Well, my holiday is now over and I’ve been back home with the post-holiday blues for some time. But in the same spirit in which advice was offered to me, I would like to report my own experiences so that others might benefit. I’m not sure the ‘old hands’ will learn anything new, but the newbies might find something interesting. Anyway here goes…
My Malay-Chinese bf (who during this holiday acquired a new nickname, ‘Everard’) could only spend one week with me due to his educational commitments, so the plan was hatched like this…
Week 1 – Siem Reap (Angkor) and Phnom Penh, on my own (and celebate!).
Week 2 – Bangkok and Samui with Everard.
Week 3 – Bangkok and Pattaya on my own
You will have noticed that my holiday covered both Cambodia and Thailand. This part of my report is just about Cambodia. If you want to read the report on Thailand you will find it in the Thailand forum here… Thailand Report
CAMBODIA
My flight went well – UK -> Amsterdam -> BKK by KLM (£390 return) arrived early, enabling me to catch an immediate flight out to Siem Reap courtesy of Bangkok Air. Both these flights took off on time, were quite comfortable, and in the case of Bangkok Air, the plane was almost empty – only 7 passengers!! A handsome young steward looked after my every whim. Almost.
SIEM REAP
After purchasing my entry visa at the airport (No ATM machine so take US dollar notes)I got a taxi to my hotel – the Bophor Angkor (a beautiful, old style hotel) by the river in Siem Reap. The taxi driver wasted no time in getting himself organized as my guide for the duration of my stay, and we arranged to watch the sunset from the temple at Phnom Bakheng that evening.
There followed a couple of days of intensive Wat watching, the best one for me being Ta Prohm – the temple used in the Tomb Raider film – simply spectacular.
The Monk!
To my surprise, there was a boy-incident whilst visiting Angkor Wat!
I was just about to leave the temple and stopped for a rest in the shade before setting out on the long walk back through the grounds to the taxi. A young monk came strolling by, and as is my want, I couldn’t resist a lingering glance at his smooth, handsome face, and gave him a smile. He returned it and stopped to chat. My heart fluttered.
One of the first things he said after exchanging the usual pleasantries was “can not touch woman but can touch man”. Excuse me. Where did that come from? Is this boy a monk? …an imposter? …or did I misinterpret something?
Maybe he just meant we could shake hands, but my gaydar went to action stations immediately and I caught all kinds of little signals. He shook hands softly – and let it linger. Then he told me he was learning English but could not afford the books he needed. Ah! I thought… a money boy in fancy dress!
Then he told me he had a German boyfriend and wanted to send him a photo, so would I take his picture and email it back to him. A poor monk with email? Well I obliged him the photo and we exchanged email addresses. Before we parted, I decided to give him a small amount of money for his books, which he hastily and self-consciously hid inside his robes. The suspicious meeting left me with the feeling he was really a money boy and this was some kind of elaborate ruse to trick farangs into parting with money – pretend to be gay and if that doesn’t work, pretend to be poor. I sent the photo and he has replied several times, each time giving me a long lesson in the teachings of Budha, so now I’m completely confused! Maybe he was a genuine monk after all.
Koulen restaurant
But you can have too much of a good Wat, so we visited several other places too.
Surfcrest recommended watching traditional Khmer dancing by the cute boys and girls at Koulen Restaurant, and very entertaining it was too. Although the boys and girls were excellent to watch, unfortunately most of my pics aren’t. This is the best I could muster.
They have a hot and cold self-service Cambodian buffet at Koulen with seating around round tables. Some of the food wasn’t to my taste, but I found plenty that I could enjoy.
Local craft school
The local craft school where they teach stone masonry and wood carving to boys, and painting to profoundly deaf girls was impressive. The quality is astounding. But if you want to buy any of the artifacts, beware - the prices are western-sized!
Land mine museum
One of the most touching visits in Siem Reap was to the land-mine museum run by Aki Ra. I didn’t know before I went that it is also an orphanage looking after mine-injured boys. It is entirely charity-funded, and the kids put on a show in town one evening each week. It’s a kind of opera, explaining the history of the wars and how they came to be injured by left-over land mines. The purpose of the show is of course to raise funds for the orphanage, and t-shirts are on sale. The price is ‘up to you’.
