Teroka

DAY 1 We arrived quite early in the morning. Around 0735 local time. Like I mentioned, I wasn’t aware there would be any difference in time over here in Cambodia. I’m sure people never mentioned it to me because its really not that big of a deal. But I never had to go through that, so to me, at that time, was a big deal. So i re-set my watch. So that was my first surprise. Once we got a clearance from the local custom (they were really not all happy to see us), the first thing we did, was to figure out a way to get to the Siem Reap bus station. We’re hoping that we would get to Phnom Penh as early as possible. Banyak tempat nak tengok. And we only had less than a day to do it.

There was a taxi-counter in the airport itself, so senang lah sikit. We were trying to get them to send us to the bus station, and well, they said that we could get their taxi to send us off there [Siem Reap Airport -> Siem Reap Old Market: 20mins/US$4] . So teruslah membayar dan naik taxi.

Second surprise for me, which was to find out that the Cambodians drive on the right side of the road. Again, not a big deal. But its just something new to me I guess. Memang gua excited sorang-sorang-lah kan.

Half-way through, we asked the taxi driver about the Khmer New Year Celebration that is going on. We were informed that most of the Cambodians are on holiday, and that shops are closed. Its only the 2nd day of the celebration, and usually it goes on for 5 days. Habislah, kedai tutup, then what is there left for us to do? But the most shocking is when he asked us where in the Old Market he should drop us off. And we were like, “No no, we said to the man on the counter, Siem Reap bus station”. He refuses to send us there, because he said is far from the Old Market. “Another 3/4 dohlaa”, he said. I honestly don’t know how far the bus station is from the Old Market, and for all you know, it is in the area itself. Kang sia-sia je kena bayar lebih. So my guts told me to just let him drop us off in the Old Market, and we’ll ask around.

So around 0805, he dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, but luckily, ‘that’ nowhere is actually right in the middle of the Old Market. I got my first dose of reality. Shoot, nak buat apa sekarang nih? So we walked for a bit, and asked around, only to find out that the bus station is around 5kms to the east of the Old Market.

Let me just tell you, that my first impression of Siem Reap/Cambodia was just plain simple. Its brown, a low-land, full of people on motorbikes, very very hot, so freakingly dusty that a 5 minutes ride on the tuk-tuk would have killed my eyes. But I liked it. It nothing like what I’m used to. From where I came from, places that are a tourist-spot is so ridiculously developed, it looked like they were about the built another KLCC there. So I’m all excited to be in a place, different and a place, where I don’t understand their language. Even here in the Old Market, where all the excitements are, there were not that many things that I can personally relate to. For example, the petrol station pun cuma ade Caltex. Yang lain, haram, nak sebut pun tak reti.

It’s not much of a bus station pun. The ticket counter (other than those sold by their agents near the bus), is really just the thing you always see at a hawker. Alah, macam yang jual itik gantung tu, haa, macam tu punya kaunter la. And we got there 0835, and just missed the 8.30AM bus to Phnom Penh. They tried to get us on the bus, a bus that is literally already moving. They were screaming and telling them to stop, which I thought kind of nice and funny at the same time. They must have thought they had supersonic voice that could get through to the bus driver. Tapi bas tersebut terus sahaja berjalan.

So we settled for the 9.30AM bus ['GST Express Bus' to Phnom Penh: US$10], and had an hour to kill. The ticket price is higher during this particular holiday, so I guess we paid a little bit extra. There weren’t like a mamak that we could have had drinks at, so we stood silently for 10 minutes, trying to figure out where should we go now, while this two kids were trying to sell us canned drinks. “Coke sir? Savan-up lady? 2 dohlaa!” I don’t really drink carbonated drinks anymore so we just walked to a nearby stall and just sat there. Pusing letak beg saje, the two kids followed us there too. Aiyo, these kids are persistent lah! But I wanted to get a pack of ciggie (although I swore to myself I wouldn’t do it here), so told them if they had Malboro. They ran and then came back with a pack, and put out his hand “3 dohlaa 2000 riel sir”, and I realized its freaking expensive. So I said no and offered US$2. “OK sir, 3 dohlaa!”. Again, I said no (ingat dah cukup pandai la tu tawar-menawar), and they got kelam-kabut and offered US$2.50. I realized I left my lighter (kan kononnya ingat nak stop), and asked them for one. “Ok sir, both 3 dohlaa”. I was so tired of not knowing how to bargain, so I just paid up, but also thought, I might have had a good deal. Ceh! We also bought a big bottled water for US$1, for we thought, after converting, the price would have made sense. Another big CEH!

