Settling in
Trip Start
Mar 03, 2005
1
11
80
Trip End
Apr 08, 2006
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Friday, March 25, 2005
In the two days I've been back, the insanity that seemed to follow me down south has subsided, although I'll put that down to the fact I'm now living alone and not staying in a guesthouse. I did accidently stumble upon Phnom Penh's largest supermarket yesterday, and upon entering I was convinced I'd died and ascended to a higher state of being. This place has EVERYTHING!!! Including Cadbury's chocolate!!! I spent about an hour in the place wandering around and finding things to stock the fridge with. Tomorrow night I'm actually going to cook myself! Woot!
This morning I went for a short walk to Psar Tuol Tom Pong, otherwise known as the "Russian Market". It's not as huge and interesting as the Central Market, but it has some bargains, and I picked up a few very cheap shirts nd pants, as well as a few DVD's. However, I won't be able to relax and take it easy before my first day at work on the 1st of April, due to something in Cambodia that I am quickly becoming accustomed to:
THE BULLSHIT
I need to go to Vietnam. Not because I miss the place, or because I want a third Vietnamese stamp in my passport, or even because I need an iTrip for my iPod and I can't get one here, but because the embassy in Bangkok screwed my working visa. So I need to go for what is commonly called a "Visa run". Why Vietnam? Well I'm not going all the way back to Thailand, and Laos is an even bigger mission, so the easiest thing to do is jump on a bus for a few hours and go to Vietnam. Try and make sense of this, because I can't.
The Cambodian embassy in Bangkok issued me with a Business type E visa. I was told that it was the only working visa I could get, and it could be extended for 6 months in Phnom Penh. Well, after some discussion with the visa dude at ACE (my school), I was informed this isn't the case. I needed to get a Business type B visa. Type E visas are issued by the Ministry of the Interior for NGO's (I'm pretty sure ACE is an NGO), however in order to work for ACE I actually need a type B visa, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So I hand over a very hefty sum of $120US for a very official looking piece of paper I'm supposed to hand to the man at the border which basically says "Put a new stamp in my passport which says I can stay in Cambodia for 3 months". Then after three months, I can extend my visa without paying any money and without leaving the country for as long as I want! I've read a million different things on the web, which says type E visas can be extended in Phnom Penh, but ACE are adament I need a type B visa, and besides, travel agencies have been known to issue fake visa extensions because they don't have the authority to issue real ones. This means people stay for 3 months, and then when they leave the country, the customs dude sees the fake extension, and the person is fined $5US for every day they have overstayed their initial legitimate visa.
So I gotta go to Vietnam. I could just cross the border, buy a cup of coffee and then come back to Cambodia the same day, but I need to pay $28US for a Vietnamese visa even for that small privilege. So I'm going to make the most of it and spend a night or two in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), and find that iTrip and a few cheap DVD's. I tell you what though, I have a pretty nasty feeling it's not going to be plain sailing back into Cambodia with a used Business type E visa and an official looking piece of paper that says give me a Business type B extension...
And now, on a lighter note, something we'll see now and then over the next six months.
Quirks of the Khmer Culture - Part 1
Motos. A lot of you have been to South East Asia, so you'll know all about the guys hanging round on their motorbikes hassling you for a ride. "You want moto?!". Well the thing in Phnom Penh is that this is the only method of public transport. There are no taxis, subways, skytrains or ferries, and the cyclos are excruciatingly slow. So if you want to get from A to B, you need to ride a moto (or walk).
Being a Tasmanian, I'm used to walking a lot. On the flipside, Khmer people don't understand the notion of walking. They seem absolutely befuddled that any human being would want to walk three blocks when they can get a ride. For this reason, as you walk down the street, every single guy on a moto with shout at you "Moto! You want moto!" as you walk past. Most of the time I'll say "Te aw kaun" (No thanks), which usually results in a smile, or an unhappy frown and the response "Why where you go?". Even if you say no to one moto, and keep walking, another moto, no more than 3 metres away who has clearly seen the exchange of words will ask you if you want a ride. The fact that three steps earlier you didn't want a ride means nothing to him for some reason. This happens every day. It happened again today, but after I said no to the second moto I went into a bookshop behind him for a bit of a look. When I came out both of the guys put their hands in the air and shouted "Moto! Moto!". It's pretty funny, but the fact that the small profit they make after purchasing petrol is their sole income is a little sad.
Another thing is the Khmer obsession with straws. One thing I have become addicted to here are bottled soft drinks, mostly lemonade. In the heat and humidity, water warms up pretty quickly, so something cold with a bit of taste always goes down well. The bottles they have here are the tall slender 285ml bottles, and whenever, wherever you buy one, a straw will be put into it as soon as the lid is popped off. The straw is NEVER big enough. Once you're half way through the bottle the straw falls in, and it's not easy to get out. So you drink the bottle with the straw in it a lot of the time. Yesterday I bought a big 2 litre bottle of water. The girl went to give me one of these tiny straws and looked quite shocked when I said no thanks.
Ok, it's gone 5pm, so I can pick up my passport with Vietnamese visa now.
