Road 60

It's a well-known secret amongst locals that the local Cambodians don't hang out around Pub Street - they come to Road 60. 

This is a great hidden leisure spot for everyone - it has a carnival rides, food stands, 1500riel stores (like the $1 store), clothes and bag vendors, and even carnival games. It's especially packed on weekends with families coming from all over to enjoy their day off. It's also a good hang-out place after school or a date spot. So that's just what we did. We ate a bit, shopped a bit, walked around a bit, it's the best worlds of everything. 

Deep fried fish cakes and fried leek rice cakes

American style State Fair games

hoards of shoes

LA Lakers meet the NY Yankees. LOVE IT

Vietnamese style omlettes

Hmm.... I DEEPLY question the authenticity of these..

Funny side story: We borrowed a motorcycle from a colleague took a bit of detour around Angkor Wat before we arrived there. In sheer bad luck somehow the tires broke (or was broken when we borrowed it) and it made the ride really bumpy. It's actually quite dangerous as the entire motorcycle can break down. What to do in that situation? 

We just laughed the whole way through it until we got back home saying that it stimulated our muscles like one of those fat shaking machines you see on TV :) Needless to say we were safe so laughing was the best solution. I suppose we are turning Cambodian. 

Khmer Lessons

Three times a week, I take Khmer lessons but it's strictly for colloquial conversations. While that has helped me immensely in my day-to-day interactions in Cambodia, I still have the ambition to read and write it as it's always a struggle trying to read store signs and local restaurant menus. 

Who better teacher to turn to than my own Wat Damnak monks? Once a week me and my colleague get reading and writing lessons from Venerable Rem in which he is very experienced and it's great. The problem is that the Khmer alphabet is pretty complicated so I'm a bad student for sure! 

Choul Chnam Kmae (Khmer New Years)

It's almost New Years in Cambodia, undoubtedly the most biggest holiday of the year alongside Pchumb Ben. I see star shaped ornaments sold and decorated everywhere. Also Pub Street seems like it's going to have some events going on as multiple stages are being set-up in several areas. There's an air of festivity everywhere - people seem to be much more cheerful and ready to bring on the New Year with joy. I'm so excited I'll be here just in time for it before I go back home!

Kaffe

I always joke with my animal loving coworkers that we should start a SPCA chapter in Cambodia. I've seen way too many stray cats and dogs that can use a loving home. Coming from a highly developed nation, pets are placed as high priority and almost human-like in people's lives. It's amazing how the luxury pet market has been surging the past decade. For Cambodia, pets are a different story. While there are many households that have animals, many are livestock (chicken, pigs, cows, water buffaloes, etc) or dogs that just hang around the house. No one has leashes on their dogs nor are they treated as the same level of pets as people would in the US. Their treated more as second class citizens that border on abuse. I'm sure PETA people will be horrified by some things I've seen. It's not that Cambodian people are animal abusers but that society in general have not placed pets or ethical animal treatment on high priority. Even in highly industrialized countries in Asia like South Korea and Japan for example, it's only recent that people have become much more conscious of how they treat their pets. I remember my dad said he used to chase after dogs with sticks in Japan when he was little. If he did that now, the police would be running after him.


In any case, I've seen a lot of abused dogs around town and they are generally very afraid of people coming close to them, especially foreigners. I remember stray dogs would come close to bark at me when I first came, although I think I must "smell" more local now since they've stopped doing that. Even dogs at the temple whom I've seen for 5 months still barely let me touch them. 

This dog who was still a puppy when she first came to the temple is an anomaly. She's gotten surprisingly fond of me especially since I started bringing her food and chased off bullying dogs a few times. I named her Kaffe, or coffee in Khmer, since she looks like an iced coffee; black like coffee on the top and white paws on the bottom like condensed milk.

 I seriously thought about adopting her and bringing her back to the US -  I've read many cases of oversea volunteers who have brought back abused stray pets back to their home countries - but with lack of veterinarians in the country the process is complicated. I would have to take her to Phnom Penh to get a series of shots and then apply to get her quarantined. For now, the monks seem to like her as well so I hope they do continue to take care of her after I'm gone. 

New Production Center

Sometimes the unlikely similarities between Japan and Cambodia surprises me in a good way.  In Japan, before any new business starts or opens on new property, a Shinto priest is brought into do a purification ceremony. There is a religious component of warding off evil spirits and bringing good luck in for the business to prosper; but there's also a component of community in which the neighborhood comes to welcome the newcomer and for employees to celebrate their new start of the business in unison. 

