From PP to HCMC

Saturday
Yet another early start, catching an early bus to Phnom Penh. The most notable things about the trip were the lychee-flavored fanta I had at a rest stop, and the giant basket of chili-seasoned crickets I saw right outside. I had seen a brown, crunchy looking heap and assumed that they were crabs or something and when, all of a sudden it came into focus as a mass of crickets, I had to suppress a shudder of revulsion. I'm not saying I wouldn't try them if given the opportunity, but it was a visceral response.

I made it to Charlotte and Wiley's place around 4pm. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to visit a high school friend who somehow ended up on the same opposite side of the world as me. They were getting ready to host a Tex-Mex party for their expat friends that night. That meant that I got to have tortillas for the first time all year. Wiley made sprite-marinated chicken fajitas that were incredibly moist and flavorful despite the odd-sounding recipe. I met about 20 of their friends, all doing interesting expat things like working for AIDS prevention initiatives, microlending, and transcribing human rights tribunal proceedings. And teaching English, of course.

Sunday
I took the morning for myself. Though tuk tuks are the main mode of tourist transportation (used by locals too, but surely at better rates), the fact that I've been in Vietnam and was traveling alone made me inclined to take a motorbike instead. I found a driver less than a block away from Charlotte and Wiley's apartment. Even though Cambodians use the US dollar, I found myself having to convert dollars to VND to evaluate prices. The driver and I haggled and agreed on a price and we sped off towards the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. I don't know much about Cambodian history, and this was a chance to learn some history in context.

Odd though it may seem, the Killing Fields were lovely. It was a sunny day; butterflies fluttered among orchards; birds flit about and sang happily. I took a map and an audio tour and followed the signs. Once I got under the veneer of the green grass, it was gut wrenching. 450 bodies are buried here. This tree used to have speakers hanging from it, and they would blast revolutionary music to cover up the sound of victims' screams. Babies were smashed against this tree and then thrown into this adjacent mass grave. It was hard to hear. Every few steps, I'd come upon scraps of clothing that continue to emerge from the earth. That was probably the most powerful element of the Fields. You could take off the headphones, take the signs away, but those scraps would just keep on coming. The last stop is a memorial stupa at the center of the grounds that contains skulls found on site.

The memorial stupa

Inside the stupa

In the afternoon I joined Wiley and Charlotte for a jam session with a band they have recently formed, and then we went out to dinner and then to a bar to listen to a live band. The whole weekend felt rather surreal. I was in a foreign country, but other than my trip to the Killing Fields I spent the whole time doing very western things with western people. At times, hanging out with the expats was so interesting or comfortable that it made me wish I could have met a similar community in my own location. At other times, it just felt strange, neither here nor there.

Monday
I spent my two nights in Phnom Penh in a hammock with a built-in mosquito net on the terrace attached to Wiley's apartment, and consequently I woke up at sunrise on both days. Sunday night I made sure to zip my camera in with me when I went to sleep, and so I was able to get some nice shots. I took a quick walk to the nearby Russian Market and then came back to say goodbye. Sadly, the weekend passed without us remembering to take any pictures together. Then it was time for another six-hour bus ride, this time to HCMC. I met Violet there, and we spent the rest of the day vegging out, catching up, and satiating our western food cravings.

Taken from bed

Tuesday
Another day spent doing not much, except that it was not much with company. Kelly joined me and Violet in the early afternoon, and we did some shopping, though none of us bought anything. In the afternoon we met Violet's friend Jesse, who lives in HCMC. We were supposed to go watch The Avengers, and it would have been my first time going to a movie theater since coming to Vietnam, but it was not to be. It was sold out. Instead, we ate at the food court, which was just as foreign and forgotten an experience as being in a movie theater would have been. Granted, there were way more Asian options and way fewer western options, but the atmosphere was the same. I positioned myself in a comfortable culinary center point, and ordered chicken tenders from one place and fried potstickers from another.

Jesse then led us to Big Man Beer, a place I wish I had discovered eight months ago. They sell dark beer and serve cheese-stuffed beef that was a properly rare teaser that has me salivating for my welcome home steak. We were joined by several of Jesse's friends, played cards, and enjoyed dark beer from liter mugs. It was a good night.

Happy Fulbrighters