Chapter 10 Cambodia Part 1 (Chinese New Year holiday) year 1 (2012)

-Cambodian money
-Phnom Penh 
-taxi to Sihanoukville
-bungalows on stilts
-bed bugs bite and more insects
-Khmer food and our fav beach
-Red invites us for dinner
-Red's family

Transcript

Travels with John Smith, Year 1 

Chinese New Year holiday 2012

Chapter 10 Cambodia

We step out of the plane into dripping hot humidity with a light breeze. It feels great to be warm, even if it is tinged with tired and sweat. We change our money into the local currency (Riel) and feel rich. Since 4,000 Riel is only 1 dollar, our pockets are heavy with cash. We are approached by a taxi driver and agree that he will take us to the hotel tonight and tomorrow morning will drive us to Sihanoukville for $100. This decision is based on comfort and some laziness. Our pockets are also full of money and based on prices back home we think it’s a good deal. He will also throw in a mini-tour of Phnom Penh. 

It’s morning, our driver drops us off at the Palace, waits, and drives us to the Killing Fields. Both places are important to go to, to be reminded of what the Khmer people have been through. A Khmer person is a person who is Cambodian-not to be confused with The Khmer Rouge (the communist party led by Pol Pot). They were in power between 1975 and 1979. Because of them approximately 21% of the Cambodian population died during that time. 

We invite our driver to join us for lunch and he takes us to a Chinese restaurant.It’s not really what we had in mind, though they had some Khmer dishes too but we think he has an ulterior motive as it is across from the airport and he hands us over to another driver and leaves. The new driver seems surprised that we have already given the money to the 1st guy but we guess they worked it out. 

This guy is a delight and entertains us all the way to Sihanoukville (which is about 4 ½ hours to 5 hours by car). He says he was a math teacher in Cambodia but was teaching classes of up to 50 kids and could not support his family on the wage, so became a taxi driver.

Sihanoukville;

We walk along the sand and beachfront, crossing the lobbies/restaurants of a few hotels so is like being in one of those plays where the stage is divided into different rooms that have no walls out front to get to our hotel as there is no access by road.

The check- in counter doubles as a bar and is open air, perched on the rocks in front of the ocean. Behind us are winding paths that lead up to bungalows with stilts. We get our key and climb the steep stairs to our new little hut. The view is magnificent. There is a small balcony overlooking the gulf of Thailand. It looks like something out of ‘Robinson Crusoe’. 

We take a shower and can’t help noticing that the water does not go down the drain but instead collects in a corner, adding to the slight tilt we noticed when we got inside. The fact that we can see through the ½ inch spaces in the floorboards to the ground below means that bugs and mosquitos can travel freely in and out of the place.

We have the mosquito net hanging over the bed replaced as there are several large holes in it and it feels somewhat safe being tucked inside now. 

We wake up after our 1st night and we both (especially John) have bites on the lower part of our legs that are not from mosquitos.  

We spray the mattress with Raid and leave it on the balcony all day in the sun and double the sheets so we don’t get chemical poisoning, We wake up bite free from bed bugs. The mosquitos, however, take a liking to me and even my new perfume ‘Off’ does not deter them from finding a spot I did not cover. We are watching a football game in an outdoor and there are 3 people around me with no ‘Off’ on and none of them get bitten. I come away with several new ones!. 

I lie awake in fear that some giant beetle will find its way up through the wooden structure under the mattress which has a large open spaces between the wood, through to the ground. I think they will slip under the net and on to the bed. I can hear a scratching noise near my head every night (while John sleeps happily next to me) and I know it is only a matter of time…

There is also a loud noise, like a rubber duck (or a wet fart-sorry that is what it sounds like). We find out that it the noise belongs to a large purple lizard that eats mosquitos. I decide I like this lizard and hope it choses to live under our bungalow. 

We find a blue $40 guitar in a grocery store. It takes a while to tune but we get there with the help of John’s strong hands and my tuner (which I brought, just in case I couldn’t go 5 weeks without playing). I sit on our little balcony, looking at the sun going down on the fishing boats, playing the guitar while John plays the harmonica.

Below the bungalows, overlooking the water, there are sun loungers but it’s all large rocks with no beach so we can’t go swimming and the beach on the other side of the main road is very touristy, so too busy.

