As the
Dead Kennedys said "So you've been to school for a
year or two and you know you seen it all" well here's an eye-opening account
of the start of Pete Jones' far eastern expedition. He'd just posted it on
the forum from a cyber cafe in Phnom Penh, but thanks to the folks who
reported him to the moderator for being shy and telling us to stick it on
the front page. With pleasure.
"It's a holiday in Cambodia,
It's tough, kid, but it's life"
Three decades of strife have left Cambodia a f##ked up mess. Outside of the
main urban centres the infrastructure has largely broken down. Local
government has, to a certain extent, devolved into the hands of criminal
Thai and Chinese gangs who make their money by trafficking guns, drugs and
women. Insect-borne diseases (malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis) are
endemic. It's also one of the most heavily mined countries in the world -
over 1000 Cambodians are maimed or killed each year by UXO (Unexploded
Ordnance, mines, shells, bombs grenades still lying about after years of
fighting - Ed).
Add to that the fact that Cambodia's roads are reputed to be the worst in
Asia and....well, it would've been rude not to ride across the country.
After crossing the Thai border at Aranya Prathet I was offski, heading east
on roads that rapidly degenerated from rough tarmac into dirt and rock.
Passing vehicles threw up huge clouds of choking dust, but fortunately
motorised traffic other than scooters is rare. The closest I ever came to
rush hour was riding past a school when class finished; suddenly I was
surrounded by a hundred rattling old Chinese bicycles, blue skirts and
spotless white blouses, flashing smiles and hellos. Surreal.
Cycling through western Cambodia would have been suicide just three years
ago - it was the remaining stronghold for the Khmer Rouge. However, since
Pol Pot died in '98 the movement has largely fallen apart, although the
country still has to come to terms with its recent brutal history. Now is
the right time to go - most freight and passenger traffic still travels by
river, but the roads are due to be upgraded over the next two years
(Japanese and Australian investment). Development will inevitably follow.
A week's riding has led me to the capital Phnom Penh, and all the modern
luxuries we know and love. The riding was easier than I'd expected, 70-100km each morning. I'd look for a place to stay before midday, and they were
never hard to find - an eclectic variety of NGO hangouts, tourist guest
houses and, once, a Chinese run brothel. Bizarrely, along the way I kept
seeing signs for Karaoke bars, even in the middle of nowhere. Reading the
English language newspaper here this morning it turns out they're all
fronts for prostitution. Hun Sen, the country's strongman leader, closed
them all down a couple of days ago - ostensibly it's part of the effort to
combat the spread of HIV but, oddly enough, the brothels are all still up
and running. Cambodian reality...
Food was pretty unpalatable along the way, unless you like chewing on scraps
of inedible gristle. My last night on the road was spent in a small town
called Skuon, where I was presented with an alternative to chicken bones - a
platter heaped with large black spiders, each about 3" long. I'd heard this
was a local delicacy and, as something of an arachnophobe, I'd resolved to
try them. I had visions of regaling people for years to come (think of them
as hairy crabs - not too bad actually - tasted a bit like chicken...) but,
seeing the evil little f@#kers on a plate like that...no way, it just wasn't
gonna happen.
So that's it for now. Resting my arse for a couple of days then I'm heading
down to the border crossing at Chau Doc, where I plan to loop through the
Mekong delta and arrive in Saigon in about a week and a half. Pleasant trip
so far, but too easy. Here in PP it's all so slick; I look back on my early
trips to Asia with nostalgia, and wonder where I can recapture that spirit
of adventure I remember. Looking at the news reports over the last two
months...those Afghan mountains look pretty damn interesting...
