Siem Reap: Day 5

We let the sun dry us when we were done swimming, and returned to our room to ready ourselves for dinner. A tuk-tuk brought us to Mahob Restaurant, which is a bit north of Siem Reap, between the city and the Angkorian temples. We sat under a jackfruit tree in its front courtyard. I don’t know if it was the days of heat or if we were both hangry, but neither Aaron nor I were in a good mood. We got in several heated debates over very dumb stuff throughout dinner, and kept having to check ourselves when one of us got a little too grumpy. But I have to say, I’m pretty proud of our meta-communication here. I’d disagree with something Aaron argued, and then he’d say “You know what? This is getting elevated. Let’s talk about something else.” Or I’d get sensitive about something he said and I’d let him know, acknowledging that I was being sensitive. Despite our irritability, we managed to get along–or, if not “get along”, get through it. I picked at our beef and ants stir-fry, which was pretty much the same as the dish we got at Marum, only with thicker beef. Our grilled broccolini, however, I devoured greedily. Something about this heat makes me really appreciate vegetables.

Aaron navigated us to Hive the next morning for our first cup of the day, then we sauntered (in this heat, most walking is sauntering) over to lunch at the Village Cafe. The Village Cafe looked like someone picked it up in Paris and dropped it in the middle of this street in Cambodia. Black-and-white-striped, upholstered cushions sat on French cafe chairs at French cafe tables on French cafe tiles. The only clue that we were still in Siem Reap was all the tropical foliage potted throughout the cafe. It was a very quaint and charming aesthetic; I plan on keeping in mind in my decorating future how well “Parisian” pairs with “jungle”. We ordered a tapas plate to share. The rosemary chorizo was a highlight, but the bruschetta was only so-so, and the arancini were a bit flavorless. We had another unfortunate mix-up with Visa while paying, also. Our waiter kept insisting we pay twice, even though I showed him my online statement stating that our credit card had already been billed. It was a rather unfortunate social interaction, so we weren’t in the best of moods when we left. 

Our next destination was going to remedy that. We were dropped off at the Apopo Visitor Center. Apopo is an organization helping to de-mine Cambodia through rats trained to sniff out unexploded ordnance. They began in Tanzania, where giant pouched rats were trained to smell tuberculosis in samples with a speed and accuracy greater than the current medical tests. The operation then expanded to Southeast Asia, where unexploded ordnance continues to be a life-or-death issue for many rural people. Cambodia has between four and six million unexploded mines dotting its countryside, leftover from three decades of war. An estimated 40,000 people in Cambodia live as amputees from setting off one of these mines or bombs. Most affected are young boys, who often die in explosions when they uncover one of these devastating weapons and try to make it a toy. One of Apopo’s HeroRATs, as they are affectionately named, can de-mine in 30 minutes an area that would take four days by metal detector. It’s safer, because they don’t weigh enough to set off the explosives, and more accurate, because they don’t smell metal, they smell explosives. 

After a brief Q and A about the organization, we were shown examples of unexploded ordnance, and then given a demonstration. Karmel, the giant pouched rat, was a pro. It took her no time at all to find the mine. She worked diligently and with a purpose. As an animal behaviorist, I was impressed with her training. The tour ended with an inspirational video about the rats and their handlers. It worked on us. We “adopted” a HeroRAT in my nephew’s name. 

We returned to our usually scheduled program of beer and swimming pool after a short tuk-tuk. Well, first I argued with Visa for an hour, but that’s just my life now, I guess.