Cambodia, Part I

Capital: Phnom Penh

Currency: Riel ($1 = 4,000 Riel), US Dollar

Language: Khmer

Transportation: Tuk Tuk

1/9-1/13

When we arrived in Phnom Penh, we had been traveling for two days straight, and we finally had a chance to lie down and relax. And we did. We took it easy that night, and most of that weekend, since the most pressing thing on the agenda was a local beer taste-test. Incidentally, in the contest of Anchor vs. Angkor, the latter is without a doubt the superior beer, and it's my understanding that neither is actually pronounced "anchor." Anyway, we found a lot of good restaurants down by the river, which was where all the other white people were going for food. We often ran with the tourist crowd in Cambodia, but since I had only a few hundred Chinese yuan to my name, I had to remind myself that my place was with the backpackers. Luckily, things were pretty cheap by American standards. Five dollars could get you a hostel room or a hot meal.

The first night we went with traditional Khmer food, different from Chinese, but still very Asian in flavor. That was also the night I tried grog. I had no idea what it was, but I really wanted to find out. As I recall, they put in front me a pot of tea, some honey, a few slices of lime, and a shot of rum. I had no idea what to do, so I just poured some tea and dumped in the honey and rum. I don't think they gave me a spoon, so the first sip had a hell of a kick, and the last was a little gooey. After that, we had mostly Western food, a lot of it, since you can't get a real burger in Wuhan.

Most of these restaurants have outdoor seating, which makes a lot of sense with the year-round shorts weather, and as you sit there, you get to take in what little there is of a riverfront. Unfortunately, you don't get much culture, since the only Cambodians around are serving the food or selling books and bootleg DVDs. Several children came up to us as we ate, and we'd say no thanks again and again, trying not to let the white guilt get the better of us. We'd get the bill, which was always in US dollars, and our change would come in both currencies. They don't use coins; instead of a quarter, they'll give you 1,000 riel. It's bizarre, not to mention confusing. And when you get up to leave, there is a chorus of no less than five guys there waiting for you, and they only know one song: "Hello, tuk tuk?" This is an industry of guys sitting around in motorcycle-drawn carriages, calling out to any tourist who might need a ride, apparently not caring that there aren't nearly enough tourists to fill every tuk tuk. We always walked, and thanks to the transportation surplus, we were the only ones.

Our only tuk tuk ride in Phnom Penh was part of a tour offered by the guest house. We got up early to take a trip to the Killing Fields, then a former house of torture (now a genocide museum), and finally a lovely indoor market. Overall, it was a depressing day. If you haven't read up on Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, you probably should. But don't have anything fun planned for afterward. Once all the joy had been sucked from our lives, we said goodbye to the English couple we'd been paired with and went down for a nap. Later, we watched the film version from the early '80s, the one with Malkovich and Sam Waterston, and it really captured the chaos and brutality in Cambodia at the time. After that, we probably had a drink.

I think I'll save the rest of my comments for Part II, but in the meantime, here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.wender/CambodiaPartI