Dear All,
I'm now coming to the end of my stay in Cambodia and thought I'd try to put a few impressions down on record to further bore you with.
Arrived here in Phnom Penh (the capital) 9 days ago, straight from Shanghai. They had a very efficient processing line for entry visas and immigration, so only took me about 20 minutes before I was at baggage claim wrestling with my backpack. I'd booked a place called Last Home Guesthouse, which had good reviews and known for being popular with the ex-pats. They'd sent someone to pick me up, a small grinning chap called Ban. I was a bit surprised when he pulled up in a tuk-tuk. This is the local equivalent of Indias auto-rickshaw, basically a motorcycle engine pulling a covered 4 seated carriage. Quite comfortable and in my case, preferred it to a taxi as I could watch the street life with ease. First impressions were a warm, humid atmosphere, redolent with smells (generally appetizing as it was dinner hour but with the occasional blocked sewer in there somewhere) and bustling with short, dark skinned and generally animated people. It reminded me very much of India but with less filth on the streets, and minimal traffic. Ban proved to be an amiable guy who kept chattering away on our trip. I was surprised with how good his English was but after a few days came to realise that many Cambodians had rudimentary english, with quite a few in the expat populated areas possessing conversational level skills. A refreshing change from China.
Arrived at the guesthouse around 8.30pm, and shown to a huge room complete with a/c, cable TV and a large ensuite bathroom. All this for $15/night. My first indication of how cheap things were here. Settled in, had an excellent Khmer beef curry for about $2 and then slept in a rather luxurious huge bed.
The next day first priority was buying padlocks. All the advice I recieved, from the guesthouse owner to passing friendly expats, emphasized how common thievery and pickpocketing was here. Went to the main market here, called Central Market and housed in a huge yellow art-deco building. Bought a few locks and went back to the guesthouse on a moto. These are motorcycles where you perch on the back and the driver takes off at often bladder loosening speeds combined with enough bumps and twists to make you feel you've mysteriously been transposed into a rollercoaster. Enjoyed it tremendously, and a 5-10 minute ride costs between 50-75 cents. Back at the guesthouse, found I couldn't ket the keys into the locks at all, and neither could my friendly host. Hopped on another moto, back to the market and ready to breathe fire at the salesgirl. She promptly inserted keys into each lock and made them work perfectly, all the while scolding me in Khmer. Slunk away with my tail between my legs and went for a walk on the riverfront to forget the whole episode.
The city was gearing up for its annual Water Festival, held on the first full moon around late october/early November. The festival celebrates the reversal of the Tonle Sap river (an intriguing and I'm sure either unique or exceedingly rare phenomenon for a river) and the hope for a good harvest. The city population normally around 1-2 million people and for the festival an additional 2 million flooded in from the provinces. The central events of the festival focus on the races of over 400 dragon boats, brought from every corner of the country. No one I've spoken to seems surehow the races are judged though speed and boat decorations seem to play a part. No-one seems to care overmuch either, and comcentrate on enjoying the festive spirit, thousands of food stalls and people watching. The expats regard this whole time with codial loathing as being too crowded and hectic for their normally laid back lives, and leave town in droves to the coastal areas.
The second evening I was there met quite a few expats who gathered at the Last Home for evening drinks and food. They were a very welcoming bunch and made me
feel part of the group. All of them had spent a minimum of 6 yrs here, some as many as 30-35 yrs wandering about SouthEast Asia, and full of stories, some believable and some not, as well as plenty of good travel tips. An incredibly valuable source of information. Some of them real eccentrics as well. I got chatting with a couple of guys called Ken and Dennis, and over the next few days spent a fair bit of time with them. That second evening, we ended up at one of the local bars called the Walkabout, frequented by expats (as most of the bars around the riverfront and centre of town seem to be). Had my first experience of the decadent colonial lifestyle, with local girls cosying up to anyone who made eye contact. In fact, hardly any expat didn't have a girl he wasn't buying drinks. Thankfully, Ken and Dennis, being long time residents, contented themselves with having beers with me and chatting, while telling the fgirls to leave us alone for tonight (more for my sensibilities than their desires I think). This was apparently one of the lower key joints in town.
