Siem Reap, Touch-A-Life

When we made our original goal of visiting one new place a month while living in Hong Kong, we didn't really set any parameters around the goal, other than the time component. We decided that making endless trips always just for our own enjoyment seemed a bit self-serving. Especially considering so many of the places we were going to were third world countries and could definitely use our help. So, we decided that while some trips could be pure fun, especially if friends or family was involved, some of the trips needed to have a community involvement component. So, we tried this out for the first time in Siem Reap. We found a non-profit called Touch-A-Life, or TAL, that creates vegetarian meals for those in need, and we decided to volunteer for a day. Essentially we show up at the manager's home, we do lots of food prep in an outdoor kitchen behind her house, cook 4 dishes using those ingredients, then serve the meals at a dining area in the front of the house. 

Food prep.

Mincing garlic! Brian, you'd have been happy; the knifes were razor sharp! There were actually about a dozen volunteers that morning. A few were randoms like Drew and myself, while some were foreigners who really wanted to make a more profound impact, and they live and work in Cambodia for the sole purpose of helping non-profits like this. It was great to see so many people who wanted to help, and thankfully the manager was well organized so she could fully utilize all of us. But, the need is still far greater than the help. 

Drew stirring a jumbo pot of sweet and sour tofu. I think the manager specifically asked Drew to perform this task, as you have to be pretty strong to mix a pot of food that big! 

We served the lunch we prepared to whomever came, but they were mostly young school kids. I really liked TAL because they also taught the kids to be very gracious. Before getting their food, every person had to personally greet every volunteer, saying hello and honoring them by bowing slightly in their direction while holding their hands in front of their chests with their palms touching. When they received their food, they had to say "Yes, thank you" or "No, thank you" for every dish. They had to wash their own dish afterwards. Then, when they were leaving, they had to again say goodbye and honor every volunteer before they could leave. 

Not only did TAL give out lunch, but also some other essentials that they knew the kids didn't have access to, like a rain jacket, toothpaste, and a multi-vitamin. These kids are waiting in line for those items. Some kids stuck around until after everyone was served. They then took home whatever food was left to give to other siblings or parents. It was very touching to see them care so much about the well-being of the rest of their family, but it was also sobering to see how responsible they have to be at such a young age. Children providing for parents is hard to see. 

After our morning at TAL, we spent a few hours at the Angkor National Museum. Since we were going to start temple touring the next day, we wanted to understand as much as possible about the history of the Khmer culture as well as the symbolism behind the temple architecture, so that we could get as much out of temple touring as possible. Essentially, we needed an in-depth look at the finer points of both Hinduism and Buddhism to understand both the history and the architecture, and the museum definitely helped us there. The three main Gods in Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, are featured heavily in all of the temples, so we learned how to recognize them (does he have 1 head or 4? 2 arms or 10? What animal is he riding? What position is he in? as well as the major scenes in Hinduism, such as their creation story through the Churning of the Sea of Milk, different important battles, etc. Super fascinating and super useful in the coming days of temple touring. 

That evening we went to see some kickboxing, which was exactly the same style as Muy Thai Boxing. We did our research this time and made sure we were watching adults and not kids. The fights were much better because of that. Far fewer knockouts, most of the matches lasted several rounds, and just better fighting overall. 

We also felt better about this experience because it was just as much for the locals as for the tourists, while what we saw in Chiang Mai was a tourist trap all the way. The guys standing were trying to make bets with each other. 

It also seemed more official, as there were 4 judges on each side of the ring keeping score, as well as the main ref in the ring, keeping the fight clean. I am apparently very bad at picking fighters, because I lost three times in a row to Drew right off the bat. Perhaps I should just stick to horses in Happy Valley :) although I don't think I've fared much better there recently either....

This was the family cat at the house we were staying at. All of the Cambodian cats looked like this, with sharp, angularly faces, and large eyes. Loved the green color of this cutie's!