Cambodia Travelogue

15 july 2002, Hanoi

Pato & Wally in Cambodia

Fotos at http://draves.org/curtis/asia/7Cambodia

Hey everybody! We spent a little less than a month in The Kingdom of Cambodia, and it's too interesting not to pass on a few stories and impressions...

We traveled over land from Bangkok to Siem Reap, the town next to Angkor, and the Cambodian roads were just as bad as we had been told. Not for the weak of stomach, to be sure. Unfortunately our first impression of Cambodian and its people wasn't too good. Bumping your head on the roof of the bus is no big deal (NOT an exagerration), but we weren't used to the aggressive persistence of the people working the tourist trade. It wasn't until near the end of our month that I learned not to be annoyed by being surrounded by 3 or 7 motorbike drivers asking me where I'm going, what did I do this morning, do I want to go to the waterfall, what's my name, what am I doing today, where am I going later this afternoon, etc. etc. etc!

We were lucky enough to find a mellow tuktuk driver (thats a motorbike attached to a little 2-person carriage), and we fully enjoyed the amazing ruins of the capital of the Khmer empire circa 900-1300. Our 3 days of eating fruit sitting on the tops of sandstone temples, watching sunrises and sunsets and listening to the sounds of the forest was only interrupted by me getting sick and spending a night at the clinic with an IV rehydrating my body. In one week we spent more money than we had spent in any one month previous (but it was worth it!)

In the capital Phnom Penh our attitude towards Cambodia continued to sour. It's a small town, dusty and dirty and full of the scariest traffic we'd seen yet. We almost grabbed a visa for Vietnam and split for good, but decided to go to the southern coastal province and give it another chance. We first went to the main beach town called Sihanouk, where we got a chance to relax alone by the sea. But still nothing doing.

Next we headed to Kampot, the provincial capital, to see the nearby Bokor national park. It turns out our gentle smiling guide enlisted with the Khmer Rouge when they 'liberated' the country in 1975, at the age of 10. After they checked out his background, and he was approved (poor farmer with no education) they set him up as a telegraph operator up on top of the Bokor hill station. When the Vietnamese invaded and deposed the Khmer Rouge, he fled to the jungle and fought the Vietnamese and the new governement for 14 years until the 1993 "election". It was very interesting, to say the least, to hear his opinions on the Pol Pot regime, whose doctrine raised him from the age of ten... for example, when I asked him what he thought of the KR's mass executions of educated, religious and any non working class people, he responded that for the poor to rule the country, the rich are competition, and that's why they were killed. When I asked what he thought about that, he gave me a metaphor about a boat and a whale, but I couldnt figure out what represented who. I'm sure this was partly the language barrier, but it sounded like he was parroting the regime's fast food political philosophy.

Back in Kampot, a charming town where everybody is very friendly, we had the luck of chatting with a german couple that has been living in the area for a couple years. They dished out some outrageous stories about corruption and insecurity in the countryside... for example the destitute family that was offered a whopping huge amount of money by some vietnamese for their elephant, but couldn't sell it (and thereby feed their entire extended family for life) because they would immediately be robbed and/or killed. Or the man who hired a driver to take his pig to town for sale and was stopped at fairly regular intervals to pay bribes, as is the norm (when we arrived in Kampot, for example, our driver handed a policeman some cash as we came through the first intersection across the bridge). This poor man saw his profit disappearing as the police asked for more than usual, seeing the pig and adjusting the bribe accordingly. He got frustrated at one particularly high bribe, refused to pay and the policeman opened fire (he got away uninjured). The government pays only $20/month to normal employees, including police and teachers, who extract bribes from students that want to pass their exams and graduate to the next grade. Student "fees" are minimal, but for many poor families its too much.

To describe the violence and seeming lack of morality in Cambodia, I could go on and on with stories and customs that have great shock value (they shoot at the sky when it rains), but the truth is, cambodians are happy just to have peace. For anybody that's interested, Carol Livingston's "Gecko Tails" does an excellent job of describing the recent history and situation in 1993-94 using a travel book format. If anyone knows of anything written by a Cambodian, please let me know. Although Amit Gilboa's circa 1997 "Off the Rails in Phnom Penh" seems to be the most popular book on the circuit, it turned out to be sensationalist trash. The historical and cultural reasons behind the situation are too complex for me to understand much in the little time I was there, let alone explain it to you.

But we did get a strong sense that Cambodia is a little bit out there. In thailand the traffic seems crazy, but once you've been there awhile you can tell it's got a flow to it, it works. In Cambodia it's everybody for themself, and if they happen to drive on the right side of the road most of the time, it's just for convenience. The Phnom Penh left turn starts by moving into the oncoming traffic well ahead of your turn (motorbikes coming straight at you are forced, by the same rule of self-interest, to avoid you) and slowly making your way over.

Anyways, we didn't jive with Cambodia, but at least we got just far enough past the surface to appreciate the country's complexity and the people's warmth and friendliness. In other words, we realized there's a lot more there than meets the 3-week tourist eye, but we weren't inspired to renew our visa and find out exactly what!

Peace out ~Pato and Curtis aka WAlly

Pato & Wally in Asia 2002