The next few days spent time alternating between walking along the riverfront watching the races, occasionally stopping somewhere with a good vantage point for a drink and going along to see various of the other sights of the city. The weather was still pretty hot and humid so tended to get tired quite qiockly if not careful about drinking plenty. In the evenings all the boat crews and their supporters came into town as well and the roads became solid jams of humanity. Quickly learnt to keep hands on money and camera at all times. Quite cool to wnader along and see the weird and wonderful snack being served up (spiders, cockroaches, bugs of all kinds really, as
well as various strange looking freshwater denizens) and the local interactions in the crowds. The Khmers on the whole struck me as being a fairly convivial, polite bunch but with a tendency to be violent if the argument got too serious. Talking to various locals and expats, got a picture of rising corruption and land grabbing in the provinces whoch if continued and given their propensity for violence, could lead to further unrest in years to come. Certainly I wouldn't consider it a good place to settle, even given the seductive laid back cheap lifestyle.
Today is Independence Day here, marked with a ceremonial lighting of a fire at the Independence monument, and in the evening by fireworks and a parade. Pnly discovered there were morning ceremonies by accident about 8am and so hotfooted it there. Lots of amry, police, etc standing at attention, followed by the king arriving to light the fire in the monument and raising of the flag. At this point they let loose thousands of brightly coloured helium balloons which swiftly ascended, framing the monument in a brilliant blue sky. Quite a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, it was at this point that my camera dedided to break. The lens got stuck and wouldn't retract or focus at all. This being right on the eve of my rather intensive sightseeing tour of Indochina, to say I wasn't best pleased would be an understatement! I had been expecting this to happen for a while though, as had similar probs with it in America a few months back. Inquired around a discovered a reputable mall in Phnom Penh, called Surya Shopping Centre. Completely different to anything else I had seen in PP so far. Seven storeys of airconditioned, glitzy stalls and shops, and full of rich Cambodians (a class of people
I'd not encountered before this). Found the electronics place and got a decent Sony camera. Amnaged to wangle a 15% discount which I was quite pleased by as it meant the closing price was cheaper that the US.
Back to my guesthouse, charged up the battery and then sat in the restaurant downstairs gassing with some of the guys there (something I've done a lot here). The converstaion this afternoon centred (loosely) on allowing gay marriages in the US. Had a self confessed red-neck and a liberal taking part, making it quite a lively entertainment for the rest of us.
Tomorrow I fly out in the morning to northern Thailand (Chiang Rai) and the day after will hook up with some friends from the UK for a busy 3 week tour of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia (though only 1 day in PP). Will be busier than the the trip so far so will attempt to compile an update when I have a free moment. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing more of your news.
Siri.
I'm now coming to the end of my stay in Cambodia and thought I'd try to put a few impressions down on record to further bore you with.
Arrived here in Phnom Penh (the capital) 9 days ago, straight from Shanghai. They had a very efficient processing line for entry visas and immigration, so only took me about 20 minutes before I was at baggage claim wrestling with my backpack. I'd booked a place called Last Home Guesthouse, which had good reviews and known for being popular with the ex-pats. They'd sent someone to pick me up, a small grinning chap called Ban. I was a bit surprised when he pulled up in a tuk-tuk. This is the local equivalent of Indias auto-rickshaw, basically a motorcycle engine pulling a covered 4 seated carriage. Quite comfortable and in my case, preferred it to a taxi as I could watch the street life with ease. First impressions were a warm, humid atmosphere, redolent with smells (generally appetizing as it was dinner hour but with the occasional blocked sewer in there somewhere) and bustling with short, dark skinned and generally animated people. It reminded me very much of India but with less filth on the streets, and minimal traffic. Ban proved to be an amiable guy who kept chattering away on our trip. I was surprised with how good his English was but after a few days came to realise that many Cambodians had rudimentary english, with quite a few in the expat populated areas possessing conversational level skills. A refreshing change from China.
Arrived at the guesthouse around 8.30pm, and shown to a huge room complete with a/c, cable TV and a large ensuite bathroom. All this for $15/night. My first indication of how cheap things were here. Settled in, had an excellent Khmer beef curry for about $2 and then slept in a rather luxurious huge bed.
The next day first priority was buying padlocks. All the advice I recieved, from the guesthouse owner to passing friendly expats, emphasized how common thievery and pickpocketing was here. Went to the main market here, called Central Market and housed in a huge yellow art-deco building. Bought a few locks and went back to the guesthouse on a moto. These are motorcycles where you perch on the back and the driver takes off at often bladder loosening speeds combined with enough bumps and twists to make you feel you've mysteriously been transposed into a rollercoaster. Enjoyed it tremendously, and a 5-10 minute ride costs between 50-75 cents. Back at the guesthouse, found I couldn't ket the keys into the locks at all, and neither could my friendly host. Hopped on another moto, back to the market and ready to breathe fire at the salesgirl. She promptly inserted keys into each lock and made them work perfectly, all the while scolding me in Khmer. Slunk away with my tail between my legs and went for a walk on the riverfront to forget the whole episode.
