Day 16 – 2nd of March 2014 – Siem Reap

Us with Phearon and his wife

So today is our last day in Cambodia, we fly out early tomorrow morning, first to KL for a three hour stopover then on to Kuching.  I should probably start the day with last night though, when we decided to head out and have a bit of fun and relaxation.  It has been so frustrating to have been sick so much during this trip, especially in Cambodia, where cocktails are expensive if they go over $3 and beer is usually $.50 or maybe $1.50 for some premium stuff! So as we were both feeling a lot better we headed into town for some dinner and liquid refreshment, ending up at a place called the Triangle Bar.  We had a great time here, it was absolutely hilarious, they had a Korean band consisting of three beautiful girls in short black dresses who sang (and danced) and a guy mashing away on the keyboard behind them.  You really haven’t travelled until you’ve seen a Korean band sing “Hotel California” in Cambodia.  What an experience!  So as we sat and enjoyed the beer and the band, I decided now would be a great time to try out one of the cigars I had picked up on our way through KL.  I have never been a smoker, and can’t recall ever trying a cigar, but I figured it would be kind of fun to try it out, if for no other reason than to look cool for a little while ;)

Lunch Time!

So after watching several youtube video tutorials, and a few handles of beer for some dutch courage, I decided I was ready to embark on my epic cigar journey in public.  I have no doubt these were probably not the world’s best cigars, at around $10 for 5, but they did say vanilla flavoured, which sounds delish to me but would probably make any real cigar fan cringe.  Anyway as always the staff at this bar were all very lovely, however one young guy was particularly excited about my cigar antics.  Attempting to show confidence and ability I certainly didn’t feel inside, I puffed away on my smoke stick as if I did this all the time (usually before I jump in to fly my fighter jet or kill several armed soldiers with my bare hands).  He commented several times on it during the night, and while I didn’t mind it too much, it certainly didn’t blow me away so I decided to give him one of the cigars as well, since I doubted I would be getting through all 5 any time soon. 

He was so excited and grateful, it was really touching and throughout the rest of the night as we relaxed to the soft soothing sounds our Korean fans covering everything from “Smooth Operator” to “They Long to be Close to You” (you know that stupid bottle shop ad song) we would spend time chatting with our new friend. As we were getting ready to leave, he invited us to his home to have lunch the next day and to meet his wife, it was such a kind gesture so we exchanged phone numbers and arranged a rough time to catch up the following day.    

The next day we were planning to take it pretty easy, with plenty of pool time and chilling out scheduled before trying to get some last minute shopping done at the night markets.  We heard from Phearon at around 1.30pm who gave our hotel man directions to give to the tuk-tuk driver so we could get to his house.  He met our tuk-tuk on a street corner and we followed him on his bicycle through some twisting dirt roads (even in the city unsealed roads are common as soon as you are off the main routes) to his home.  He lives with his wife in a small flat, which is a

Phearon and his wife

round 4m² with a single room housing their bed, a sink, and a small computer set up on a bookshelf.  He was so excited to have us there, and welcomed us in apologising for the lack of space.  As we sat on the floor he brought out some ice cold cans of beer he had sitting in a small bucket with some ice (no fridge).  His wife was out at the Market, so we started on the beers and chatted away, he is a really lovely guy and his English is excellent so it wasn’t hard to make conversation.

He was telling us that he learned English in the Orphanage he grew up in, as they had volunteers come to help the kids learn.  He went to the Orphanage when he was nine, and that was also where he met his wife.  His wife had already cooked for us before she went out, so Phearon served up some lunch for us.  He said they weren’t sure what we like to eat, so his wife just cooked his favourite dish, which is a fish cooked up in a soy sauce and ginger seasoning, as well as some “Morning Glory” which is a type of green vegetable, similar to baby bock choy.  While we had been extremely wary of seafood, especially considering the issues we had been having, there was no way I could turn down his hospitality, and as well it looked bloody good!  So I dived in, and the food was absolutely delicious! I’m not normally a fish fan, but this was a river fish they called a “Bird Fish” (though it doesn’t fly they told me) and it was so tasty, quite fatty but this kept it nice and moist, and went really well with the ginger, I was a big fan and can see why it’s his favourite dish. 

Wandering the riverside 

After a little while his wife arrived home, and while her English is not quite as strong as his, she was still lovely to chat with, and had an enormous smile.  It was just a really amazing experience, taking us way out of the world we know, and getting to share a meal with two really lovely people who we could just as easily have never met.  Phearon told us that his dream was to one day work on a cruise ship, so he could make better money and travel around a bit, maybe even come and visit us he said! Unfortunately it is very difficult and expensive even for Cambodians to just get a passport, but hopefully one day he will be able to do it.  We continued to sit and chat, and enjoy a couple more beers in their home.  It was almost surprising how easily the conversation flowed, considering the language and culture barriers, and we snapped a few photos with them as well.  It was really interesting that every time we toasted before drinking (Chung Moy in Cambodia) Phearon would support his arm with his other hand while we touched drinks.  I asked him about it, and apparently it is a sign of respect in Cambodia, because he is 22 and I was nearly 30 so he was respecting his “elder”.  Not sure how I feel being seen as an elder, but it was very touching. 

Dinner on Pub Street

So after around an hour and a half we decided it was time to head off, Phearon and his wife had a wedding celebration to go to later that night (which they also invited us to but we had to decline).  After we left their home we decided to just wander along the river and enjoy the sights, we ended up finding some really nice parts of Siem Reap that we hadn’t seen before, it really is quite a lovely city, much nicer than Phnom Penh in my opinion, and I think we were both still buzzing a bit from the lunch we had just had.  It was just such an awesome thing to be able to do, and all by chance as we could just as easily have not met them, but it was also a bit emotional as well, seeing people be so happy and giving when they had so little.  So I think it is probably pretty obvious this left a bit of an impression on me, and was one of the real highlights of the whole trip.  We ended up in town for a quick dinner and a couple more beers before heading back to the hotel to pack our bags ready to head to Kuching the next day. 

I’m feeling quite sad about leaving Siem Reap, at times I have wanted to leave just because it was such a hard place to visit, in that you are really exposed to people who struggle to earn enough to get by, and yet I ended up realising that if they could be so kind and happy then it was not my place to feel down and sorry for them, but rather to enjoy the hospitality they could provide.  One of the real frustrations here however is how avoidable many of these situations are.  Corruption is a massive problem here, and is a constant theme no matter who you talk to.  The horror of the Khmer Rouge period is something that could not have easily been dealt with, but this corruption which is so obviously holding the country back, and continues to expand the massive gap between the wealthy and the poor does have a solution.  Cambodia relies heavily on many Western countries including Australia ($90 million per year) and that gives us a large amount of pressure which could be brought to bear on the Cambodian government.  However instead of using this position of wealth and power to try and bring about positive change, I see now instead they are proposing that we send our refugees to Cambodia. 
The idea of this would be laughable to anyone who has actually travelled here, where over 40% of children are chronically malnourished, and while the 25% of people living under the poverty line has seen improvement over the past few years, the cut off for being above the poverty line means having access to just under $1/day for food. While food is certainly cheaper in Cambodia, it is obvious that amount is still a long way from giving the people anything close to a comfortable lifestyle.  The idea that this is a country who could not only welcome Australia’s unwanted, but also guarantee them the protections we are obligated to give (racism is also a significant issue in Cambodia, with a large amount of anti-Vietnamese sentiment present due to past and current issues with the Vietnamese government) just doesn’t seem to make any sense to me. 

Cambodia is certainly a Country of great beauty and wonderful people, but there is a lot of sadness here too, not just in the past, but in the present as well.