Survival Memoirs of a Takeo Tourist

So I got back a little early from my Takeo/Loak Da trip, as it is Saturday evening right now and I got back to Phnom Penh yesterday evening. Basically I was away for about 36 hours but it felt like so much longer than that! Allow me to explain...

On Friday morning the taxi driver we had hired picked us up. We drove about an hour to the outskirts of Phnom Penh where we met with a loak da! That was great, and really interesting. I asked her a lot of questions and then got to sit-in on one of her "possessions". Whenever she summons the spirits the spirit of a tiny child will take over her body, and that is when the patrons of the loak da will ask the spirit for help with things or to have objects blessed. I guess this is a pretty modern group of patrons because they asked to have cell phones, car keys and some expensive perfume blessed by the spirit-child. It was kind of bizarre and freaky to watch, as I am sure you can believe!

The loak da does her possessions in this small garage-like building, with an elaborate buddhist alter inside and a huge (what looks to be a) termite mound! I asked her what that is and she said that a snake spirit lives in the mound and it came to her after she agreed to be a loak da. That was about all the information I could get on that... I have to admit that the whole thing was just genuinely all-around bizarre, but I guess that is what I should expect.

After that we drove for quite sometime and arrived in Takeo. Oh what a place. It is really in the middle of nowhere. We hired a boat to take us to see some ancient temples that are on top of mountains in the middle of the ricefields. In the rainy season the mountains become islands and the only way to get there is by boat or swim. The temples were great, and a whole retinue of little kids showed up to follow us around/give us a tour. Then, however, we got caught in a torrential rainstorm. We waited out the rain inside one of the temples, but by then the whole town had turned into a wet slippery mess. On the way back to the boat I promptly slid down a hill on my butt, and was such a mess! The kids of course thought this was hilarious! I had to laugh too, there was nothing else to do!

The story gets better because we were staying at the "best" hotel in Takeo, which is pretty much a joke! There were lizards and bugs everywhere, the sheets had holes in them and pretty much everything was dirty. But I am trying to be a good sport, and there are a lot of people in Cambodia that could never have the luxury of staying in this hotel. So I grinned and decided to bear it. Oh what a night! I only had one pair of pants with me so I had to wash my muddy pair in the sink. No big deal, right? Except the sink drains onto the floor, not down any sort of pipe! So in addition to the bugs, lizards and dirt, I had a wet, muddy bathroom.

This really is just the beginning of my adventures in Takeo, (haha... it does get worse) but I really feel badly complaining like this. Lets just say it was not a comfortable night, and the next morning we all agreed to get back to Phnom Penh as soon as possible. We called the taxi driver to come get us on Friday afternoon.

On Friday morning, however, we went to Angkor Borei, which is another town that is only accessible by boat during the rainy season. Visiting this town made the whole trip worth it. I got to interview 3 looters there, the woman they all sell their finds to, as well as the town museum curator. I got so much great material for my research, it just about made the whole Takeo experience worth it. I think.