Eight years ago it took 3,5 hours to get from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh by bus. Nowadays it's 3 hours to the outskirts of town and then another 2 hours of crawling through Phnom Penh traffic. I'm tired and thirsty by the time the bus finally stops. As soon as I'm out on the street, tuk-tuk drivers besiege me from all sides with a wide range of offers (transport, accommodation, drugs, sex…). I haven't been to a real city since Bangkok in mid-February. The noise, the smell, the crowds and all these people trying to sell me something... It's hard to deal with now. Finding a hotel room in this busy, sticky city drains any power I've got left. After dinner, I return to my hotel room and go to sleep early. Phnom Penh's too big for me.
The next morning I still feel not quiet ready to get out. But I drag myself to the Central Market nevertheless. Ten minutes later I'm the proud owner of 2 new, very reasonably priced, t-shirts. Cambodians believe that a sale early in the morning will bring good luck and good business. There's hardly any bargaining necessary. They are happy to sell something as early as possible. I like to get my shopping done as quickly as possible. Everybody wins, everybody's happy. The Central Market is good place to be at 8 in the morning (before everyone else gets there). Then I head to Bohr's Bookshop. It's one of my favorite places; a small shop in the shadow of the Royal Palace stuffed with copied and second-hand books. It's a thrill seeing all fresh and different books. Q&A in Sihanoukville is an alright book-store but it lacks new titles. Here in Bohr's there's a solid collection of new (copied) books. After taking my time looking around, I end up spending $20 on five books. Afterwards I go for breakfast on the riverside. It's still only 10 am. What to do now? I'm thinking about taking the 12 o'clock bus back to Sihanoukville when I get a phone call from a friend. Do I want to party tonight? Yes, sure and thank you for calling. I walk around the riverside a little bit more and then I retreat to my hotel room with some fine quality herbs. Phnom Penh's is not that bad.
At night I meet up with a couple of girls from Sihanoukville. We eat grilled chicken at a local market for dinner. Then we go for cocktails on the riverside and on to Pontoon, the hippest nightclub in town. Normally I'm not the kind of dude who frequent nightclubs. Especially not hip night clubs. But these girls have money in their pockets (for once) and, in true Khmer-style, can't relax until they burned through it all. So to Pontoon we go. We order a bottle of Jim Bean and sit at a private table just next to the dance floor. Oh yeah, drinking whiskey with beautiful girls in a Phnom Penh nightclub. My mom would be so proud. Well, at least, I do feel like a pretty cool dude right now. Later a few friends of friends join us. Another bottle of Jim Bean appears on the table and another and… In short, it's a great, wild night out. Lots of dancing and laughing and acting like a fool. It's all good fun. Of course, large amounts of whiskey always lead to some kind of trouble. Some glasses get smashed on the floor. A couple starts getting funky on the couch until a passed-out girl suddenly wakes up and pukes all over them (lots of lols by me). It's getting late and I'm thinking about sneaking out. Just when I get on my feet someone asks me to help take puking girl outside. We carry her across the dance floor, out on the street and into a tuk-tuk... She manages to puke all over my shirt in the process (lots of lols but none mine). Anyway, it was a great night out. Some things never change. Phnom Penh's an awesome city.
The next morning I take the bus back to Sihanoukville. It was a good trip but now I'm excited to return to my quiet, little room by the sea.
Cambodia; life's good here for me.
