Floating Villages and Dancing
So once again we find that things which f
loat out this way are a little over-touristy and in this particular case not worth the $15 each to go on a 'tour'! We were supposed to see a Cambodian, a Vietnamese and a Muslim floating village, tho I don't recal the Muslim one now I think about it. The villages were pretty cool and would have been better if there was a reduction in the number of tourist rafts housing restaurants etc! Grrr. Behind them you could kinda see the more unique side to the villages though.
We did have some unique contact with a little boy in a washing up bowl upon the lake. Well I say unique - there were scores of them all harrassing the tourist boats and OMG can they move fast! Our guide reckoned they could do Phnom Penh in an hour (the speedboat takes 4)...we were inclined to believe him!!
We also saw some crocs which was cool...and noticed that the local fishermen seem to mark their nets with floating polystyrene...very traditional!
That night we headed for a "Cultural Show" complete with all you can eat buffet (Cai-heaven!). The beautiful hotel it was in was a bit of a shock after the slums we're used to tho and upon walking in we thought we might be about to b
e held to randsom!! After the obligatory ukealayli (how do you spell this?!) wailings we were treated to Apsara Dancing. This basically involved Tai-Chi style dancing by women dressed in rediculously lavish costumes with lots of fake gemstones on.
There was then a dance of rural courtship...where they danced around clapping the coconut shells together - a clear hark back to
Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Brave brave brave Sir Robin...
Then we saw part of the Reamker tales where a woman dressed with a chicken's tail seemed to be trying to avoid the affections of a man dressed as a monkey! Finally there was more Apsara dance to finish and then photo time!
Went back to the same massage place that night to get them to have a look at my leg again...am getting muscle pains in my calf. It seemed to help loads last night though today I'm not convinced...maybe it was also aided by the relaxing effects of the wine and beers we'd had. Martin's masseuse however kept referring to him as husband. She also gave him an $800 discount off the dowry (normally $1000 so quite considerable!), so apparently the proposition ceremony is at Angkor Wat today...maybe that's why I haven't seen him all morning!! (Joking Nicky!)
loat out this way are a little over-touristy and in this particular case not worth the $15 each to go on a 'tour'! We were supposed to see a Cambodian, a Vietnamese and a Muslim floating village, tho I don't recal the Muslim one now I think about it. The villages were pretty cool and would have been better if there was a reduction in the number of tourist rafts housing restaurants etc! Grrr. Behind them you could kinda see the more unique side to the villages though.
We did have some unique contact with a little boy in a washing up bowl upon the lake. Well I say unique - there were scores of them all harrassing the tourist boats and OMG can they move fast! Our guide reckoned they could do Phnom Penh in an hour (the speedboat takes 4)...we were inclined to believe him!!
We also saw some crocs which was cool...and noticed that the local fishermen seem to mark their nets with floating polystyrene...very traditional!
That night we headed for a "Cultural Show" complete with all you can eat buffet (Cai-heaven!). The beautiful hotel it was in was a bit of a shock after the slums we're used to tho and upon walking in we thought we might be about to b
e held to randsom!! After the obligatory ukealayli (how do you spell this?!) wailings we were treated to Apsara Dancing. This basically involved Tai-Chi style dancing by women dressed in rediculously lavish costumes with lots of fake gemstones on.There was then a dance of rural courtship...where they danced around clapping the coconut shells together - a clear hark back to
Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Brave brave brave Sir Robin...Then we saw part of the Reamker tales where a woman dressed with a chicken's tail seemed to be trying to avoid the affections of a man dressed as a monkey! Finally there was more Apsara dance to finish and then photo time!
Went back to the same massage place that night to get them to have a look at my leg again...am getting muscle pains in my calf. It seemed to help loads last night though today I'm not convinced...maybe it was also aided by the relaxing effects of the wine and beers we'd had. Martin's masseuse however kept referring to him as husband. She also gave him an $800 discount off the dowry (normally $1000 so quite considerable!), so apparently the proposition ceremony is at Angkor Wat today...maybe that's why I haven't seen him all morning!! (Joking Nicky!)
posted by Ian Matthias at
9/22/2006 10:26:00 am
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