Hey Folks!
The following morning we were picked up from our guesthouse in Kratie, bound for Siem Reap. As we expected, the minibus was rapidly crammed with travellers, four people to three seats, and the rucksacks were stored in and around the vehicle – under chairs and in every conceivable space, which was available.
As per usual, a number of back packers were moaning about the cramped conditions, as if they had not been cautioned as to what the situation would be. Emma and I were well and truly fed up with snooty flash packers by this point in our trip. If you don’t want to be cramped, take an internal flight with Air Asia. Don’t book a budget mini-bus in a poor country, and expect to have a lot of leg room!!
The way that the budget transports operate in Cambodia, is that they book as many western travellers on the mini bus as is possible, and then they pick up as many additional local people on route, that can also be squeezed aboard. Combine the locals, their luggage, all of the travellers and their back packs, and it’s inevitably going to be a cosy ride!
The minibus which amazingly fitted 17 people and luggage
Once the minibus was totally crammed, the driver turned on a TV, and screened a National Geographic documentary “Ancient Megastructures – Ankor Wat”, which inevitably had a tacky narrator, and a variety of interviews with historians and architects, then we were off. I think of all of our journeys whilst travelling, this particular ride was both the most frightening and the most dangerous.
In Cambodia, drivers alert each other to their intentions by flashing their lights, and then doing whatever they want to do, often at extraordinary high speed. Our minibus variously drove at anything up to 90mph, weaving back and forth across the road, narrowly avoiding hitting other vehicles. I can recall at least three occasions where we almost impacted with other cars. In one instance another vehicle slid off of the road, to come to a standstill in a cloud of dust after almost crashing into us, and our driver swerved wildly off of the road to negate a road traffic accident more than once.
Most of the occupants of our minibus appeared to be totally oblivious to what was occurring, hadn’t noticed, or simply didn’t care. I took a deep breath and cracked open a can of Black Panther, to steady my nerves. The roads in Cambodia are totally chaotic. I’m only surprised there are not more accidents there, in all honesty. Certainly we spotted a few wreckages on the side of the highway – on one occasion a coach which had crashed and totally destroyed its front wheel axel – it looked to be a total write off, which had just been abandoned by its owner.
None the less, by some minor miracle, we arrived at our destination unscathed. I had had next to no leg room for a large percentage of the trip, so to finally get out and stretch my legs was a welcome relief, I must admit. We were met at the drop off point by a Tuk Tuk Driver, who we later learned was named Mr Nori. Nori ferried us and a French woman to our accommodation, Siem Reap Temple Villa Hotel, a reasonably lavish affair with an outside swimming pool, for tourists who enjoy pool culture. Emma and I weren’t interested in the pool in the slightest, so we left it to the various poseurs who seemed to enjoy wandering around the hotel lobby, in states of undress, to and from the pool itself. Whether that was culturally appropriate is dubious in the extreme.
Siem Reap is a great place to visit, as far as nightlife is concerned. There are so many bars for tourists, they actually have a road called ‘Pub Street’ – Ho Hum. The town is awash with westerners, live music, and markets. Emma and I ate a meal, and then hunted for an ATM. Once we had located an ATM, we were rapidly accosted by a young girl, she might have been as young as 14 or 15, who carried a baby, and was clearly street homeless.
The girl was begging, but said to Emma “I don’t want money, I want food for my baby”. This approach well and truly pulled at the strings of Emma’s heart, and before I knew it, Emma eloped into a nearby convenience store, and spent $25 on two containers of milk powder for said baby. I have to admit I was unimpressed – $25 was more than we had just spent on dinner. Moreover, a friend of the homeless girl appeared, and also began to demand milk powder.
I found it all a bit incredulous; for one thing I failed to see why the first beggar couldn’t afford her friend one of the milk powder containers, and I wasn’t prepared to spend another $25 on the second beggar either. But the second child was very persistent, and I eventually had to raise my voice to her to make her go away, by which stage I was in somewhat of a funk about the whole situation. Incidentally, we were later informed by another traveller that the whole thing is a scam. What happens is that the street kids wait for you to depart, and then take the milk powder back to the store with the receipt, and get a cash refund.
I suppose it is difficult knowing what is the ethically correct thing to do, in those types of situations. It’s impossible to give cash to every beggar you encounter. None the less, we did give small change to beggars periodically. Cambodia has a lot of street kids, and homeless people. The sex industry is also very visible and somewhat repugnant, especially when you see old western men with very attractive young Asian women on their arms. Doubtless there are some exceptions, but the vast majority are blatantly prostitutes, doubtless dependent on prostitution to survive.
In Laos, it is illegal for Laos people to have sexual relations with foreigners, unless they are married to them. This is quite a clever piece of legislation, insofar as it prohibits the sex industry. Moreover, western men have to demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions, via a marriage proposal. I’m not really one for draconian legislature, but at least it renders the sex industry redundant. In Cambodia the sex industry is rife. One of the advantages of being a couple, is that we were able to bypass it completely. I suspect that had I been single, I would have been frequently offered sex, in addition to the drugs we were often offered anyway.
