Tim's Perspective: Cambodia, The Land of the Unexpected

Cambodia is a very interesting place.  I had been to Thailand, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what Cambodia would be like.  Although comparatively similar to Thailand, Cambodia was full of surprises.  These are my top ten (and maybe a couple of extras) surprising things:

1. Traffic!!!!!!!!!:  I have been in places with horrendous traffic.  For one thing, I live in Southern California.  But I have also been to Manilla, and I did not think that traffic could be more crazy than in the Philippines. But Cambodia takes the prize!  Traffic is unbelievable.  For those of you in Southern California, picture the 405 on a Friday with about 1 million motorcycles and tuk tuks thrown in.  There was one afternoon where we moved ten feet in one hour.  I decided to walk down the road to see what the problem was (an accident?; road construction?).  There wasn't any problem. It was just crowded and there is no intelligible right of way at intersections.  So it was just a logger jam! Traffic in Cambodia is absolutely insane!

This picture cannot even begin to exhibit how bad the traffic can get

2. Tuk Tuks:  I had never seen anything like a tuk tuk, the primary mode of transportation (besides scooters or motorcycles).  They are fun to ride in.

Clay with "our" tuk tuk driver

3. How Many Can You Fit on a Motorcycle / Scooter:  On our last night in Cambodia, I saw the record!  Six people on one motorcycle, including a naked baby being held by mama!  I never would have believed it.  Four people on a motorcycle is common, and a few times we saw five on a motorcycle!  We thought that could not be beat!  But low and behold, I saw six!  Oh, and all without helmets, by the way.

4. Good Food:  I was not ready for how good the food was going to be.  Yes, Khmer food is good. It is very similar to Vietnamese food.  But in Phnom Pen, there are tons of good restaurants.  While on our trip, we ate Khmer food, French food, Japanese, dim sum, in addition to several solid Western food restaurants.  My only regret was that we did not go to the Indian restaurant.  There are a plethora of food choices.  And, the local food has some interesting things to eat.  Frog was not as bad as I expected.  Most of my team loved it. I tolerated it.  Some of our team ate tarantula and said it was good. And then we all tried durian, a local fruit that is called the King of Fruits that most Westerners hate.  Most of us enjoyed it, although I will admit that one said it tasted like the bottom of her shoe.  Still, overall, I was blown away by the variety and quality of the food in Cambodia. 

The team at one of our favorite digs, The Grand River

5. WiFi:  There is WiFi everywhere! And it is fast! That was totally unexpected!

6. Gracious Cambodians: Cambodians should all be in service businesses.  They are so warm and friendly and anxious to help.  They are a kind and gracious people.  And it was not just the people we worked with. It was pretty much everyone from the hotel staff to our tuk tuk drivers.  They are so warm and anxious to please.

7. No Trash Systems:  If I was president of Cambodia for a day, I would establish some sort of trash system and install at least a million trash cans.  Phnom Pen is a very dirty city.  There is trash everywhere.  And finding a trash can is next to impossible.  Likely because even if you had a trash can, there is no place to take the trash once it is accumulated.

8. English and the U.S. Dollar:  Almost everyone in Cambodia speaks at least a little broken English.  English is taught in the schools.  You can go almost anywhere and find someone who speaks English.  And the U.S. Dollar is literally everywhere!  The tiniest street merchant will gratefully accept the U.S. Dollar and knows the exchange rate.  Most places show their prices in U.S. Dollars, not the Riel (the Cambodian currency).  There is never a need to change money in Cambodia.  In fact, you do not want to.  The Riel is $4000 to $1 U.S. Dollar. You can have a wad of Riel, and it will only be worth $10 U.S. Dollars.

9. Sleeping Arrangements:  First of all, there are very few actual houses in Cambodia. Most are places that also house some sort of business, in addition to bedrooms and a kitchen for eating.  Then there are quite a number of people who sleep in their tuk tuks.  Finally, there are a lot of people who simple string a hammock up and sleep in the hammock. 

10. Fancy Cars:  I have never seen so many Range Rovers.  I also saw more Rolls Royce in two weeks in Cambodia than I have in ten years in Los Angeles.  Lexus are everywhere.  Cambodia is an extremely poor country so it does not seem to make sense.  But the government is raft with corruption...  Need I say more?

Bonus Shocker:  One final thing was the prevalence of technology next to extreme poverty.  iPhone where everywhere.  It was not uncommon to see an absolute dump of a house with a satellite dish on top.  

Cambodia is land full of surprises.  It is a country of odd juxtapositions.  It is a country of great beauty that is, at the same time, full of trash.  It is an odd place. What surprised me most, however, was how much it stole my heart.