LHA is expanding in every direction and with the Sewing School we've opened a new production center about 1km away from Wat Damnak. Here the girls would come into work on mass orders from clients where as the Sewing School itself would be used to train the girls and do small customized orders. 

Of course, no Cambodian celebration can be absent from large stereos and set-up had been going underway since sunrise. The girls have also been preparing food for 60 people including 10 monks. Everyone was gathered into the hall which faced a row of monks chanting and spraying holy water with flowers. The business managers, Clive and Laura came up to offer incense and get purified and given good luck prayers from the monks. 

The production center have been a long aspiration of Clive and Laura's and it's a bit step towards self-sustaining the sewing business in LHA (the sewing school is sponsored by the Park Hyatt but not the sewing business itself). Hopefully with the production center up and running, we are able to get more global customer orders as well as provide paid jobs for gradating girls from the school. 

After the ceremony and food offering to the monks are finished, now it's our time to party. With music blasting away and food going around, we all definitely had a good time.

How to: Going to Siem Reap from Bangkok via Land

Much debate and discussions surround taking the infamous bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap for years now. Conventionally, the bus was known for its notorious scams; I’ve heard many stories about visa officers or bus companies harassing passengers extra amounts against vulnerable passengers. For those that are doubtful, I highly recommend that you book yourself a air ticket right now. 

But for the more adventurous (and tight budgeted), there are ways to get by. The easiest and most efficient way to avoid trouble is to have a Cambodian visa prior to border entry. You can do this online although it will cost a few more dollars extra.

Second is getting the tickets. Although you can buy it directly at the Mocchit North Bus station,  you can buy also buy it online.There are only two small buses per day so if you find out at the bus station ticket office that they're both full, you will have to wait a whole another day. It's truly a drudge when you dragged all your luggage over to the station. Even though there’s a small surcharge when purchasing online, I highly recommend it just to be safe (and you can choose and your seats as well).  Case in point: when I booked my ticket 2 days before, it was only a third full but by the time the bus took off, it was a full bus. 

Next is picking up the tickets. Pickups are available in several locations but I picked the ticket station at the ZEN mall. It’s a little bit had to find but it in the back of the men’s shoe section. The hand off and payment was smooth. 770B ($24) total for a one way ticket.  

Getting to the bus station is a bit more trickier. Do note that the station is not directly linked to the Mocchit BTS station. It’s about a 30 min walk or a 5-10minute taxi ride away. Since my bus left at 8, I would be hitting rush hours plus I had a 50lb suitcase with me. I took a taxi which turned out to be a bit pricey, around 250B (appx $8 which includes highway toll). Many taxi drivers prefer to directly negotiate the price rather than turn on the toll meter when I was there since many roads unexpectedly close down due to the protests. Otherwise, it might be a bit cheaper.

The station is enormous and clean. There’s numerous eateries, 7-11s, and shops to grab food so no need to worry about that. 

The bus has AC, and though it’s a bit old it’s good enough for a $24 ride (compare that to a one way $200 plane ride). The trips takes about 7-8 hours with about 1-2 hours spent going through immigrations at the border.

 

 Surprisingly, they gave us a small breakfast (cookie, coffee,  mini orange juice, muffin) and lunch (fried rice) so don’t worry if you forgot to stock up on food. Although for any typical Westerner, the portion will definitely not be enough. We did stop at a 7-11 twice so not to worry. 

 

After a smooth 4 hour drive, we stopped at the tour company for the non-visa people to process them. We then headed another half hour to go to the border. 

 

This was a grueling process as we first had to clear through Thai immigration, walk about 500m over to the Cambodia side and then line up again to go through Cambodian customs. 

 In all we waited in line for about 2 hours. I ran off to get some dtuk empou (sugarcane juice) as my other fellow bus mates who had no knowledge of Cambodian stood in line in the sweltering heat.  

 

Another 2 hours of driving finally got us into Siem Reap.

In conclusion, if you have the money definitely take the plane. But if you want to be a bit more adventurous or save on money there’s no doubt that bus is the way to go. In either case, just make sure you have your all your papers and do a bit of research.

I always tell tourists that people get scammed not because of con artists but because people are unaware and lack knowledge. I like to give the example when you are a restaurant and they ring up a lower price on the bill because they forgot that you ordered it. In this case would you honestly tell them or would you keep quiet and pay the lower price? It’s the same for the people that try to charge you a higher price –they are merely taking advantage of the fact that you are not aware. If you were, they are sure to lower their prices. So do your homework beforehand!
Also please note that I’ve never gone from Siem Reap to Bangkok; sometimes the stories and situations differ vice versa