The Pixie Dust Chronicle: Exhibit Barang, the River, 6 methods of moving, and Pchum Ben

I'm not quite sure how to begin this write up -- I could do a multi-part, day-by-day thing, but I'm not sure I want to be that ambitious or if it would be that interesting.

Let's start with the bare bones. Here's how the thing shook out, by modes of transportation:
-Tuktuk to Central Market
-Shared taxi - we bought the backseat, 3 people where 5 usually are, and as a consequence there were 5 in the front seat, including one in the driver's lap - to Kampong Chnnang
-Moto to the riverside market
-Ferry to Kampong Leang
-Walking around
-Ferry back to Kampong Chnnang
-Boat ride around the floating villages
-Moto to hotel
-Next morning, bus to Ponley
-Moto to Kampong Steang
-Motorized canoe ride around the area
-Moto back to Ponley
-Bus home to Phnom Penh.

As you might be able to tell, we spent a lot of time moving. You can't tell from this how much of that time moving we spent in packed public transportation, squeezed in between the motos and market goods and people, with loud motors and odd looks.

Let me put it this way: tourists don't go where we went. I was traveling with a good friend and her uncle, the Uncle fortunately being able to speak good Khmer and have a knack for discovering how to get places. We didn't make a single reservation in advance the entire time, and to get home were literally standing on the side of the road flagging down buses.

Tourists go to floating villages, sure, these strange bobbing clusters of humanity on the river, swollen heavily from the rains, where shops are on barges and everyone owns a boat. But they only go to certain floating villages, in certain places, and not, apparently, the ones we were at. I think we were the only Barangs I saw the entire two days, except for a group of people at the hotel restaurant.

The looks we got were curious, amused, excited, deeply concerned/confused, and uncertain, the primary one being amused confusion. Open stares were more the norm than sidelong looks, and in some cases the staring turned to gaping. You could hear the thoughts, what the hell are these Barangs doing here, of all places?

In both Kampong Leang and Kampong Chnnang, within some time of arriving, a friendly police officer arrived to say hello, see if we needed anything -- if we were lost, more like. It was really funny, I thought, that they sent the police to deal with us, I guess no one else really wanted to. On the boat ride at Kampong Steang, we stopped by an island Pagoda, filled with people celebrating Pchum Ben, and there it was a monk sent to deal with us -- and attempt to get money from us, but he did it in a very nice way and wasn't upset when we politely refused. We figured he got sent to deal with the Barangs because he had the best English.

Wherever we went, we were a spectacle. The street kids hanging out at the temples came in crowds to follow us and try to get in the pictures we took. The people in the pagoda greeted us very warmly, almost proud to have their very own Barangs. We were like celebrities, but like aliens too. Celebrities because alien, I guess. People -- and not just kids, people of all ages -- waved to us as we passed, shouted hello. We waved back because, why not?

The constant motion and the constant staring was exhausting, but this was contrasted with the peace of the river and the water. The rainy season has made water of the whole land, the trees in up to their branches and green plants floating where mud flats are during the dry season. Something about the water is so calming, even with everything.

During the sunset cruise, we motored by people just living -- fishing, sitting in hammocks, eating, praying, kids playing in the water. A few kids with boats were drag racing in front of the appreciate audience on the riverside at Kampoong Chnnang. We also saw two boats playing pirates with each other, throwing plants and anything else they could get their hands on at each other, and then later on a 'club boat' -- no lights, no music, but a bunch of kids dancing away to the beats in their heads.

Watching the little girls expertly row the boats, the kids playing in the water, the water culture, I thought, they don't know what it's like to live on dry ground. The water is everything to them.

It was a fascinating couple of days, and I can't deny I was glad to be back home. I thought I was a foreigner in Phnom Penh -- and I am, and always will be -- but it was nothing compared to the strange, fascinating, and interesting alien I was there. The scrutiny gets to you after awhile, and I'm still getting over the constant motion. But -- I am glad I went.

Here are some photos from the trip: