DEATH IN CAMBODIA (Part 1)

My Cambodian Story will be a series of misadventures. Feel free to comment. Comments that make me smile will get custom-made Flashbacks from the Flashpacker items.


You wake up to what you think are  monks chanting right outside your door. Could you really be in Cambodia? 

You get up and see TC, your perennial travel companion, still  slumped in your room's queen-sized bed, recovering from travel exhaustion. Though Siem Reap is barely three hours away from Manila, all the packing, airport transfers, waiting in airports, and immigration clearance take a substantial amount of your precious vacation time.


Petit Villa Room
http://petitvilla.com/

It's 7AM. Your first morning in Cambodia. Still a little concerned about the monks chanting, you open your hotel room's door. 

Immaculate: the hotel's swimming pool is just one cartwheel away.  Petit Villa has less than ten units, all facing towards the pool. It is more of a resort really, than a hotel. And being tucked in a quiet residential area, about 10-minutes away from Pub Street, you couldn't ask for a more relaxing vacation. 

What you see upon
opening your hotel room door

It was drizzling, so you had to be extra careful walking to the front desk to ask for coffee. You had to dodge all sorts of tropical flora. Yes, you feel like you are in the middle of a forest. With a pool.

Petit Villa's Pool

"Good morning," Sophea, one of the male hotel receptionists greets you.

"Good morning,"  the chanting in the air continues, "do you have any iced coffee?," you ask him, still half asleep.

"Yes, we have. I offer for you," he replies with a genuine Khmer smile. 

It's a jungle out there!

You have no idea what "offer" means in this part of the world, so you just smile. Sophea excitedly talks about upgrading your room since the AC was having its minor problems since you arrived. 

Now, who wouldn't say NO to a coffee offer and a room upgrade? And your vacation has just started!

You return to your room's terrace, just right by the pool. A day bed and two bamboo beach beds make you realize this is going to be the most relaxing vacation you probably will ever have. 

Theara, the uber-friendly
hotel staff

A couple of minutes after, Theara, the uber-friendly Creative Director aka Chef aka Room Service Attendant of the resort appears out of nowhere, with a huge smile on his face: two glasses of free iced coffee! By the pool! You tip him with whatever bill you have in your pocket: a dollar. Yup, they use USD in this part of the world. For workers whose average daily wage is $1-$2, that'd probably be equal to what he's going to make today.

The sound of monks chanting  continues. Raindrops kiss the 

Should you swim?

leaves of all the trees in the resort. Water from tubes cause ripples in the pool. 

As you wait for TC to get up, you lay on the yellow day bed covered with sequins. And while contemplating whether you'll start drinking TC's iced coffee too (yup, it is delish, you finished your glass in five minutes), Sopharith, the hotel manager, a 40-something soft-spoken skinny guy (everybody in Siem Reap is, you feel obese) walks up to your veranda.

Sopharith (S): We are really sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for letting us know.

TC and Teddy
by the pool 

Jay, The Flashpacker (J): The air-conditioner wasn't working last night.

S: We are fixing other room for you. 

J: Is the air-conditioner stronger in that room?

S: Yes. And if you want, you can have massage anytime you want.

J: But you already promised us free massage. 

You were referring to the freebies promised in your booking confirmation.

Breakfast with TC

S: You can have lunch or dinner. 

I was waiting for him to mention the  operative word: free. All these freebies make you feel you'll be bankrupting the hotel any moment.

S: Later too, we have ceremony for the mother of the owner. She very sick.

Free Breakfast:
Fried Pork
Fruit Platter
Coffee

J: Oh, is that what the music is for? Referring to the monks chanting, you thought was part of everyday Cambodian life.

S: Oh no. That different. That music, Khmer instruments. Buddhist ceremony. For good luck and long life.

J: So there is another ceremony for the mother later?

S: Yes, here at the restaurant at 3pm. 

J: That's for the funeral?


S: No, for the mother of the owner who is sick.

You and your big mouth: The mother is still alive. <Insert sound of crickets here.>

J: I'm sorry... Ugh, Can we join the ceremony? Can we take pictures?

S: Yeah sure.

J: Isn't that disrespectful?

S: No, that's ok. We will take pictures too. There will be monks and they say prayer for the old lady because she in surgery for long time.

J: How old is she?


S: Maybe 69-70. Are you Buddhist?

J: No, I'm Christian. 

A golden halo appears above my head. <Insert "ting" sound here.>

S: Oh, because in Buddhist, before people pass away, they make list of bad things they did. Like if they hit animal or problem with mother. Because after they pass away, there's hill.

My eyebrows meet each other. Hill. Maybe in their afterlife, there are fields of wild flowers and all these wild trees on a hill.

Sensing i dont get it, Sopharith continues:

S: Maybe they go to hill or they go to heaven. 

Aaaah. I get it.

J: So maybe later, after we change room (at this point, my English is Cambodianized) we ask for the tuktuk driver to take us around. Do you have a mall? Or a market?

S: You can go to old market. But it's not clean.

J: Is it safe?

Superman AKA
Your Tuktuk driver

S: Yeah

J: As long as it's safe, I am okay with not clean.

S: And you can go to Lucky Mall. Where there is a grocery and expensive clothes.

No, you are not rich. 

He probably thinks you are. 

But the hole in your shorts should've given that away. ●