What I didn't figure on was all of Fi's friends coming round in the morning to "help" her pack! After endless tearful farewells and group photos, we finally get away at 4pm. But I have a chance for some last minute activities myself...
Watching the local horses taking a bath in the lilly pond outside Fi's front door. These horses are tiny - more Shetland pony size, but they're pulling carts all over the place.
Getting in a bit of gym work.
Finally we're in a shared taxi on our way to PP. The music, as ever, is Cambodian. The experience is not dissimilar to listening to poetry aboard a Vogon destructor ship (for those few of you not familiar with this reference, I earnestly recommend you read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).
One advantage of travelling at this time of day is watching the sun set over the Mekong. Also better than travelling in the oppressive midday heat, where the aircon is marginal if it exists at all.
Fi bargains for a snack aboard the ferry. Hard-boiled eggs anyone? Can't even to begin to describe what's in the tray.
Interesting travelling the Cambodian roads (this is the traffic engineer in me). They use rumble strips to warn of hazards like speed restrictions and areas with a high density of pedestrians or cyclists. An excellent idea I thought, until I saw how motorists treated them - pull over to the left lane as though overtaking, and increase speed! But there could well be a place for them in NZ - perhaps on approach to railway crossings, where Kiwi's drive blindly in front of trains with disturbingly increasing frequency.
Perhaps we could learn from PP's traffic lights too - both the red and green phases have countdown timers to let you know how long it'll be till the lights change. Similar to what's just appeared in Queen St for the pedestrian phase.
We get to PP and check in to our hotel for the night. Whenever I go for a walk without Fi I'm a target for moto drivers asking if I want a girl - $10 is the going rate. The traditional Cambodian approach to sex is very conservative. Boy meets girl, they go out, hold hands, play fight, but no serious stuff, and definitely no pre-marital sex. On graduation they'll marry - some with arranged marriages. Things are a bit looser in PP, where boys may go out and buy a "broken girl" (the literal Khmer translation of prostitute - and the worst insult you can make to a female).
One good thing is that there's very strong education and signage around two major sex issues for Cambodia - HIV/AIDS and child prostitution. Signs for "Number 1" condoms are everywhere, and the penalties for child sex are severe - 20 years in a Cambodian prison, followed by conviction and imprisonment in your own country as well. As it should be.
But now it's off to Cambodia's south coast for a bit of R&R.
1 comment:
Go for it Fred...exercise Bedrock style. Glad to see you're getting more of a chance, to keep fit, than I am. P.
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