The Cambodia Challenge: Phnom Penh

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Feb 3 2013

And I’m off! No wait… it’s still only 6:30am. Why am I awake? I went to bed like 4 hours ago. Sleep graces me again until my alarm goes off.

The hostel I staid at apparently had a breakfast included but for the price of $7 a night, and I only paid $5. I was like oh okay, no problem. I can get a sweet Banh My Pate on the street for like 75 cents. But the receptionist working was so kind and gave me a meal ticket anyways! =] it seems stupid but just this simple act made me smile and I really appreciated it.

A long bus ride later, I arrive groggy in some unknown location in Phnom Penh (PP). I promptly stopped by an internet café; followed by a brief exploration of a “Russian” market… just a market similar to ones in Vietnam, and I was in sandals! NEVER WEAR SANDALS TO A MARKET! Then I aimlessly walked the streets of PP and found a cool stadium where all the locals went to play soccer, hang out and do exercise. It was a chill place to observe people and try and figure out the feeling and vibe of PP. Cambodia is such a wonderful country and I can see western influences in the city around me. It’s a paradox. To become more westernized and “modern” is what these developing countries are embracing, yet at the same time it can have an adverse effect on the native culture. And we know huge corporations are going to come in and ruin things, so it drives tourists in faster before the beautiful towns and countries become “spoiled” thus making them “spoil” faster.

I must say PP surprised me. The most exciting part of my day was going to the grocery store. No joke, I saw Eggo waffles in a typical grocery store. Organized, large selections, western food, wide isles and EGGOS!!!!!!! Even in Singapore I didn’t see any Eggos waffles. I was instantly transported to heaven. (It’s the simple things in life that bring the most joy.) Damn budget prevented me from purchasing these Eggos waffles and anything “unnecessary” but I did spring for a 55 cent chocolate milk. And it was rubbish! Can’t find a good chocolate milk in SE Asia to save my life!

Day 2:

$7 SIM card with 5 bucks credit (a few hours later I promptly broke my phone thus the worst $7 I spent on this trip!)

2.75 lunch and drink

.75 internet

2 peanut bars

1 xe om

4.90 toiletries

.55 choc milk

1.50 beer

20 Cambodian visa

Total: $40.45



Feb 4 2013

6am. Beep, beep, beep! Time for the SUPERBOWL! Javier (my couch surfing host) is such a cool guy and is hosting about 14 of us couch surfers in his tiny one bedroom apartment, with a huge balcony. He has hick hiked Asia for an extended amount of time and now gives back in the form of an open home to any and all travelers. Out of everyone there, he was the only one who was interested to wake up with me to watch the Superbowl. 49’s vs the Ravens. The only bar advertising a Superbowl party was, surprise, surprise, not open! 1. this doesn’t surprise me because it’s just weird shit that happens in SE Asia and 2. it’s the King’s funeral ceremony and everything is closed. We manage to find a small bar on the river that is actually playing the game. We sit, have some breakfast and watch the most boring and terrible half of a Superbowl ever. Then we take bets to see what color Beyonce’s hair will be… and literally right as she was coming up BOOM the crazy Cambodian waiter changes the channel to the funeral processions and is angry grumbling to us. And that’s it. No other place had the channel or was open. It was pretty shit, but I couldn’t complain. I got to spend time with Javier and got to see some Khmer culture 1^st hand. This was the beginning of a very LONG day.

Back at the house by 9am, I meet up with some of the other surfers who are heading out to the killing fields and then S-21. Sounds cool to me, ain’t got shit else to do. Enter Radhika (German), Mirium (Estonian) and Jyrki (Finnish).

I had no prior knowledge of the Khmer Rouge but wow… I learned. The killing fields were really intense and sad. The audio tour is simply amazing and so moving. The cruelty of humanity is boundless and the Khmer Rouge still existed, received aid and recognition from the UN for 20 years after the fell. How is something like this possible? More than 3 million (out of a population of 8 million) Cambodians were killed or died between April 17 1975 and January 9 1979. What inspired me was how fast the museums and monuments educating the public about the genocide were established. With in 3 years, I believe after the Khmer Rouge fell, the killing fields and other establishments were opened.

After this we headed to S-21, where they (Khmer Rouge) converted a school into a torture camp where officials and others were imprisoned and tortured to confess to erroneous crimes against the Khmer Rouge. By the end I was simply overwhelmed by all the pain and suffering that had happened in such a beautiful place. We were ready for a cold beer!

We headed to the central market, walked around and got some food! Yummy. Then KFC for 50 cent ice cream. We were so sweaty and hot from all day in the heat and sun. The girls then decided to go buy some hippie pants while me and Jyrki walked to the river to see what was going on with the funeral ceremonies and get some beers. 2 cold beers and a huge crowd of Cambodians on the river bank later, BOOM! We had no idea what we were all waiting for and then we hear this boom and I seriously thought someone got shot. I screamed and for a split second I thought there might be some crazy terrorist attack. After the depressing day I just had, it wasn’t far from my mind. But then the sky lit up with brilliant fireworks. This is one of the many moments where I just looked around, surrounded and immersed by a foreign culture, with a cool new friend and watched the fireworks. It was a really long show.

We then met up with the girls at pub street. I had a great time and had interesting conversations. The girls ended up leaving a little early, as I should have considering I have been up and going since 6am. But no I was enjoying the atmosphere and me and Jyrki played pool and had some more beers. At one point there was a loud pop and a loud hissing noise. Everyone started screaming and running. I had a flash to article my mom sent me about a fire in a club in Brazil where most of the clubbers died. She was scared for me even though I am in Asia because I would totally be in a club like that. And so my ass threw the pool stick, screamed and ran like hell all the while thinking NOOO my mom would be so mad if I died in an explosion right now. Well let me tell you, there was no explosion or anything of the sort. Everyone went back to their previous activities. In the end, we played with some street kids, ate tofu and went home. Success.



Day 3:

$6 taxi and breakfast

3 tuk tuk

5 killing fields

1 coffee

2 S-21

1.50 lunch

1 water

1 tuk tuk

.50 ice cream

1 moto taxi

12 beer and taxi

6 bus to Siem Reap

Total: $40

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Photos

pub street
drinking cold beers after a long day

fish anyone?
why is everyone obsessed with dried stinky fish??

excercise
even the Cambodians do the little aerobics dances!

stadium
sunset on my first day in Cambodia

couch surfing
part of the huge balcony we were all crashing on. Met some really awesome people

my host
Javier on the way back from the Superbowl disaster.

Jyrki
in the tuk tuk

brutal
at the killing fields

cruelty
most disturbing tree i've ever seen

skulls
recovered skulls from the mass graves of the killing fields

pink pineapple?
seriously. found some crazy colored fruit since i've been in Asia

crowds
crowds of Cambodians gather around this temple and the river banks at dusk. we are waiting to see what is gonna happen.

Phnom penh
waiting for the fire works

the show
this was the last day of the 3 month funeral ceremonies for the King of Cambodia. Bad ass.