Cambodia - Phnom Penh

I have a feeling that nothing is going to feel comfy ever again. 

We got off the plane in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, and after an intimidating encounter with the armed military person who issued us our visa, we were met by a driver holding a sign with my name on it, ready to whisk us off to our hotel. 

I was probably more excited about the sign than I should have been, but honestly, I've never taken a luxurious holiday even once in my life. We've taken trips, we stayed in hotels, but none of these places have had a driver that whisked you anywhere. 

I am the coolest. 

Our second bit of excitement was literally just navigating from the airport to our hotel. 

Let's just say the rules of the road here are VERY FUCKING DIFFERENT, okay? 

When I say that the lines on the road mean nothing, there are no traffic lights, and the honking is constant, I'm dead serious. 

Our vehicle also did not feel like seatbelts were necessary for anyone's wellbeing as they were strapped together around the backs of the bench seats of the van. 

And yet, there was not one accident. Yes, you had to slow down quite a bit at intersections, but everyone just sort of wove through them without injury. 

The other thing we observed on this crazy ride, was that there appeared to be huge amounts of garbage everywhere. A lot of it appeared to be food waste but there were still significant plastic materials mixed in and the sheer quantity made it a bit jarring. Equally so were the number of men we saw hop off bikes and piss on the nearest wall. 

As this was our first glimpse into life in Cambodia, and that we had been travelling for what must have been close to two days straight at this point, between the driving, the garbage, the peeing, the general poverty we were seeing, I think we were all a bit shocked. My excitement over my fancy sign seemed so ridiculous in comparison. 

This feeling was only amplified when, through the dust blowing in our wake, we pulled up to our sparkling pink palace of a hotel, complete with manicured gardens and a grand portico entry. 

"Get us out of here!"

Our travel agent suggested booking a hotel for the first night just so we would have a nice place to stay when we landed. It was only $60 bucks a night so we were not expecting anything extravagant. To be clear, this is like a normal hotel in Canada, I think we maybe were just not expecting that a normal hotel would be the bastion of wealth that this place seemed to be. Our travel books listed the prices for most budget guest houses as under $10 dollars a night, and they all seemed to be nice enough. 

The Sunway Hotel was perfectly lovely. It was clean, the rooms were set up with familiar quilted coverlets and amenities, there was a continental breakfast in the morning - it was very safe. 

The thing is, we're not looking for safe. We were looking for adventure, for breaking out of our comfort zones! For having an authentic experience in this country, not be ferried by a golden chariot through the streets to our enclaved palace. 

The next day we checked out as planned, got in our first Tuk Tuk, and moved to the Royal Guest House. $7 dollars a night, fans provided, AC costs extra. It was perfect. 

After we checked in, dropped off our bags, had a cold drink in the Restaurant downstairs, we finally felt ready leave the nest. We didn't need a fancy hotel, or a chauffeur to ferry us from place to place. Heck, we didn't even need a Tuk Tuk, we were going to walk!

We had made it about 50 feet from the front door of the guest house when, right in front of us, a man hopped off his vespa, dropped trou, and shit directly on the sidewalk. 

I don't think "shocked" is an adequate enough word to describe the looks on our faces as we hurried away as fast as we could. 

The smells just kept coming though - that garbage I mentioned from our arrival, it appears that it's sort of hearded into small piles in the street throughout the day or week and then is collected somehow. This means that at any given time there is mystery substances beneath your feet as you hop between pockets of fresher air between fragrant piles.

The garbage smelled so bad. We later realized how much Durian was in it.

We continued moving towards the Palace, one of the closest landmarks, and once we turned onto the main road it was on, the scenery suddenly changed dramatically. There were no collections of questionable detritus here - it was spotless, perhaps even sanitized. It was also remarkably empty.

It was such a stark contrast from what we had seen of the majority of the city so far. We processed it in the only way a bunch of white girls in their 20s could. 

You can't take us anywhere. 

We finally made it to the Palace - Heather and I had to buy $3 t-shirts because our tank tops were inappropriate to wear inside. This, of course, only amplified the sheer volume of sweat dripping from my my person, but I suffered through. The palace was beautiful, monks in orange robes ducked in and out of buildings, and there were musicians playing from inside the Pagoda. 

The juxtaposition of our journey here, and what we found inside is so stark. We're mesmerized by the gold tipped buildings and the history of the compound, but we're also trying to wrap our minds around the genocide that happened here only 30 years ago, and how the country is still trying to recover from that. 

This is why I maintain that whenever possible, if you can go and see something in person, you imbue it into your understanding of the world. We could have stayed in our sanitized hotel, and hailed a Tuk Tuk to save ourselves the walk through the streets, but we wouldn't have appreciated things the same way.

We're also not trying to flagellate ourselves here for our privilege. You can observe the hypocrisy and still move through the world within your means - which is why when we left the Palace, we absolutely caught a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the guest house for dinner. 

We're leaving for Siem Reap tomorrow. It's about 5-6 hours north of Phnom Penh and is the closest town to Angkor Wat - the ancient city that was reclaimed by the Jungle until 150 years ago. I don't think any of us have seen ancient ruins before, and these are some of the most impressive structures in the world so we are very excited. 

When we got back to our lodgings, Ashnola spoke with the front desk and asked if they had any recommendations for places to stay in Siem Reap - they apparently have a sister guest house there and she hooked us up with the booking. She also gave us the rundown of where to catch the bus and arranged for a Tuk Tuk to pick us up in the morning to take us to the depot. 

Everyone here has been so incredibly kind and while we are very excited for our time up north, I'm glad we got to spend some time here, meet some incredible people, and see some incredible things.