C is for Clem in Cambodia’s Cacat Cybercafe

“Are you travelling alone?”

That was all that was needed to garner me a new companion throughout my flight to Siem Reap – I was contemplating at first whether to ask this middle-aged dude in his specs this very question, because I wasn’t sure how he might react. I understand that some people could be quite apprehensive about strangers talking to strangers so I had my reserves. But heck I bucked up my nerves and asked him the question anyway while we were queueing up when we were ready to board the plane.

So yes it all went well quite amicably, me sharing him information about Siem Reap and he in return, and after a while we both stopped talking abruptly and went about reading whatever books we brought. At least I really didn’t have to sit in Airasia’s Airbus next to the window alone, watching the various oddly-shaped clouds that seem to vary greatly in height.

After about 2 hours, we set foot onto Siem Reap International Airport, whose interior decoration looked a little like a 3-star or 4-star hotel. It was also deathly quiet, unlike the usual hustle and bustle and the endless streams of announcements that stroll in via speakers installed throughout the airport complex.

It was also great to have a companion even for a while, as I don’t have to seem so clueless and helpless getting my luggage etc. We set foot outside the entrance and saw a row of people with names on various placards, which is where I started to look for mine, and duly saw this young dude holding ‘MR Clement Chan’. After bidding goodbye to Mr Chong, the balding with a little white hair guy who looked like he was in his late 40s, who accompanied me throughout the 2-hour flight, we went to our respective pickup guy.

He immediately carried my almost 10kg luggage to what I know now as the tuk-tuk, a motorcycle but lugging behind it was a carrier of sorts with a shade ala the beca in Malacca. In that instant I was feeling rather euphoric, sitting in it rather comfortably, wind blowing at my face – maybe thanks to Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood who managed to stir a sense of eccentricity in me. Siem Reap was an odd little modern-rural fusion – you have modern, glassy buildings on one street and right opposite it would be wooden huts. Doesn’t seem to fit in very well imo.

At this point I’ll have you know that I’m typing in a fan-powered cybercafe (NO AIRCON) that costs $USD0.75/hr, with very sucky keyboard (an almost broken Shift key, making punctuating capital letters very difficult) and an Internet connection so slow I don’t know if I can even post this up successfully (typing this in Wordpad as we speak).

Guess my tuk-tuk driver’s name. At first I thought it was ‘Kai’, until he pointed to the mass blue above did I realise it was ‘Sky’. Okay.. a little too fantastic and odd.

The modern roads of Siem Reap soon blistered into dust – I was wondering why Sky was wearing a mask (the one you wear during haze), and I saw perfectly then why he did that. I had to close my eyes rapidly or wipe my eyes several times as the dust kept flickering into me like a mini dust storm – it doesn’t help that in Siem Reap 90% of the vehicles on the road are motorcycles (probably because it’s cheaper to purchase then a car), and the carbon monoxide + dust combination can be rather disturbing. I’d not be surprised if I choke to death tonight with this air quality around..

I don’t quite know whether I should go on now.. I checked in into Siem Reap Riverside, which wasn’t the Angkor View Gueshouse I booked earlier, but that would suffice I guess. The guesthouse was better than I expected – and my room was simply brilliant. Though fan-powered at $6/night, it has two single-sized beds and the toilet was quite alright. Overall it was impeccably clean.

OK I just downed a can of Angkor Beer ($1 per can) so am feeling a little.. ‘hot’ inside, so to speak. I’ll cut the chase and bring you to my lunch, which I had at one of the ‘restaurants’ recommended by Sky. My fried rice with vegetables ($1) was mediocre, and my fresh lemon juice ($0.50) had several dead ants floating over it.

Dotdotdot. After scooping them out and drinking half of the glass, I decided to stop eating and drinking altogether lest I end up like Gopi – writhing around in the hotel room after catching food poisoning.

Angkor complex is fucking huge btw – I guess I’ll post more about it when I’m back with pictures, but let’s just say I made two quick acquaintances there: a rather enthusiastic, cute, Cambodian girl and a Malaysian Setiawan-based uncle. Don’t think I fancy the temples that much, or ancient ruins for that matter.. though Tra Promh (don’t know spelling) was very fascinating – it was where one of the Tomb Raider movies was shot.

All in all it was quite draining, and all I wanted to do when I get back was to change out of my sweat-drenched attire and shower and sleep. Was there from about 1pm-6pm.

And there was a little miscommunication between Sky and me, so instead of paying him $5 for the entire day of driving me around, it was $15. Huge difference I know, and I’m not in the mood to argue and get myself walloped in a dark alley with him, although he looked like the shy type.

What else. Oh the street where my guesthouse was at just had its electricity cut off wtf. Was just about to leave my room in search of a cybercafe, but had Sky fetched me to ‘town’ area instead. He asked me to get another tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse or walk home wtf. In complete darkness.

Being alone here wasn’t too bad – not as bad as I expected, thanks to the several acquaintances I’ve made, but I sure hope I can join up with Gopi and Siew asap tomorrow. Very friendly people over here, but it’s really fucking hot, maybe as hot as Malaysia or worse. And I just conveniently burned my freaking thigh against the motorcycle’s exhaust pipe (sp?), hurting like crap intermittently right now.

I’ll end this entry now.. think I’ll actually walk back all the way to my guesthouse (prolly 10 minutes from here) in pitch black darkness near the river, so hopefully I don’t get robbed or anything like it. See you in my next cybercafe visit (nobody online on MSN now wan.. T__T).