This time, we got to the airport with plenty of time. We checked in and were told to proceed to the gate. Air Asia requires you to go through a battery of physical and emotional challenges prior to boarding the plane. First, you must wait in line to pay $15.00 in order to exit Thailand. 15 bucks just to get out of the country. Note that 15 bucks is a lot of money in Thailand. With 15 bucks you can eat dinner for about 15 days. 15 bucks can also pay for a week in a hostel. I mention this because in a country where you get used to living on the super cheap, this comes as a shock, mainly because it is feasible that you can end up with less than 15 bucks before leaving the country. I am curious what would happen to a person unable to pay the exit fee, but with an expired visa.
Ok, anyway, so we pay the exorbitant fee and begin our walk... no, we begin our trek to the gate. The gate is not so much in another part of the airport, as it is in another part of the country. Seriously, a tuk tuk and a days rations of food wouldn't have been totally out of the question here. Needless to say, we reach a sign with our gate number, which is posted above a flight of stairs. We walked down the stairs and into a big glass box. From here we could see the gate, but a glass wall separated us from where we were and where we needed to be. We looked around but there was nothing in any direction. Then, we noticed a small door in one of the walls of our crystal prison. We followed it out to an escalator that was roped off. There was no one in eyesight which led us to believe that this was not the right place. We went back into the glass cube hoping to find another answer. Nothing, same as before. We went back to the escalator, but this time, there was a woman standing at a small podium in front. We recognized her as the same sainly woman who had helped us the day before.
She took our tickets and led us down the escalator which ended in double steel doors leading to the runway. Our next stop, however, was not our plane, but a shuttle bus. In this shuttle bus and only by the grace of God the staff of Air Asia and Suvarnabhumi airport managed to cram every passenger of a full Boeing 737-300.
To begin, I would like to say that I was humbled and embarrassed by my lack of knowledge about Cambodia prior to my visit there. In America, though our social studies classes cover much of the world, South East Asia is rarely mentioned excepting for the Vietnam war. We learn of the Khmer Rogue's occupation of Cambodia, but only to the extent that Pol Pot was a mass murderer. This is especially odd because unlike Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, and other despots whose egregious actions are featured prominently in history books, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are not of a past generation. They are of my generation. As the remnants of the Third Reich are in hiding, whiling away the twilight years of their despicable lives praying that they never face the justice that they so richly deserve, the former members of the Khmer Rouge are alive and well. Some of them are as young as thirty somethings. Most are in their midlife. Their crimes were committed years after the Vietnam war that is so fresh in most American's memories. The problem is not that we have forgotten what happened in Cambodia, its that most of us never learned about it. In any case, assuming that there may be those who happen upon this post who, like me, did not understand the full extent of the Khmer Rogue's rule, I will do my best to infuse some history with the tale of my trip.
After successfully making our way to Cambodia, we were welcomed into the airport at Phnom Penh where we had to change our Thai Bhat into a long forgotten currency from another life.
Since Cambodia's infrastructure and economy had to be recreated after Khmer Rouge control, the Cambodian economy is understandably unstable. The Cambodian riel was the currency before the Khmer Rouge rose to power in 1975. From 1975 until 1980 Pol Pot abolished all currency. After the Vietnamese invasion in 1980, the riel was re-established as the official currency. In order to mend the severely damaged economy, and since there was no Khmer money for the new riel to replace, money had to literally be given away to the people. As such, the value of the riel is extremely low (as I write this post on April 17 2007, 1USD = 4,131.80 riel www.oanda.com.)Riel are primarily used for small local purchases, such as groceries. As Cambodia is trying to re-establish its economy through tourism, the US dollar is widely used, making it the de facto official currency.
Ok, back to the airport. Look at a map of Cambodia (since you are lazy... here you go:)
Not a giant country. We had two full days to see Cambodia. We figured that we could spend a day in Phnom Penh and a day in Siem Riep. Never, in my 25 years, did I ever make a plan that was bad on so many levels.
For one thing, Cambodia is an amazing place. The people, the scenery, the food, and that's not even mentioning the Angkor Wat Temples that in every way imaginable earn their distinction as a UNESCO world heritage site. A paltry two days are no where near sufficient.