Following the milk powder debacle, I calmed down, and we found a great place called the ‘X Bar’. Essentially a rooftop rock bar, there is additionally a skateboard quarter pipe actually on the roof, and you can look down to the illuminations on Pub Street below. The resident band churns out covers of the likes of Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine, and it was by far the best bar we located during our time in the town. We necked a few ales and enjoyed the music before walking home, and calling it a night.
The following day we entered the hotel lobby, to discover the French woman was checking out. She explained that she had been ripped off by Mr Nori, and claimed that he had said he would take her around Ankor Wat on his Tuk Tuk for an entire day, but had fallen short of his promise, and had declined to take her around the temples beyond early morning. Something didn’t really seem to ring true as to what she was saying, and on cue Mr Nori appeared, and they began to have a huge argument, which culminated in Mr Nori saying “You can check out if you like, but why do you have to treat me like a dog?”
Whatever had occurred, the French woman refused to pay Mr Nori, and by all accounts had walked out on him at Ankor Wat, and made her own way back from the temples. We had prior arranged for Mr Nori to take us to see a sunset at Ankor Wat, so I was suddenly concerned as to what we might be getting ourselves into. None the less, by the time we returned to the hotel from the town, to meet Mr Nori late afternoon, he was nowhere to be seen.
We asked as to his whereabouts at Reception, only to be informed that he was not available, as he was drunk, and was sleeping it off! Fortunately, the hotel rustled up a substitute driver, Mr Jan, who took us instead. To say Mr Jan was an unconventional Tuk Tuk driver would be an understatement. He delighted in taking short cuts, mounting the pavement, and whisking us around at high speed. I like that approach, so we tipped him reasonably handsomely, on each occasion he took us out.
Our first trip with Mr Jan was to see the sunset at Ankor Wat from the hill. Upon arrival, I was disappointed – the sheer volume of tourists was unbelievable. We rapidly realised how spoilt we had been in Myanmar, when it came to visiting the temples in Bagan. At Ankor Wat there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of western tourists milling around. It took the edge off of proceedings for me completely.
Our intimate sunset!
The following morning we had booked to take a Tuk Tuk to Ankor Wat, to see the sunrise. We had stayed up late drinking, and as a consequence, I got next to no sleep, which was a dreadful mistake, as I’m useless in the mornings at the best of times, & with little sleep, even more so. I woke up in a foul mood, least of all because we were obliged to utilise Mr Nori’s services, when I would have preferred Mr Jan. In light of the French womans experience of Mr Nori the morning before, Emma and I were quick to establish with Mr Nori quite what we would get for our money.
Nori explained he would take us to see the sunrise over Ankor Wat itself, and then on a tour of the surrounding temples, and then bring us back to the hotel at around lunchtime. That sounded perfectly reasonable, so we set off. Upon arrival, I could not believe my eyes; there were even more tourists present than there had been the night before. In fact, it was almost as if it was a music festival pre dawn. It really wasn’t my scene, so I bought a coffee, then a bottle of whiskey, so as to make the entire surreal experience a bit more tolerable.
Our intimate sunrise!
Once I had self medicated with alcohol, I began to cheer up a bit. We watched the sunrise and then were driven around the temples, before stopping for a spot of breakfast. Thereafter, Mr Nori took us to see the temples where they had filmed the movie Tomb Raider. Visually impressive I will admit, but the number of tourists distracted from the beauty of the temples, at least as far as I was concerned.
After the Tomb Raider temples, I was totally templed out, so Emma proceeded to further explore, whilst I hung out with Mr Nori. It didn’t take long to strike up a rapport with Mr Nori, once I had produced my bottle of Baroso whiskey. Suffice to say Mr Nori was a keen fan of Baroso, so the pair of us got drunk, whilst he vented spleen over the incident with the French woman, the prior day.
The French woman claimed that she had seen all of the major temples by 09.30AM. We couldn’t believe that this was the case, as we had not seen them all until midday, and Mr Nori had whisked us round them. The French woman had suggested that Mr Nori had asked her for additional money to tour further temples prematurely, but in our experience, that just didn’t ring true.
Can you see the Buddha’s head?
Tomb Raider temple
In all honesty, I think it was a case of a clash of flash-packer with indigenous Tuk Tuk Driver. It might even have been the case that there was a bit of post-colonial prejudice occurring on the part of the French lady. The French and the Cambodians definitely have a history rife of conflict with each other, but Emma and I were never to really get to the bottom of what had happened between them.
In any event, by the time Mr Nori drove us back to our hotel at lunchtime, we were ready to crash and burn. Mr Nori hadn’t ripped us off, and we were more than happy with him, even if Ankor Wat had been tourist central.
I guess in terms of treatment from other people whilst travelling, sometimes you only reap what you sow…
It was a rather tiring day!
More next post!
Trent*/X
Lows, heights and mosquito bites! 