Indelible Roots

Wow! It’s been an eventful four hours. Got into Phnom Penh around 730pm local time. Got down stairs to immigration and started talking English to the officer. He looked at my passport and said “your Khmer. Talk Khmer and I’ll get you the Khmer visa, it’s only $10 for the year.” That’s as compared to $25 per month for a tourist visa and $30 per month for a business visa. So he asks me a few questions in Khmer, “where are your parents, where are you from.” I was fortunate to know just enough to answer him. I gave him $10 and he gave my passport to another person, told him I was Cambodian, and sent him off. Five minutes later he calls me back to the window and gives me my passport with a visa good for a year with multiple entries allowed. He tells me to speak Khmer.

Wow, cool. So I walk to the next line and pass the guy in uniform my passport. He says something I can’t understand and gives me a form to fill out. Perhaps he didn’t see the visa page, but I scrounge up a pen and fill it out. I get in line again and get sent on my way to baggage claims. I get my three pieces of baggage and push it towards the exit where another uniformed guard asks me for more paperwork. I say I don’t have any. He describes the paperwork a few times to me and I tell him I don’t know what it is. He asks me what is in my luggage and I tell him medical supplies. He tells me to go ahead, he won’t make me empty it out.

I get outside and there’s a guy waiting for me with a sign of my name. I say hello in Khmer and ask him if he speaks English. He says yes and runs to the parking lot. I follow with my suitcases and meet him halfway there. Then six kids show up and start to help get the luggage into the truck. Sukhai (sp) doesn’t say anything so I think maybe they are with him. Then they ask me for money. Duh! So I give them $1 and tell them to split it (in English of course.)

I ask Sukhai where he’s taking me and he mentions a place. Well, they must have me setup for the night then, cool I assume. After seeing cars and motorcycles driving every which way, some on the wrong side of the road, some without headlights (it’s dark by now,) traversing a traffic circle where cars and bikes are weaving in and out, we get to a gaited home. Dr. Gollogly answers and lets us in. He’s dressed in shorts and scrub tops and is holding back a yellow lab. We get in and introduced haphazardly. Jim asks me and Sukhai if we’d eaten and tells us to go get some food from the kitchen. I bring my food to the table and sit down with him and Jesse Owens, a paraplegic UAA professor, but Sukhai doesn’t follow me. Dr. Jim then goes on to grill me about my delays and why he sent Sukhai to get me at 610 when I didn’t arrive until 730. Ooops. My flight left at 610 so it was my mistake. But hey, I’ve been traveling for 24 hours and actually didn’t hold out a lot of hope of actually getting picked up as our communication had been so poor. Then he goes on to ask me if I had set up a place to stay the night. Now I’m getting pissed. What the hell. Why did Sukhai bring me here if I wasn’t staying here for the night. “No” I said, but I can go find a place. “You’ll get shot walking down the street” he says. I guess there are no dial a taxis here in Phnom Penh. So he tells his wife to set me up. What the hell. There’s a free room with it’s own bath right here. He goes on to lay down the law and expectations with me and Jesse is laughing his ass off on the side.

Fortunately, Jim Carmichael had Skyped me the other day and warned me about Dr. Jim. So I calm down and don’t let it get to me. It’s not like I have to stay here and volunteer here. We get expectations straightened out and he goes to bed at 9pm. Jesse and I stay up talking about Dr. Jim, SCI treatment and research (he does this,) and our individual goals here. He lives in Palmer by the way and is fucking crazy. I’m thinking they are all a bit unbalanced at this point, but we finish a bottle of wine together.

I pull my bags inside as Dr. Jim and Sukhai had taken them out of the truck and Dr. Jim had told me to sit and talk with Jesse. Duh! My jacket with my passport, money, and mp3 player are in the front seat! It’s a bit humid here and I’ve got the fan on right now. So, hopefully Sukhai parks that thing in a secure location as he took off with it. What better way to start off this adventure though. And no, I don’t hold anything against Dr. Jim. I also don’t take blame for everything.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:38 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.