End of Days

Telen Walsh - Tomb Raider!

What is the antidote to heartsickness?   

Kids.

At least for me it is.  After the heart-wrenching visit to S-21 and the killing fields we all needed something to help lift the weight from our mood.  On our way to Seim Reap we got that help.  We stopped at a spot where the local people sell fruit, vegetables and tarantulas.  A bit of an unusual combination.  You hoped you did not get a combination you did not expect i.e. fruit and tarantula or vegetable and tarantula.  You could get tarantula live or stir fried with oil and garlic.

There was a throng of children there to sell you the goodies.  They immediately swarmed us as we got off the bus and they tried to make a close personal connection so we would buy the fruit from them specifically.   They played the “cute” card right away.  Or maybe they just were cute.  Sort of like girl guides selling cookies. 

So I bought a lot of fruit.

Once they had sold you the fruit, vegetables or tarantulas they needed to help support their families they became regular kids again.  I engaged a few of them in conversation and they got excited to tell me about school, friends, how old they were and who was their best friend etc. etc.  As they talked they started talking over each other and getting louder and louder, giggling and shrieking.  Just like kids anywhere.  They were learning English in school and seemed eager to practice with us.

The second dose of kids came at a village off the beaten track that we stopped at.  It was a poor village and we had all bought small things like hair elastics, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and such like for the children.  We were not prepared for the volume of kids.  I swear they were just materializing out of the ether!  I think there may have been as many as 40!  That meant we ran out of doodads before we ran out of kids.  Unfortunately some kids were disappointed.

Then we brought out the soccer ball Tony and Yannig had purchased for the village.  Immediately a game broke out – girls against the boys- with the tourists mixed in with both teams.  It actually became just a melee.  The rules, if anyone knew any, just disappeared and the excitement level meter buried the needle.  Things peaked when a stray kick hit Mick directly in the family jewels and he dropped like a stone.  Everyone, except Mick, was in tears with laughter.  Mick was just in tears.

The Tourists and the kids

 After the game we all visited with the kids.   Such beautiful children!  One shy little one just hung out with me and kept looking at me with huge beautiful eyes.  We had a group picture and since she was little I picked her up so she could be seen.  After that she was my best buddy.

Me and my little sweetie.  Who is the little fat man with the white beard dressed in red with the loud laugh?

Some of the village ladies got caught up in the excitement and started posing with some of the guys in our group.  These ladies looked like they were grandmothers but it turned out they were mothers.  Their tough life had taken its toll.  When I looked at these gorgeous little girls I thought that they were probably going to end up like that.  We live such a privileged life in Canada.  I don’t think we really appreciate just how good we have it.

The visits with the children was the antidote that I needed.  It did not make me forget the horrors of the Killing Fields but it did help take the emotional edge off.  It also made me wonder what I could do to help make these kids’ lives better.  I am still in a quandary about that.

We didn’t really do much for the village except give them about an hour of fun that they might not have had.  The little gifts we gave did not amount to much and would not make much of a difference to their lives, unfortunately.  My thoughts keep returning to my little sweetheart and wondering what her life holds in store.  Is there anything I can do?  I don’t know.

Christmas morning was spent at Angkor Wat watching the sunrise.  We had a group of rampant agnostics watching the sunrise on a pagan holiday that was pre-empted by the Christians and hi-jacked by the corporations over a Hindu temple that was converted to a Buddhist shrine.  How many people can say they did that?  Well, other than our group, lots!   The area around Angkor Wat was crowded at 5 am on Christmas morning, so the experience was not unique to us.

Christmas Morning at Angkor Wat

In spite of the large crowd, the early hour and the lack of coffee the experience was unexpectedly spiritual.  It was a beautiful morning and Angkor Wat is astounding. 

We all went out for a Christmas dinner at a local restaurant that Tony, Alec and Chloe had discovered and booked.  The whole group was there and we all had a surrogate family Christmas.  Amazingly they had turkey.  At least they said it was turkey and it tasted like turkey.  So, I guess it was turkey! 

I don’t want to look too deeply into it…

Christmas dinner with the surrogate family

We are now back in Bangkok and everyone is on to their next destination.  It feels like the lights just came on and the roaches are scattering.  We had a great group for the trip.  There were 12 out of 15 people who went the whole way and we had some additions and subtractions along the route.  We were together for 29 days and we got to know each other pretty well.   It is sad that everyone is leaving. I feel that I can call all these people friends.  

I am really going to miss them.