The next day I did little more than walk round the various markets perusing their mountains of clothes and shoes, trying desperately to avoid the meat aisles. The stench, an advanced warning and the flies a secondary reminder of the horrors ahead.
I looked at watches, for a long time I always had an analogue watch strapped to the handlebars of my bikes, but with the advent of LCD screens that became obsolete, however Lilly isn’t blessed with a clock and the one on the phone is tiny when using navigation. In the end I walked away. I don’t need to know the time, it’s a holiday.
That evening I sat down for a meal in a bar / resteraunt. Open air with tarp covering to the street. I love how pavements offer no pedestrian access, just more seating and scooter parking. Long story short, I was with two Brits, an American and a girl called MaKara. Now I don’t know much about politics, but I do know not to discuss it over beers. I ate my Spaghetti as the conversation got louder and louder. By now I was ready to leave as people in surrounding resteraunts were starting to look on as voices raised in heated debate. MaKara approached “come and sit inside with me I don’t like this shouting”. We went inside and spent the rest of the evening chatting, laughing and enjoying each others company. The others had quietened down and I thought I should rejoin them as we had previously arranged an impromptu walking tour. I turned to check in, but they were gone. No issue, I was happy chatting. At 32 MaKara spoke really good English, she lives in a house with her entire family, including her two children from a, now, failed relationship. Her outlook on life was so positive. She has worked at the resteraunt for just two weeks, today was her day off and she came in to spend time with her new friends. The night slipped past in an instant and before long it was time to go our seperate ways. A hug and a selfie with a promise to meet tomorrow for lunch.
The next day I rode out into the rural area outside the Capitol to take a look. It was very much little villages that struggle to survive in the shadow of their bigger Capitol city. But people were happy to be selling drinks to me if nothing else and the smiles all seemed genuine.
At 1pm Sat down for lunch at MaKaras place. In due course she joined me for lunch. Soon enough it was back to work for her and for me, a boat trip after a very long afternoon walk that saw me back in the area of the small ferry crossing. I’d seen a promenade all lit up and full of people when I did the tuktuk tour. However during the day the place was a ghost town of bars and small resteraunts that remained closed until after sunset, their frontages bare of customers and dark under tarpaulin covers.
The boat tour was interesting. An hour long, there was a bar and snacks stall onboard. The boat sailed up to the harbour bridge illuminated with the Cambodian flag it looked very good. Honestly, that was the highlight. I spoke to no one and was barely acknowledged by others in their groups. There was no commentary or guide, just an hour looking to the banks of the river, that I had already spent several nights walking along.
That done it was time for ice cream, I’d previously found a great little ice cream parlour. Coconut and white chocolate was my ice of choice. I sat in the shop window watching people go past. As I was down to the last few scoops a small girl appeared at the window, hands held out begging. She saw the ice cream and her eyes lit up. She indicated she wanted it. I held it towards the door and she nipped in to take it. No thanks, nothing. Outside she tasted it, pulled a face and gave it to her sibling. Oh well that was extreme generosity on my part, I’d rather give hard cash than ice cream.
I started walking back to my hotel when there was frantic ‘beeping’ and a scooter pulled up next to me. It was MaKara, she had been headed home when she saw me. I suggested a quick drink at her workplace. ‘Hop on’ she said. The tiny Honda groaned as I climbed on, 150kg between us and I was about 100 of them. Clearly MaKara hadn’t riden with a small elephant on the back before, as we weaved and wobbled between tuktuk, cars and mopeds. I’m sure she was glad it was over when we got there. We laughed at her first pillion experience, although like everyone she takes her children out on the bike. It was a brief drink and chat before we once again headed our seperate ways.
Earth, Wind and Tyres 