Changing lives Cambodia
You want to change the world, big things, grand adventures, etc
Just a little bit of respect goes a long way
Im up in Seam Reap (6hrs north west of Phnom Penh, where the famous temples are) with Dave, where doing the whole temple thing, riding elephants, chatting to the locals.
We find out that up north the water situation aint that great, they only have one rice harvest a year, where down south its wet all the time.
So Seam Reap, famous for the Angkor temple complex, and thousands of others, many many tourist come in, just fly in then out.
Theres a western street called “pub street”, which me and dave named “freakout street” (as it was clean and ritzy and was all westerners eating western food in an asian country – and it really freaked us out)
So back to these westerner dudes, they come here speak there own language, treat the khmer (cambodian people) like they are second class (cos they are poorer and don’t have the best education) and disrespect their culture
This so much annoys me to the core,
What do we do??
Im writing this blog from what happened to me on the street…..so a bit of background then shall we…..
I was walking along (as you do) and got asked by a tuk-tuk driver if I wanted a lift (they always do this – all of them) an I always say “darling” – which means “im walking for pleasure”.
Now in seam reap the locals love you speaking khmer, and they laugh with supprise when you say it and really respect you
So I was walking along the street (near freakout street) and this old tuk tuk driver asked if I wanted a lift, and I said “darling som-toh, kingyom jong darl battambong” (which translates “walking for pleasure, sorry, I want to walk to battambong)
Wanting to walk to battambong is an in joke of the khmer, its like saying I want to walk to bourke – in the middle of nowhere.
To this the man had a laugh and as I walked on he said in khmer “ar-koon thom thom”, or “thank you big big” – which was to say to me thank you very very much for speaking khmer and having a joke with him.
Now that made his night…a simple act of respect to these lovely people
Where ever I go, I try to speak the khmer I know – I don’t know much, but hey it changed him, made him happy for that bit, he’ll go a tell all about this random white guy who told a khmer joke to him
In seam reap there is no respect from the westerners, im just a small dude in the middle of a big city and I can impact all around me….
luv
ben xo
You want to change the world, big things, grand adventures, etc
Just a little bit of respect goes a long way
Im up in Seam Reap (6hrs north west of Phnom Penh, where the famous temples are) with Dave, where doing the whole temple thing, riding elephants, chatting to the locals.
We find out that up north the water situation aint that great, they only have one rice harvest a year, where down south its wet all the time.
So Seam Reap, famous for the Angkor temple complex, and thousands of others, many many tourist come in, just fly in then out.
Theres a western street called “pub street”, which me and dave named “freakout street” (as it was clean and ritzy and was all westerners eating western food in an asian country – and it really freaked us out)
So back to these westerner dudes, they come here speak there own language, treat the khmer (cambodian people) like they are second class (cos they are poorer and don’t have the best education) and disrespect their culture
This so much annoys me to the core,
What do we do??
Im writing this blog from what happened to me on the street…..so a bit of background then shall we…..
I was walking along (as you do) and got asked by a tuk-tuk driver if I wanted a lift (they always do this – all of them) an I always say “darling” – which means “im walking for pleasure”.
Now in seam reap the locals love you speaking khmer, and they laugh with supprise when you say it and really respect you
So I was walking along the street (near freakout street) and this old tuk tuk driver asked if I wanted a lift, and I said “darling som-toh, kingyom jong darl battambong” (which translates “walking for pleasure, sorry, I want to walk to battambong)
Wanting to walk to battambong is an in joke of the khmer, its like saying I want to walk to bourke – in the middle of nowhere.
To this the man had a laugh and as I walked on he said in khmer “ar-koon thom thom”, or “thank you big big” – which was to say to me thank you very very much for speaking khmer and having a joke with him.
Now that made his night…a simple act of respect to these lovely people
Where ever I go, I try to speak the khmer I know – I don’t know much, but hey it changed him, made him happy for that bit, he’ll go a tell all about this random white guy who told a khmer joke to him
In seam reap there is no respect from the westerners, im just a small dude in the middle of a big city and I can impact all around me….
luv
ben xo
Comments
Love in the Lord,
Rosie.