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Published: March 15th 2010
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I spent my day compensating for my Angkor lack, and as I lie here half dead, sunburned and unable to move, I am not sure it was an ideal way to compensate. What started as a peaceable trek through Phnom Penh ended with me praying to God to put me out of my overwrought misery. AND I had spent every one of the $45 that I started with. Stupid money!!
Maybe I better tell you how I spent that stupid money.
First, I started off trying to follow the Walking Tour of Phnom Penh that I found in the Lonely Planet Cambodia guide, which I have commandeered from our villa. They give you a walking tour, but when you are standing on the circular mound that is Wat Phnom, you don't really have a sense of direction. Rude teenagers make Khmer remarks, and guards yell at you for stepping on the grass. It's sort of like being shipwrecked on an Island of Shame. Finally, I managed to find the US Embassy (where my diplomats are apparently serving behind literal bars) and managed to work out my orientation from there.
I walked down to Central Market (Psar Tmei). There
The US Embassy
A fortress of steel and angst. is a bus station there (which, after walking around looking for it for two hours, I was temporarily convinced didn't exist). I wanted to visit the zoo (yeah, they have a zoo here) but it is on the outskirts of town, and you have to take a bus in the direction of Takeo and make the driver stop in a convinient area.
So, here I was trying to uncover this mysterious bus station. Nobody could tell me where it was. I asked a moto guy at one point, and because he couldn't give an answer, he asked a group of women overseeing a stall in the market. They didn't know where Sorya Transport was, so they asked the girl in the next stall (who apparently could speak English). Soon I had this whole group of folks standing around me shouting about it. None of them knew where Sorya Transport was, but that didn't stop them from trying to solve my problem.
"You want to go where?"
Self: "Phnom Tamao."
"You mean Phnom Wat!"
Self: "No, this is somewhere different. You take a bus to get there. Where is the bus station?"
"Bus! You want
People Who Like to Make Fun of Me
No just kidding. They were watching the dancing elephant. to go to Siem Reap?"
Self: (Admitting defeat) "...yeah! Siem Reap."
"Oh, what bus number is that? I will take you to that bus!"
Self: "I don't know the number, I just want to go to the station!"
"There is no station..."
Self: (*
ngggg!*)
(The closest I ever got to a straight answer was the lie that a fellow blogger told--northwest of Central Market--WRONG. It's southwest.)
So, I got on the bus around two. A very friendly young man got on the bus carrying an enormous potted tree (really). He sat down next to me and initiated English practice. He saw that I was reading an English newspaper and promptly got so involved in it that he missed Phnom Tamao (come to think of it, he still has my newspaper, that weasel!). So, I missed my stop, and they let me off in this rural market. What's a girl to do? The only sane thing. I got on the nearest moto with a somewhat alcohol-smelling driver to whom I gave two dollars to take me into Phnom Tamao.
You get let off at the stop, but the zoo (
Phnom Tamao Wildlife Center) itself is about
Lovely Cow
Sweet cow. 6 kilometers down the road (at least, if you believe the blog that lied about the bus station. Maybe it was longer.) I was adopted by several tour guides (who later insisted I pay them five dollars each--which I didn't do by the way) and they sort of showed me the animals. Most of the animals there are rescue animals. Some are going extinct, some were rescued from trafficking, some got hurt in the wild and were taken in. It's quite a good place, although you need a moto to get around.
By this time it was quite late in the day. After an hour or so, I left; my major problem was that there was no bus. So I hitched a ride in one of those minivans that accomodate 10 people, but they somehow manage to squish 20 inside--so there I was squashed between 19 Khmer teenagers. And for only $2 they took me back to the region of Phnom Penh.
I say "the region of" because they just dumped me on the outskirts, and I had to try to find another way home. We live next to the "Russian Market". Nobody really seemed to know where that was. Finally, I hired someone to take me there. It was one of those instances when you can tell that the driver doesn't actually know where something is--and sure enough, he dropped me at some random mall.
I didn't wanna go to the mall! Dude, I just wanted to go to the Russian Market! And I don't know what it is--I can't leave the house without being instantly bombarded by shysty folks with tuk-tuks who assume that because I am white, I need a tuk-tuk ride. But where were the Russian Market-friendly tuk-tuks when I needed one? It took me an hour of trudging through dusty, mucky city streets till I found someone. By this time I was in very bad condition.
I made it home in the end, and I even bought some bananas (granted, I had to buy them to break my last five dollar bill so that I could pay the tuk-tuk). I took a shower, and now it's late and I'm so tired I don't know how I'll get up for school tomorrow. Ah, whatever.
Now I ask you. Was that an adventure? Or was it just a series of bad choices?
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Danna Gorman
non-member comment
Adventure vs. Bad choice?
Definitely an adventure...a little crazy, but every good adventure involves some confusion and risk. I am so happy for you, Liz. I have finally finished reading all of your blogs from the beginning of your Cambodia trip to present. Thank you sooo much for taking time to write. Not only is your material interesting and entertaining and I get to know how you are doing but it is also giving me all kinds of things to keep in mind when I travel and when I start teaching. THANK YOU!!! PS. I especially liked that one blog where you compared teaching to your first day at Panera. Brought back all kinds of memories about working there...and one of my fondest...meeting you! Love, danna