cambodia :: day one :: hello moto
prostitutes. drugs. guns.
i learned all i needed to know about cambodia during the short ride from the phnom penh airport to the last home guesthouse. well, this was all my moto driver bunyong thought i needed to know. don’t think he’ll be getting hired by the cambodia travel bureau anytime soon.
“nice girl,” he offered again. “you want?” the going price, according to bunyong, was $15 an hour. i assumed he would get a piece of the action for playing the role of middleman. the same appeared to be true when it came to my choice of lodging. he didn’t like where i was staying — likely because he didn’t have any connection to the owner.
“it’s unsafe,” he said. “no security.”
he also told me it was expensive, which in cambodia means around $10-15 a night. he promised me a “safe hotel” near the water for $6 a night. i was skeptical of all his assertions — i got my recommendations from a pretty reputable source — but i was entertained. i let him keep going.
“do a lot of people smoke heroin in china?” he asked.
i told him that some probably did, but i hadn’t seen any.
“at guesthouse they do,” he continued. “and the people” — did a throat slashing gesture, and then started firing an imaginary pistol — “bang, bang, bang.”
that reminded bunyong of something: “do you like shooting guns?”
“can i do that here?” i shot back.
bunyong just laughed. i had my answer, and assumed that you can do pretty much anything you want in cambodia.
my plane landed at 5 p.m. and it was still 86 degrees outside. the visa process was easy — all you need is $20 and a passport photo. soon i was straddling a small cambodian man named bunyong on the back of his motorbike. that cost $3, and i’m pretty sure i paid about a dollar too much.
if you are wondering, yes cambodia does have its own currency. it’s called the riel, and 4000 of them will get you a dollar. but good old greenbacks will buy you pretty much anything you need — prostitutes, drugs and guns to be sure. if you pay in dollars and require change, you’ll usually get riel in return. it’s all the same.
we weaved our way through phnom penh’s bustling streets, maneuvering between bicycles and motorcycles, people and potholes, and trying to keep the dust from getting in our eyes. phnom penh is a city of 1 million, with a small-town feel and traces of its french-infused past. think a tall-building-less new orleans — only more tropical, more trash and (if it’s possible) more trouble.
“you know robbers?” bunyong after we made a turn down a dark street overhung by ominous trees.
not personally, i thought as bunyong pointed to a group of men sitting in the back of a parked truck.
“unsafe here?” i asked.
“yes,” he said.
and then, suddenly, he stopped. we had arrived at the last home guesthouse. bunyong’s scare tactics almost worked. it was dusk and the place looked kind of dungy.
but inside it was full of smiles. genuine smiles. this was the cambodia i had been told about. i got a room with a private bathroom for $4 a night and told bunyong i didn’t need him anymore.
“you want me to come back in one hour?” he tried. “we go get you girl?”
“not tonight.”
“don’t promise him anything,” warned sakith, the owner of the guesthouse. she’s obviously encountered a few over-eager moto drivers over the years. (not that i can blame bunyong. he told me he works 14 hours a day and earns just $8. well, at least that’s what he told me.)
i didn’t promise him anything. and i definitely didn’t need a girl. i had monday night football! i also had cnn, bbc, star movies Ö the whole works. my hotel room in shanghai may have a western toilet and air conditioning, but it does not have satellite television. this was a pleasant surprise. i watched the second half of the steelers/49ers game and then headed downstairs for dinner, another category that the last home guesthouse kicks shanghai university’s ass on. the food is great: homemade and usually less than $2.
this was my first time traveling alone outside the u.s. (unless you count my initial solo move to shanghai). i wasn’t alone for long.
cambodia, like much of southeast asia, is full of backpackers, many traveling alone. so i sat down to dinner by myself. soon i found myself joined by fellow travelers from new zealand, holland and england. for whatever reason, we all just happened to end up at the same small guesthouse in cambodia. the finite friendships are common in the backpacking community. people move in and out your life freely and frequently.
so we sat and talked into the night. a couple of us hit a few bars. and i discovered a great new beer. it’s called black panther stout. it’s brewed right here in cambodia. and it’s got 8 percent alcohol!
it was my first night in cambodia. i didn’t have a mosquito net. i didn’t have air conditioning. but i did have a few cans of black panther — and i slept pretty damn well.
11.20.2003, 10:56 PM · Cambodia
4 Comments
Dan, Glad you made to Cambodia safely. Drink a black panther on my behalf. Show backpackers some of your “tao jiang hu” spirit. Keep the journal coming.. Have FUN !!
that’s great !i like the life as you live now . i wonder why you got time for the travel such like this ? the job aways keeps us busy ,we need a freshair .enjoy yourself in cambodia.
thanks guys. having a great time down here. hope to be able to write some more soon … maybe tonight. (internet bars close early here, though.) and jesse, working for a university can get you some vacation time. we’re in between semesters right now. and in a couple months we have three weeks off for chinese new year!
people move in and out your life freely and frequently—— like it!So they do.