Sunday, December 10, 2006
Speeding Around on the Back of a Scooter in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh - what a city! I arrived last Friday after a six hour speedboat ride from Siem Reap. That was an adventure in itself. I was picked up by a tuk tuk driver whom I befriended and ended up acting as my guide around the Angkor temples on my last day. (Despite speaking very little English, he put together a lovely day of exploring some of the smaller temples as well as Banteray Serai, a well-known temple known for its pink sandstone and intricate carvings. He also took me through some 'off the beaten track' roads where I was able to see how Cambodians live far away from touristy Siem Reap.)
Anyway, he picked me up at 6 a.m. and off we went to the pier where I was to catch the speedboat. About three quarters of the way there, the nicely-paved road ended and before us stretched this muddy trail full of huge potholes. I clung to my suitcase and my backpack as we rocked liked crazy. Along the side of the road was the river and beside that, tightly-packed huts where the locals were just waking up.
The speedboat we took was jam-packed with people. Inside, out front and on the roof! In fact, most of the people grabbed seats on the roof. I met this lovely Sri Lankan couple, Para and Cherine, who live in Pasadena, California, where Para works as a Pathologist at a large hospital and as a professor and Chief of Anatomic Pathology at USC. Over the course of the six-hour journey, we became friendly and at times, Cherine and I clutched each other as the boat hit large, bumpy waves. By the time we arrived in Phnom Penh, I was blue black on account of being in 40 degree, sunny, cloudless weather with the wind in my face for six hours. As we exited the boat, we were met by dozens of scooter and tuk tuk drivers offering their services. Luckily, I arranged a scooter driver with the boat manager before I left Siem Reap and when I climbed off of the boat, there was the scooter driver holding up a sign which read "Welcome Miss Deborah". It took us about half an hour to find my hotel, the gorgeous Colonial Mansion, which boasts a lovely French restaurant. It's hard to believe it's located in the heart of crazy, busy Phnom Penh.
How to describe the city? It's a bustling third-world city, full of buzz and motion. Thousands of people on scooters, tuk tuks, bicycle rickshaws, Lexus sports utility vehicles and dozens and dozens of Toyota Camry cars. It's polluted, dusty and run-down in places while a few streets away, there are beautiful, grand French boulevards and some gorgeous Art Deco buildings sprinkled around the city. The main drag is the street along the Tonle Sap River, called the Sisowath Quay, where all of the restaurants, bars, boutique hotels and upscale souvenir shops are located. I have been zipping around the city on a variety of scooters. It's a complete rush to be in the middle of hundreds of scooters, barrelling down the main streets and dodging cars and other scooters. They beep their horns like crazy: to signal a turn, to avoid an oncoming vehicle, to acknowledge a friend.
One very disturbing thing to report. Already in Siem Reap, I was garnering a lot of attention as one of the very few black tourists there. It has now reached a frenzy in Phnom Penh. Yesterday, I visited the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and National Museum. Several people yelled, "Hey black" or what I assume to be "black" in the Khmer language. As I entered the Royal Palace, I am not joking but a cry went up and I was confronted with hundreds of people pointing and laughing to themselves. Now I consider myself to have very tough skin but I have to admit this was very uncomfortable as I can't communicate with them and don't have a clue what was being said. It's the first time in my life I was genuinely uncomfortable with the attention I was receiving because of my skin colour. It was so bad that other tourists were coming up to me and commenting on it. In the end, I left because it was ruining my visit. I'm not angry with them as I understand that I am probably the first black person they've seen up close. For some reason, they keep asking if I'm African and when I say I'm Canadian, they just nod their head in disbelief. The reason being that in their minds, Canadians are white people. (A Canadian woman of Chinese dissent said that they have the same reaction to her.)
Tomorrow, it's off on a six-hour bus ride across the border to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Now I know for sure these people have had more exposure to black people, unfortunately for a sad and bad reason.
Anyway, he picked me up at 6 a.m. and off we went to the pier where I was to catch the speedboat. About three quarters of the way there, the nicely-paved road ended and before us stretched this muddy trail full of huge potholes. I clung to my suitcase and my backpack as we rocked liked crazy. Along the side of the road was the river and beside that, tightly-packed huts where the locals were just waking up.
The speedboat we took was jam-packed with people. Inside, out front and on the roof! In fact, most of the people grabbed seats on the roof. I met this lovely Sri Lankan couple, Para and Cherine, who live in Pasadena, California, where Para works as a Pathologist at a large hospital and as a professor and Chief of Anatomic Pathology at USC. Over the course of the six-hour journey, we became friendly and at times, Cherine and I clutched each other as the boat hit large, bumpy waves. By the time we arrived in Phnom Penh, I was blue black on account of being in 40 degree, sunny, cloudless weather with the wind in my face for six hours. As we exited the boat, we were met by dozens of scooter and tuk tuk drivers offering their services. Luckily, I arranged a scooter driver with the boat manager before I left Siem Reap and when I climbed off of the boat, there was the scooter driver holding up a sign which read "Welcome Miss Deborah". It took us about half an hour to find my hotel, the gorgeous Colonial Mansion, which boasts a lovely French restaurant. It's hard to believe it's located in the heart of crazy, busy Phnom Penh.
How to describe the city? It's a bustling third-world city, full of buzz and motion. Thousands of people on scooters, tuk tuks, bicycle rickshaws, Lexus sports utility vehicles and dozens and dozens of Toyota Camry cars. It's polluted, dusty and run-down in places while a few streets away, there are beautiful, grand French boulevards and some gorgeous Art Deco buildings sprinkled around the city. The main drag is the street along the Tonle Sap River, called the Sisowath Quay, where all of the restaurants, bars, boutique hotels and upscale souvenir shops are located. I have been zipping around the city on a variety of scooters. It's a complete rush to be in the middle of hundreds of scooters, barrelling down the main streets and dodging cars and other scooters. They beep their horns like crazy: to signal a turn, to avoid an oncoming vehicle, to acknowledge a friend.
One very disturbing thing to report. Already in Siem Reap, I was garnering a lot of attention as one of the very few black tourists there. It has now reached a frenzy in Phnom Penh. Yesterday, I visited the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and National Museum. Several people yelled, "Hey black" or what I assume to be "black" in the Khmer language. As I entered the Royal Palace, I am not joking but a cry went up and I was confronted with hundreds of people pointing and laughing to themselves. Now I consider myself to have very tough skin but I have to admit this was very uncomfortable as I can't communicate with them and don't have a clue what was being said. It's the first time in my life I was genuinely uncomfortable with the attention I was receiving because of my skin colour. It was so bad that other tourists were coming up to me and commenting on it. In the end, I left because it was ruining my visit. I'm not angry with them as I understand that I am probably the first black person they've seen up close. For some reason, they keep asking if I'm African and when I say I'm Canadian, they just nod their head in disbelief. The reason being that in their minds, Canadians are white people. (A Canadian woman of Chinese dissent said that they have the same reaction to her.)
Tomorrow, it's off on a six-hour bus ride across the border to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Now I know for sure these people have had more exposure to black people, unfortunately for a sad and bad reason.
