I AM DRUNK AND FROM RHODE ISLAND!!
We woke up early the day before to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat and stayed up drinking with some Japanese kids. Sleep deprived, we got up before dawn, again, to catch a ride down lake and river from Siem Reap to Phenom Penh.
I realized that I had food poisoning about the same time we figured out that we only had “cling to the roof” tickets on the speedboat. While trying to find a way to nap where my stomach didn’t hurt and I wouldn’t fall off the boat I burned myself pretty good on a smokestack. A few hours later, lake sick, sun scarred and deaf from engine noise we arrived at our guesthouse in the capitol where I promptly electrocuted myself trying to turn on a fan. I stopped twitching and fell into a very deep sleep. A good day of budget travel is one where you actually get where you’re going.
Phenom Penh’s not much to look at. There’s not much pavement, people build little shacks between buildings, on top of buildings or in the street. On our first day we met a screaming old Khmer. In fractured, slurred English he told us that we should not worry about anything in Penomh Penh, that he would take care of us. Over and over he would shout: “I AM DRUNK AND FROM RHODE ISLAND!” and open up his wallet to display a Pennsylvania Drivers License and Social Security card with his picture and name on them. He was a moto driver.
In Thailand the most pervasive form of transport is the tuk-tuk, a moto-trike with a passenger bed. No one has the capital for such an elaborate ride here. Light motorcycles/scooters (“moto”) are the transport of choice.
A typical moto ride begins with you finding a driver who will agree to your price and who can bluff you into believing he knows where you’re going. Like their counterparts in Thailand, moto drivers can’t read maps. You hop on his bike and he speeds off against the flow of the no-rules traffic. First stop is always a group of his moto buddies, whom he queries until he has directions. Next you hang on to the bike and motocross to some part of the city that is often near your intended destination.
Like in Lao, Cambodian food is like bland Thai food with lots of black pepper added to make up for flavor. You can eat good French food if you shell out $2. In the city, we tended to eat at NGO-cafes that trained street kids in French restaurant skills. The food was pricey ($3.50) but excellent.
Tags: asia, cambodia, phnom penh, travel