Indelible Roots

1-27-2008

At 5:15am on the 27^th I rode out to Meggie’s place to pick her up. Coming to a red light on one of the major streets, I came to a stop, only to be passed by the few motorists behind me. So I went through the light also, having a better chance of getting nailed from behind and on the side by cross traffic in the night.

The trip to the dock saw us nearly run over by a Camry passing us against oncoming traffic. The bastard was no more than an inch or two of hitting us before I saw him, Meggie exclaimed “shit” and grabbed my shoulders, and I hit the brakes. I beeped my ridiculous horn and mentally cursed at him or her as he pulled away.

Two hours later we had crossed the Mekong and arrived. Quickly dressing at an adjacent house we walked to the wedding house and the proceedings started just minutes later. I’m not sure if they had waited on us or not, but earlier I was told 7am was the latest they would start and it was 7:30.

The wedding was fun and eventful, incorporating two days worth of ceremonies into a half of a day. It was hot as hell though and I was sweating like crazy, discarding my tie except for the important ceremonies of which I was actually involved. We had about a two hour break at noon before the reception at which time I was told I couldn’t use the moto to return to Phnom Penh, but would have to wait on the little bus which wasn’t leaving until after dark. Meggie was OK with this as she was having a good time, so I didn’t bother trying to bribe my cousin T to use his moto.

We finally left around 7pm, the bus loaded and everyone else telling us we should stay longer. Arriving at the smaller of the two ports we parked behind a large work truck, the only two vehicles there. As the boat pulled up forty-five minutes later though, a slew of cars passed us and got right up to the bank. Furious Meggie and I kept looking at the bus, which didn’t start up until after a half dozen cars had passed it. Needless to say, we didn’t make it on the boat.

I talked to the truck drivers during the second intermission to see if by chance they were going to Phnom Penh, thinking about hitching a ride with them as the boat definitely would not be able to accommodate both the truck and the bus. The drivers were going the opposite direction though and the driver then asked me what day it was.

Forty-five minutes later the boat comes back, but three cars pass our sad little bus. Meggie was about to cry and I was ready to smash some heads, swearing to not attend another wedding in country no matter what. One of my uncles then directed the bus forward and we cut two of the cars off, but one of them still squeezed by onto the boat. The truck was left on the bank by itself as we left, but as I expected, the drivers didn’t care. We then haggled over price with the boat operators who wanted one thousand riel, twenty-five cents per person on the bus. The large ferry costs two hundred riel per person though I don’t know how much they charge for a bus.

Exhausted we arrived in Phnom Penh at 10pm and Meggie and I left in search of a tuk tuk with nary a goodbye to the other passengers. A cold shower and clean clothes later the stress and frustration from our odyssey home melted away and I fell asleep to the Cartoon Network.

1-26-2008

This morning I was told to come to uncle Chheang’s so that we can all go to the province together to prepare for my cousin Samrith’s marriage to La. Samrith wanted me to spend the night, but I adamantly declined as usual, seeing absolutely no benefit to the idea and knowing full well that the likelihood of us leaving on time was zilch. Told to be there by 7:30am, I leisurely left my guesthouse at 7:30 for the seven blocks walk over, stopping by USA Donuts on the way.

I had never been to USA Donuts, but had wanted to check it out for some time now. I found a small selection of nice looking pastries inside to include what appeared to be a turnover of some kind. I asked what if anything was inside and the gentleman went to the fridge and stated “custard” and two other things curiously enough. I asked for one with custard and he picks one up with a tong and not his bare hands amazingly. Putting it onto a plate he then slices it in half and spoons the custard in. Not exactly what I expected, but it turned out very nicely no less.

Leaving USA Donuts with my backpack on my back, my helmet in my right hand, and my sack of pastries in the left I was immediately approached by a man in his forties or fifties. He yelled excitedly and grabbed at my left arm several times. I kept telling him no and elbowed him away, on the verge of bashing his head in with my helmet. Only then did his words sink in. He was asking for food. This jackass was completely clean and nicely dressed, not some street child. I wanted to go back and kick his ass, but let it go instead.