The more immediate problem, however was a logistic one. On the map Phnom Penh is about 150 miles as the crow flies. Based on this alone, and the ease of transport around Thailand, I estimated an easy 3 hour bus trip between cities. In Thailand, bus tickets could be purchased the day of and are easy to come by. Such was the case in Cambodia as well, however the bus was not quite so speedy. Cambodia is not nearly as modernized as Thailand. As such, although the distance between Phnom Penh was not far, the roar connecting the two was an often unpaved road that carried on it all manners of travelers. I'll describe that a bit more later, but suffice to say a bus on such a road takes a long long time.
Screwed. We had our return ticket and no where near enough time to do everything we wanted to do. We found this out from our new friend K.
K was the cab driver that happened to be the first person we met when we got off the plane. In fact our intent was not to take a cab, but to hop on the back of a moped to get into the city center. While negotiating with a few guys with mopeds, K kept intervening. "The city is too far to go by bike. Come with me I'll take you to the city center and help you plan your trip."
At this point we already knew not to trust anyone with a "friendly" offer, but then again we were proven wrong back in Bangkok. Since the cab fare split between the two of us was only a few bucks more than the cost of paying two moped drivers (and a hell of a lot nicer if the city was as far as K said it was) we decided to go with K.
"What do you want to do in Cambodia?"
"We want to spend today in Phnom Penh, head to Siem Riep tonight and see the Angkor temples tomorrow."
"Wow, a lot in two days. Are you flying to Siem Riep?"
"No, we were hoping to take the bus. Do you know how we can do that?"
K then, in his surprisingly perfect English explained exactly how flawed that plan is. The bus takes a long time. Scratch that. The bus takes an incredibly long time. K explained that due to the nature of the road connecting the Phnom Penh with Siem Riep, the bus can take anywhere between 7 and 10 hours. Since the rural road is not lit and is often crowded with pedestrians and livestock, the bus only leaves between 6am and about 1pm. The return trip would also leave at about the same time. By this schedule, to see Siem Riep, we would have to skip Phnom Penh, take a 7-10 hour bus ride, arrive in Siem Riep at night, then hop on a bus the next morning to get to Phnom Penh in time for our flight home. Of course, that would be absurd. The other alternative would be to forget seeing the Angkor Temples all together and spend our trip in Phnom Penh. We didn't like that idea.
"I could drive you." K offered. We listened.
"I could drive you around Phnom Penh today, take you to anything you want to see. When you are satisfied, drive you out to Siem Riep and get you a guest house. I will meet you tomorrow morning, bright and early, take you to see whatever temples you want to see, and then bring you back to Phnom Penh. I will arrange for a place to sleep tomorrow night and then pick you up the following day and bring you to the airport. Since we will be driving we can reach Siem Riep in under 6 hours. I will do it for $130."
At first we hesitated. That seemed steep especially by southeast Asian standards. As I write this post, I feel like a complete idiot for even haggling with the guy. It was indeed a fair price. We were basically paying for gas and absurdly little for this man's efforts and time. In fact, considering the price of bus tickets, transportation to the various temples, and the saved headache of not having to worry about time or transit, the deal seemed better and better.
We agreed. First step - exchange money. That I didn't take a picture of this establishment vexes the hell out of me. On a crowded street on the outskirts of the city we stopped at the money changer. This family run place did not have the Thomas Cook exchange rates posted on a board with digital numbers that changed with the market rates. You just took the clerk's word on it.
"You can shop around if you'd like" said the clerk after we showed apprehension at the idea of handing her our money. A quick look at the street, a shop selling memorial stones, various stores that in New York would be referred to as bodegas offering bottled water in buckets of ice melting under the sweltering heat. There would be no shopping around. This is our place.
In front of the woman was a glass counter filled with all sorts of different currencies and change strewn about. Glass. There was no safe in the back room. There was no back room. There was no form to fill out and hand to a clerk along with your passport. There was just this woman and her glass counter filled with cash money.
We hand her our Thai bhat. We receive good 'ol US greenbacks and Cambodian riel. The exchange was one that begged for a passerby to rob all of us. It was... bizarre.
Next stop was a coffee shop where we sat to negotiate our schedule over delicious tea. K explained that he lives in Phnom Penh, but his cousin is from Siem Riep, so he will take us around Phnom Penh and then transfer us into his cousin's care. No problem. With that, our schedule was set, our worries were behind us, and we eagerly set out to explore Cambodia's capital city.
NEXT: Harsh Realities of Phnom Penh and a very regrettable decision.
