Indelible Roots

10/28/2007

I started off the morning with a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. After finishing my banana pancake, toast, and o.j., I walked the three blocks to my favorite internet café. There I met Bjorn, a professional traveler if I ever saw one. I actually met Bjorn yesterday when I first went to this internet café and did not expect to see him again. Today we talked a little more and I found out that he works for Leica. He actually has this Leica digital SLR that is supposedly the bee’s knees of cameras and has been traveling throughout South East Asia taking pictures and writing. We exchanged blog information and promised to meet for dinner before he heads off to Laos with his friend later this week.

After paying my $1.50 for the hour plus of internet access, I headed down the road towards Wat Phnom. I figured I would call my uncle Chheang along the way as I’ve been putting it off. After a few moments of explaining who I was and talking to three different people with varying English skills, we decided they would come pick me up at my hotel.

To say that our meeting was warm and happy would be an understatement. He had come with his grandson Samrith and they were so happy to see me I could do nothing, but return the feeling in kind. After a few words he ushered me onto the back of the 125cc motor scooter and the three of us were off to see the rest of the family. Yes, I became one of those guys right then and there, three adult men on the back of a small scooter weaving in and out of traffic.

A few minutes later we pulled up to a busy street front next to the “new market.” After walking up a narrow, dark flight of concrete stairs we ended up in the concrete walled living room and a mass of family I had never seen nor whose names knew. Greetings through with, the grilling started, not least of which was my lack of Khmer language skills.

Of particular note here I met my cousin Chanpy and her fiancé Sopheap. They are to wed next month and quickly invited me to the wedding. Sopheap speaks English fairly well, though he says he speaks French much better. He is a French language tour guide and he acts as my interpreter when needed throughout the night. All together there were eight people there, all very friendly and with the older folks ribbing me for not speaking Khmer better and for being single still. I pull out my laptop and show them some pictures of Alaska. Sopheap tells me he wishes he had as much freedom to travel, do, and learn all I’ve briefly shown him. Both he and Samrith are in awe that my motorcycle holds a 620cc engine as compared to their 125s. This is pretty funny as it is the smallest Ducati engine made that year.

After lunch uncle Chheang pushes a bowl full of beige flakes in front of me. I had noticed it immediately upon entering the home as it was very familiar though I could not place what it was. Taking a handful and stuffing it into my mouth it tasted strangely familiar though I can’t remember the last time I’ve had it. Turns out that it is a snack called num buk and is available only once or twice a year. It is rice that is heated by fire while still on the stalk and then beaten and crushed with a stone. By the way, all Khmer names and words are spelled phonetically for the most part in this blog.

Samrith, a younger cousin of mine Koik, and I then go to Sorraya market while most everyone else takes a nap. We walked through the crowded streets and into this nice new, multistory building. Inside I was surprised at how modern it looked as compared to the decrepit mesh of shacks that is the “new market” right across the street.

Sorrya market looks just like any other mall in the world with six or seven escalated floors. The only exception is that some of the stores are no more than a walk in closet. On the top floor is a roller rink, arcade, and cinema. There is a food court, a department store, and an electronics store. The electronics store shocked me as it had $6000 lcd televisions and $260 Apple Ipods. Expressing my surprise at the prices to my guide, I was told that locals get a 20% discount (I think that’s what he said.)

A little while later Samrith, Chanpy, Sopheap, and I get on two scooters an cruise the streets. They take me to Olympic Stadium which is actually very massive. There are people everywhere inside playing soccer, tennis, badminton, jogging, doing aerobics classes, swimming, and just hanging out. I was really surprised at the shear amount of people there with every flat surface of any size holding a soccer match of some kind.

Afterwards we cruised to and around the riverfront. I catch a Honda crotch rocket and do a double take as it looks absolutely massive compared to all the other motorbikes out here. This is also where Samrith decides to ride against heavy traffic on the left side for about a mile because it was a divided road with a median and we couldn’t just shoot across to the right side. I have the entire thing on video and will try to upload it later. He then wants to go eat burgers though Sopheap wasn’t sure if I would since I ‘eat burgers every day in America.’ Actually, it wasn’t bad though the meat was a little thin. But a burger and shake only came out to $1.50 and they refused to allow me to pay.

Back at the house we met all of the previous people and an additional ten or so and I have to go through the whole spiel yet again. We then have dinner; reinforcing something Sopheap had said to me earlier, Cambodians are more interested in quantity than quality at this time. That is not to say the food wasn’t good, but I felt like I had been eating all day. After promising to return next weekend, Sopheap, Samrith, and Samrith’s sister drive me back to my hotel. Back in my room, I am glad for the solitude though I had thoroughly enjoyed the day’s events. With the eventful few days since I arrived behind me, I look forward to the coming days, one at a time.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 1:19 pm 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.