what a fail!  But, Cambodia was setting up to be a great fail – LoL! But Mr Sokkol was so cool and friendly that helped make up for most everything else.

         So, we decided on the ‘small circuit’ as opposed to the ‘grand circuit’ for our tour and opted for an English tour guide to take us around, and we were happy with our decisions.

         We decided to have lunch at the hotel & relax, we went for a swim and then both had sleeps (in our separate rooms).  Nic was finished earlier then expected and so he came over – Ephraim was still sleeping so we went and woke him up – dangerous, he was funny half sleeping, half awake – LoL!  And off we were on my first tuk tuk ride to the night market for dinner.  Before dinner though Nic followed through with his goal to eat a tarantula and I tapped right out of it when I saw what it looked like and that it was NOT tempura – so covering what it looked like it was straight deep fried spider – no thanks!  But, he went for gold and ate one of each insect the guy was offering – LoL!  Hearty!  Then we had a feed – it was ok, the curries weren’t as strong as Thai curries.

         Nic had taken a sleeping pill because he planned to go to the sunrise and had been on the go all day – so he left us, and we had our feet eaten by fish eating off the dead skin and man it was so ticklish!  It was crack up!  Took forever to get used to, and it was fun!  Sort of like a bucket list thing and now it’s done.  There was a mean as live band playing in a bar above us, so we went had one drink before heading back and tapping out for the day, we knew we had a long day ahead of us, pick up at 8am, drop off at 4.30pm and the whole day would be walking.

 Relaxing at pool side - having a good relax...

 Lovely flowers… Smell so good!

CASHEW NUT smoothie… WHAT?  SO yum... 

 Now the fish are ‘nom, nom, noming’ on my feet… LoL! So ticklish..

What a great band!  So cool & took requests too… Massive!

Project Thailand: Re-thinking Leadership Reflection

My revised view of leadership:

         Women are a minority in the business world, is a thought that has regularly come to the table at this hui in Bangkok.  Contemplating if this is because we are still seen better as mothers and should be in the home OR worse, not as able as MEN to do the task has motivated me to make a conscious decision and ‘choose’ to be a leader, as a wahine and as a Māori.  I mean, when it comes to leadership I’ve kind of just filled in the roles because ‘someone had to’ – someone had to karanga, someone had to be Young Women president (and they asked me), someone had to organize a family dance, Mum made strong suggestions that I study to become a teacher, someone had to answer that question – this all, rather than a conscious decision to become a leader, that when I make ‘this’ choice, I’m choosing to become a leader.  This hui has helped me ‘consciously’ decide to make decisions to become a strong, wahine Māori leader. 

     At the same time, I’ve found that I’m ticking the two minority boxes presented at the hui today.  First as a Māori and then, as a Woman.  However, as I reflect on this I am grateful for the spirit of ‘Mana Wahine’ and the part that Māori women play in Māori society, that we as women have various very overt stations of leadership in our world, in my world (kaikaranga, kaiwaiata, kaitiaki, Māma, Whaea, kōka hoki).  My mother and Aunties are strong Māori women and leaders in our whānau, also in the communities in which they live.  They are beautiful Māori women who are sharp shooters, who don’t sugar coat it or water it down – it’s a double-shot of straight up and at the heart of it love, concern and a desire for more, from me as their niece, ‘Never mind getting married’, ‘When are you getting married?’, ‘Uh, you haven’t been going to the gym’.  These are the women who have influence my understanding of what a woman is, what a Māori woman is and how I conduct myself.

         However, when I first arrived and met up with the group at the Aetas hotel and observing the beautiful (mostly Asian and/or Pākeha) women around me most were in dresses and presented themselves in a very graceful, feminine manner.  I was immediately able to identify my difference to these strong women leaders as opposed to my rough kind of presence.

         I thought – I’d like to emulate that type of woman during this hui (graceful, demure, strong and feminine) – and so confided in my Gizzy mate Arish that’s what I wanted to do, and knowing me a little longer than most others laughed at this attempt and suggested that I take my cap off, and let my hair out – I took my cap off and left my hair up… LoL!  Needless to say that he had NO confidence in my abilitiy to either 1. Be graceful, demure OR feminie OR 2. My inability to NOT be myself.  In any case he was right!  I didn’t last 5minutes. J

         However, last night when we (as a group) walked to the restaurant it pelted down with rain – Jamie offered to share his jacket with me as an umbrella and I allowed that space (feminine, graceful and demure) – although at the ambassadors whare I was the only one to ask if I could dip my feet in his pool (Me) L, anyway we walked into the restaurant and Shareejan very sternly said to me ‘Pania, sit by me, we need to talk’, and I immediately sat down with no back-chat (graceful) and it was empowering to not be so ‘me’!

         However, as I’ve continued to reflect on this place, space and I’ve realized that I am a product of a very matriarchal family.  Yes, the men in my family I love and they also play a very important role in my life – at the same time I realize though that it is my mother who remains at the top of the list of people I admire and would like to emulate in who I am and become.  She’s the sharpest of sharp shooters.  And why wouldn’t I want to be like her?  She is the link between me and my other women ancestors who are much like her and why wouldn’t I want to be like them?  And instead of focusing on what and who I cannot become, I accept and welcome who I am becoming – He uri ahau ō Ngāti Hine ki te Taitokerau.  Ka rere te toto o Hineamaru ki roto i ahau tae noa ki Eileen Witehira ki a Paremo Matthews.  ACCEPT & WELCOME.

         In countries where selling your daughter for a flat screen TV is not only accepted but part of culture? It just doesn’t even calculate in my mind – having people do their best to return daughters home to have parents disappointed at their return is mind-boggling what human does to each other, even to their own flesh and blood, and I am blessed and grateful.

         Why is this important and how will my participation in this Asia New Zealand foundation hui have a positive impact on my whānau and their future?  It’s because of my 23 nieces and nephews – 13 of them, a majority of them are beautiful, Māori girls, who will grow to be Māori women, who will grow to be leaders.  Who will celebrate our sharp shooting, non-sugar coated  or non-watered down ways, – our double-shot of straight up-ness because at the heart of it is an understanding that is all given in love, concern and a desire from an Aunty to a niece.

         And, if I have been able to sort through this cognitive dissonance I experience as the only Māori woman in the Leaders Network of the Asia New Zealand foundation, then I can feed this to my nieces so that they can put this struggle aside to face something new because they will be at peace with it because I have been through it and have helped them understand the complexities of living in Āotearoa, a partner to the crown and a neighbour to our multi-cultural country.


Hope you made some sense of this rambling and reflection… :D


Aroha’s,
Parns