As expected we didn’t leave uncle Chheang’s place until 9am. Then it was to go to a breakfast place and eat, where I just sat and reminded people that they told me we would leave at 8. Then we had to go to the market so that Sopheap could buy some sunglasses for the moto ride out to La’s parents’ place out in the sticks. After that we stopped for gas. So really we didn’t hit the road until about 10:30 as I had expected.

It was almost an hour ride on motos to the dock where we caught a ferry across the Mekong. It was another thirty minutes on unpaved roads to the house. Here we sat, played cards, ate, and slept. I reminded people that we were supposed to be there to assist in the wedding preparations and everyone just laughed.

After dinner I borrowed Samrith’s moto to ride back to Phnom Penh as I needed to pick Meggie up to bring her to the wedding. Leaving at around 5:30pm, it was getting dusk much more rapidly than I expected. Uncle Chheang wanted me to stay until after dinner, but then the local family said I shouldn’t go as it was getting dark and I might get robbed. I left anyways.

Halfway to the dock I started to get peppered in the face and eyes by small insects. Putting my tinted shield down made it very dark on the unlit streets so I constantly went from not being able to see because of the dark shield and not being able to see because there were bug guts on my eye ball. Getting to the darkened dock I saw that there was no one selling tickets at the desk and asked a girl on a bicycle about it. She said the ferry stops at 6pm and won’t start up again until 4am. Now I had specifically asked Sopheap when the ferry stops and he had told me it ran 24/7.

Fortunately the girl told me there was another dock about one half kilometers down the road and that there would be a sign for it. The ferry here supposedly runs all night. Thanking her profusely I got on my way down the dark, rutted road and made a right at about ½ kilometers at the first sign I came to with an arrow. Of course I don’t read or write Khmer so I had no idea what the sign actually said.

This road took me into some houses and banana trees. I asked a couple of people where the dock as and was directed farther down the river. Alone in the dark with only fair language skills I was a bit nervous and made a mental note to what turns I was taking so that I could retrace my steps and at least make it back to La’s parents’ house. Fortunately the narrow road opened up onto the docking area soon after. I had apparently taken the turn too soon and had not made it to the actual road to this place.

The area was lit only by the car battery operated florescent lamps of food vendors on the sides. The road led right to the river and I waited there with a half dozen other motos, keeping quiet. A wooden boat arrived and we boarded first, followed by about six cars. It didn’t look overloaded, but the many news casts I’ve seen over the years about overloaded transports sinking in lesser developed nations kept surfacing.

As it were we made it safely across and I paid my five hundred riel, about thirteen cents to the attendant. I then took the dirt road away from the river, following other traffic until it came to a paved surface. Here I took it left, hoping that it was the correct road to Phnom Penh. It wasn’t until about thirty minutes later that I recognized the area outside of Phnom Penh and was relieved.

Overall it was a grand adventure and well worth it for the memories.

1/18/2008

Early on Friday I get a moto taxi to Meggie’s place for the trip to Kratie (pronounced Kra Ches) to see the few remaining Irriwadi fresh water dolphins. Arriving at 7am I walk about to try to find some ... [Continue reading this entry]

On the night of the 6^th I received a call from Meggy seeing if I wanted to join her to a Khmer party out in the countryside the next day. It turned out that January the 7^th is Victory ... [Continue reading this entry]

As I was leaving work Friday a new patient arrived needing muscle and sensory testing of the lower extremities. This man walked in awkwardly and his body was typical of a person with spinal cord injury, disproportionate with short legs ... [Continue reading this entry]

On the 30^th Dave and I rent a moto from Bora, the guy that has been organizing all our transportation needs, to go to the temples with Dave’s friends from school as they rode in the tuk tuk. Not sixty ... [Continue reading this entry]

On Saturday the 29^th Dave and I take a tuk tuk to the Land Mine Museum, deciding to visit the bigger sights tomorrow when three of his friends from school arrive from Malaysia for a visit. We talk the driver ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Aussies, Dave and Meggy, decided to spend New Years at the popular tourist spot in Siem Reap called Bar Street. It’s a block of restaurants and bars near the creek and the street gets closed off and is heavily ... [Continue reading this entry]