We find a beach we really like and travel there every day by Tuk tuk. For those who don’t know what that is; it’s a kind of vehicle. Here in Cambodia it’s a carriage pulled by a motorcycle. This beach is generally quieter than the ones filled with younger people and is frequented mostly by French and Italian people. It has sand that melts beneath your toes and clear green and blue water. There are very comfy lounge beds under large wooden umbrellas that cover your whole body from the sun if you want. We spend many hours reading, swimming, eating, getting massages and pedicures. Much to the delight of the locals, John has his toenails painted black-The ladies who provide the pedicures tell John is like a ‘Lady Boy’. 

The restaurant at this beach is one of my favourites. Khmer food is delicious and for $3 you can get a full main course of crispy fried ginger chicken and rice or an amok which is a Khmer mild curry and rice. The prawns are gigantic, squid and other fish plentiful and we become a little hooked on watermelon shakes in the morning, followed by fresh papaya, mango, baby bananas and guava, expertly sliced up for us by the seller, who carries the fruit in a large flat basket on her head. We wait for the same girl every morning, who travels with her sister up and down the beach. She is not only very sweet but does not try to cheat us, as some of the fruit sellers do. 

We use the same Tuk tuk driver named Red, almost every day and he is so grateful, he invites us for dinner to his home with his family.

I wonder what to wear. I have no idea where we are going and I do not want to offend so I keep it simple; a traditional Khmer shirt (that covers all the right bits) and some over the knee, jean shorts. I decide to bring my guitar and I know John has his harmonica in his pocket. We want to give back where we can.

Red picks us up at 6pm and on the way, we stop to buy beer for John and 2 coconuts for John and I . If you get a coconut from a restaurant or tourist attraction, they are kept in ice water and then chopped open with a big hatchet so you can drink the juice inside with a straw. You can then hand it back to the person who chopped it and they will separate the coconut for you to eat. 

We drive through little alleyways, turning one corner, then another, then another as if we are entering a labyrinth or a secret world. There were families outside as the sun is about to go down and the air is cooler. There were no white people living here, no foreigners and I started to feel a little bit of fear, like we should not be here. The people we pass all stare, possibly wondering why were here. It gets darker as we approach his house, in what seems to be the centre of the labyrinth, as the road goes no farther. 

The house is a square cement brick structure with a large opening rather than a wall and some of Red’s family come outside to greet us. He has 4 children ranging from 7 to 17. They are very polite and have beautiful big smiles-2 of them speak English and are well dressed, clean and fashionable. Red’s wife has what looks like pyjamas on (this is common in Asia). There are various other people there too, including his mother in law, sister and brother in law (who have 3 year old triplets). I lose count after that. He says there are 23 people living there.

Inside, the walls are the same grey bricks as the outside and there are no doors on the rooms that are off the large living area which is the main part of the house. In this big area, there is a hammock in one corner, and dominating the room, a large square raised, wooden structure.  There is a small table opposite the structure with 3 plastic chairs (whoever invented or makes these chairs must of made a fortune-they are everywhere in Asia). There is a dresser beside the table with a small TV on it and no other furniture in this room. 

There is hot food on the table; a spicy chicken soup, some rice, cucumbers sliced with a spicy sauce on them and a dish with squid in a kind of thin gravy. The quantity would feed 4-6 people (depending on their appetites) in the West. In this context, however, it feels like a feast. They encourage us to eat but the only person who joins us is Red. We ask if the others will eat with us and they say no, they will eat after we finish. Most of the family is sitting on the wooden structure observing and smiling. I wonder if they are hungry.  

Red apologizes for the unfinished state of his house and we ask where everyone sleeps. He says one family live in a small room off of the main area, the grandmother and more children in the loft above the house, Red and his wife and possibly a younger child in another room and whoever is left, sleeps on the large wooden structure. 

I put a small amount of food on my plate but Red keeps giving me more food, ignoring my pleas to stop, until I ask him if he wants me to get fat and he finally stops. I ask again if anyone else will eat now and he says when you are finished. I take out my guitar as a sign that I have stopped eating. 

They are a wonderful audience and John joins me with his harmonica for a couple songs. Many neighbours come over and join the audience. We ask again if anyone will eat the food on the table. Red smiles and says, “They will not eat until you are finished”. Suddenly, we get it. They won’t eat until we leave! We quickly say thank you, gather our things say goodbyes. As we are getting into the Tuk Tuk to leave, I mention that it was like my birthday dinner as my real birthday is tomorrow. 

It is morning and Red picks us up as usual to go to our favourite beach. He has a bag with a dress in it as a birthday present and a T-shirt for John. We are both deeply touched.