The Lap of Luxury
Trip Start
Mar 27, 2007
1
8
17
Trip End
Jun 10, 2007
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Sunday, April 29, 2007
My first foray out, I decided to take a walk and see what I could see. Of course, I was stopped by the hoardes of tuk tuk drivers at the entrance to the hotel. Where you go? You go to Killing Field? I take you. You go to Museum? You go to market? Figuring "why the hell not?" I hired a tuk tuk driver and set out for the Killing Fields. For those of you that don't know, Cambodia went through a pretty rough time. Google Khmer Rouge to figure it out. Needless to say, the Killing Fields is where a whole lot of people were tortured/killed and then buried. All sorts of mass graves (i.e. dips in the ground) and a stupa full of human skulls. Interesting to see, but I was really expecting more... or something. I had a picnic.
After I returned, I went for a walk. I didn't get far and another tuk tuk driver was calling me down. I told him I was walking and thus started one of my many interesting forays in Phnom Penh. The driver said that he was walking too. Okay, so he didn't walk, he drove his tuk tuk very slowly next to me while talking to me all the time.
a million stairs to phnom chisor
He claimed that he was some type of surveyor or contractor (construction?) and that he only rented the tuk tuk to drive around. Eventually, we came to an intersection and Wat Phnom, which I wanted to see, was across it. He volunteered to drive me across for free. Great. Okay. He then proceeded to go with me to the temple, answering the questions I had, buying a lotus fruit (which I had inquired about after seeing ladies carrying trays full of them on their heads), and was my buddy for the afternoon. He then took me to a restaurant and I ate while he had a beer (which I paid for incidently). Afterwards, he dropped me off and tried to get me to agree to meet him the following day- which I would not do. Buh bye.The next day, I got up late hoping like hell Dara (that was his name) would not be around. He wasn't, thank God, and I set out to see the markets and generally to walk around the town. This is one thing I really enjoy doing when travelling and when you have a bazillion tuk tuk and moto drivers begging you for business, it becomes very difficult. In the late afternoon, as I was resting on a park bench and reading my Lonely Planet, a tuk tuk driver came to me despite my pleas that I was only READING my guidebook. He told me that I must see this or that and said that tomorrow, he would take me. It was a hard sale, but he won. His English was good and he was a friendly guy (as so many of them are).
So in the morning, we set out on his moto for Phnom Chisor and Tonle Bati. It was about 100km roundtrip and great to get out of the city.
at grand palace
Phnom Chisor is an old (11th century I think) temple on top of a hill. The climb up those stairs proved that Nepal will kick my ass. The temple was amazing and the people on top were friendly. I found it excellent fun to have a local with me to a)fend off beggers and b)translate for me. There was an old man selling some sort of information in Cambodian that Nick (my driver) tried to fend away. But the old man instead took us inside a newer temple and told us about the paintings inside. The view from on top of the mountain, by the way, was great. After Phnom Chisor, we went to Tonle Bati, a popular picnic area on a lake. There were palm/bamboo huts that were bridge together by palm trunks jutting out to the lake. We went to the furthest out we could get and ordered a chicken with some rice and had a nice lunch. I found out a ton of information from Nick and he proved an invaluable insight into local culture.
While driving back past the miniature "gas stations" (i.e. barrels and/or pepsi bottles filled with gasoline), white cows, pigs, chickens, etc, we got a flat tire. When the roadside mechanic pulled the tube out, we found it was entirely split. Oops. He replaced it for $2 and we went on our way. We arrived back at the hotel and I overpaid Nick because he didn't have change and he promised that he would pick me up the following night for dinner. No problem.
The next day, I set out for the National Museum (full of statues from Angkor Wat and other such places around Cambodia) and information about the ancient history.
central market
I then hired a tuk tuk to drive me across town to do some internet and eat some good food. Upon reading my e-mail, I found that one of my buddies from the Laos trip was in Phnom Penh. After a lunch of Lok Lac, I walked back to the Grand Palace, which I had left for last on my agenda. Once it opened (2PM), I entered and began my exploration. I was entering one of the temples and low and behold- there is my friend from Laos. After thoroughly exploring the temple, we headed back for some cold drinks. He had rented a moto so getting around was much easier (for me anyway... I can't imagine trying to DRIVE there as there are few road rules and driving seems to be more about luck and prayer than anything else). It threatened rain, so we headed to his guesthouse to continue our conversation and relax. It really turns out that I spent far too much $$$ on my hotel because the Guest House atmosphere was soooo much better than my hotel AND it looked out on the lake. My buddy drove me back to the hotel and I arrived just in time to meet Nick for dinner. He drove us over the Japanese Bridge and I had a most interesting night. I now know what Cambodians do for fun. There was a HUGE restaurant there- complete with neon lights and a stage full of singers and dancers and comedians. The food (we had a goby fish and a chicken dish) was great, but the experience was unforgetable. First up- a hoarde of women holding pictures of types of beer confronts you and you either say or point at which one you want. Ordering food wasn't as demanding, but it was certainly entertaining. I didn't understand a word and it was a bit on the pricy side, but the place was PACKED full of locals.
The drive back was refreshing and cool. I said my goodbyes to Nick and took off to pack my bags, despite his pleas that he would drive me around for free to see the countryside and such. I got the feeling I could have a Cambodian boyfriend if I wanted.... kind of figures. Why do small Asian men that come up to my nose like me more than others?