The city was gearing up for its annual Water Festival, held on the first full moon around late october/early November. The festival celebrates the reversal of the Tonle Sap river (an intriguing and I'm sure either unique or exceedingly rare phenomenon for a river) and the hope for a good harvest. The city population normally around 1-2 million people and for the festival an additional 2 million flooded in from the provinces. The central events of the festival focus on the races of over 400 dragon boats, brought from every corner of the country. No one I've spoken to seems surehow the races are judged though speed and boat decorations seem to play a part. No-one seems to care overmuch either, and comcentrate on enjoying the festive spirit, thousands of food stalls and people watching. The expats regard this whole time with codial loathing as being too crowded and hectic for their normally laid back lives, and leave town in droves to the coastal areas.
The second evening I was there met quite a few expats who gathered at the Last Home for evening drinks and food. They were a very welcoming bunch and made me
feel part of the group. All of them had spent a minimum of 6 yrs here, some as many as 30-35 yrs wandering about SouthEast Asia, and full of stories, some believable and some not, as well as plenty of good travel tips. An incredibly valuable source of information. Some of them real eccentrics as well. I got chatting with a couple of guys called Ken and Dennis, and over the next few days spent a fair bit of time with them. That second evening, we ended up at one of the local bars called the Walkabout, frequented by expats (as most of the bars around the riverfront and centre of town seem to be). Had my first experience of the decadent colonial lifestyle, with local girls cosying up to anyone who made eye contact. In fact, hardly any expat didn't have a girl he wasn't buying drinks. Thankfully, Ken and Dennis, being long time residents, contented themselves with having beers with me and chatting, while telling the fgirls to leave us alone for tonight (more for my sensibilities than their desires I think). This was apparently one of the lower key joints in town.
The next few days spent time alternating between walking along the riverfront watching the races, occasionally stopping somewhere with a good vantage point for a drink and going along to see various of the other sights of the city. The weather was still pretty hot and humid so tended to get tired quite qiockly if not careful about drinking plenty. In the evenings all the boat crews and their supporters came into town as well and the roads became solid jams of humanity. Quickly learnt to keep hands on money and camera at all times. Quite cool to wnader along and see the weird and wonderful snack being served up (spiders, cockroaches, bugs of all kinds really, as
well as various strange looking freshwater denizens) and the local interactions in the crowds. The Khmers on the whole struck me as being a fairly convivial, polite bunch but with a tendency to be violent if the argument got too serious. Talking to various locals and expats, got a picture of rising corruption and land grabbing in the provinces whoch if continued and given their propensity for violence, could lead to further unrest in years to come. Certainly I wouldn't consider it a good place to settle, even given the seductive laid back cheap lifestyle.
Today is Independence Day here, marked with a ceremonial lighting of a fire at the Independence monument, and in the evening by fireworks and a parade. Pnly discovered there were morning ceremonies by accident about 8am and so hotfooted it there. Lots of amry, police, etc standing at attention, followed by the king arriving to light the fire in the monument and raising of the flag. At this point they let loose thousands of brightly coloured helium balloons which swiftly ascended, framing the monument in a brilliant blue sky. Quite a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, it was at this point that my camera dedided to break. The lens got stuck and wouldn't retract or focus at all. This being right on the eve of my rather intensive sightseeing tour of Indochina, to say I wasn't best pleased would be an understatement! I had been expecting this to happen for a while though, as had similar probs with it in America a few months back. Inquired around a discovered a reputable mall in Phnom Penh, called Surya Shopping Centre. Completely different to anything else I had seen in PP so far. Seven storeys of airconditioned, glitzy stalls and shops, and full of rich Cambodians (a class of people
I'd not encountered before this). Found the electronics place and got a decent Sony camera. Amnaged to wangle a 15% discount which I was quite pleased by as it meant the closing price was cheaper that the US.
Back to my guesthouse, charged up the battery and then sat in the restaurant downstairs gassing with some of the guys there (something I've done a lot here). The converstaion this afternoon centred (loosely) on allowing gay marriages in the US. Had a self confessed red-neck and a liberal taking part, making it quite a lively entertainment for the rest of us.
Tomorrow I fly out in the morning to northern Thailand (Chiang Rai) and the day after will hook up with some friends from the UK for a busy 3 week tour of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia (though only 1 day in PP). Will be busier than the the trip so far so will attempt to compile an update when I have a free moment. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing more of your news.
Siri.
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