Holiday In Cambodia Part I

I recently went to Cambodia on an excursion with a good friend of mine, a man well versed in travel boasting nearly 70 different countries and counting. A man that has gone far and wide around looking for treasures of experience. When he told me of his previous trip toCambodia, I was immediately sold. My eyes round and big with delight with hopes of a memorable trip I was promised the wild wild west of the east. And it turned out to be somewhat true….It was great to get away from the bustling and booming city of Saigon where It has left me… jaded.

The road to Cambodia was an easy bus ride. We stopped at the bordertown of Moc Bai/ Bavet to go through customs and immigration. The border town office was a small compound with somewhat run down building with no air conditioning. It looked very third world. We were on a voyage to another land, another culture, and hopefully another adventure. I was excited. I was a bit apprehensive of handing over my passport, it felt as if in that moment of time I would relinquish my sole power of persuasion, being an American in a far distant land. I put myself at ease and handed over the passport, and wandered outside to smoke for a bit and talk with a local that was selling phone card. I come back in to check the status of my passport with the immigration officer. I saw the look of the person handling my passport and I knew. I was going to be paying for something, maybe because I am American or is it because I am an American born Vietnamese. Either way I paid 140 US dollars to get through, quite the ding to my wallet, but now I start my journey…..

The road continued through a whole town devoted to gambling for Vietnamese nationals that cross the border to try their luck, and most likely lose it. With names like Las Vegas Sun Casino and Winn Casino how can you not like that effort on creativity?

We come to a giant river and cross via ferry. My friend and I both look at each other panicked, South East Asia a careless place or were we both paranoid? We promptly exited the bus as the ferry took across, afraid that some freak accident might occur and literally be dead fish in bus with no exits. We were greeted by local Cambodian folks. I was taken a back, they looked very similar to Saigon-ites but a little darker. When they opened their mouths was when I realized I was in a different land, their Vietnamese even more broken than mine offered treats and refreshments. Looking around on the ferry I saw the usual scene in country side Vietnam, dozens upon dozens of people crammed in minivans looking miserable because the air conditioning isn’t on and someone just vomited next to them.

Back on the bus we went as the ferry reached land, from there I fell asleep and awoke in Phnom Penh, it was looked like the suburbs of Bangkok or Vietnam. It looked all familiar and I was in relief that our bus wasn’t hijacked by some Khmer Rouge toting AK-47’s.

Sweet.

I’m here in the city and I haven’t been sold into a lady boy slave hotel just yet.

….to be continued

John