Buses here in Siem Reap is pretty much the same elsewhere from the outside. I didn’t expect much. As long I had a seat, it would be fine with me. So we board the bus at 0930 and started our journey. I was told in the beginning that the journey would take a maximum of 6 hours because of the distance [Siem Reap -> Phnom Penh: 314km], but I wasn’t aware of the damage it would do to my fat-less bum. I wished I could go on the boat through Tonle Sap, but it wasn’t feasible, knowing that we were on a tight budget and that it was a dry season [Siem Reap -> Phnom Penh by boat: 251km/6hrs/US$25].

The road to Phnom Penh, is straight most of the time, and looked like one of the bigger highway. It made me feel grateful that I could get from KL to anywhere without having anything to worry about with our wide-ass highways. The view from the window of the cramped bus, is the same. Wooden houses that were built on really high stilts. Boleh buat lompat bintang kat bawah umah, ke lompat kijang ke, seriously. And the doors were smacked right in the middle, and you can see right through to the back door, which is parallel to the front door, and both were wide opened. They even had this huge stack of hay in their lawn, which I don’t know why. One for each house. Funny. I even managed to get a glimpse of Cambodian style weddings, I think 2 or 3 of them (orang Cambodia pun kahwin musim cuti jugak).

At around 1220, we stopped for toilet break. Its before Kampong Thom, right beside the highway, and there were nothing really, over there. I went down of the bus to check what its like. Its even dustier over here. The place is definitely not clean. But they had this little place that sells food and drinks, and had this cute chairs with covers, siap dengan bowtie lagi.

All throughout the journey, they put on Karaoke VCDs, and while I don’t understand a word of it, but I find it entertaining, of course not in a melodic kind of way. Its just they would have all this singers do dances, and most of it would take place di majlis keramaian, macam tarian lambak. Its kind of cute really. Stail orang-orang tua menari. Kaki kedepan, kaki kebelakang, kaki kekiri, kaki kekanan, dan kemudian pusiiiiingg. I wanted to record it, but even when inside the bus you could not hear, and sometimes could not see the thing. Our seats were near the front, but they had extra plastic stools along the walking aisle, for those ‘extra’ passengers they pick up along they way. Express konon, rupenya macam mini bas.

We arrived at GST Bus Station around 1530, so thats 6 hours in the bus with only one stop. As soon as we left the bus, people were everyone offering a ride on their tuk-tuk. But since its a low season for tourists, there weren’t as many as usual. But since we had a decent map with the knowledge of where our accommodation is at, we opted to just walk. It didn’t look that far at first, and pretty straight forward. But with the lack of food and under the hot sun, we missed the road we were supposed to take by a couple of hundred meters. That was nothing compared to the fact we had to get across roads that were coming for the opposite way that we were used to. And the all the vehicles, man oh man. Its like no brakes were built with it, because they would just honk (untuk bagitau dalam cara yang baik “incik, saya mau tumpang lalu”) and just slow down and thats it. Roundabouts, junctions, anywhere at all, except traffic lights, and there weren’t that many of them.

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, so I expected a lot I guess. Maybe a KFC or McDonalds. Not that I was eager to visit one. I just thought that everywhere in this world, those dominators would, well, dominate the people. But nope, not a sight of any of those things yet.

At around 1600, we managed to get to our guesthouse, all sweaty and smelling like old bus-seat leather. But our spirits were high. Mana tak, kononnya dah dapat save US$4 la sebab tak naik tuk-tuk.

Sunday Guesthouse is located on a road that offers a lot of other guesthouses as well. I must say that its not bad of a place in terms of the location. Its easy to get around, and at the same time, its on a non-busy road so its quite at night.

We were greeted by a local guy who speaks an understandable amount of English. The check-in counter shares the same space as its cafe, and there were a couple of foreigners having eating and chatting (lupe pulak kita pun foreigners jugak). We paid a bit up-front when making the booking previously, so we’re all set to see our accommodation for our stay in Phnom Penh.

He sent a guy to show us our room which is on the 3rd floor, and to get there, we had to climb really steep stairs. Kalau tersilap langkah, memang akan jatuh 2 tingkat ke bawah, no kidding. Our room, which fits two, had all the necessity like en-suite bathroom, a TV (with cable), a fan, a weird looking shelves, and a single queen size bed [Sunday Guesthouse: US$4/1pax/1night].