I bought one – and after seeing their plight and the good work the Aki-Ra team are doing there, it voluntarily turned out to be the most expensive t-shirt I’ve ever bought.
(Even Everard didn’t get one as expensive as this when we went shopping in Bankok!)
Another moving sight were the ‘Landmine Music bands at almost every Temple. They all had missing limbs and other injuries and make their living from charitable donations – this one at Banteay Srei.
Phnom Penh
After a few days it was time to move on to Phnom Penh, so I booked a flight on Siem Reap Air to the city, and found a Hotel through my favourite hotel website – www.hotel-club.com . I like this website because they list the hotels in the city of your choice by star rating and price. You can also see reviews by their customers who have stayed at the hotels, and you can make a selection very quickly, filing your reservation request while you’re online. They email you back with your confirmation, or offer an alternative if your first choice of hotel is fully booked. I’ve used them for 3 years now and have been very pleased so far. Highly recommended.
On this occasion I chose the FCC Hotel (Foreign Correspondents Club) on the prom. It is right on the river, very close to the Royal Palace and the National Museum. It is still used by foreign correspondents, and at lunchtime you can see them sat in the bar tapping away on their WIFI–hotspot laptops. The bars have a colonial feel to them with open walls and overhead fans, but the rooms are very modern.
Salt Bar
Surfcrest recommended I visit the Salt Bar, about 10 minutes walk along the prom from FCC. What a nice bar! Gay of course.
I went there around 10pm one night and the place was pretty full. Its only a small bar for gays to socialize and meet up – no dancers or money boys like the gay Thai bars I’ve come to love. I was the only western guy there and got a lot of looks. It didn’t take long before someone approached. He was a handsome, slim, boyish looking guy of 24. He said he was a hairdresser and had come down to PP from his small town in the north with two gay friends. He was lovely, and I was already wrestling with my pledge to be celebate.
I made the mistake (perhaps) of being very friendly (coz I am), although I did tell him several times that I had a boyfriend. When it came time to leave he asked if he could come back to my room and, fighting all my instincts, I politely said “no”.
Jeez, the look of surprise and disappointment on his face was tangible. He looked down at the ground and was crestfallen. I have read posting after posting in this forum about Thai guys ‘losing face’ and I wondered later if this was the case in Cambodia? His friends knew he had approached me and he had spent much of the evening chatting and drinking with me so (assuming he wasn’t a money-boy) I guess there could have been some kudos from ‘pulling’ a westerner (mmm… nice thought), and loss of face if he failed. It left me feeling a bit down too. Oh well…
I spent a few days sightseeing the usual tourist sites by air-con taxi in Phnom Penh.
One of the most disturbing was the Tuol Sleng genocide museum.
It was once a school and was taken over by Pol Pot and his murderers as an interrogation (i.e. torture) centre. They have kept the site just as it was during those hideous times when thousands of people were murdered there. Many of the pictures taken at that time are on display in the buildings there, and it is a sombre, sobering experience. It took me out of my happy holiday mood for some time.
I recovered my mood by visiting the National Museum behind the hotel and a festival of regional agricultural produce (a kind of market) where you could buy all kinds of fish, fruit and vegetables. Yum.
And then on to the Royal Palace where i was approached by a group of boys wanting to practise their English (they said). They were also from a village in the north and had no camera, so one of them asked me to take their picture and post it to him. he gave me his address and Ive sent it. Heaven knows if it will ever get there.
He also wanted to know if i was travelling alone, and why. I got that feeling i was being chatted up again. WHAT is that monk-boy doing?
I enjoyed Cambodia very much even though i didnt have much time to see a great deal. It is a country I like and will definately re-visit.
But soon it was time to fly back to Bangkok.
If you want to read the next chapter - my report on Thailand, it is in the Thailand forum – follow the link near the top of this post...
Edited by IwanUK at: 31/8/05 10:49 am
Last edited by Woohoo on Mon 13 Feb, 2006 1:07 pm; edited 2 times in total
