Culture, Friendship, Crime, Sex, Love, Cambodia Day 4-5 of 7

Day 4

A soft knock on my door. Then a louder knock. Then a bang bang BANG! She is back as promised. I am so hung over from the night before I am in no shape to even get out of bed let alone head down to the police station. We fall in a pile of
arms and legs onto the bed and crash out for what should just be a short nap. Seven hours later she nudges me awake to let me know we should get moving soon. It is already 3pm and the police headquarters wanted us there at 9am.

We get up and head out to the tuk tuk line. There is my driver still in the same clothes from the previous night. He is all smiles and briefly recounts his waking up at 5am in his tuk tuk and driving back to the hotel. Apparently he is a
little miffed that we missed the appointment. Oh well. We head to the police station and after a long wait in a very boring room my camera is returned and we are free to go.

We get some food and head back to the room. My girl is not feeling well and a nap in air conditioning seems to be just what the doctor ordered. She has been dropping hints all day that she should stay with me the entire time I am in Cambodia,
but I am definitely not into that. She takes a nap and I head out to get my bus ticket.

When I come back again she is butt naked sleeping in the bed and trying to coerce me into sex. I stand firm and let her know tomorrow I am going to Siem Reap and she has to stay in Phnom Penh. It goes better than I imagined so I go for the
kill and tell her to head home. She takes the rejection like a champ after I slip a 20 into her purse and I am free again.

I had a 8:30am show time so prudence prevailed and I decided to stay in for a night of television.

Day 5

I woke up and headed out for my appointment to the 6 hour bus ride to Siem Reap. The ride was interesting at first then quite boring once I realized the cool country style houses never change in appearance for the entire trip. It was nice
to see real village life though.

Arriving in Siem Reap I am whisked to my guesthouse (yes I opted for a guesthouse this time) and the Angkor Wat negotiations begin. By this time I have forgotten what day it is and am pretty sure it is day 4. So I set about for the 2 day
tour of Angkor Wat and make the appointment with my driver for the following day. He coerces me into some late afternoon tours and we head out to see the sunset (for some reason this is a big gimmick there.) Which is just climbing a mountain then
onto a ridiculously steep staired temple to jockey for position with the Koreans, Japanese, and Euro-Trash tourists who all seem to find something much more mystical in watching the sun go down then I did. The most interesting part was the mob
of kids and young adults who encircle you on the trip in trying to sell you everything under the sun. The sales pitch goes something like this:

“Sir you want buy ……….?”

“Sir, you want buy cold water?”

“Sir, you come back you buy from me ok?”

Then if you don’t buy from them they get angry for you lying to them. This spiel is repeated at every temple entrance.

I walked around a little bit on top then hiked down. I was underwhelmed with Angkor Wat thus far, but I was sure I would find something worthwhile the following day. We headed back to the main town and I set out to find the naughty nightlife
I had heard doesn’t exist in Siem Reap.

Well Stickies, I am here to tell you the naughty nightlife certainly does exist in Siem Reap. It is not in the open, and you won’t find it walking around. Befriend a motorcycle driver and ask him to take you to see some girls. He should
take you to a long dimly lit street where hints of red can be seen and Asian eyes peek through windows and cracked doors. We sped down the street and came to a closed sliding metal door which was quickly pulled aside for our entry. We drove down
a long series of alleys then hit a grotto of sorts. There were about 10 sickly looking women and maybe 5 rooms with doors open. They were watching Khmer television and lined up as soon as we entered the clearing. There was a ratty sofa for me
to sit on and make my choice. This was all a little too sterile for me and a little scary so I politely excused myself and told the motorcycle driver to head back. He did so a little disappointedly. As we were making our way back I tried to eagle
eye an alternative destination on the street and saw a promising place that looked like an abandoned guesthouse.

We pulled in and were greeted by mama who led me to a lawn chair so I could watch Khmer karaoke and sip a beer. I bought a beer for me and my driver ($1 each) and called for the lineup. Mama got on the phone and after about three minutes
5-6 girls streamed in. I was quoted a price of $50 for short time plus room <I have no idea what "action" usually goes for over there but that sounds outrageously expensive for a venue of that nature – Stick>.
I picked the girl who showed the most interest, and proceeded into the building. The room was about the same quality as the short time hotels in late night Patpong but I didn’t feel any fleas biting me so that was good. The girl (although
a little portly by Asian standards) was fit, firm, and good to go. She was about as high a quality tail as I have had in SE Asia. Money well spent. When we finished the motorcycle driver asked me why I like fat girls. I explained to him the difference
between Asian fat and farang fat (I definitely did not think she was fat, but she certainly was no a block of wood head sitting on a toothpick like many of the Isaan crowd). We headed back into town and I settled on a fine evening of getting sloshed.

This was the one thing I didn’t like about Siem Reap. That is Pub Street, the main drinking area. It is over-run with backpackers which makes the atmosphere a little too hippy to really be enjoyable. Also you have to be careful late
night on Pub Street as girls and ladyboys will tell you, “I have no place to sleep tonight, can I go with you? Free for me I just want to sleep in a bed tonight, and you can do anything you want with me!” Then they drug you and steal
all your shit.

One guy told me a story about his run-in with a ladyboy. It was late and he was drunk. He saw the ladyboy who he found surprisingly attractive. They talked and she hit him with the, “Let’s go to your room for free ok?”
He decided to go for it so they strolled the lanes arm in arm to his hotel. Just before entering she stopped him and said, “I feel shy to go into your hotel, let’s have sex in the woods!” Well by this time he was just ready
for a soft bed really so he declined and she happily agreed and was on her way. Immediately after she turned the corner he noticed his light pockets. He told me it wasn’t so much the fact that he lost all his cash, it was more losing his
credit cards and ID that were the real pain in being robbed.

Stickman's thoughts:

It's been too long since I made it to Siem Reap and that is something I plan to put right in the next few months. While I was not a naughty boy there on my previous trip, I distinctly remember short time being $5.