Day 3 of 'A week in Cambodia'

I got up in the morning to find Abi looking unhappily at the cell phone in his hand. Turned out it was because our cell phones had no battery left and we had forgotten to get our adaptor. I am completely ok to live without a cell phone, sometimes I dont even realize that I am not carrying one with me. But Abi feels crippled without it. Actually without any of the things that connect him to the rest of the world (phone, newspaper, TV, Internet). "Duniya mein kya ho raha hai" is extremely important to know. Also, since cell phone was our way to keep in touch with family during the week long trip it made sense to keep them charged and be accessible at all times.

We went down to the reception of our hotel and asked for an adaptor. After a quick chat, we realized that adaptors are not a very commonly understood term in Cambodia even among English speaking locals. Times like these are a true test of your communication abilities - when you think you are being extremely clear about what you are saying and the other person simply cannot understand what you want.

We understood that we need to find other ways of communicating what we wanted. Abi thought it would be simpler to communicate terms associated with adaptor. The 2 words he chose were electrical & electronics. He went up to a tuktuk and asked for 'electrical' and the tuktuk driver said 'central market' in return. Abi beamed at how simple this was turning out to be. So we went to Central market and waded through stores (actually stalls) of perfumes, clothes, footwear
and other things not related to electricity. We asked another person for 'electrical' and he said we need to go into the market which was unfortunately closed since today was a sunday. We decided to peep into the market anyway to check if it was actually closed and we found that the market sold 'electric fans'.

We still had another word at our disposal - electronics. Electronics, as it turns out, is a commonly understood word. So we were directed to a cell phone shop. Abi said cell phones have become as ubiquituos as FMCG goods and confidently strode in thinking that the store owner would have an adaptor waiting for him. No such luck ! We decided that a change in strategy was in order. What began was a session of Dumb Charades - Abi mimed connecting the charging wire to
his phone and plugging it in a socket. Then he showed his phone's battery level and mimed that it was increasing. The store owner was super confused but a customer at the store (so far a spectator in this story) immediately got it and explained something to the tuktuk driver. Excitement was in the air ! With a sense of purpose the tuktuk driver drove in circles around the city. Finally we went to a store (which we had passed thrice during our city trip) and the
tuktuk driver produced an adaptor after exactly 5 seconds of talking to the store owner. We were thrilled at having found an adaptor and getting a tour of the real city (and not just tourist spots) as a bonus.

On our way back, which surprisingly (or probably not) took only 2 minutes to reach the hotel, Abi said that adaptors are difficult to find in Cambodia because not many people travel abroad and hence dont need it. I wanted to say something in return (in addition to nodding in agreement), so I said Cambodia has the same electrical plugs as Thailand. We were both stunned at why I would want to share this useless trivia and were silent for rest of the journey.
All this activity in the morning made us super hungry. We found a nice cafe along the river and had a long brunch. We would be travelling to Sihanoukville in a couple of hours and needed to eat enough to last the 5 hour journey. Out hotel had quoted 125USD as the taxi fare from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, which is almost equal to the airfare from Singapore to Phnom Penh. So we decided to be smart and take the bus which would only cost us 6USD per head.

We reached the bus station a good hour before the bus was to leave (punctuality is our forte). The bus station was spread out over a 200 sq ft restaurant and a parking space for 2 buses on the road. About 50 people crowded into this restaurant waiting for their buses. I sat next to a woman eating noodles and crying at the same time. I wanted to ask her what was wrong. But as soon as she saw me looking at her, she stopped eating (but continued crying). Abi made me
take ownership of our 2 suitacases and went to find out details of the bus route, Sihanoukville etc. He didnt return for a long time, or probably it just seemed like that with one crying woman next to me, a plate of uneaten noodles in front of her, a swarm of flies over it and a creaking fan above us.

Finally, it was time for our bus to leave. We handed our tickets and I got in. Abi suddenly ran away and said "you go in, I'll be here in a while". I was most upset. I like things to be planned. Sudden changes to the plan (like not getting into the bus after we reached the door) have an unsettling effect on me. The bus started moving and there was no sign of Abi yet. I got up and said "wait! wait!" and everyone stared at me. For some obscure reason I said "bus roko" in
Hindi and miraculously the bus stopped. Turns out the bus moved ahead to make way for another bus behind it. I was highly flustered and at this moment Abi entered looking victorious with 2 bottles of water in his hand.

We sat at our seats and I avoided talking about events of the past 10 mins or so. Abi usually senses when I have been through a huge embarassment (because it happens often with me) and waits patiently till I want to tell him about it. By now the bus was full and I thought it was time for us to leave. I was wrong ! A man entered with 6 red plastic chairs and placed them in the passageway between seats to accomodate an additional 6 passengers. Only after this, did the bus leave for Sihanoukville.

Sihanoukville is a beach town in the southern Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand. It is also the only deep water port in the country. It is not as popular among tourists as Siem Reap and Phnom Penh probably since it is not connected by air to these popular tourist spots. I can imagine how a bus journey like ours would be a deterrent to many. I had included this place in our trip for 2 reasons - (1) It gave us a chance to do a long road trip and see the real country (2) It has fewer tourists. But I didnt know that tourists had been kidnapped & killed enroute to Sihanoukville by the Khmher Rouge as recently as 1994. The place is supposedly safe now with the demise of Khmer Rouge & the political stability in Cambodia. There are also plans to connect it via air to Siem Reap and this is expected to result in a tourism boom.

I was seated by a window on the side of the bus facing the sun. Somehow we always sat on the sun-side on all our bus journeys in Cambodia. We followed the national highway NH3 to Sihanoukville, which was in good shape throughout. I had expected the route to be green with fields and forests. But most of the land was barren. Since I was tired, I took an nap despite the heat. Woke up to find that the bus had stopped for a 10 min break.

We got down to get something to eat. I was tempted to buy the cut fruits since they are a healthier option to snacking on chips. Abi reminded me that Lonely Planet said cut fruits are unsafe since they are usually left in the open for days. While I waited for Abi to get his coke, a pleasant-looking woman stood by my side and spoke to me in fluent English. From our conversation, I understood that she was Cambodian but has been living in the US for 10 years. She was back for a month-long holiday and was pleasantly surprised at how much the country has changed (developed) from what she remembers it to be. She recognized us as Indians and was very surprised since she hasnt seen any Indians visiting Cambodia. But then, she hasnt been in the country for 10 years now.

A loud horn signalled that our bus was ready to leave. We got back to our books. Rest of the journey was uneventful. We reached Sihanoukville bus terminus at 5:30pm and were immediately approached by moto drivers. Moto is a motorcycle taxi that seats 1-2 passengers. Tuktuks are few in Sihanoukville. Abi & I got on 2 different motos and went to our hotel - Golden Sand.

It is a nice looking hotel with extremely bright rooms. Probably that is why all rooms have black curtains. As soon as we reached the hotel, we rushed to the beach to get a view of the sunset. We stayed on the beach till dark and then left to find an Indian restaurant. We took a tuktuk to Weather station hill. The place had a few restaurants and a lot of shady night clubs. We found the restaurant we wanted quite easily. It was dimly lit, had plastic tablecloths, rickety wooden chairs and a handful of lizards. Since we were too tired to find another place, we put up with all this and patiently waited for the food. The food turned out to be awful as well. We went back to the hotel looking forward to a relaxing day at the beach.