No, I don't want a f***ing tuk-tuk!
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2008
1
4
18
Trip End
Jul 06, 2008
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Sunday, March 16, 2008
It's time for another installment of my travel blog. Some of you have mentioned that the blog has been funny so far, well, no I feel underpressure to perform!!! Haha. Well today I have a tale of more comical coach rides, a second helping of food poisoning, and a super hot waitress!
Before I dive right in with what I have been up to I would like to tell you a little bit about the Khmer (what Cambodians call themselves) rules of the road (it will all come together a bit later).
In Cambodia there are at least 30 times more motorcycles (motos) then cars. Now, everyone drives on the right-hand side of the road, but don't be suprised to see a vehicle coming straight towards you, as lane discipline doesn't really exist over here! If you want to turn left at a junction the drivers will quite often take the corner in the wrong lane and continue down the wrong side of the road until they can weave across to the other side. Also, traffic lights are few and far between, and even when there are traffic lights nobody pays attention to them. And a final point, you don't use your horn in the same way that you would in England, ie. someone cutting you up etc. The horn is used as a kind of "get out the way, i'm coming through" warning!
Wednesday 12th March
Today I had to get up at 6am to get the bus to Phnom Penh. The coach station was a little bit outside of the town and it was absolute chaos when I got there. I'm talking tens of buses and about 500 people all tying to work out where the hell they were supposed to be going! I paid a little bit extra to get a coach where they give you food and it had a toilet on board.
The National Museum courtyard
However, the food turned out to be one very buttery sandwich, nothing else inside it, and the toilet turned out to be a tiny cupboard down in the luggage hold. Seriously, the roof could not have been more than 4 feet off the ground! After realising that I would even be able to fit inside, I went back to my seat! Six hours later I was in Phnom Penh, which is a lot more littered and polluted than Siem Reap. I got a tuk-tuk to the Capitol Hotel. The area was supposed to be a backpacker haven due to it's cheap accomadation and food according to my Rough Guide book, but I didn't see a lot of backpackers around. After I had dumped my bag and stood in front of the air-con in my pants to cool down, I decided to head back down to the riverside for some munch. I ended up in the White Horse Tavern where I had a burger and chips (possibly the cause of my second food related illness!) and a few beers. I got chatting to the English owner, Max, and the beautiful waitress that I mentioned earlier, Narin. A couple of beer-fueled hours later I decided that I would walk back to the hotel. Big mistake. It turns out that it was a little further away than I thought - at least 2km - which wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't have been 30 degrees and rush hour. Now, the roads are pretty chaotic at the best of times, but add hundreds of kids finshing school on mopeds to the equation, and it is mayhem! On my very sweaty walk home I had my first experience of crossing four lanes of traffic in rush hour. Zebra crossings are non-existant over here, and nobody pays attention to the traffic lights.
Royal Palace outside
Add that to the fact that the rules of the road as we know them do not apply, and you've got a bloody mission on your hands! After finally managing to cross the road and eventually getting to my hotel I decided to have a nap. 3 and a half hours later I woke up to find that it was almost 9pm! Oops! I decided to head out for some food only to find that there was bugger all around the hotel area. No bars, no restaurants, nothing! Some backpacker haven! I decided that I would find myself a new hotel in the morning.Thursday 13th March
Checked out of the hotel at 9am to find a new one closer to the riverside, as that seemed to be where all of the entertainment was. I ended up at the Angkor International Hotel where I managed to get a room on the 4th floor for $12. After a 5 minute walk I was at the riverside where I found another place that did breakfast burritos. Amazing! Although, that could also have been what made me ill! After fighting off the waitress' advances, I headed to the National Museum. Now that is one hour of my life I'm never going to get back! The building looked really nice from the outside, but I was BORED as hell inside. It was full of artifacts from the Angkor temples that I had seen more than enough of in Siem Reap. Soon after I had left my bloody camera battery ran out again so I decided to get a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. The problem was that I had checked into the hotel only a few hours earlier ... and I didn't look at the flipping name of it!!! So after re-tracing my steps on foot, I finally made it back!
An hour later I was ready to had to the Royal Palace, which was pretty impressive, although you weren't allowed to take pictures in the two best buildings - the Throne Hall and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
In the evening I had an amazing Khmer-style beef rice thingy (definitely not the cause of the illness) before bumping into Narin, who was working in a bar for her second job.
Royal Palace inside
I chatted to her for a couple of hours until she finshed work and then headed to another bar with her. God knows how many pints of beer later I managed to get a lift back to the hotel with her brother. Now being on the back of a moto when you've had a lot to drink is not good! My balance was all over the place! I trudged up the 10 flights of stairs before collapsing fully clothed onto the bed with all the lights, tv, etc, still on!Friday 14th March
BLOODY ILL AGAIN TODAY! And it wasn't a hangover! I stayed in the room until 3pm, but in the end I had to get outside as my room didn't have a window, so it felt a bit like a prison cell! I braved it and headed to Wat Phnom, yet another temple, 1km north of the hotel. 10 minutes was more than enough there. I am struggling to be polite to the damn tuk-tuk and moto drivers now, who are harrassing me every 5 flipping yards! After a couple of hours faffing around on the internet, and checking the fate of my beloved Seagulls, I headed back for more rest and an evening of watching the same damn adverts on TV again, and again, and again, and again!
Saturday 15th March
Had a better day today. I woke up feeling a little better than yesterday. It is pretty funny leaving the hotel now, as all of the tuk-tuk drivers stationed outside know my name from the chats I have had with them. Now every time I leave I hear a chorus of "Matt, Matt. Tuk-tuk/Moto"! Brilliant! No matter how many times I turn down their offers of weed and hookers, they still ask me every time I see them! I left the hotel early to go Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields.
A gate inside the Palace
In 1980, 8985 bodies were exhumed form 86 mass graves, all victims of the Khmer Rouge (google them if you don't know, I can't be assed to explain!). The fields were full of craters were the graves had been dug up. Apparently there are another 43 graves that have been left untouched. in the centre ther was a huge glass tower thing which was full of skulls unearthed from the graves. Pretty grim. We (me and my driver) then headed to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, or Security Prison 21 (S21) as it was known in the 70's. In 1975 this was a secondary school that had been converted into a prison, and in 5 years 20,000 Khmers were brought to be horrifically tortured before being sent to the Choeung Ek to be executed.After heading back for a quick shower I headed to the White Horse, my new local, to meet Narin. We headed to the Olympic Stadium with her friend, who's name I can't remember, as there was a Khmer pop concert happening. It was absolutely rammed, and I have never felt so out of place in my life! Afterwards we headed to a bar for a couple of hours, and I made my drunken walk back to the hotel. On the way I heard someone shouting my name. I looked around to see Vanna, one of the tuk-tuk drivers from the hotel, waving from his bike on the other side of the road and he gave me a free ride home!
Well I hope you have enjoyed this installment. It has taken me aggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssss!
Oh yeah, just to let you know, my mobile phone has not had a network since I left Thailand, so if you have sent me a message, I am not ignoring you!
Love you all.
xxx
