People and Places

Every year, Cambodia celebrates the 3-day Water Festival when the river reverses its flow.  People flock to the city from all over to watch boat races and enjoy the street celebrations.  Everything is closed during the holiday, so I decided to check it out.  I open up “PassApp” on my phone and got a Tuk-Tuk to take me to the waterfront.  PassApp works like Uber, except you get three-wheeled trike for transportations.  It’s covered from rain and sun, but still open air.  It feels safer than a motorcycle, but can still dodge traffic.  I think a Tuk-Tuk is the loveliest way to travel.

The major area for watching boat races is right across from the Royal Palace.  Large pavilions were set up along the river.  The first one I passed was filled with government officials, military, and other dignitaries.  As I continued walking, the next pavilion had a sign, “Free Admission for Foreign Visitors.”  Hey!  That’s me!  I walked up the steps, through metal detectors, and into the pavilion.  No registration or any sort of pass seemed to be required.  I guess I looked foreign enough.  I got a front row seat and enjoyed watching boat pairs racing by every few minutes, with cheers from their local supporters

Afterwards, I wandered through the streets and parks, weaving through crowds enjoying the holiday.  Street venders were selling food and trinkets for kids.  A band was setting up on a stage.  The sun was promising a stunning evening farewell and I sat down to enjoy it.  I noticed a woman taking pictures of the sunset and offered to take her picture.  She joined me on the ledge, watching the sun electrify the evening sky.  She was also a solo traveler, from Indonesia.

“I love traveling.  Every time I get a little extra money, I book a trip.  I can’t help it!”  It was often a challenge for her to find Halal food.  Sometimes she just ate fruit.  Here, she found a restaurant owned by Indonesians where she could trust everything that was served.  We decided to get dinner together, as we swapped stories and tips on traveling. 

One time she booked a female dorm in a hostel.  They put her in the mixed gender dorm instead.  She had to sleep the whole night with her hijab on, because unrelated men can’t see her head uncovered.  She said she didn’t mind so much, but it wasn’t comfortable.  After eating, we walked away from the park, stopping to enjoy the nightly fireworks and then followed the crowd to watch the king leave the waterfront.  I waived, but his majesty didn’t seem to notice.

Phnom Penh is a pretty accessible city.  While there are traditional markets and services, there are also app-based transportation options, western grocery stores, and coffee shops galore made the city a nice blend of different and familiar.  They sometimes intertwined, like when you go into the grocery store and see a hospital-get-well-gift-basket which consisted entirely of dried prunes.  Everyone who had a car seemed to drive a Toyota, and I’ve never seen more Lexus models anywhere.  Like in Indonesia, there were people at major stores who would stop traffic for you to turn.  You always carry change in your car to tip them.

The afternoons can get quite hot.  People will slow down and sit in the shade, because nobody feels like doing much when the heat is oppressive.  You often see old men hike up their shirts above their big bellies to try to cool off.  This never seemed to be a style trend for young men with six-packs.  I’m not sure why.

Things are much cheaper here, as long as you do things like locals do.  I needed some passport-sized pictures for onward travel visa applications.  I popped down the street and got 12 for $2.  They’re a little funky, as they took my picture with a blue background, and then traced the image to cut and paste it onto a white background.  But hey, $2!  And they cut off all the frizzy hair, so that was nice.

I still didn’t have any projects lined up in Thailand, where I was planning to head next.  I had left the U.S. with three good contacts, with whom I had exchanged messages and felt like things were pretty well set.  When I went to confirm, they all just disappeared and I never heard a thing again.  So weird.  I shot out a few emails to some organizations I had worked with in other contexts and prayed that the right option would work out.  That week, my host was preaching at a church, so I joined her for the service.  We got there early and I settled in to wait.  I heard an American accent sitting in the row behind me – we were the only white people in the service – so I turned around to say hello.  He was from Michigan and worked to keep kids safe from trafficking.  They were just starting some projects in Cambodia, but he and his family were based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I shared my work in NGO management consulting.  “I was just looking for a project in Thailand.  Know of any organizations that could use some help in management and administration?”

He looked at me and raised his hand.  We both laughed.  “Ok!”  We exchanged information.  Later that week, I heard back from another organization also in Chiang Mai, and with a mini training retreat I had been invited to in Bangkok, I finally had a plan for Thailand, just three weeks away.  No rush!

I had to visit Siem Reap before I left Cambodia.  Angkor Wat, and dozens of other ancient temples, are centered in this city and it’s become quite a tourist destination.  The fastest was is to fly, but I have more time than money, so opted to take the night bus for the 8-hour trip. I boarded downtown, taking off my shoes at the door and wrapping them in the plastic bag handed out by the conductor.  The seats were almost flat.  I hoped I could get a few hours of sleep.

When I was researching places to stay, I didn’t even look at hostels because I’m a grown woman and deserve my own bathroom. But then I accidentally clicked on one. It was $5 a night. $5! You know what, I’m a pretty social person. How often do you really use a bathroom anyway? I booked it. I felt lucky that they had a female dorm available.  I went to check in and the receptionist greeted me with a nice smile. “Welcome!  I have your bed ready in the mixed dorm.  I’ll show you the way.”

“I’m sorry, but there must be a mistake. I booked the female dorm.”

“Oh well, we don’t have space there.  Sorry!”

I honestly didn’t care that much, as I’m nearly old enough to be the mother of most of the kids there.  Mixed dorms just tend to be obnoxiously loud.  Boys are loud in general, and girls are even louder when boys are around.  But then I thought about my Indonesian friend, who had the same thing happen.  She was very sweet and accommodating.  I felt like I needed to make a point on this, for people who wouldn’t make a fuss.

“This is very wrong.  I booked a female dorm.  If you don’t have it available, you shouldn’t have advertised it.  It’s deceptive.  People choose single gender dorms for a reason.  You need to respect that.  This is really unacceptable.”  I was calm, but adamant.  She looked taken aback.  I don’t think she had had many people challenge her on that before.  She seemed a bit flustered as she checked her computer again.  “We really don’t have any space tonight.  I can move you tomorrow?  I’m sorry about this.”

“I’ll stay there tonight, but this shouldn’t have happened and shouldn’t happen again.”  She nodded.  I mentally gave a high five to my friend, hoping that things would be easier for her in the future.

I didn’t have much planned for the day, so explored the museum and wandered Pub Street, the epicenter for restaurants, snacks, and shopping.  I took a detour down a side street and saw a barber shop.  I decided my hair could stand a cut, so I popped in.  I thought $3 wasn’t too bad.  He sprayed the ends of my hair with a water bottle and trimmed off about a millimeter.  Maybe I overpaid.

I loved all the options for fresh juice on the streets.  For $1, you could get mango, watermelon, pineapple, or any number of mixtures.  Make sure the ice is rounded.  That’s the kind that’s bought from a store and made with purified water.  Chipped ice is homemade.  I got that once.  I highly recommend activated charcoal to settle your stomach afterwards.

The nice thing about staying at a cheap place is that everyone there is looking for budget options. I booked a boat tour to the floating village, that included a stop at a crocodile farm and a lovely sunset.  The next morning, though, I was waking up at 4:00am to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat.