Cambodia at close range
Travel notes
This essay doesn’t aim to provide comprehensive information about Cambodia. It goes without saying – there are plenty of facts and myths about this country of Indochina on the Internet. You can always look into it by going through multitude of available guides and books about Cambodia. My task is way more humble: I would like this essay to convey a strong impression of a new country emerging from the winds of time. I also like to add photographs to supplement the text with.
Russian tourists rarely visit this country. Cambodia is considered a risky by most travel agencies. So despite the beauty of this country, there are not too many brave Russian tourists. It’s safe to say that the purpose of a trip to Cambodia would be to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Some people do not understand the charm and exquisite beauty of Cambodia, but this is subjective. And I would like to share my feeling being an explorer and a discoverer of a new tourist destination. I would like to see the country's soul, while the body of this land is yet not ruined by clich;s of mass tourism. Many people want to be pioneers, right?
I'll briefly tell you about the road there. On December 13 I flew from Novosibirsk, Russia, to Bangkok, Thailand. This is where I changed flights. The first flight lasted about seven hours. The temperature in Novosibirsk was around zero degrees Celsius. When we got off the plane, it seemed that I went from winter to hot summer, the temperature was 30 degrees higher.
These thoughts were with me when the plane flew into Phnom Penh from Bangkok. The flight lasted about an hour and a half. Slender Thai flight attendants offered spaghetti with fish, the taste of which reminded me of Pollock but not quite.
The acquisition of entry visas lasted only ten minutes. Tourists from Russia buy a month visa to Cambodia for $20.
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Phnom Penh greeted me with warm and moist air. The capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia welcomes each visitor with loudness and smells. Phnom Penh performed a symphony of beeps merging together cars, motorcycles, shouts of street vendors at its squares and streets. Each driver moves as if there are no traffic rules, but no one complains, and there are no accidents. Eastern temperamental style of driving is mingled with the courtesy and understanding of Buddhists. I didn't see any conflicts although I was curious to see some. Possible issues are resolved quickly and tactfully.
Any foreigner will know it’s Phnom Penh – by as much as looking at the streets. There are not many cars here, as mostly people use mopeds and motorized carts to go everywhere in the city. Young and older people in the capital become skilled drivers, whereas if you leave Phnom Pehn, the rare people that know how to drive are no longer there. There are not many bicycles, as people prefer to get to their destination faster.
Small mopeds are the most popular transport vehicles of this city. One small moped will often carry two or three, sometimes four or five young people. This is a typical picture. The police issues fines if you don’t wear helmets, but many moped drivers can talk their way out of it, especially is they are locals.
This city is peculiar. Some guests of the capital consider it dirty, some say it’s incredibly beautiful, but everyone is convinced that Phnom Penh has its own face. Bazaars, wooden temples, unusual trees... you see it all here. When you drive through the city, urban scenery often switches to non-residential areas, parks, even empty fields, but as you drive further - the city reappears. Some streets retained the features of the French colonial style. But other streets seem to have no influence of the metropolis, and the houses are built in a more modern style.
I have been to many countries, and I always wanted to see the primordial building block of each country in a simple house. It is as if the soul of the country has been growing and developing in a given house or dwelling... So I decided against getting a room in a luxury hotel. I wanted to watch the sunrise in a simple hut near the sea while being surrounded by untouched nature. The people of Cambodia lived like that hundreds of years ago, and many still do nowadays. I arrived in Sihanoukville and turned this dream into reality. I rented a bungalow near the Gulf of Thailand.
I was wondering if I can build a bungalow like this myself. I looked at the design of my simple house. My hut rested on piles. They were hammered in about 15 yards from the high tide line. It was all built on sand, kept together by thick strong roots of pines and other tropical trees. The width of a single room bungalow is up to 10 feet, with length of about 18 feet.
The house stands above the surface of the beach. You use a small wooden ladder to get inside of the bungalow. There are different types of bungalows in Sihanoukville. A few huts are built on a high platform. The reason for that is probably the high tide level and flooding during the rainy season. These houses have longer stairs and look more impressive. The furniture in my Bungalow is very simple and functional. It's a table near the window and a large bed with mosquito net.
So, let's dream a little. I can easily imagine being a primitive inhabitant of this coast. Cambodia is an unusual country. You often see women working as builders and movers. They sell food on the beach and carry heavy baskets on their heads. I've seen women carry heavy loads while their men were lying in the hammocks. For that reason I wouldn’t be surprised if a woman of Cambodia could build bungalows instead of me. And it seems to me it’s the time to build bungalow for shelter. What am I doing? First, I outline the benchmarks. I dig a pit with depth of 3 feet at the vertices of a rectangle 3 x 6. Then I would place poles inside of each pit. The height of the ground post should be about 9 feet. The ideal solution is to pour some concrete in the holes. I wanted to test this plan. When I carefully checked the ground, I found no traces of concrete there at the poles. The possible option to strengthen the soil would be gravel.
Next, we would hammer some nails in 1 inch planks at a height of 1, 5 feet. These boards should be put at an edge to obtain a quadrilateral. My purpose would be to build durable bungalows that will not fall apart in a tropical climate. Therefore I’ll need to cut shallow slots in the logs to strengthen the entire frame. Intermediate casing of small diameter I’ll mount between pillars. It will strengthen the fastening of the roof. On the inside, I'll lay three rows of inch boards.
The frame is mounted on the outer side of the pillars. Bungalow roof goes down at an angle. Two posts and two intermediate pillars are at least 3 yards high if you measure from the ground, and the other two outer poles are at least one and a half yards. The roof structure is simple which is surprising. I install a diagonal Board to connect the tops of two high pillars from the outside. Then I attach the second Board diagonally. To make the structure stable, I’ll add the last center piece thus creating a quadrangle shape.
Dry palm leaves will then be used to cover the rood and the walls from the outside. You need just some long sticks installed vertically, and leaves can then be sown onto these new lines. They come presawn together in bigger pieces, so it’s really easy to do. The last thing would be a door with a plain design – all you have to do now is install the hinges, hang the door, and your house is ready. It's not too hard!
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The sea of Cambodia like a Siamese cat: from a distance she is beautiful and attractive. Sea can offer caress, but the sea can cause pain as well. Coast gives food to the Cambodians, but the sea demands respect.
One early morning I saw a little boy. He was catching small shrimp in shallow water.
– What are you doing? – I asked, – do you catch shrimp for the game?
– No, sir, – he replied, – my mother boils water, and these shrimps will be all my family eats for breakfast.
By the way, people say the Cambodians eat everything that moves. It's not right. Indeed, the Khmer eat fried locusts, boiled worms, embryos of chicks and more. They can shock Europeans and Americans. However, the Cambodians distinguish between edible and harmful sea creatures.
But I digress to the side and I want to say about the nature of the sea. His soul doesn’t forgive neglect. Shallow water swimmers don't know it. But I will tell you about other people. They are real swimmers, the fishermen and the captains of sailing ships, maybe other brave people of the sea.
One day I decided to swim far out to the sea. The water was warm, why not? I need to choose a direction. The ship in the Harbor was the perfect guide. I estimated the distance about half a mile. When I swam half way, I realized that distances at the sea many people evaluate incorrectly. But my pride did not allow to turn back to shore.
Suddenly I felt scared. Powerful stream fascinated me far away from my route. I understood the stream can sweep me away from the shore. What can I do? It is necessary to correct the situation immediately. I turned back and vigorously waved my arms and legs. So I got back on the traversed line.
When I swam back my hand touched a big fish with a gray back. She got scared and jumped out of the water. But this case scared me less than the treacherous and strong stream.
My neighbor from Norway who lived in a bungalow nearby, told me about another case. Early in the morning a neighbor rented a mini-sailboat. Soon his tiny ship with a single sail came to an island opposite. The wind suddenly stopped, and tiny ship froze in the sea near a quarter of a mile from the island. This problem was exacerbated by the second disaster. The ship began to drift wide of the intended path.
A descendant of the brave Vikings couldn't do anything. He waited during two hours until the faint wind filled the sail. And this man rounded the island to find the wind for sails. Only at midnight he returned home.
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It is a hybrid car in a miniature. It consists of a moped or motorcycle and sidecar behind the driver. The Cambodians call it tuk tuk. This transport consumes some petrol and it's very effective in the bustle of the city. A tuk tuk can carry passengers and cargo. Once I saw this stroller it was carrying big load of fruits and their mass was equal to the mass of a small truck.
Usually the passenger asked the price and he can ask for a significant discount. The driver often agrees to such a request. Cambodians take to a big supermarket or to the beach with great pleasure in order to get passengers for the return trip.
I received great pleasure when I felt a warm breeze from the movement of such carriage. Bus or taxi might not better than an exotic transportation in Cambodia. But you have to remember you need to hold on to the side rails. It's easy to fall, because the roads in Cambodia are not too go