Same Same But Different

Asia » Cambodia » South » Phnom Penh
September 3rd 2006

Published: September 4th 2006

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whewdoggy

Transport just before monsoon time.

Although people are advised not to travel to SE Asia during the rainy season, its completely bearable as rain lasts for about an hour and then it's sunny again- its the humidity that kills.

The Saying

Almost as ubiquitous as the cheesy Che Gueverra shirts are these that

carry the slogan "Same Same"and on the back "But Different".

Apparently this is one of those European sayings that gets lost in

translation- at least thats how it was described to me. But I figure it

fits quite nicely to describe the difference in ambience and atmosphere

between Phenom Penh and Bangkok. Same tactics from the tuk tuk

drivers but no T.A.T. Same prostitution, unfortunately younger

prostitutes. Our dinner tonight consisted of some sweet shiskabab,

and the setting sun, as well as the spectacle of some 35+year old

sleezy (and drunk) aussie getting the attention and massage a girl no

older than 14.

For a large portion of our travels in Cambodia- our only means of

communication has been crude gestures for food, which have failed

miserably- such as when we walked into essentially a family's kitchen

and tried to order food. Nevertheless- we have been feasting the last

few days.

Admittedly after 10 straight days of Thai food, we broke

3 hour boatride back to Mainland Thailand

down and got

Burger King on the way to Cambodia. Still delivers the same great

sideache as the states.

And my god the driving never ceases to amaze and even shoot the

adrenaline a bit. Our busride down to Sihanoukville would drive any

normal person to insanity. We had a little kid with some keyboard that

automatically played ""mary had a little lamb" straight for 2 hours, and

a busdriver that hit the horn 3 times a minute. Sometimes I think I

need to put in fillers like Ï'm not even lying, cause I'm not. The

busdriver let off a loud honk 3 times a minute. During the reststop, the

small child dropped his mini keyboard, and we watched it shatter.

Admittedly, we got some sort of sick pleasure in seeing it break. But

alas, 15 minutes later, and for the rest of the busride, it was working.

As for Phenom Penh, the city can technically be navigated more cheaply

than Bangkok, but if doing so you are taking greater risks, so we

ended up spending more money. Our river front private

Shoulda checked the weather

I had heard it was raining- didn't know that all a large part of the city was underwater

thirdstory villa

complete with a doorman who slept outside the entirety of the night,

cost us 20 dollars.

The first night we got incredibly lost (for a good hour and a half) And

wandered around the ghettos, cash in hand screaming 'I'm an

unarmed tourist' whilst swinging my money belt over my head.

The next day we went to the killing fields (I know, great transition).

There are quite a few people begging on the streets, with scams at

every corner. But they aren't generally that bad- I think our bus ticket

ended up costing 5 dollars instead of 3. Even the doorman was in on

the scam. Anyhoo- I'm entering another blog, with photos from our

current location- so all will be up to date.

Cheers

Pat

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