After spending a little over a week in Singapore, recuperating, enjoying the simple pleasures of family life, and basking in the high style of an expat (ex-patriot), I have left the sanctuary of distant (once removed) family and headed for Cambodia. I will miss the luxurious three story house with full private bath and live in maid, but I am sure I will return with ease to my simple travelers life. And, what a way to dive back in, discovering the wonders of the impoverished scenes in Cambodia.
I awoke this morning at 4 am to head to the airport in order to catch my 6:45 am flight to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I took a taxi from the Ware’s estate to the airport, but I am pretty certain that by some coincidence another person on the street had also called for a taxi and I had stolen his. Why on earth was someone else calling a taxi at 4:30 am, I will never know. After getting checked in at the airport, having a spot of breakfast, and doing my duty free perusing, I boarded the JetStar flight to Phnom Penh. Other than the 1 hour delay we had at the airport due to a malfunctioning flight computer, the flight was smooth and uneventful.
On arriving in Cambodia, I had to apply for my visa, which consisted of filling out a little bit of paperwork, paying $20 (P.S. Cambodia has its own currency, Cambodian Reil, but everyone wants you as a red devil to pay in US dollars) and waiting for them to hold your passport in the air signifying the completion of your visa. After collecting my pack and making it through customs I had to find a way to my guesthouse, Sunday Guesthouse. As soon as you walk out of the airport doors, hundreds of men with their tuk-tuks are waiting to take you to your destination. How does one describe a tuk-tuk to a Westerner? Tuk-tuks are to Cambodia, what gondolas are to Venice, the easiest and was available form of transportation. Imagine a horse drawn carriage in Central Park, shrink it in half, add a canopy, and age it about 30 years. Then, instead of being pulled around by a beautiful, sturdy horse, picture it being pulled around by an old Vespa. They can turn on a dime, max out at about 20 mph, and dominate the chaotic roads of Cambodia. Driving in Cambodia must be like an exercise in mindful meditation because unless you are paying attention to EVERYTHING going on around you, you are going to die. 'Nough said. The other means of transportation (more popular with the locals) is simply paying a guy to let you ride on the back of his scooter while you prop your feet up on jump seat pegs. Many times you will see three to four people riding this way on one scooter. Dangerous, yes, but totally riding Cambodian style. I am not sure what Cambodians would do without motor-scooters.
After checking in to my guesthouse, which costs about $12 a night for a private room with a private bath, I grabbed a tuk-tuk and arranged to hire the guy and his vehicle for the whole day. Such a request is the norm here with a negotiable fee, but for me hiring the guy for a 5 hour journey cost me $25. We ended up heading out to a small island about 20km outside of Phnom Penh called Koh Dach. Thanks to some advanced research, I knew it was a location I was dying to go to, and thanks to my drivers vast knowledge of the area was an easy trek. Not necessarily a comfortable one, seeing as how the roads in Cambodia range from bad to worse, but it was easy.
After about 45 minutes a driving, we arrived at a ferry “pier” (a steep dirt ramp leading to the river front). We drove the tuk-tuk on to the ferry and headed across for an afternoon of delight. On the ferry, I was offered to have lunch at a woman’s home, roast chicken and rice. I decided, since it was approaching lunch time, that that was a great idea. So once the boat reached shore, she hurried off to start preparing the feast. On the way to her home, we stopped at another home that offered exactly what Koh Dach is known for, wand woven silk scarfs and fabrics. As a foreigner, as soon as my presence was known on the island, I was engulfed in woman offering me their fine silk creations. At one point I think I was cornered by 6 different women and 2 little girls, each wanting me to buy a piece from them. While the items were cheap by US standards, I still didn’t have the money or the room in my pack to purchase a piece from all of them, so after purchasing one silk “table cloth/drape/throw” and two scarves from the first woman to catch me, I had to apologetically decline the other offers in front of me. After collecting my goods, I got back in the tuk-tuk to head to lunch, leaving half a dozen Cambodian women cursing my name. (I actually doubt that, because they were all extremely nice, and just wanting to seize an opportunity for a few extra bucks.) Although I was leaving half a dozen women behind, two of them jumped right on their motorbikes and followed the tuk-tuk to its next stopping point.
Finally we arrived at the petite woman’s home for lunch just as she was slaughtering the chicken I was going to eat later. She laid a mat down in a small thatched hut that sat right on the beach, hovering over the water of the Mekong River, and ushered me to sit inside while I waited for her to finish preparing lunch. About this time, the girls with the scarves had caught up to me, and joined me in the hut to continue their sales pitch. I continued my polite no’s and offered them some of the fruit that had been provided by another woman. My driver (and I am terrible for not writing his name down, but I will see him tomorrow so no worries), the two girls, a random other woman, and I sat in the thatched hut for about an hour enjoying the views and having an impromptu language lesson, both Cambodian for me and English for them.
Once the food arrived, the tuk-tuk driver and I were left in peace to enjoy the delicious feast and enjoy the picturesque scenery. He taught me how to eat the food while I relaxed enjoying his company and that of the stray dogs that appeared to share in the wealth. After finishing eating and cleaning ourselves up a bit, he led me down the river to see some local fisherman pulling in the nets filled with thousands of sardine sized little fish. Once the food had settled, and I had finished stumbling around the sandy shore, we decided to head back. When we arrived at the ferry dock to wait to cross, all the same little silk weavers showed up again, trying to hawk me their goods, but this time I think they got the picture that I was not in the market for any more fabric.
We crossed back over the river to head back into town. The drive is beautiful, filled with stilted houses, elegant and massive Chinese temples, and vans bursting at the seams with passengers. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was ready for a bit of rest, so I laid down for a bit, watched some BBC World news and contemplated what my next move would be. After a while, I headed out to do some walking and find some contact lens solution (not an easy find in an impoverished nation). The streets of Phnom Penh were filled with people enjoying a gorgeous Friday night, getting ready for a fun weekend.
I met a fun couple, Aaron and Sandy (Aaron from the UK, Sandy from Colorado; Both now working in Kuwait), and spent the evening sharing a couple of beers and travel tails. The two of them seem to share in my sense of humor so it was a nice match. The three of us ended up watching Americas Next Top Model (oh yeah, Tyra has made it to Cambodia), and wallowing in the sadness that is Tyra Banks being a US representative in Cambodia.
What a way to spend a first day in Cambodia, but I think it is hard not to have a day like that in a country where the people are exceedingly friendly and the scenery is a mix of destitute and beautiful. Truly the wonders of Cambodia.
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